DR 335 - Västra Ströstenen 2 photo hedning 2009

The Västra Strö 2 Runestone, listed as DR 335 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 f ...

catalog, is a

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 The ...

memorial

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

located at the Västra Strö Monument, which is at a church that is about four kilometers northwest of

Eslöv Eslöv (; older da, Eslev) is a town and the seat of Eslöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 19,598 inhabitants as of 2018. Eslöv is part of the Öresund Region. History According to a map from 1717, Eslöv village was originally loc ...

Skåne County Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kron ...

, Sweden.

Description

Västra strömonumentet photo hedning 2009

The Västra Strö Monument consists of five

standing stones A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

and two runestones, DR 355 and the Viking runestone DR 334. The two stones have a Danish Rundata catalog number because

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skå ...

was part of the historical

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

during the Viking Age. The monument was surveyed in the 17th century by the Danish antiquarian

Ole Worm Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Lat ...

who documented the inscriptions and reported that it was in good condition. This was not the case during a second survey in 1876 when all stones except one were found to have fallen. The Lund

Kulturen Kulturen () is an open air museum in Lund in Lund, Sweden. Occupying two blocks in central Lund, Kulturen is Sweden's and the world's second oldest open-air museum after Skansen in Stockholm. It contains historic buildings, dating from the M ...

restored the monument in 1932. When the stone was raised in 1932, a mask of a man's face was discovered on the other side. This is a common

motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...

and is found on several other runestones including DR 62 in Sjelle, DR 66 in Århus, DR 81 in Skern, DR 258 in Bösarp, the now-lost DR 286 in Hunnestad, DR 314 in Lund, Vg 106 in Lassegården, Sö 86 in Åby ägor, Sö 112 in Kolunda, Sö 167 in Landshammar, Sö 367 in Släbro, Nä 34 in Nasta, U 508 in Gillberga, U 670 in Rölunda, U 678 in Skokloster, U 824 in Holms, U 1034 in Tensta, and U 1150 in Björklinge, and on the

Sjellebro Stone The Sjellebro Stone is a Viking Age image stone located at Sjellbro, which is about 12 kilometers southeast of Randers, Denmark. The stone is inscribed with a facial mask. Description The Sjellbro Stone is about 1.7 meters in height and featur ...

. The Västra Strö 2 Runestone consists of runic text in an arch that is classified as being carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increa ...

RAK, which is considered to be the oldest classification. This is the classification for inscriptions that have straight text band ends without any attached serpent or beast heads. Each word in the runic text is separated by a two dot word divider punctuation mark. Runic inscriptions are often dated based upon comparative

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and stylistic analysis, and the inscription on DR 335 has been dated to approximately the period of 960 to 1050 C.E. The runic text states that Faðir raised the stone as a memorial to Bjôrn, with whom he owned a ship, and Faðir likely created the Västra Strö Monument. Faðir also sponsored DR 344, which is a memorial to his brother Ôzurr, who died or on a Viking raid or expedition. It is possible that Faðir and Bjôrn also went on this joint expedition. The brother Ôzurr is not mentioned as having a part owner the ship. Other runestones that state that the deceased was a ship owner include DR 68 in Århus and U 778 in Svinnegarn. The stone is known locally as the ''Västra Ströstenen 2''.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:faþiʀ : lit : hukua : stin : þan(s)i : uftiʀ : biurn : is : skib : ati : miþ : anum :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for DR 335.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Faþiʀ let hoggwa sten þænsi æftiʀ Biorn, æs skip atti mæþ hanum.''

Translation in English

:Faðir had this stone cut in memory of Bjôrn, who owned a ship with him.

References

Other sources

*This article contains some information from the Swedish Wikipedia article Västra Strömonumentet.

External links

Maskesten - Billedsten fra Vikingtiden
- Arild Hauge webpage on mask stones

Gallery

File:Västra strömonumentet skåne sweden ole worm 1628.jpg, Drawing of the Västra Strö Monument published by Old Worm in 1643 File:DR 334 - Västra Ströstenen 1 photo hedning 2009.jpg, The inscription on DR 334 states "Faðir had these runes cut in memory of Ôzurr, his brother, who died in the north on a viking raid." {{DEFAULTSORT:Vastra Stro 2 Runestone Runestones in Scania 10th-century inscriptions 11th-century inscriptions 17th-century archaeological discoveries