Sacred signs, divine marks

geometric religious symbols in Viking Age Scandinavia

Autores

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55702/medievalis.v13i1.63753

Palavras-chave:

Norse symbols, Viking Age, Old Norse Religion, , Visual culture, Scandinavia

Resumo

The main purpose of this research is to provide analytical elements regarding the meaning of the geometric symbols that are identified during the Viking Era (especially the swastika and triquetra). Inspired by John Robb’s theory on symbols and the visual methodology of Jill Bradley, this paper approaches some of the main visual sources that occurs in Norse material culture (in particular, the runestone DR 248 and Thor's hammer pendants) and then draws a comparative line between them. Our main conclusions are that the symbols display a variety in their meaning, in accordance to the material and social context in which they were inserted and their religious relevance allowed their permanence in Scandinavia visual tradition.

Biografia do Autor

Johnni Langer, UFPB

Professor Assistente II na UFPB. Possui Pós-Doutoramento em História Medieval pela USP (2006-2007). Atua principalmente nos seguintes temas: história e cultura na Era Viking e na Escandinávia Medieval, Mitologia nórdica, sagas islandesas, Literatura nórdica medieval, história do paganismo escandinavo, História da Arqueologia e Astronomia, Arqueoastronomia e Etnoastronomia da Escandinávia Medieval, recepção da Mitologia Nórdica nas artes modernas. Publicou em revistas acadêmicas da Suécia, Inglaterra, França, Rússia, Portugal, Espanha, Itália, Argentina e em dezenas de periódicos brasileiros. É coordenador do Núcleo de Estudos Vikings e Escandinavos (neve2012.blogspot.com.br). Atualmente é professor do Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciências das Religiões da UFPB (Mestrado e Doutorado). É organizador dos livros Dicionário de História e Cultura da Era Viking (Hedra, 2017), Desvendando os vikings (Idéia, 2016) e Dicionário de Mitologia Nórdica (Hedra, 2015), Deuses, xamãs e animais: ensaios de Mitologia Nórdica (UFPB, 2018) e autor dos livros O sagrado nórdico: mitos e crenças da Escandinávia Medieval (UFPB, 2018), Na trilha dos vikings (UFPB, 2015), Fé Nórdica (UFPB, 2015) e Deuses, monstros, heróis (UNB, 2009). É editor chefe do periódico Scandia Journal of Medieval Norse Studies. 

Victor Hugo Sampaio, UFPB

Possui graduação em Psicologia pela Universidade do Vale do Sapucaí (UNIVÁS) e mestrado e doutorado em Ciências das Religiões pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB). Desenvolve pesquisas de mitologia e religião comparada abarcando as religiões e tradições pré-cristãs do norte euroasiático, com enfoque nos povos indo-europeus e fino-úgricos. Seus principais interesses contemplam as expressões do xamanismo em perspectiva comparativa, estudos de magia, ritual e performance, com enfoque nas relações entre concepções de alma, cosmologia, projeção astral e cognição em sociedades xamânicas. É membro do Núcleo de Estudos Vikings e Escandinavos (NEVE) e do Centro Internacional e Multidisciplinar de Estudos Épicos (CIMEEP).

Referências

Primary sources:

DICKINS, Bruce. Runic and heroic poems of the Old teutonic peoples. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2015.

JÓNSSON, Guðni (Editor). Hávamál, Eddukvæði Sæmundar-Edda, 1949. Heimkringla.no: http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Hávamál

STURLUSON, Snorri. Frá blótum (16). Saga Hákonar góða, Heimskringla (Linder & Hagson, 1872).

http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Saga_H%C3%A1konar_g%C3%B3%C3%B0a

STURLUSON, Snorri. Edda: Skáldskaparmál I. Faulkes, Anthony (Ed.). London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1998.

Secondary sources

ABRAHAMSON, Werner; THORLACIUS, Skúli. Den Snoldelevske Runesteen. Antiqvariske Annaler vol. 1, 1812, pp. 278-322.

ÁLVAREZ-PEDROSA, Juan Antonio & MARINAS, Enrique Santos. Rituals in Slavic Pre-Christian Religion. Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2023.

ALVES, Victor Hugo Sampaio. As direções em que Thor arremessou sua arma: apontamentos sobre a etimologia e os paralelos mitológicos de Mjöllnir. Nearco – Revista Eletrônica de Antiguidade e Medievo, 2020, p. 173-195.

ANDREEFF, Alexander. Archaeological Excavations of Picture Stone Sites. Gotländskt Arkiv vol. 84, 2012, pp. 129-212.

