CHAPTER XIX.

THE BRACTEATES.

Gold bracteates—Peculiarity of their designs—Mystic and symbolical signs—Earlier runes—The Vadstena bracteate—The svastica, triskele, and triad.

Among the most curious and beautiful ornaments that have been discovered in the north are the gold bracteates, which occur in great numbers, but are seldom found in graves, and which were used, as we can see from the loop attached to them, as an ornament to be worn hanging from the neck; that they were held to be protective amulets, and were used by the temple priests in religious ceremonies, is probable.

They are formed by embossing or stamping upon a disc, and the gold is extremely thin. The peculiarity of their designs, and the mystic and symbolic signs which are used upon them, such as the _svastica_, the _triskele_, the _cross_, the _triad_ in dots, birds, snakes, &c., peculiar shapes of animals, and the head-dress of men, are very remarkable; and the sign in the shape of an S, found also on objects of the bronze age, makes them specially interesting.

We must receive with a great deal of caution the interpretation put upon these signs by some of the archæologists who have tried to unravel their meaning, and have taken the _svastica_ for the sign of Thor, for this sign has been found in Greece by Schliemann and other antiquarians; the _triskele_, or the triad with dots, to mean Odin, Vili, Ve, or Odin, Hœnir and Löd; the birds to be the ravens of Odin; the human heads to be representations either of Thor, Odin, or Frey; the animals to be the goat of Thor, and Odin’s horse, Sleipnir. That the representations with the sacred signs and the figure upon them had some peculiar meaning there is, I think, no doubt; but what they really meant is a mystery which has not yet been unravelled.

The runic characters stamped upon these ornaments show them to be peculiarly northern, and to belong to a rune-writing people.

Bracteates.

Roman gold coin (Valentinian), real size, found with fragments of a bronze vessel, glass beads, &c.—Norway.

Imitation of Roman gold coin, real size, found in a tumulus with charcoal, gold ornaments, glass and amber beads, &c.—Norway.

Of the hundreds of bracteates[226] which have been discovered, a large number were found together; and those of similar design, which have evidently been struck from the same die, are sometimes found in regions far apart. The bracteates with the peculiar mystic signs above enumerated disappear entirely towards the year 600, and though bracteates are still found they are of quite different designs; for those with representations of dragons, serpents, &c., are of a much later period.

Many of these designs may perhaps represent the deeds of great heroes told in ancient songs, such for example as the scene upon the gold bracteate found under the altar in the ancient wooden church of Gudsdal Troen parish in Gudbrandsdal, Norway, on which an armour-clad warrior on horseback fights a dragon. The purity of their gold is as remarkable as the skill of their workmanship.

The most important bracteate found is one of the two discovered near the little town of Vadstena on the Wettern, in Sweden. It has around its border an inscription in earlier runes, which evidently must be read from right to left. It has been ascertained by the scholars who have made a study of runes that, with the exception of the first division of eight, they represent the runic alphabet in its earliest form, the