The Böksta runestone is a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

that is located near the farm of Böksta in Balingsta, which is about four kilometers southwest of Ramstalund,

Uppsala County Uppsala County () is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Province The nor ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, in the historic province of

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

. It is situated not far from Balingsta Church.

Description

The Böksta Runestone, which is made of granite and is 2.6 meters in height, is notable for its images of a man on horseback holding a spear who is hunting an animal that may be an elk (

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

) with two dogs and two birds. One of the birds is attacking the eyes of the hunted animal, which is consistent with past practices when hunting with birds. Finds from graves indicate that

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

has been practiced in Sweden since the 6th century. Observing the hunter is another man on skis, holding a bow and arrow. Surrounding the hunting scene is the runic text inscribed within a serpent. The inscription is believed to date from approximately 1050 CE and is tentatively classified as being carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increas ...

Pr2, which is also known as Ringerike style. The runestone, which was originally located at Prästgården, was broken into several sections with a central section missing since the 1600s. This section was found near the gate to the church at Prästgården, and the runestone disassembled and rebuilt using the newly found section in 2004. The man carrying a bow and on skis is typically identified as

Ullr In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a Æsir, god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in ear ...

, who in Chapter 21 of ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda'', compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bra ...

'' of the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'' is described as a Norse pagan ski-god, archery-god, and hunting-god. It has also been suggested that the man on horseback, who has a beard and helmet and is riding a stallion, is the god

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

with his spear

Gungnir In Norse mythology, Gungnir (, "the rocking") is the spear of the god Odin. It is known for always hitting the target of the attacker regardless of the attacker's skill. Attestations ''Poetic Edda'' In the Poetic Edda poem ''Völuspá'', the ...

on his horse

Sleipnir In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

. In this case, Sleipnir would be depicted with only four legs instead of the more common eight legs, however, a four-legged depiction of this horse was also used on the Tängelgårda stone. The two dogs or wolves would then be

Geri and Freki In Norse mythology, Geri and Freki are two Eurasian wolf, wolves which are said to accompany the god Odin. They are attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', a collection of epic poetry compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, in th ...

and the birds the ravens

Huginn and Muninn In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn ( or ; roughly "mind and will" – ''see '') are a pair of common raven, ravens that serve under the god Odin and fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to the god Odin. Huginn and Muninn are ...

. Several other Scandinavian runestones include depictions of horses, including DR 96 in Ålum, N 61 in Alstad, Sö 101 in Ramsundsberget, Sö 226 in Norra Stutby, Sö 239 in Häringe, Sö 327 in Göksten, U 375 in Vidbo, U 488 in Harg, U 599 in Hanunda, U 691 in Söderby, U 901 in Håmö, U 935 at the

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

, and U 1003 in Frötuna.

Inscription

References

External links

Photograph of U 855 in 2002
showing missing central section -

Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board (; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Culture. The goals of the agen ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boksta Runestone Runestones in Uppland

Description

Inscription

See also

References

External links