ANDRÉN, Anders. Sun and moon. In: SCHJØDT, Jens et al (Ed.). The Pre-Christian Religions of the North. History and structures, vol. III. London: Brepols, 2020, pp. 1465-1480.

Arkæologi på Sydvestjyske Museer. Damhus-skatten - Ribemønter fra vikingetiden ofret til mosens guder, 2018.

https://sydvestjyskemuseer.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/damhus-skatten-en-stor-skat-af-ribe-moenter-fra-800-tallet-ofret-til-mosens-guder/ (Accessed on 20.10.2020)

ÁRNASON, Jón. Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1862.

ARWILL-NORDBLADH, Elisabeth. Viking Age Hair. Internet Archaeology 42, 2016.

AUDY, Flornet. Suspended Value: Using Coins as Pendants in Viking-Age Scandinavia (c. AD 800–1140). PhD thesis, Stockholm University, 2018.

BECK, Torunn. Tre, tekstiler og skjeletter i Osebergfunnet En forvaltnings og formidlingshistorie. Universitet I Oslo, 2014.

BERNARDI, Simone Liw. Hanging by a thread: A metaphorical analysis of Viking Age tapestries. Master thesis, Uppsala Universitet, 2023.

BERTELSEN, Lise. On Öpir’s pictures. In: Stocklund, Marie (Ed.). Runes and their secrets. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006.

BILL, Jan. Protecting Against the Dead? On the Possible Use of Apotropaic Magic in the Oseberg Burial. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 26 (1), 2016, pp. 141 – 155.

BLIUJIENE, Audronė. Universalusis svastikos simbolis baltų archeologinėje medžiagoje. Liaudies Kultura 4(73), 2000, p. 16-27.

BONDE, Niels & STYLEGAR, Frans-Arne. Between Sutton Hoo and Oseberg. Danish Journal of Archaeology 5, 2016, pp. 1-15.

BOURNS, Timothy. Mythological and Heroic Motifs in Manx Stone Sculpture. In: Gardeła, Leszek and Larrington, Carolyne (ed.). Viking Myths and Rituals on the Isle of Man. Nottingham: Centre for the study of the Viking Age, 2014.

BOYER, Régis. Héros et dieux du Nord. Paris: Flamarion, 1997.

BURILLO-CUADRADO, Maria; BURILLO-MOZOTA, Francisco. The swastika as representation of the sun of Helios and Mithras. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 3(14), 2014, pp. 29-36.

BRADLEY, Jill. Building a Visual Vocabulary. The Retrospective Methods Network n. 4, 2012, pp. 31-39.

CHAPPLE, Robert. Swastikas from the Oseberg Ship Burial. Robert Chapple Archaeologist, 2017. http://rmchapple.blogspot.com/2017/07/swastikas-from-oseberg-ship-burial.html

COIMBRA, Fernando. Symbols for protection in war among European societies (1000 BC –1000 AD). In: DELFINO, Davide (Ed.). Late Prehistory and Protohistory: Bronze Age and Iron Age: The emergence of warrior societies and its economic, social and environmental consequences. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, 2014, pp. 15-26.

DAVIDSON, Hilda. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse: Syracuse Press, 1988.

DENNIS, Nathan. Performing paradise in the early christian baptistery: art, liturgy, and the transformation of vision. Master thesis, Johns Hopkins University, 2016.

DUTTON, Douglas. An Encapsulation of Óðinn: the Viking Age Hanging Ritual. PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2015.

ELLIS DAVIDSON, Hilda. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. New York: Penguin Books, 1964.

GARDEŁA, Leszek. Miniatures with nine studs: Interdisciplinary explorations of a new type of Viking Age artefact. Fornvännen, Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research 117, 2022, pp. 15-36.

GARDEŁA, Leszek; PENTZ, Peter; PRICE. Neil. Revisiting the ‘Valkyries’: Armed Females in Viking Age Figurative Metalwork. Current Swedish Archaeology vol. 30, 2022, pp. 95-151.

GARIPZANOV, Ildar. Religious Symbols on Early Christian Scandinavian Coins. Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 42(1), 2011, pp. 35-53.

GLAHN, L. Snoldelev Sten. Historisk Årbog for Roskilde Amt 1(1), 1917, pp. 135-141.

GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, James. Viking Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 2018.

GRÄSLUND, Anne-Sofie. Symbolik för lycka och skydd: vikingatida amuletthängen och deras rituella kontext. In: Fra funn til samfunn: Jernalderstudier tilegnet Bergljot Solberg på 70-årsdagen, Universitetet i Bergen, 2005, pp. 377-392.

