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The Sæbø sword (also known as the Thurmuth sword) is an early 9th-century
The sword itself is categorized as 'Type C' by Petersen (1919), who notes that it is unique in showing remnants of a metal thread at the broadsides of the upper hilt, compared to other specimens of the type which show horizontal ridges or protruding edges, or less commonly inlaid forged stripes or protruding moldings that seem to be imitations of twisted or smooth thread. It is described as an imitation of a foreign ontinentalsword inscription because of the lack of parallels in native tradition. There is an inscription realised in iron inlay along the center of the blade, close to the hilt.
The sword was described in 1867 by George Stephens, an English archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the runic inscriptions of Scandinavia, in his book ''Handbook of the Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England''. In this work he showed a drawing of the sword with a very clear inscription comprising five runes or rune-like letters with a
Viking sword
The Viking Age sword (also Viking sword) or Carolingian sword is the type of sword prevalent in Western and Northern Europe during the Early Middle Ages.
The Viking Age or Carolingian-era sword developed in the 8th century from the Merovingi ...
, found in a barrow at Sæbø, Vikøyri, in Norway's Sogn
Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...
region in 1825. It is now held at the Bergen Museum
The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history.
History
The Uni ...
in Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula ...
, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...
.
The sword has an inscription on its blade, which has been identified as a 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 El ...
incorporating a swastika symbol by Stephens (1867). The blade is poorly preserved, and the inscription barely legible, but if Stephens' interpretation is correct, the sword would be a unique example of a Viking-era sword with a runic blade inscription.
Description
The sword itself is categorized as 'Type C' by Petersen (1919), who notes that it is unique in showing remnants of a metal thread at the broadsides of the upper hilt, compared to other specimens of the type which show horizontal ridges or protruding edges, or less commonly inlaid forged stripes or protruding moldings that seem to be imitations of twisted or smooth thread. It is described as an imitation of a foreign ontinentalsword inscription because of the lack of parallels in native tradition. There is an inscription realised in iron inlay along the center of the blade, close to the hilt.
Inscription
The sword was described in 1867 by George Stephens, an English archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the runic inscriptions of Scandinavia, in his book ''Handbook of the Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England''. In this work he showed a drawing of the sword with a very clear inscription comprising five runes or rune-like letters with a swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. ...
symbol in the middle. According to Stephens the inscription reads oh卍muþ from right to left. He interpreted the swastika as being used in rebus
A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...
-writing to represent the syllable ''þur'' for the god Thor, and thus expanded the reading to ''oh Þurmuþ'' meaning "Owns e Thurmuth". This reading was inspired by the idea that the swastika was used as a symbol of Thor (more precisely, of Thor's hammer) in 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 ...
Norse paganism
Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peop ...
. It was the subject of scholarly discussion at the International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archæology at Budapest in 1876, where the prevalent opinion was that the swastika stood for "blessing" or "good luck".
In 1889, in a review of a book by A. L. Lorange, Stephens noted that the sword had been treated with acid whilst at the Danish Museum, with the result that the sword and its inscription were severely damaged, and consequently the inscription shown in a colour plate in Lorange's book was undecipherable.
See also
* Seax of Beagnoth, anAnglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
seax
''Seax'' (; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized ''sachsum'') is an Old English word for "knife". In modern archaeology, the term ''seax'' is used specifically for a type of small sword, knife or dagger typical of the Germanic pe ...
with a runic inscription on its blade
* Swastika (Germanic Iron Age)
The swastika design is known from artefacts of various cultures since the Neolithic, and it recurs with some frequency on artefacts dated to the Germanic Iron Age, i.e. the Migration period to Viking Age period in Scandinavia, including the ...
Footnotes
References
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saebo Sword Viking swords Germanic archaeological artifacts Runic inscriptions Swastika Individual weapons