YOU DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY ABOUT THE VIKINGS! 10 uncomfortable facts about Scandinavian pirates

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many people think that Vikings are a nationality. In fact, the Vikings were something of a military alliance, which at one time significantly expanded their possessions. We are told that the Vikings were at the peak of their power, approximately in the 9th - 11th centuries, but these dates still need to be proven somehow.

Many people think that Vikings are a nationality. In fact, the Vikings were something of a military alliance, which at one time significantly expanded their possessions. We are told that the Vikings were at the peak of their power, approximately in the 9th - 11th centuries, but these dates still need to be proven somehow. There is also a classic misconception regarding the nationality of the Vikings - supposedly they were exclusively Scandinavians - Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Estonians, and so on. In fact, the Baltic Slavs (they are also the Vendians of the Icelandic sagas) also took part in the Viking movement. The Western Slavic peoples, the Ruyans and Vagrs, that is, the Varangians, became famous among the Vikings for their forays into Scandinavia and Denmark allegedly in the 12th century. This information has been preserved, including in the sagas (for example, in the "Saga of Magnus the Blind and Harald Gilly"). Perhaps the medieval historiographer Mavro Orbini, whom we have already talked about, under the Slavic conquests of Europe meant the attacks of the Vikings.

In other words, the Viking and the Varangian are one and the same. Which, by the way, is proved by the strong similarity of the culture of the first Varangian rulers of Russia - Rurik, Sineus, Truvor and their squads - with the culture of the upper strata of the Viking society. And, by the way, the Franks called all "northerners" as Normans, including Slavs, Finns, etc., and not just Scandinavians.

Horned helmets are the most glaring misconception about the Vikings.

In fact, horned helmets did exist, but not among the Vikings, but among the Celts. Some pre-Viking times depict warriors in horned helmets. But such helmets were single and ritual, they were worn by the priests. As for the Vikings, a huge number of burials from that era are known. And there is not a single case of finding such a helmet. They are all round, without horns. As an example, consider the reconstruction of the helmet from Sutton Hoo. But this is a royal helmet. Ordinary Vikings wore simpler helmets or thick bovine leather hats. True, all this does not interfere with depicting the Vikings with characteristic horned bowlers. Also, historical science claims that the Vikings sometimes used Asian coins and objects with Arabic Muslim inscriptions. But this question, of course, is more about the reliability of the official chronology.

And here's something else. When in 2000 the legendary Norwegian explorer and traveler Thor Heyerdahl launched an expedition to the Russian city of Azov, it caused general outrage among the supporters of the Western historical paradigm. Indeed, the goal of Heyerdahl's archaeological expedition was, neither more nor less, to find confirmation of the hypothesis according to which the ancestors of the Scandinavians, led by Odin, came to their country from the Don steppes.

The idea that the ancestral home of the Scandinavians should be sought exactly here arose in the mind of the famous Norwegian after he got acquainted in detail with one of the Old Norse Royal Sagas - "The Yngling Saga".

Having studied the materials of the Azov region, Heyerdahl writes the following: "… I was simply amazed when I learned that the tribes of the Ases and the Vanans were real peoples who inhabited these places before our era!"

The international expedition, which also included Heyerdahl's longtime friend and associate Yuri Senkevich, lasted 2 seasons - 2000 and 2001, and in 2002 Thor Heyerdahl passed away. What did the expedition manage to find? About 35 thousand valuable artifacts, among which there are 3 buckles, which in appearance completely coincide with those worn by the ancient Vikings. Heyerdahl believed that this fact alone was enough to start rewriting history. Indeed, according to the official point of view, everything was the other way around - the Norman theory claims that it was the Varangians (who are considered to be Scandinavians) who brought statehood to Russia.

By the way, did you know what the word "viking" means?

Its origin is deduced from different languages, for some peoples it means “boat rower”, for others it means “pirate”, for others it means “campaign” or “one who goes on a campaign”. It is curious that in the sagas of the alleged 13th century, the past of the Vikings is presented in a romantic halo. It is often described, for example, how old people complained that in their younger years they "went to the Viking" (that is, on an expedition), but now they are weak and are not capable of such acts. In Scandinavia, the Vikings were called brave men who made military expeditions to foreign lands.