The Skarpåker Stone, designated by

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

as Sö 154, is a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

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 such as home ...

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

that originally was located in Skarpåker,

Nyköping Nyköping () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden, with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County. Including Arnö, the locality on the ...

, Sörmland, Sweden. It dates to the early eleventh century.

Description

The runestone was discovered in 1883 in a field at Skarpåker, but in 1883 was moved to Lindö and then moved to its current location in that city in 1928. The Skarpåker Stone is 1.8 meters in height and notable for a

skald 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 compo ...

ic younger futhark inscription in two, nearly-identical lines. The

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of Contemporary era, present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic and non-Abrah ...

of the verse, "the Earth shall be rent, and the heavens above", apparently expressing a father's devastation at the loss of his son, may be compared to the father's lament in the ''

Sonatorrek ''Sonatorrek'' ("the irreparable loss of sons") is a skaldic poem in 25 stanzas, that appears in Egil's Saga (written c.a. 1220–1240), an Icelandic saga focusing on the life of skald and viking, Egill Skallagrímsson (ca. 910–990). The ...

''. It also evokes the catastrophic end of the world in

Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. O ...

, described in the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...

'' as

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

and also alluded to in the ''

Muspilli ''Muspilli'' is an Old High German alliterative verse poem known in incomplete form (103 lines) from a ninth-century Bavarian manuscript. Its subject is the fate of the soul immediately after death and at the Last Judgment. Many aspects of the int ...

''. The phrase "heavens above" or "high heaven" (literally "up-heaven") is used in three existing skaldic poems, in Old High German, Old Saxon and Old English religious poetry as well as on the charm on the

Ribe Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,367 (2025). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It is now part of the enlarged E ...

runic healing stick DR EM85;493, with "earth and high heaven" apparently a common Germanic poetic phrase. The line on the Skarpåker Stone also invokes the following lines from the third stanza of the ''

Völuspá ''Völuspá'' (also ''Vǫluspá'', ''Vǫlospá'', or ''Vǫluspǫ́''; Old Norse: 'Prophecy of the völva, a seeress') is the best known poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. It dates back to the tenth century and tells the story from Norse Mythology of ...

'': :::Of old was the age , when

Ymir In Norse mythology, Ymir (), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writte ...

lived; :::Sea nor cool waves , nor sand there were; :::Earth had not been, , nor heaven above, :::But a yawning gap, , and grass nowhere. The text is carved on a serpent who arches over a depiction of a ship with a

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

as its mast. Other runic inscriptions from the Viking Age that depict ships include DR 77 in Hjermind, DR 119 in Spentrup, DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, DR 258 in Bösarp, DR 271 in Tullstorp, DR 328 in Holmby, DR EM85;523 in Farsø, Ög 181 in Ledberg, Ög 224 in Stratomta, Ög MÖLM1960;230 in Törnevalla, Sö 122 in Skresta, Sö 158 in Österberga, Sö 164 in Spånga, Sö 351 in Överjärna, Sö 352 in Linga, Vg 51 in Husaby, U 370 in Herresta, U 979 in Gamla Uppsala, U 1052 in Axlunda, U 1161 in Altuna, and Vs 17 in Råby. Three stones, the Hørdum and Långtora kyrka stones and U 1001 in Rasbo, depict ships, but currently do not have any runes on them and may never have had any. While including older

pagan Paganism (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

references in the runic text, the overall theme of the inscription on the Skarpåker Stone, with the ship and cross, is Christian. p. 63-65. The inscription on the Skarpåker Stone has been attributed to a runemaster named Traen,Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Sö 154. and is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr1, which also is known as the Ringerike style. This is the classification for inscriptions with runic text bands that end in serpent or animal heads, depicted as seen from above.

Transliteration of inscription into Latin letters

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skarpaker Stone 11th-century inscriptions 1883 archaeological discoveries Runestones in Södermanland