figure representing a warrior in armour, several metal mountings, &c.
Fig. 313.—Wooden shield with later runes.—Norway.
Fig. 314.—Runic stone in ship-form grave, Upland. In the grave was found a helmet, apparently made of iron-plate, with ornaments of bronze in imitation of eyebrows; also a helmet-crest. On the helmet were numerous representations of horsemen with spears and carrying shields on their left arms, in front of the horses a snake, and in front of and behind each horseman a bird flying.
Fig. 315.—Baptismal stone font.—Langhem Church, Sweden.
Fig. 316.—Baptismal stone with runes and a representation of Gunnar in the snake-pit, used as font in a church, Bohuslän. No Christian symbol is marked upon it.
Fig. 317.
Fig. 318.
Fig. 319.
Fig. 320.
Baptismal fonts with runic inscriptions, some apparently heathen.
Two rock-tracings found at Ramsund and Gœk, on the southern shores of Lake Mälar, province of Södermanland, Sweden, show how deeply preserved in the memory of the people all over the North is the history of the Volsungar as told in the earlier Edda, and the Saga of that name. To the late Professor Carl Säve we are indebted for the discovery of these two mementoes of the past. I here give the representation of the finer of the two, which is engraved on granite.
Fig. 321.—Tracing of later runes illustrating the Eddaic songs and Volsunga saga. Length, 16 feet; width, from 4 to 5 feet.—Ramsund Rock, Södermanland, Sweden.
The scene is surrounded below by sculpture, and covered with runes above are two serpents twisted together, one without runes. Below the large snake Sigurd on his knee pierces with his sword the body of the reptile. In the midst between the snake the horse Grani is standing, made fast to a tree where two birds are seen. On the left Sigurd, seated, roasts on the fire, at the end of a stick, the heart of Fafnir. Round the fire are deposited pincers, an anvil, bellows, and hammer; the head of the smith (blacksmith) Regin is seen separated from the trunk. Then above is sculptured an animal, which looks like a fox—no doubt the otter—for the murder of which was given, as ransom, the rich treasure so fatal to Fafnir and to all those who possessed it after him. The runic inscription has not the slightest connection with the scene, not even with Sigurd Fafnisbani. As Mr. Säve remarks, Sigurd or Holmger, and perhaps both, believed that they were descended from Sigurd Fafnisbani, the famous hero of the Volsunga.
The tracing on the stone of Gœk, not far from the city of Strengenæs, is about half the length of that on the Ramsund stone, but of the same width, and is not as fine. The subject is treated in a somewhat similar manner: the hammer is on the ground, while on the Ramsund stone it is in the man’s hand. Above the horse Grani is a Christian cross.
The runic inscription, here also upon a snake, surrounds the figures, but has nothing to say about Sigurd Fafnisbani.
Fig. 322.—Oscan inscription (first three lines) on a bronze tablet in British Museum.
Fig. 323.—Greek inscription on bronze axe from Calabria, in the British Museum.
Fig. 324.—Archaic Greek inscription in the British Museum.
From the facsimile illustrations given of Etruscan, Greek and earliest Roman inscriptions chosen at random from the museums, the reader will be able to judge for himself, and probably see how much more closely the earlier runes resemble the Greek archaic and Etruscan inscriptions than the Latin ones.
Fig. 325.—Bronze tablet, first three lines. Treaty between the Eleans and Heræans of Arcadia; copied from “Ancient Greek Inscriptions” in the British Museum.
(Euphorbos.)
(Menelaos.)
(Hector.)
Fig. 326.—These three archaic inscriptions are found on a vase from Camirus in Rhodes, now in the British Museum.
Fig. 327.—Etruscan inscription on a sepulchral urn in the British Museum.
Fig. 328.—Etruscan inscription on an urn in the British Museum.
Fig. 329.—Etruscan inscription on a sarcophagus from Toscanella, in the British Museum.
Fig. 330.—Plaque of terra-cotta, representing Poseidon, painted. Found near Corinth. Now in the Louvre.
Fig. 331.—Latin inscription.
Fig. 332.—Early Latin inscription: painted on a vase in British Museum.
Fig. 333.—Etruscan inscription, on a sarcophagus from Toscanella, in the British Museum.
Fig. 334.—On an Etruscan sepulchral monument in terra-cotta, British Museum.
Fig. 335.—Bronze spear-point, with earlier runes, and svastica and triskele stamped on it. Length 16½ inches.—Venice, island of Torcello. ½ real size.
Fig. 336.—Iron spear-point, with runes and figures inlaid with silver, discovered in a mound with burnt bones and weapons.—Müncheberg, Mark-Brandenburg. ½ real size.