Reading the Runes

Mysterious characters inscribed on stone, wood and bone reveal little-known aspects of everyday Viking life. Eleanor Barraclough deciphers runes that recount tales of love, lust, travel and tragedy from a millennium ago

The Vikings are best known for their bloody raids, bawdy gods and buried ships. But they are also famous for their runes – the Nordic branch of the spiky north Germanic alphabet still so familiar today. Though Viking Age culture was largely non-literate, runes were the chief exception, lying at the intersection between text and object. In the same way that the word ‘alphabet’ is derived by combining the Greek letters α (alpha) and β (beta), the Nordic equivalent, ‘futhark’, is derived from the first six letters of the writing system: ᚠ (f), ᚢ (u), ᚦ (th), ᚬ (a), ᚱ (r), ᚴ (k). Surprisingly, given that they represent such a recognisable and well-known form of ancient writing, no one knows for certain where runes came from. It's probably no coincidence that…

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Bbc History (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2024

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