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{{short description|Four Viking Age image stones located in Gotland, Sweden}}{{Coord|57|51|10.7|N|19|01|43.2|E|display=title}} File:Sacrificial scene on Hammars (II).png|thumbnail|200px|Detail from Stora Hammars I shows a man lying on his belly with another man using a weapon on his back, a ValknutValknutThe Stora Hammars image stones are four Viking Age image stones located in Stora Hammars, Lärbro parish, Gotland, Sweden dating from around the 7th century CE.{{cn|date=December 2020}}

Description

The four Stora Hammars image stones are phallic shaped. Similar combinations of death with this erotic symbology occur on other Gotland rune and image stones.BOOK, Sundqvist, Olof, Erkens, Franz-Reiner, Aspects of Rulership Ideology in Early Scandinavia - With Particular References to the Skaldic Poem Ynglingatal, Das Frühmittelalterliche Königtum: Ideelle und Religiöse Grundlagen, Walter de Gruyter, 2005, 111–112,weblink 3-11-018886-4, The images on the Stora Hammars II and IV stones are very worn and not currently decipherable.

Stora Hammars I

Depicted on the Stora Hammars I stone are six panels with mythological, religious and martial background, including panels depicting a woman between two men, a sacrifice scene with a Valknut over an altar, a woman standing between a longship manned with armed warriors and another group of armed men, and a battle scene.BOOK, Jesch, Judith, Women in the Viking Age, Boydell & Brewer, 1991, 128–130,weblink 978-0-85115-360-5, It is interpreted as illustrating the legend of Hildr and its never-ending battle. The stone includes an image of a warrior about to be hanged from a tree, possibly as a blood eagle sacrifice,WEB,weblink The Conversation (website), The Conversation, Brutal Viking ‘blood eagle’ ritual execution was anatomically possible – new research, Luke John, Murphy, Heidi, Fuller, Mont, Gates, 17 December 2021, 18 December 2021, with a nearby Valknut (considered to be Odin's cult symbol) giving validity to reports regarding human sacrifice in Norse paganism.BOOK, Patton, Kimberley Christine, Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity, Oxford University Press, 2009, 224–225, 430 note 70,weblink 978-0-19-509106-9, Near the altar is a shaped stone, which one scholar has been suggested may be a cult stone similar to the Elgesem runestone.BOOK, Antonsen, Elmer H., Jazayery, Mohammad Ali, Winter, Werner, On the Mythological Interpretation of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions, Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé, Mouton de Gruyter, 1988, 43–54,weblink 3-11-010204-8,

Stora Hammars III

The Stora Hammars III image stone has four panels, the lower of which shows a ship with warriors. One of the panels has been interpreted as depicting Odin in the form of an eagle taking the mead of poetry,BOOK, Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis, Hilda Ellis Davidson, The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe, Routledge, 1993, 72–73,weblink 0-415-04936-9, a legend described in section 6 of the Skáldskaparmál.CyberSamurai Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology: Prose Edda - Skáldskaparmál {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219131224weblink |date=2008-02-19 }} (English). Gunnlöð and Suttungr are shown to the right of the eagle. Another panel depicts a rider on a horse being greeted by a woman who has been interpreted as being a Valkyrie.BOOK, Lundin, Andreas, Andrén, Anders, Jennbert, Kristina, The Advent of the Esteemed Horseman-Sovereign, Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions, Nordic Academic Press, 2006, 369–376,weblink 91-89116-81-X, etal, pp. 370-371. The woman appears to be wearing a long serk or underdress, which may be pleated, and a short overdress.WEB, Thunem, Hilde, Viking Women: Underdress,weblink 21 August 2010,

See also

• Blood eagle
• Death in Norse paganism
• Tängelgarda stone

References

{{Reflist|2}}

External links

• Photograph of Stora Hammars I - Swedish National Heritage Board
• Photograph of Stora Hammars II - Swedish National Heritage Board
• Photograph of Stora Hammars III - Swedish National Heritage Board
• Photograph of Stora Hammars IV - Swedish National Heritage Board
• Photograph showing 4 stones - Swedish National Heritage Board