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Boar Crested Helmets
Germanic boar helmets or boar crested helmets are attested in archaeological finds from England, Denmark and Sweden, dating to Vendel period, Vendel and History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon periods, and Old English and Old Norse written sources. They consist of helmets decorated with either a Wild boar, boar crest or other boar imagery that was believed to offer protection in battle to the wearer. They have also been proposed to be a costume for the ritual transformation into a boar, similar to berserkers, and to be associated with Freyr. Context Roman, Celtic and Baltic The boar was an important symbol in prehistoric Europe, where, according to the archaeologist Jennifer Foster, it was "venerated, eulogised, hunted and eaten ... for millennia, until its virtual extinction in recent historical time." Anglo-Saxon and Vendel era boar symbols are preceded by a thousand years of similar iconography, coming after La Tène culture, La Tène examples in the fourth century BCE, G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Legion
The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. After the Marian reforms in 107 BC, the legions were formed of 5,200 men and were restructured around 10 cohorts, the first cohort being double strength. This structure persisted throughout the Principate and Roman Empire, middle Empire, before further changes in the fourth century resulted in new formations of around 1,000 men. Size The size of a typical legion varied throughout the history of ancient Rome, with complements ranging from 4,200 legionaries and 300 ''equites'' (drawn from the wealthier classes – in early Rome all troops provided their own equipment) in the Republic, to 5,500 in the Imperial period, when most legions were led by a Roman Imperial Legate. A legion had 4,800 Legionary, legionaries ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Einherjar
In Norse mythology, the einherjar (singular einheri; literally "army of one", "those who fight alone")Simek, Rudolf (1993). ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. Translated by Angela Hall. p. 71.Orchard (1997:36) and Lindow (2001:104). are those who have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by valkyries. In Valhalla, the einherjar eat their fill of the nightly resurrecting beast Sæhrímnir, and valkyries bring them mead from the udder of the goat Heiðrún. The einherjar prepare daily for the events of Ragnarök, when they will advance for an immense battle at the field of Vígríðr. The einherjar are attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, the poem '' Hákonarmál'' (by the 10th century skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir) as collected in '' Heimskringla'', and a stanza of an anonymous 10th century poem commemorating the death of Eric Bloodaxe known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harald Wartooth
Harald Wartooth or ''Harold Hiltertooth'' (Old Norse: ''Haraldr hilditǫnn''; Modern Swedish and Danish: Harald Hildetand; Modern Norwegian: ''Harald Hildetann'')Röreksson was a semi- legendary king of Denmark who is mentioned in several traditional sources. He is held to have (indirectly) succeeded his father as king of Zealand and to have expanded his realm. According to different sources, he may have ruled over Jutland, part of Sweden and the historical northern German province of Wendland. He is said to have been finally defeated and killed at the legendary Battle of Bråvalla. Name Saxo Grammaticus, in '' Gesta Danorum'', gives two different accounts about why Harald had the name ''wartooth''. According to one tradition, it was due to Harald having lost two of his teeth in battle against Veseti, the lord of Scania, after which two new teeth grew out. Saxo further tells that according to another opinion, the name was derived from Harald having protruding teeth. A scholarly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Empire's partial occupation of Germania ( BCE), the Migration Period (4th–6th centuries CE) and the Viking Age (8th–11th centuries CE). Consequently, Odin has hundreds of names and titles. Several of these stem from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym ''Wōðanaz'', meaning "lord of frenzy" or "leader of the possessed", which may relate to the god's strong association with poetry. Most mythological stories about Odin survive from the 13th-century ''Prose Edda'' and an earlier collection of Old Norse poems, the ''Poetic Edda'', along with other Old Norse items like '' Ynglinga saga''. The ''Prose Edda'' and other sources depict Odin as the head of the pantheon, sometimes called the Æsir, and bearing a spear and a ring. Wid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gesta Danorum
("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history. It is also one of the oldest known written documents about the history of Estonia and Latvia. Consisting of sixteen books written in Latin on the invitation of Archbishop Absalon, describes Danish history and to some degree Scandinavian history in general, from prehistory to the late 12th century. In addition, offers singular reflections on European affairs in the High Middle Ages from a unique Scandinavian perspective, supplementing what has been handed down by historians from Western and Southern Europe. Books The sixteen books, in prose with an occasional excursion into poetry, can be categorized into two parts: Books 1–9, which deal with Norse mythology and semi-legendary Danish histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knýtlinga Saga
''Knýtlinga saga'' () is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark from the early 10th century to the time when the book was written. There are good reasons to assume that the author was Óláfr Þórðarson (d. 1259), nicknamed ''hvítaskáld'' ("the White Poet"), who was a nephew of Snorri Sturluson. Óláfr is also known for having written the ''Third Grammatical Treatise''. He stayed with the Danish ruler Valdemar II of Denmark in 1240–1241, and Valdemar provided the saga's author with "a great deal of information" and "outstanding accounts". The work is modelled on the ''Heimskringla'', Snorri's work on the Norwegian kings. Like Snorri, the author makes frequent use of skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanic Peoples
The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of the Roman Empire, but also all Germanic speaking peoples from this era, irrespective of where they lived, most notably the Goths. Another term, ancient Germans, is considered problematic by many scholars since it suggests identity with present-day Germans. Although the first Roman descriptions of ''Germani'' involved tribes west of the Rhine, their homeland of ''Germania'' was portrayed as stretching east of the Rhine, to southern Scandinavia and the Vistula in the east, and to the upper Danube in the south. Other Germanic speakers, such as the Bastarnae and Goths, lived further east in what is now Moldova and Ukraine. The term ''Germani ''is generally only used to refer to historical peoples from the 1st to 4th centuries CE. Different ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svinfylking
The Svinfylking, Old Norse for "swine array" or "boar snout", was a formation used in battle. Related to the wedge formation, it was used in Iron Age Scandinavia and later by the Vikings. It was also used by Germanic peoples during the Germanic Iron Age and was known as the "Schweinskopf" or "Swine's Head". Its invention was attributed to the god Odin. The apex was composed of a single file. The number of warriors then increases by a constant in each rank back to its base. Families and tribesmen were ranked side by side, which added morale cohesion. The tactic was admirable for an advance against a line or even a column, but it was poor in the event of a retreat. The formation consisted of heavily armed, presumably hand-to-hand, warriors and less-armored archers grouped in a triangle formation with the warriors in the front lines protecting the archers in center or rear. Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thracian
The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, Romania, and north-western Turkey. They shared the same language and culture. There may have been as many as a million Thracians, divided among up to 40 tribes." Thracians resided mainly in Southeast Europe in modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, northern Greece and European Turkey, but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey. The exact origin of the Thracians is uncertain, but it is believed that Thracians like other Indo-European speaking groups in Europe descended from a mixture of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers. Around the 5th millennium BC, the inhabitants of the eastern region of the Balkans became organized in different groups of indigenous people that were later named by the ancient G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
