250px, The Stenkvista runestone in Södermanland, Sweden, with its Thor's hammer. The Stenkvista runestone, designated as

runic inscription A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of ...

Sö 111 in the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base ( sv, Samnordisk runtextdatabas) 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 ...

catalog, is a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

runestone located near the church at Stenkvista, which is two kilometers east of Skogstorp, Södermanland County,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

, which was formerly part of the historic

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västm ...

, and which features a depiction of

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, ...

's hammer, Mjöllnir. This runestone is one of several runestones in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...

that has a dedication to Thor. While the tradition of carving inscriptions into boulders began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, most runestones in Scandinavia date from the late

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

Description

The Stenkvista runestone, which currently lies in a churchyard, is made of granite and is 2.2 meters in height. It is classified as being in runestone style Fp. This is the classification for inscriptions where the runic text is characterized by runic bands that end with serpent or animal heads depicted as seen from above. The

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyk ...

who carved this runestone placed a dot between the words in the runic text, arranged the design so that the runes þiuþmunt for the man's name Þjóðmundr and faþur * sin for the words ''fôður sinn'' ("their father") are located below the Thor's hammer. Thor's hammer was used on several memorial runestones in Sweden and Denmark, perhaps as a parallel to or a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

reaction to the use of the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

by Christians. Other surviving runestones or inscriptions depicting Thor's hammer include runestones U 1161 in Altuna, Sö 86 in Åby, Vg 113 in Lärkegapet, Öl 1 in Karlevi, DR 26 in Laeborg, DR 48 in Hanning, DR 120 in Spentrup, and DR 331 in Gårdstånga. Sö 111, Stenkvista 1916

The runic text indicates that the stone is a memorial raised by three sons to their father Þjóðmundr. Two Norse pagan gods appear as

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that dei ...

elements in two of the personal names listed in the inscription. The name Freygeirr translates as " Freyr's Spear" and Þorgautr as "

-Goth."

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:* helki * auk * fraykaiʀ * auk * þorkautr * raistu * merki * siʀun * at * þiuþmunt faþur * sinProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for Sö 111.

Transcription into Old Norse

:Helgi ok Freygeirr ok Þorgautr reistu merki sírún/sírýn at Þjóðmund, fôður sinn.

Translation in English

:Helgi and Freygeirr and Þorgautr raised the rune-decorated landmark in memory of Þjóðmundr, their father.

References

{{runestones Runestones in Södermanland