The Källby Runestones are two

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

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 or works of a ...

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

s located in Källby,

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, which was in the historic province of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

Vg 55

Västergötland Runic Inscription 55 or Vg 55 is the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base ( sv, Samnordisk runtextdatabas) is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way f ...

designation for an inscription consisting of runic text in the

younger futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The r ...

inscribed on two serpents that frame a

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

. The inscription, which is on a sandstone stone that is 4.4 meters in height, is 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 Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

. This is the classification for inscriptions where the text bands have attached serpent heads depicted as seen from above. Vg 55 has been known since the Swedish runestone surveys of the 16th century, and was described by

Ole Worm Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin ...

in 1555. Although carved in sandstone, an inspection in 1995–96 found that 84% of the runes were intact. The runic text states that the stone was raised by two sons named Ulfr and Ragnarr in memory of their father Fari, who is described as being a Christian and having "good belief in God". The inscription has been noted as evidence of the influence of

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...

in the meaning of "good" in Viking Age Sweden.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:ulfʀ : auk : þiʀ : ra(k)nar : risþu : stin : þansi : iftiʀ : fara : faþur sin : ... ...ristin : man : saʀ : hafþi : kuþa : tru : til : kus :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata entry for Vg 55.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Ulfʀ ok þæiʀ Ragnarr ræistu stæin þannsi æftiʀ Fara, faður sinn ... istinn mann, saʀ hafði goða tro til Guðs.''

Translation in English

:Ulfr and Ragnarr, they raised this stone in memory of Fari, their father ... Christian man. He had good belief in God.

Vg 56

Västergötland Runic Inscription 56 or Vg 56 is the Rundata listing for an inscription consisting of runic text in the younger futhark carved in two text bands on the right edge of a sandstone stone 3.1 meters in height that depicts the figure of a man holding a stick and wearing a large belt and headdress with antlers. Because of the belt, the figure has sometimes been identified as the

Norse pagan Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic people ...

god

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

, who has a belt called

Megingjörð In Norse mythology, the megingjörð ( non, megingjǫrð , meaning "power-belt"Orchard (1997:110)) is a belt worn by the god Thor. The Old Norse name megin means power or strength, and gjörð means belt. According to the ''Prose Edda'', the be ...

that increases his strength. Another suggestion is that the figure represents the man memorialized in the runic text who is depicted in

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

attire performing a ritual. The stone was originally located at Skavums, and was moved to its current location across the road from Vg 55 in 1669. The runic text states that the stone was raised by a man named either Styrlakr or Styrlaugr in memory of his father, who was named Kárr. It has been suggested that the father's name Kárr, which is

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

for "lock of hair" or "curly hair," was a name associated with

cultic Cult is the care (Latin: ''cultus'') owed to deities and temples, shrines, or churches. Cult is embodied in ritual and ceremony. Its present or former presence is made concrete in temples, shrines and churches, and cult images, including votive ...

initiates Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

who grew long hair, and supports an identification of the figure on the inscription as being that of the father in ritual attire. The name Kárr was often combined with that of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

in Óðinkárr, and appears in a possible cultic initiate reference in the names on inscriptions on DR 4 in Hedeby, DR 81 in Skjern, DR 133 in Skivum, and DR 239 in Gørlev. The text on Vg 73 in Synnerby has a man named Kárr whose father has a name that means he may have been a priest or chieftain with religious duties. The name Kárr is also used without necessarily any cultic reference in inscriptions Sm 90 in Torshag, Sö 128 in Lids, U 643 and U 644 in Ekilla bro, U 654 in Varpsund, and U 792 in Ulunda, with U 644 and U 654 referring to the same person.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:stur-akʀ + sati + stin + þasi + (i)ftiʀ + kaur + faþur + sinProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata entry for Vg 56.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Styr kʀ/Styr ugr satti stæin þannsi æftiʀ , faður sinn.''

Translation in English

:Styrlakr/Styrlaugr placed this stone in memory of , his father.

References

External links

Photograph of Vg 55 in 1989
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Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board ( sv, Riksantikvarieämbetet; 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 Cult ...

Photograph of Vg55 and Vg 56 in 1992
- Swedish National Heritage Board

- Swedish National Heritage Board {{DEFAULTSORT:Kallby Runestones Runestones in Västergötland