THE cover of the February 2nd edition of The Economist featured a Viking wearing a horned helmet, to accompany our special report on the merits of the Nordic model. Our cover designer knew when he chose the image that it might invite complaints on the grounds of historical accuracy: real Viking helmets did not have horns. Put “Viking helmet” into Google images, however, and you will find lots of (reproduction) horned helmets, sometimes with blonde wigs attached. What is going on?
The practice of burying the dead with their goods has left archaeologists with lots of evidence about the Vikings, who were arguably the first maritime superpower. Unfortunately, few Viking helmets survive intact. The small sample size cannot prove the point definitively, but they are all horn-free.
Why, then, do cartoon Vikings, Scandinavian football fans and Economist covers persist in giving their helmets horns? As in the rest of Europe, Scandinavia saw an upsurge of interest during the 19th century in home-grown cultural traditions and images. Folk dances, songs, sagas—all were revived and celebrated. The 18th century had seen most of Europe trying to imitate sophisticated Parisian fashions. Now trolls were cool. Where there were gaps in the historical record, artists often used their imagination to reinvent traditions. Painters began to show Vikings with horned helmets, evidently inspired by Wagner's costume designer, Professor Carl Emil Doepler, who created horned helmets for use in the first Bayreuth production of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" in 1876, as a reader points out in a letter we publish this week. (For the full story, see Roberta Frank, "The Invention of the Viking Horned Helmet", published in International Scandinavian and Medieval Studies in Memory of Gerd Wolfgang Weber, 2000.)
By the time archaeological evidence came along to contradict the notion of horned headgear, the image had stuck. So Vikings did not actually wear horned helmets. But they do now.
(Photo: AFP)
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And if you didnt want to read about viking helmets, perhaps you should not have clicked on an article titled "Did Vikings wear horned helmets?".
And thank you so much for your kind, insightful, and productive comments. I'm sure you really add to discussions wherever you go.
Vikings, who were arguably the first maritime superpower
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Athenians, Phoenicians, Carthaginians. Or how about the Kingdom of Punt.
Only the married Vikings were exhibiting horned helmets.
Here's my theory. The Vikings went to England to rape and pillage, so the English assumed they were horny.
There was no rape. The English women walked towards us on the beach and said 'How do you do?' which was a clear invitation to show them.
What a snooty attitude you have just copped. Does that make you feel better? Superior? If so, "Perhaps you should focus on things that actually matter" instead of behaving in such a needlessly snarky manner. Obviously, nothing you will find through, in or on this channel of information means much. Why are you so fretful?
One may wonder whether Marx is exempt from this rule himself.
"... evidently inspired by Wagner's costume designer, Professor Carl Emil Doepler, who created horned helmets for use in the first Bayreuth production of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" in 1876 ..."
Got to hand it to the Krauts, they have a knack for helmet design.
Romanticism and its twisted child, Nationalism, made the 19th century prolific in promoting fabricated traditions. The Scottish Highland tradition, that started in the 18th century, is, with kilt and tartan, one of the best known fakes. See:
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Hugh Trevor-Roper's "The invention of tradition: the Highland tradition of Scotland,"
The only Vikings to wear horns on the their helmets (so far as historians are aware) were those among the Norsemen who were considered effete by other Viking clans. These Vikings wore horns on their helmets to achieve a "fierce face" effect to compensate for their lack of aggression.
Their descendants play for the NFL in Minnesota.
And they went South into Russia and founded Moscow.
They must have landed in Essex.
Sure. Immigrants, after all.
The Minnesota Vikings NFL Team wear helmets that have a logo with a Viking with a horned helmet.
And on close inspection, THAT viking also has a small logo on his helmet with a helmeted viking.
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The REAL QUESTION is not if the Vikings had horned helmets,
but rather if they had real horns on their heads separate from a tin helmet.
THAT would be truely scary to any enemy.
It's amazing how many 12th century Scandinavians post on TE. Who else could know beyond a doubt that no Viking ever wore a horned helmet?
I'm not sure the whiners deserved this article.
Vikings most certainly went south. They became the Normans.
The world's first maritime superpower was PORTUGAL. And you don't have to unbury the evidence.
Full stop.
They "stormed" the beaches to conquer what? Crabs? It was no Lindisfarne. They were no superpower.
Thanks so much for clearing this up. Without this clarity most of us simply couldn't go on. Perhaps you should focus on things that actually matter
Hmm who do I believe TE with lots of facts that are easy to prove or you.
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Go Go Viking Superpower!
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And down with irrelevant nationalism of any sort including the silly Portugese variety (Portugal is in reality a rebel Spanish province)