The Eyrarland Statue is a bronze statue of a seated figure (6.7 cm) from about AD 1000 that was recovered at the Eyrarland farm in the area of

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nickn ...

, Iceland. The object is a featured item at the

National Museum of Iceland National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. The statue may depict the Norse god

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

and/or may be a gaming-piece. The statue was unearthed in 1815 or 1816 on one of two farms called Eyrarland in the vicinity of Akureyri. If the object is correctly identified as Thor, Thor is here holding his hammer Mjöllnir, sculpted in the typically Icelandic cross-like shape. It has been suggested that the statue is related to a scene from the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

'' poem ''

Þrymskviða ''Þrymskviða'' (Þrym's Poem; the name can be anglicised as ''Thrymskviða'', ''Thrymskvitha'', ''Thrymskvidha'' or ''Thrymskvida'') is one of the best known poems from the ''Poetic Edda''. The Norse myth had enduring popularity in Scandinavi ...

'' where Thor recovers his hammer while seated by grasping it with both hands during the wedding ceremony. Another suggestion comes from the archeologist

Kristján Eldjárn Kristján Eldjárn (; 6 December 1916 – 14 September 1982) was the third president of Iceland, from 1968 to 1980. Biography Kristján was born in Tjörn, Svarfaðardal, Iceland. His parents were Þórarinn Kr. Eldjárn, a teacher in Tjörn, ...

, who has written that it could be the central piece from a set of ''hnefatafl'', based on its similarities to a smaller whalebone figure discovered in Baldursheimur together with black and white gaming pieces and a die.

Notes

{{Reflist Archaeology of Iceland Thor in art Sculptures of Norse mythology Viking art

See also

Notes