The Elusive Face of the Viking God Thor

2014

Scandia Journal of Medieval Norse Studies, 2024

Man has always produced symbols, from prehistoric times to the times of space conquest. The world's most important religions have also always expressed strong artistic and cultural identities through symbols. The ancient scandinavians were no different. One might wonder tough: to what extent did Viking symbols – and their constant presence in movies, media, medieval festivals and even tattoos – really have the same meaning which is attributed to them in these media? This is the central issue that German archaeologist Alexandra Pesch investigates throughout her 130-page book.

Stockholm University Press, 2019

Anglia, 2015

The book is divided into six chapters and concluding remarks plus bibliography and index. By analyzing the crucifixion image on the Gosforth Cross (Cumbria, 10th cent.) in her introduction, Lilla Kopár vividly demonstrates the "cultural exchange and integration that took place in the Anglo-Scandinavian communities" and its manifestation in stone carvings (xxi). While the focus of this book is on "the intercultural dialogue in the art of stone sculpture" (xxvii), the aim of the study is to extend the "line of scholarship by a new perspective"; accordingly Kopár examines a particular group of carvings as "cultural documents of an intellectual, rather than historical or social process" (23). According to her, "these sculptures bear witness to the process of religious and cultural adaptation and assimilation that was initiated by the settlement of the Scandinavians" (xxiv). In her introduction she deals with methodological concerns such as the relationship between image and text, which is often not a one-to-one relationship but a constant interplay of two or more 'texts'; this is true even more in the Anglo-Scandinavian context, where the dialogue is between two different cultural traditions brought together in the Scandinavian settlement areas of northern England. One of Kopár's objectives is to discuss and evaluate the carvings with mythological and heroic iconography of Scandinavian origin as evidence of a religious and cultural integration process. She also compares the carvings with written sources. The relevant carvings are distributed in the northern and northwestern parts of the Danelaw, to which monuments of the culturally, socially and politically related Isle of Man serve as comparative material. More importantly, the time frame for the carvings in question is the period between the late 9th and the mid-11th century, as the period of the Scandinavian invasion and subsequent settlement. Besides presenting the monuments in question as one

2006

This paper demonstrates the value of ancient depicted sign language when viewing and attempting to understand the meaning of ancient imagery.

2014

There are a number of people I would like to thank for their assistance in writing this thesis. Firstly, I should thank my supervisors, Margaret Clunies Ross and Daniel Anlezark. I am particularly indebted to Margaret for all of her very useful help and advice. The staff of the Medieval and Early Modern Centre (MEMC) at the University of Sydney deserve a mention, especially Liam Semler, Juanita Ruys and Hannah Burrows. I am also grateful to MEMC for funding my recent trip to present at the Leeds International Medieval Congress in July 2013. I would like to acknowledge Lilla Kopár and express my gratitude to her as she gave me access to the completed manuscript of her book before it was published. My partner, Katherine Theodoulou Thomson, has been very supportive of at all times and relocated from New Zealand to live with me. My father, Antony Braithwaite, and mother, Rebecca Westoby, and two brothers have been very encouraging and helpful. Thanks are also due to Kate Westoby and Mark Crew, who gave me gratis accommodation when I first came to Sydney and have treated me exceptionally well since then.

Oxford 2021 (Jan. 2022)

‘Thorvald’s Cross. The Viking-Age Cross-Slab “Kirk Andreas MM 128” and its Iconography’ provides an in-depth analysis of one of the Isle of Man’s most important and intriguing monuments. The Manx Crosses are a unique collection of Scandinavian-style grave stones unequalled in the medieval Viking World. Their carvings and inscriptions offer a window into Viking-Age society and spirituality at a time when the Celtic Manx and Scandinavian settlers in the Island came to terms with each other. Among these stones, the iconic ‘Thorvald’s Cross’ (MM 128) in St Andrew’s church in the village of Andreas demands particular attention, as it features figural scenes with humans and animals deriving from both pagan Norse mythology and Christian religious imagery. According to the prevailing view, the triumph of Christianity over paganism is shown in the two surviving reliefs, but differing opinions have been put forward. This book brings together all available information about ‘Thorvald’s Cross’ and discusses and analyses former and current hypotheses regarding the stone’s iconography, weighing their respective merits and shortcomings. Based in in-depth research and an ‘autopsy’ of the stone on-site, it considers the images in their spiritual, cultural, and chronological context and presents a new interpretation of this remarkable monument, arguing that the depiction of religious confrontation was not its original purpose, but that both scenes convey a common, much more subtle and comforting Christian message.

Lund Archaeological Review, 2014

The Christian cross was a favourite high-status motif-that is, the most important motif of a picture field-on a large number of Late Viking Age art objects, and thus appeared on a monumental scale on picture runestones. By a picture runestone is meant a memorial stone or a grave stone equipped with both runic text and image, the latter in the form of either a designed head, legs and tail of rune bands or a free-standing image, or both. Parallel to picture runestones are runestones with only an inscription and picture stones with only an image. The Mammen, Ringerike and Urnes styles constitute Late Viking Age art in the Viking world in the period c. 950-1135 AD. The picture runestones of Västergötland are predominantly executed in the Ringerike style, which flowered especially in the first half of the 11th century, at the time of King Canute the Great, when the earls of Västergötland probably recognized the king's supremacy. Christian symbolism in images was communicated efficiently by Scandinavian designs, often elegantly executed. The widely travelled Vikings were familiar with Christian symbolism, such as the cherished legend about the Golgotha drama, as well as the intimate relationship between three of the most important symbols: the serpent, the Arbor Vitae/tree of life and the cross of Christ.