Södermanland Runic Inscription 270 or Sö 270 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 ...

catalog number for a

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 ...

runic inscription A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of El ...

. It is located in

Tyresta National Park Tyresta National Park ( sv, Tyresta nationalpark) is a national park with a surrounding nature reserve in Sweden, located in Haninge and Tyresö municipalities in Stockholm County. Geography About from central Stockholm are the Tyresta Na ...

, Tyresta, which is about two kilometers east of

Brandbergen Brandbergen, is a suburb in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It is located 20 km south of Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

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 is in the historic province of

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...

Description

This runic inscription is carved into a

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

rockface and is about 1.65 meters in height. It consists of runic text on a serpent that surrounds a Christian cross with a bird on top of it. This bird has been interpreted as being a

cock Cock or cocks most commonly refers to: * Cock (bird) or rooster, a male of any bird species * Cock (slang), a slang term for the penis Cock or cocks may also refer to: Names * Cock (surname) * Cocks (surname) Places * Cocks Glacier, Ross Dep ...

. p. 127-128. Placed on a cross, the cock would be interpreted as a

Christian symbol Christian symbolism is the use of symbols, including archetypes, acts, artwork or events, by Christianity. It invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. The symbolism of the early Church was characterized by bei ...

meaning rebirth and vigilance, similar to weathercocks that are on top of churches today. A similar depiction of a bird on a cross is on the runestone fragment Sö 245 in Tungelsta. The head and tail of the serpent on Sö 270 are shown bound as if to prevent it from leaving the surface of the stone. The inscription is classified as being carved in either

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 ...

Pr3 or Pr4, which is also known as

Urnes 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 runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns. The animal heads are typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. The runic text is 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 ...

and states that the inscription is a memorial by a father named either Farbjôrn or Freybjôrn for his son Háulfr. If the father's name is Freybjôrn, it would contain 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

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

as a

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

element and mean "Freyr Bear." The text also states that the inscription was carved by a

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

named Halfdan, which is normalized as

Halvdan Halvdan is a masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Halvdan Aarsrud (1878–1925), Norwegian bailiff and politician for the Labour Party *Halvdan the Black (c. 810 – c. 860), ninth-century king of Vestfold *Halvdan Wexelsen ...

. Although over fifteen other runestones in Södermanland have been attributed for stylistic reasons to this runemaster, this is the only surviving inscription that was signed by him. The other inscriptions listed in Rundata that are attributed to Halvdan based upon stylistic analysis include Sö 235 in Västerby, Sö 237 in Fors, Sö 239 in Häringe, Sö 244 in Tuna, Sö 245 in Tungelsta, the now-lost Sö 247 in Ålsta, Sö 252 in Säby, Sö 256 in Älby, Sö 262 in Blista, Sö 269 in Söderby Malm, Sö 272 in Upp-Norrby, Sö 274 in Södersluss, Sö 290 in Farsta, Sö 292 in Bröta, Sö 297 in Uppinge, Sö 298 in Uringe Malm, and Sö 301 in Ågesta Bro. For this inscription, Halvdan used a punctuation mark usually consisting of two dots between each word in the runic text.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:far(e)biarn : lit : hagua : stain : et : haulf : sun * si- : hal(t)an : hiak : runaProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Sö 270.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Farbjôrn/Freybjôrn lét hôggva stein at Háulf, son si n Halfdan hjó rúnar.''

Translation in English

:Farbjôrn/Freybjôrn had the stone cut in memory of Háulfr, his son. Halfdan cut the runes.

References

External links

Photograph
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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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodermanland Runic Inscription 270 Runestones in Södermanland