GREG, Robert Philips. On the meaning and origin of the fylfot and swastika. Westminster: Nichols and Sons, 1884.

HALL, Richard. Exploring the world of the Vikings. London: Thames and Hudson, 2007.

HAUGE, Arild. Brakteater. In: Arild Hauges Runer, 2022. https://www.arild-hauge.com/brakteater.htm

HEDENSTIERNA-JONSON, Charlotte. Borre style metalwork in the material culture of the Birka warriors: an apotropaic symbol. Fornvännen 101 (5), 2006, pp. 312-322.

Heimskringla. Billeder af Carsten Lyngdrup Madsen, 2022. https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Billeder_af_Carsten_Lyngdrup_Madsen

HELMBRECHT, Michaela. Wirkmächtige Kommunikationsmedien: Menschenbilder der Vendel- und Wikingerzeit und ihre Kontexte. Lund: Lunds universitet, 2011.

HÖÖK, Lena Kättström. Från foster till dop Hur man skyddar en hedning. In: Se Åldern: Nordiska museets och Skansens årsbok. Stockholm: Nordiska museets förlag, 2015, pp. 13-37.

HULTGÅRD, Anders. Cosmic Eschatology: Ragnarøk. In: SCHJØDT, Jens et al (Eds.). The Pre-Christian Religions of the North. History and structures, volume III. London: Brepols, 2020, pp. 1017-1032.

HUPFAUF, Peter. Signs and symbols represented in Germanic, particularly early Scandinavian. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney, 2003, 1-315.

HELLERS, Tom. Valknútr. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 19. Wein: Fassbaender, 2012.

IMER, Lisbeth M. Rune stones. In: Danish Prehistory. Copenhagen: National Museum, 2016, pp. 270-277.

IMER, Lisbeth; VASSHUS, Krister Sande Kristoffersen. Lost in transition: The runic bracteates from the Vindelev hoard. NOWELE: North-Western European Language Evolution 1(76), 2023, pp. 60-99.

JACOBSEN, Lis. Rökstudier. Arkiv for Nordisk Filologi. Lund: Gleerup, 1941, pp. 1-269.

JOHANSON, Kristiina. The Changing Meaning of 'Thunderbolts'. Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore n. 42, 2009, pp. 129-174.

JUNGNER, Hugo. Den gotländska runbildstenen från Sanda. Fornvännen 25, 1930, pp. 65-82.

KERMODE, P. M. C. Catalogue of the Manx crosses. Isle of Man: C. B. Heyes, 1982.

KUCYPERA, Paweł & WADYL, Sławomir. Early medieval miniature axes of Makarov’s type 2 in the Baltic Sea Region. Archaeologia Lituana, n. 12, 2011, p. 122-130.

LANGER, Johnni; OLIVEIRA, Leandro Vilar. Entre cervos, Odin e Sigurd: simbolismos religiosos em moedas danesas da Era Viking. Medievalis 10(2), 2021, pp. 24-51.

MACLEOD, Mindy & MEES, Bernard. Runic amulets and magic objects. London: The Boydell Press, 2006.

MAGNUS, Bente. Men, gods and masks in Nordic Iron Age art. Koln: Verlag der Buchhandlung, 2005.

MAIN, Austin. The Tripartite Ideology: Interactions between threefold symbology, treuddar and the elite in Iron Age Scandinavia. Master Thesis, Uppsala University, 2020.

MANDT, Gro. Kårstad i Stryn-møteplass for ulike kulttradisjoner i eldre jernalder? In: BERGSVIK, Knut Anbdreas (Eds.). Fra funn til samfunn: Jernalderstudier tilegnet Bergljot Solberg på 70-årsdagen. Bergen: UBAS/Universitetet i Bergen Arkeologiske Skrifter, 2005, pp. 51-67.

MAREK, Edyta Anna. Remarks on the sign of the swastika on pottery from Ożańsk site 5. Archaeologia Polona, vol. 55, 2017, pp. 5 –16.

MAREZ, Alain. Anthologie runique. Paris: Belles Lettres, 2007.

MEJBORG, Reinhold. Symbolske figurer i Nordiska Museet. Norstedt: Nordiska Museet, 1889.

MONTELIUS, Oscar. Kulturgeschichte Schwedens von den ältesten Zeiten bis zum elften Jahrhundert nach Christus. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann, 1906.

