Published on Wed, 16/12/09 |
Viking Movies,
Vikings

Last Monday Variety reported that Mel Gibson is going to direct a Viking movie with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star. The screenplay is by William Monahan. The project will be financed by Mel Gibson and Graham King.
The Viking film is expected to begin shooting in fall 2010. Before it happens, Gibson will star in How I Spent My Summer Vacation, a Mexican prison drama. Even earlier, we’ll see him in Edge of Darkness and Jodie Foster’s The Beaver. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, in 2010 he stars in Nolan’s Inception and Scorcese’s Shutter Island. Read the whole story »
Last Saturday, November 14, Roskilde Museum site published an article (in Danish), entitled “Odin fra Lejre” (“Odin from Lejre”). It tells about an exciting archaeological find, a small silver figurine discovered early in September at Lejre (municipality on the island of Zealand, Denmark). Amateur archaeologist Tommy Olesen was metal detecting near the site where archaeologists [...]
Published on Sun, 4/10/09 |
Norse Mythology
To the left is the mirrored image of one of the four cast-bronze dies from Torslunda, which were used for striking helmet-plates. It is mirrored advisedly, in order to get the actual image that appeared on the helmets when the matrice was applied to them. This die (dated to c. 600) was found at [...]
Published on Thu, 1/10/09 |
Old Norse,
Vikings
How many loanwords from Old Nose are there in the standard English language? Viking origin of the words ‘ransack’ and ’slaughter’ probably would not surprise anyone, but very “peaceful” words like ‘leg’, ’sky’ or ‘window’ are also of Scandinavian provenance. The verb ‘get’, one of the most used in English, was actually borrowed from Old [...]
Published on Mon, 28/09/09 |
Viking Movies,
Vikings
The 13th Warrior was released in 1999. Rumored to be a loss of $100 million at the box office worldwide, it is not the best film by McTiernan (Die Hard, The Thomas Crown Affair) in any sense. However, it was rather entertaining to watch it again, taking a few notes in the process. From the [...]
Published on Tue, 22/09/09 |
Vikings
In September 2008 Dr James H. Barrett, who is deputy director of Cambridge University’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, published a paper that provoked lively discussion. The paper was entitled “What caused the Viking Age?”. It was published in Antiquity v.82 n.317, pages 671-685 (available for subscribers here).
The Viking Age began dramatically in 793, when [...]
Published on Tue, 22/09/09 |
Nordic Countries,
Vikings
Climate, lifestyle and isolation: these three factors largely shaped Scandinavian cuisine. Lengthy, dark and cold winter has always been and still is one of the basic facts of life in the Nordic countries that have to be dealt with seriously. Surviving through the winter depended on food supplies stored during the short growing season. Lack [...]