Tjängvide image stone
Encyclopedia
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
as Gotland Runic Inscription 110 or G 110, is a Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
image stone from Tjängvide (ɕɛŋviːdə), which is about three kilometers west of Ljugarn
Ljugarn
Ljugarn is a scattered settlement , which is located at the East coast of the island of Gotland, which is part of Sweden. The area lies south of Slite and is regarded as popular quiet department as well as vacation village for tourists and vacationers. In the area of Ljugarn live app. 275...
, Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Description
The inscription on the Tjängvide stone is carved a flat slab of limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
which measures 1.7 metres in height, is 1.2 metres wide and 0.3 metres thick. The stone was discovered in 1844 on the farm of Tjängvide, and is presently located in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden that covers Swedish cultural history and art from the Stone Age to the 16th century...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. The stone is probably pagan
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
in origin as no trace of any Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
elements has been found on the inscription.
Imagery
The stone is decorated with several figures in an upper and a lower field, which are separated by a braided pattern that resembles valknutValknut
The Valknut is a symbol consisting of three interlocked triangles, and appears on various Germanic objects. A number of theories have been proposed for its significance....
s. In the upper field, there is a large eight-footed horse and a small rider who is offered a drinking horn
Drinking horn
A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity especially in Thrace and the Balkans, and remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period in some parts of Europe, notably in Germanic...
by a woman, and there are also some other figures, such as a quadruped animal and some less discernible images.
The rider on his horse is usually identified with Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
, or a dead man who is arriving at Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
on Odin's horse. The female figure is identified as a valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
. The images of the rider on the horse is used as the logo of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden that covers Swedish cultural history and art from the Stone Age to the 16th century...
.
There are also alternative interpretations of the imagery. One interpretation, based upon the Volsunga saga
Volsunga saga
The Völsungasaga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan . It is largely based on epic poetry...
, is that the rider is Sigurd
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
who is riding on Grani
Grani
In Norse mythology, Grani is a horse owned by the hero Sigurd. He is the horse that Sigurd receives through advice from an old man . Grani is a descendant of Odin's own steed, Sleipnir.-Attestations:...
(an offspring of Sleipnir) and that the welcoming woman is either Brynhild or Grimhild
Grimhild
In Norse mythology, Grimhild was a beautiful but evil woman. She was married to king ],] kind of southern Rhine, Burgundy. She had three sons named; Gunnar, Hogni, Guttorm, and a daughter Gudrun. She is the sorceress who gave Sigurd a magic potion that makes him forget that he ever married his...
who is welcoming Sigurd to the court of the Gjukungs
Nibelung
The German Nibelungen and the corresponding Old Norse form Niflung is the name in Germanic and Norse mythology of the royal family or lineage of the Burgundians who settled at Worms....
. This story was popular during the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
and is depicted on other runestones and image stones known as the Sigurd stones
Sigurd stones
The Sigurd stones form a group of seven or eight runestones and one image stone that depict imagery from the legend of Sigurd the dragon slayer...
. It is also possible that the eight legs symbolize the high speed of the horse and that the rider is a living man who is welcomed by his wife. The man behind the woman appears to carry a bow and he may represent the dead man who is hunting and the quadruped may be his dog.
The lower field of the stone is almost completely filled with the image of a longship
Longship
Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with...
with tall aft and stern. The sail is almost as wide as the ship is long.
It has been noted that the Tjängvide image stone has a phallic
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
shape, and that similar combinations of death with erotic symbology occur on other Gotland rune and image stones.
Inscription
The runic inscription to the left of the field is the runic row, but several of the runes are lost. In the runic inscription to the right of the lower field, half of the runes may be lost. The runic inscription does not separate the words from each other and the runes are short-twig runes. The name Hiorulf in the text translates as "sword wolf."Below follows the inscription as it is presented by the Rundata
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
project:
Transliteration
- A fuorkhn... ...fuþr-...
- B ... (r)aisti stainin aft iurulf bruþur sin ÷ sikuif(i)r(t)(u)(a)(n)k(i)sifil
Transcription into Old Norse
- A fuþork ...
- B ... ræisti stæininn æftiR Hiorulf/Iorulf, broður sinn ...
Translation in English
- A fuþork ...
- B ... raised the stone in memory of Hjôrulfr/Jórulfr, his brother ...