Want to learn more about Norse Vikings? We provide information and insight for people interested in Viking Age Scandinavia. The present web site is a dynamic resource that treats on current and past issues related to Norse cultural heritage. The Viking Rune offers unique online features: free Rune Converter and Motto Generator. We are committed to greater access to knowledge about the Vikings, which is the only way to dispel the myth about Norse warriors as cruel and bloodthirsty raiders who did nothing but kill, pillage and rape. The Viking Rune is always up-to-date with the latest developments in North Germanic studies, including hot archeological finds in Scandinavia and elsewhere.


Viking Graffiti in Hagia Sophia

March 30, 2009 Vikings History
Viking graffiti

Tagma ton Varangion, the Varangian Guard, was first created in the Byzantine Empire under Basil II Bulgaroctonus (Slayer of the Bulgars), one of the outstanding Byzantine emperors. After the death of John I Tzimisces in 976, who governed the empire before Basil, two powerful generals revolted and received military support from Georgia and Baghdad. Basil [...]

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Jelling Rune Stones Remain Outdoors

March 29, 2009 Rune Stones
Jelling runestones

The Jelling stones are two massive runestones standing in a churchyard in Jelling, Denmark, between two large mounds. Both date to the 10th century. The older and the smaller of the two was erected by Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The Larger stone was erected by Harald Bluetooth in memory of [...]

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The Rune Converter

March 26, 2009 Old Norse
Runes

Just added a page with a new feature: the Rune Converter. One can input a word or phrase, press the “convert” button and get the same sequence of signs in runes. So the converter transforms the letters of the Roman alphabet into runic writing. What distinguishes it among similar scripts is its extended functionality: there [...]

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The Genes of Mice Reveal Viking Secrets

March 19, 2009 Viking DNA
Mouse

The house mice (mus musculus domesticus) are largely dependent on dense human settlement for food, so they may serve as a good indicator of human migrations and trading links. The study by Professor Jeremy Searle, from York University, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences in October 2008, analyses the genes of [...]

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Vikings Filed Their Teeth

March 18, 2009 Vikings
Teeth

Caroline Arcini, an anthropologist at the National Heritage Board in Lund, Sweden, analized 557 skeletons from four major Viking burial sites in Sweden. The skeletons date from AD 800 to AD 1050. The results of the study, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2006, revealed that 24 of them (10 per cent [...]

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The Vikings Reloaded

March 15, 2009 Vikings History
Viking

Today is the third and the last day of the conference Between the Islands: Interaction with Vikings in Ireland and Britain in the Early Medieval Period hosted by the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic of the Cambridge University. “The rehabilitation of the Vikings is nothing new to academics, but it is surprising how enduring [...]

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Viking Ships Found Over the Last 12 Years

March 13, 2009 Viking Hoards
Viking ship sail

As far as I was able to find out, at least eight important viking ship finds have been reported over the last twelve years. In July 1997 a joint expedition of the Center for Russian Underwater Archaeology and Archeoclub d’Italia discovered a wreck of a 9th or 10th century Varangian ship in Dalnaja Bay near [...]

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Lewis Chessmen

March 12, 2009 Viking Hoards
Lewis chessmen

The Lewis chessmen were probably made in Norway about AD 1150-1200 by craftsmen in Trondheim, where similar pieces have been found. Some researchers think that the chessmen were lost or hidden during their transportation from Norway to Viking settlements on the east coast of Ireland. They were discovered in 1831 in the vicinity of Uig [...]

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