The Sparlösa Runestone, listed as Vg 119 in the
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...
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.
Vä ...
and is the second most famous Swedish
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 ...
after the
Rök runestone
The Rök runestone (; Rundata, Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic alphabet, runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. I ...
.
Description
The Sparlösa Runestone was discovered in 1669 in the southern wall of the church at Sparlösa, now part of
Vara Municipality.
[Run - och bildstenen i Sparlösa](_blank)
Foteviken Museum
The Foteviken 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 participate in living his ...
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, 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 Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
. 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 ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
'' and the text ''descending from the gods''. The stone provides an early attestation of the place name
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
, and the two personal names
Eric
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur 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-N ...
("complete ruler") and
Alrik ("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 (, ) in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' were composed sometime ...
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'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
''.
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: ''Hávamál'',Unnormalised spelling in the Codex Regius:''Title'': hava mal''Final stanza'': Nv ero Hava mál q''ve''ðin Háva hꜹ''l''lo i ..classical pron. , Modern Icelandic pron. , ‘Words of Hávi '' of the ''Poetic Edda">he H ...
'' of the ''Poetic Edda'' 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 peacocks, on its yardarms. At the bottom is a man on horseback hunting a stag and using a hunting leopard, 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
from 471 to 526 AD, with the building depicted on the stone a representation of his
.
The other images, such as the crescent ship and the lion fighting the snake, can be interpreted as
faith.
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