Gotland's Picture Stones: Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy

Gotland's Picture Stones: Bearers of an Enigmatic LegacyGotland’s picture stones have long evoked people’s fascination, whether this has been prompted by an interest in life in Scandinavia in the first millennium or an appreciation of the beauty of the stones. The Gotlandic picture stones offer glimpses into an enigmatic world, plentifully endowed with imagery, but they also arouse our curiosity. What was the purpose and significance of the picture stones in the world of their creators, and what underlying messages nestle beneath their ima-gery and broader context? As a step towards elucidating some of the points at issue and gaining an insight into current research, the Runic Research Group at the Swe-dish National Heritage Board, in cooperation with Gotland Museum, arranged an inter national interdisciplinary symposium in 2011, the first symposium ever to focus exclu sively on Gotland’s picture stones. The articles presented in this publication are based on the lectures delivered at that symposium.

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Leszek Paweł Słupecki - Slavonic pagan sanctuaries

Slavonic pagan sanctuaries1994, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences in English

 

 

 

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Migration Art, A.D. 300-800

Migration Art, A.D. 300-800Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.),

Katharine Reynolds Brown

 

 

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Florin Curta - The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700

Florin Curta - The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700This book offers a new approach to the problem of Slavic ethnicity in southeastern Europe between c. 500 and c. 700. The author shows how Byzantine authors "invented" the Slavs, in order to make sense of political and military developments taking place in the Balkans.

Making extensive use of archaeology to show that such developments resulted in the rise of powerful leaders, responsible for creating group identities and mobilizing warriors for successful raids across the frontier. The author rejects the idea of Slavic migration, and shows that "the Slavs" were the product of the frontier.

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The Livs in antiquity

The Livs in antiquityThe Livs are among the indigenous inhabitantsThe Livs are among the indigenous inhabitantsof Latvia, with an ancient and unusual culture anda complicated history. They belong to the Finnicgroup of peoples and Liv is included in the southerngroup of Finnic languages. The ethnic origin of theLivs has not yet been established with certainty,and there is still no consensus among researcherson the origins of the Livs and their descendants,the available evidence being contradictory.

We can speak more specifically of Liv culturaldevelopment from the 10th century onwards, whennew sites, unknown in previous periods andconnected with the Livs, appear on the lowerDaugava. Archaeological data does not support theview put forward by some authors regarding thelocal origin of the Daugava and Gauja Livs.Written sources provide information about theLivs from the 11th century onwards, where theyare mentioned in Scandinavian runes.

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Odin, Thor und Freyja

Odin, Thor und FreyjaSkandinavische Kultplätze des 1. Jahrtausends nach Christus und das Frankenreich

Begleitband zur Ausstellung "Odin, Thor und Freyja. Skandinavische Kultplatze des 1. Jahrtausends n. Chr." / "Odin, Thor and Freyja. Scandinavian Cult Sites of the 1st Millennium AD and the Frankish Realm," 11.02.-06.06.2017, Archaologisches Museum Frankfurt Neueste Forschungen zur altskandinavischen Religion und Kultpraxis.

 

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Slavic Pagan World

Slavic Pagan World. Compilation by Garry GreenCompilation by Garry Green

Welcome to Slavic Pagan World: Slavic Pagan Beliefs, Gods, Myths, Recipes, Magic, Spells, Divinations, Remedies, Songs.

 

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An introduction to English runes

An introduction to English runesPage, R. I. (Raymond Ian)
Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings - usually imprecisely - as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the "futhorc") to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last 20 years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of information on language and social history contained in these unique documents.

Varg Vikernes - Sorcery And Religion In Ancient Scandinavia

Varg Vikernes - Sorcery And Religion In Ancient Scandinavia"Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia" is the latest book from Varg Vikernes, one of the most controversial musicians of all time and the mastermind behind one of the most acclaimed Black Metal bands in the world – Burzum. Convicted in 1994 of the murder of band-mate Euronymous, Vikernes has since spent 15yrs studying the traditions and beliefs of the Ancient Scandinavians and their influence on modern Europeans. That research has culminated in a book in which the outspoken and often divisive author challenges many of the widely held views of contemporary culture and its history. The passionate and in-depth text provides an absorbing insight into the thoughts of this most notorious of musicians. "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia" makes fascinating reading and will be of interest not only to Black Metal and Burzum fans, but also to those with an interest in Norse mythology or European history and social commentators.

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Runic Amulets and Magic Objects

Runic Amulets and Magic ObjectsThe runic alphabet, in use for well over a thousand years, was employed by various Germanic groups in a variety of ways, including, inevitably, for superstitious and magical rites. Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto small items that could be carried for good luck; runic charms were carved on metal or wooden amulets to ensure peace or prosperity. There are invocations and allusions to pagan and Christian gods and heroes, to spirits of disease, and even to potential lovers. Few such texts are completely unique to Germanic society, and in fact, most of the runic amulets considered in this book show wide-ranging parallels from a variety of European cultures.
The question ofwhether runes were magical or not has divided scholarship in the area. Early criticism embraced fantastic notions of runic magic - leading not just to a healthy scepticism, but in some cases to a complete denial of any magical element whatsoever in the runic inscriptions. This book seeks to re-evaulate the whole question of runic sorcery, attested to not only in the medieval Norse literature dealing with runes but primarily in the fascinating magical texts of the runic inscriptions themselves.

Dr MINDY MCLEOD teaches in the Department of Linguistics, Deakin University, Melbourne; Dr BERNARD MEES teaches in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne.

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The Historiography of Normanist and Anti-Normanist theories on the origin of Rus’

The Historiography of Normanist and Anti-Normanist theories on the origin of Rus’A review of modern historiography and major sources on Varangian controversy and other Scandinavian concepts of the origins of Rus’

Dissertation in Viking and Medieval Nordic Culture Submitted in candidacy for the degree of Master of Philosophy By Roman Zakharii

Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies
The Faculty of Arts The University of Oslo, Autumn 2002

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