MONTELIUS, Oscar. Sveriges hednatid, samt medeltid, förra skedet från år 1060 till år 1350. Stockholm: H. Linnstroms förlag, 1877.

MOTZ, Lotte. The Germanic Thunderweapon. Saga-Book XXIV, 1997, pp. 329-350.

MÜLLER, Ludvig. Det saakaldte Hagekors's Anvendelse og Betydning i Oldtiden. Kjøbenhavn: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri, 1877.

MUSIN, Alexandr. The Rise of Novgorod Revisited. Slavia Antiqua: Rocznik poświęcony starożytnościom slowiańskim 59, 2019, pp. 165-194.

Nationalmuseet: En økse med dobbelt betydning, 2021. https://natmus.dk

NIELSEN, Kar Martin. Rasks tydning af Snoldelev-stenen. Danske Studier 1974, pp. 132-134.

NORDBERG, Andreas. Configurations of Religion in Late Iron Age and Viking Age Scandinavia. In: EDHOLM, Klas et al (Eds). Myth, Materiality, and Lived Religion In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 2019, p. 339-360.

NORDÉN, Arthur. Från Kivik till Eggjum. Fornvännen Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research 29, 1934, pp. 35-53.

Norges Metallsøkerforenings digitale museum. Beslag til hengekar, 2020. https://nmf.nu/museum/funn/gjenstander/gjenstander-for-1537/beslag-til-hengekar-2/

NYLÉN, Erik and LAMM, Jan Peder. Les pierres gravées de Gotland. Paris: Éditions Michel de Maulle, 2007.

OEHRL, Sigmund. Human-Avian and God-Avian Relations in Viking Age Religion and Mythology: as Mirrored by Contemporary Pictorial Art. In: GARDEŁA, Leszek; BØNDING, Sophie & PENTZ, Peter. The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World. Barnsley: Oxbow Books Limited, 2023, pp. 191-212.

OEHRL, Sigmund. Re-Interpretations of Gotlandic Picture Stones. Wikström, Klas et al (Ed.). Myth, Materiality, and Lived Religion In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 2019, pp. 141-189.

OEHRL, Sigmund. New Iconochart Interpretations of Gotlandic Picture Stones Based on Surface Re-Analysis. In: Karnell, Maria (Ed.). Gotland´s picture stones: bearers of an enigmatic legacy. Gotlandskt Arkiv 84, 2012, pp. 91-212.

PAASCHE, Knut. The Tune Viking Ship Reconsidered. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 49 (1), 2020, pp. 29-48.

PASTOREAU, Michel. Une histoire symbolique du Moyen Âge occidental. Paris: Éditions du Seiol, 2004.

PEARL, Frederic. The water dragon and the snake witch. Current Swedish Archaeology 22, 2014, pp. 137-156.

PEDERSEN, Anne. Late Viking and Early Medieval Ornaments: a question of Faith. In: GARIPZANOV, Ildar (ed.). Conversion and Identity in the Viking Age. Turnhout: Brepols, 2014, p. 195-222.

PENTZ, Peter. The Fyrkat 4 grave. In: GARDELA, Leszek: BØNDING, Sophie; PENTZ, Peter (Eds.). The norse sorceress: mind and materiality in the Viking World. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2023, pp. 301-326.

PENTZ, Peter. Viking art, Snorri Sturluson and some recent metal detector finds. Fornvännen vol. 113 (1), 2018, pp. 17-33.

PESCH, Alexandra. What’s in a symbol? Some thoughts on the enigmatic triquetra. Primitive tider, Spesialutgave 2023, pp. 11-21.

PETRENKO, V. P. and KUZMENKO, J. K. Ny a fynd med run or från Gamla Ladoga. Viking: Tidsskrift for norrøn arkeologi XLII, 1979, pp. 78-84.

PRICE, Neil; MORTIMER, Paul. An Eye for Odin? Divine Role-Playing in the Age of Sutton Hoo. European Journal of Archaeology 17 (3), 2014, pp. 517-538.

RASMUSSEN, Finn. Nyt syn på trelleborgene. København: Tænk Kritisk, 2006.

Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish National Heritage Board). G205 Runbrakteat, 2020 http://kmb.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16000300020102 (Accessed on 13.11.2020).

RIMSTAD, Charlotte et al. Lost and found: Viking Age human bones and textiles from Bjerringhøj, Denmark. Antiquity 95(381), 2021, pp. 735-752.

RINGSTAD, Bjørn. En underlig steinfigur fra Tornes i Romsdal. Viking: Norsk arkeologisk årbok Bind LIX, 1996, pp. 101-118.

