The Sparlösa Runestone, listed as Vg 119 in 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, is located in

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 ...

and is the second most famous Swedish

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 ...

after the

Rök runestone The Rök runestone ( sv, Rökstenen; Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It is cons ...

Description

The Sparlösa Runestone was discovered in 1669 in the southern wall of the church at Sparlösa, now part of

Vara Municipality Vara Municipality (''Vara kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Vara. The present municipality consists of 25 original local government entities (as of 1863). Between 1974 a ...

.Run - och bildstenen i Sparlösa

Foteviken Museum The Foteviken Museum ( sv, Fotevikens Museum) is an archaeological open-air museum on the Höllviken peninsula in southern Skåne, Sweden. It contains a reconstruction of a large Viking Age settlement and a "viking reservation", and visitors pa ...

Before their historical value was understood, many runestones were used as construction material for roads, walls, and bridges. Following a fire at the church in 1684, the runestone was split in rebuilding the wall. It was removed from the wall in 1937 and the two sections reunited. The stone is 1.77 metres tall and it is dated to about 800 AD based upon its transitional use of rune forms from both the elder and

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 ...

, but it has a probably younger line added to it saying ''Gisli made this memorial after Gunnar, his brother''. The dating is based on the style of the images, such as a ship, which suggest the 8th century, like similar images from

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. However, a sail on the ship suggests a later dating than the 8th century. The runestone is famous for its depictions and its tantalizing and mysterious references to a great battle, the names ''Eric'' and ''Alrik'', the ''father who resided in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

'' and the text ''descending from the gods''. The stone provides an early attestation of the place name

, and the two personal names

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

("complete ruler") and

Alrik Alaric and Eric (Old Norse: ''Alrekr'' and ''Eiríkr''), according to legend, were two kings of Sweden. In the ''Ynglinga saga'' According to the ''Ynglinga saga'', Alaric and Eric were sons and heirs of the previous king Agni. They shared the ...

("everyone's ruler") are both royal names, known to have been worn by the semi-legendary Swedish

Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' ...

dynasty at Uppsala. Moreover, the mention of a great battle is suggestive of the equally semi-legendary Swedish-Geatish wars that are mentioned in ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

''. The words ''runaʀ ræginkundu'' meaning "runes of divine origin" are also in the runic text on the Noleby Runestone and would appear in stanza 79 of the ''

Hávamál ''Hávamál'' ( ; Old Norse: ,Unnormalised spelling in the :Title: Final stanza: ../ref> classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of he High One��) is presented as a single poem in the Icelandic , a collection of Old Norse poems fr ...

'' of 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 me ...

'' several centuries later. The runestone has imagery on four of its sides that apparently is unrelated to the runic text and in one interpretation predates it. One side has a building at the top that is over a crescent ship with a sail marked with a cross and with two birds, possibly

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

s, on its yardarms. At the bottom is a man on horseback hunting a stag and using a hunting

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

, which is not native to Sweden. The next side has an owl, with a head reminding of a lion's, and a goose fighting a snake. One side has a man and a cross band. One suggested interpretation is that the images on the stone are a memorial to

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy b ...

, king of the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...

from 471 to 526 AD, with the building depicted on the stone a representation of his

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

. The other images, such as the crescent ship and the lion fighting the snake, can be interpreted as

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the

Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

faith.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:§A a⁑iuls kaf ⁓ airikis sunʀ kaf alrik- - :§B ---t---la kaf rau- at kialt(i) · …a sa- faþiʀ ubsal faþiʀ suaþ a-a-u--ba …-ąmas nątu auk takaʀ ⁓ aslriku lu--ʀ ukþ-t a(i)u(i)sl :§C …s---n(u)(ʀ)-a-- þat sikmar aiti makuʀ airikis makin(i)aru þuną · aft aiuis uk raþ runąʀ þaʀ raki-ukutu iu þar suaþ aliriku lu(b)u faþi ' :§D ui(u)-am …--ukrþsar(s)k(s)nuibin- ---kunʀ(u)k(l)ius-- …iu :§E : kisli : karþi : iftiʀ : kunar : bruþur kubl : þisiProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for Vg 119.

Transcription into Old Norse

:A Æivisl gaf, Æiriks sunʀ, gaf Alrik �... :B ... gaf at gialdi �(?) sa faðiʀ Upsal(?), faðiʀ svað ... ... nætʀ ok dagaʀ. Alrikʀ ugð (?) Æivisl :C ... þat Sigmarr hæiti maguʀ Æiriks. Mæginiaru(?) <þuno> aft Æivisl. Ok rað runaʀ þaʀ rægi undu þar, svað Alrikʀ faði. :D ... ... ... :E Gisli gærði æftiʀ Gunnar, broður, kumbl þessi.

Translation in English

:A Eyvísl(?), Eiríkr's son gave, Alríkr gave... :B ... gave ... as payment. Then(?) the father sat(?) (in) Uppsala(?), the father that ... ... nights and days. Alríkr feared(?) not Eyvísl(?). :C ... that Eiríkr's boy is called Sigmarr/celebrated-for-victories. Mighty battle(?) ... in memory of Eyvísl(?). And interpret the runes of divine origin there... , that Alríkr coloured. :D ... ... ... :E Gísli made this monument in memory of Gunnarr, (his) brother.

Photographs

File:Sparlosa stone - birds face.jpg, North side with inscription parts C and D. File:Sparlosa stone - spirals face.jpg, East side with part B. File:Sparlosa stone - picture face.jpg, South side. File:Sparlosa stone - high text face.jpg, West side with parts A and E.

References

External links

*Photographs of the four sides of the Sparlösa Runestone
1
an

- Swedish National Heritage Board

This link replaces the link to the article on the depictions of the Sparlösa Rune stone in Pyrenae http://www.historieforum.se/437619567 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparlosa Runestone Runestones in memory of Viking warriors Runestones in Västergötland 9th-century inscriptions