Entertaining and sometimes horrifying legends of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, monsters and giants survive from pagan Scandinavia, even though the Norse were unable to write them down. With authority and wit, Professor Page retells the Norse legends and shows how complex and sometimes contradictory their traditions are.
In Orkney, Shetland and the Scottish Islands, in Ireland, the Isle of Man and above all in Scandinavia, travelers still come upon great memorial stones, inscribed with the curious angular alphabet called runes. This is the story of these inscriptions from the earliest Continental carvings of the late second century A.D. through to the Viking age.
In Orkney, Shetland and the Scottish islands, in Ireland, the Isle of Man and above all in Scandinavia, travellers still come upon great memorial stones, inscribed with the curious angular alphabet called runes. Rune-masters also cut their letters on other objects, including swords, brooches, pendants and rings. They even wrote letters in runes on sticks of wood. This book tells the story of runes from the earliest Continental inscriptions of the late second century AD through to the Viking Age and to the related script used for the English language in Anglo-Saxon times. The author shows what a wealth of material about our early civilisations has been recorded in runes and suggests to the reader where he may discover them for himself.
Hrsg. v. Graham-Campbell, James Unter a. v. Batey, Colleen ; Clarke, Helen ; Page, R. I. Aus dem Englischen von Kreutzer, Gert ; Kreutzer, Jens ( Bildatlas der Weltkulturen). Zahlr., tls. farb. Abb. und Ktn. 240 S.