RYENNE, Etienne. The swastika at Ennis. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 32, 1990, pp. 3-18.

ROBB, John. The Archaeology of Symbols. Annual Review of Anthropology v. 27, 1998, pp. 329-346.

ROOD, Joshua. Ascending the Steps to Hliðskjálf: The Cult of Óðinn in Early Scandinavian Aristocracy. Master Thesis, University of Iceland, 2017.

RUNDKVIST, Martin. Mead-halls of the Eastern Geats. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien (kvhaa). Stockholm: Handlingar, Antikvariska serien 49, 2011.

SHEEHAN, John. A Merovingian Background for the Ardmoneel Stone? The Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society (JCHAS) Vol. 99, 1994, pp. 23-31.

SCHJEIDE, Erik. Crafting Words and Wood: Myth, Carving and Húsdrápa. PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 2017.

SCHJØDT, Jens Peter. Pre-Christian Religions of the North and the Need for Comparativism. In: Herman, Pernille; Mitchell, Stephan; Schjødt, Jens Peter (Eds). Old Norse Mythology: Comparative Perspectives. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017, pp. 3-27.

SIMEK, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mithology. London: D.S. Brewer, 2007.

Skaldic Project. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, 2023. https://skaldic.org/db.php?table=mss&id=19071

STAECKER, Jörn. Hjältar, kungar och gudar Receptionen av bibliska element och av hjältediktning i en hednisk värld. Minne och myt: Konsten att skapa det förflutna (Vägar till Midgård 5), 2004, pp. 39-78.

STAUSBERG, Michael. Comparison. In: STAUSBERG, Michael (ed.); ENGLER, Steven (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion. Nova York: Taylor & Francis, 2011, pp. 29-38.

STEPHENS, George. Handbook of the Old Northern runic monuments. Kjøbenhavn: H. V. Lynge, 1884.

STEPHENS, George. Thunor the thunder, carved on a scandinavian font of about the year 1000. London: H. Lynge, 1878.

STOKLUND, Marie. Chronology and Typology of the Danish Runic Inscriptions. In: STOKLUND, Marie et el (Eds.). Runes and their secrets: studies in runology. Copenhagen: Museum of Tusculanum Press/University of Copenhagen, 2006, pp. 355-383.

SUNDQVIST, Olof. The Hanging, the Nine Nights and the “Precious Knowledge” in Hávamál 138–145. Analecta Septentrionalia – RGA-E-Band 65, 2009, pp. 649-668.

SUNDQVIST, Olof. The problem of religious specialists and cult performers in early Scandinavia. Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft 11(1), 2003, pp. 107-131.

TAGGART, Declan. How Thor Lost his Thunder. London: Routledge, 2018.

TOLLEY, Clive. Shamanism in Norse myth and magic. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2009.

TRÆTTEBERG, H.; MOLTKE, E.; LINDEBERG, I. Triquetra. Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingtid til reformasjonstid 18. Oslo: Utg. Gyldendal, 1974, pp. 634-635.

VAITKEVIČIUS, VYKINTAS. The swastika in Lithuania: the horizon of the 13th and 14th centuries. Archaeologia Baltica 27, 2020, p. 104–119.

VARENIUS, Björn. The Hedeby Coinage. Current Swedish Archaeology Vol. 2, 1994, pp. 185-193.

VRIES, Jan Pieter Marie Laurens de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, vol. I. Berlin: Gruyter, 1957.

WANG, Lan. Freyja and Freyr: successors of the Sun. On the absence of the sun in Nordic saga literature. Master thesis, University of Oslo, 2017

WEBSTER, Leslie. The Franks Casket. London: The British Museum, 2012.

WEST, Martin L. Indo-European Poetry and Myth. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

WESTCOAT, Eirik. The Valknut: Heart of the Slain? Odroerir v. 111, 2015, pp. 1-23.

WESTRUP, C.W. Stenene tale: indskrifter, Symboler, Skulpturer. Vore Kirkegaarde 7(1), 1930, pp. 57-63.

WILSON, Thomas. The swastika. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1984.

WINROTH, Anders. The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe. London: Yale University Press, 2012.

YOFFE, Mark & KRAFCZIK, Joseph. Perun, the God of Thunder. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.

Downloads

Publicado

2024-11-27

Edição

v. 13 n. 1 (2024)

Seção

Artigos

Licença

Copyright (c) 2024 Johnni Langer, Victor Hugo Sampaio

Creative Commons License
Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Autores mantêm os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution, que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.