6. Pictorial representations of narratives

In order to explicitly link narratives to non-textual sources, we need a way of using elements of the narrative which are not dependent on names, as names rarely appear in pictorial representations. Part of this process should be to determine objective elements which could be represented visually; in many ways this process will anticipate the kinds of pictures which have previously been linked to the narrative.

Image link to RAÄ: Altuna U1161

For example, the Altuna stone (RAÄ Altuna 42:1, U 1161: c. 1150) has an image which appears to relate to the narrative in question. There is a (probably) male figure in a boat; the man holds a hammer; a foot is represented through the bottom of the boat’s hull; the man appears to be holding a fishing-line; the line has (possibly) an ox-head on the end; a serpent-like figure appears below the boat and may be biting the head-like object on the end of the line.

Despite there being only one figure in the boat, this is clearly a representation of Thor’s fight with the World Serpent. However, there is an element of interpretation — there is nothing linguistic on the stone or inscription to identify the male figure and serpent with Thor and the World Serpent. Thor is a male figure who is often represented with a hammer, which may in itself provide sufficient information to identify the figure in the boat. However, there is also a collection of elements that provides the link with Snorri’s account of the story. The identification here is based, firstly, on the identification of a figure with a hammer as Thor; and secondly and potentially independently, on the basis of elements that match the narrative given in Snorri and supported by other sources.

The encoding of this relationship then involves a collection of narrative elements or features rather than the use of a name. In order to encode the special status of this inscription as containing both a fairly clear Thor figure (man with hammer) as well as elements of a narrative about Thor (man in boat with foot through bottom, fishing for serpent, etc.) we potentially need two sets of entities here. I will firstly discuss the representation of narratives as individual pictorial elements, and then the representation of individual figures from the mythology.

6.1. Narrative representations

There is potentially a one-to-one correspondence between the narrative elements discussed in the previous section and those represented in the picture, and the division of narratives into elements should take into account the potential divisions of visual representations of the story.

The divisions allow us to connect the story with others. It should be noted that elements a, b, d and l may be represented in a generic fishing episode. The presence of the foot through the hull, hammer, ox-head and possibly serpent, however, probably represent this particular narrative as they would be somewhat unusual in a story of a fishing trip in a different context.

The Altuna runestone (U 1161; RAÄ Altuna 42:1) contains a, j, d, c, e, f; the last three should be linked indicating a degree of uncertainty. The second figure (Hymir) is missing, perhaps because the surface on which the picture is inscribed is very narrow.

Image link to CASS: Gosforth 6

The Gosforth stone (CASSS Gosforth 6) shows two men in a boat (a, b); one holds a fishing line (d) with an ox head (indicated by horns) on the end (c); the other holds probably a hammer (a bit unclear; j); there are fish in the water (not part of the story and probably used for decorative purposes). This image lacks the foot-through-hull motif and the serpent, but has the second figure.

Image link to Wikimedia: Hørdum kirke

The Hørdum stone is a much simpler picture with two men in a boat (a, b); one holds a fishing line (d); below him is a foot through the hull (f); a second figure holds a hook or small sickle (l); there are two curved lines below the boat that may have represented a serpent, but with a great degree of uncertainty. The only certain element that is unique to the narrative is the foot through the boat hull, but the overall connections should provide enough links to the narrative (cf. Meulengracht Sørensen 1986, 265‑6).

Not discussed here is the Ardre VIII (SHM 11118:VIII) stone from Gotland which may represent more than one scene in the narrative (Meulengracht Sørensen 1986, 269).

The structure that can be used to represent this is the same as for the textual narratives above: the pictures are treated structurally in the same way as texts, with links to the narrative elements via a third table. This structure must explicitly include the assumption, when linking and analysing these relationships, that the attribution to a non-textual source is on the basis of the narrative elements alone, without reference to individual named beings.

The various materials — texts, manuscripts, objects, narratives — can be brought together as a series of linked resources for a web interface, including maps of the geographically locatable sources and images of the material sources.

The different representations of what appears to be the same story point to the diversity of the religion: various aspects of the story can be left out (such as the foot, second figure, etc.) but it remains a recognizable story. This diversity is thus encoded into the structure of the resource described here.

6.2. Representations of individual figures

For the identification of mythological figures such as gods it may be sufficient to use individual attributes to identify them. This process is frequently represented in interpretations of individual figures from the period and include: a man with a hammer = Thor; a man with one eye = Óðinn; a horse with eight legs = Óðinn’s horse, Sleipnir; and a man with an enlarged phallus = Freyr.

Image link to SHM: Rällinge statuette

These relationships can be represented by a table of attributes for gods which represent sufficient conditions for interpreting images and texts that do not identify mythological beings by name. This is problematic for two main reasons: it may encompass representations of features that could apply to other interpretations (one-eyed men or men with hammers may represent something other than a god); and the basis for attributing features to the gods may itself be problematic (a large number of sources indicate that Thor has a hammer, but we have one potentially unreliable source (Adam of Bremen’s Gesta IV.26) for Freyr being represented with an enlarged phallus; cf. the Rällinge figurine from Södermanland, SHM 14232).

Image link to Wikimedia: Eyrarland statue

These problems cannot be overcome in themselves, but the evidence base for the attribution can at least be represented by the data model. The most neutral representation for the visual image of a potential mythological being is simply to link the attributes to the object itself. For the Eyrarland figure interpreted as Thor (Þjms 10880), this will mean linking a male figure and a hammer to the figure itself (Figure 6). For an image such as this, the page/side links are redundant but are included in order to maintain a consistent structure: some figures may include more than one image on one or more sides of the object.

Figure 6: Links between attributes and objects

The textual evidence for Thor as a male figure with a hammer consists in linking the attribute to a specific named being. This requires a slightly different structure which, firstly makes the link between the god and the attribute, and secondly links the attribution to the corpus. For the interpretation of a male figure with a hammer, the interpretation of Thor as a male figure is self-evident — despite his activities in Þrymskviða, he is always represented as male. Thor has a hammer according to a number of sources, including Snorra Edda (Gylfagining ch. 48; Faulkes 2005, 47), Þjóðólfr ór Hvini, Haustlǫng 18 (Finnur Jónsson 1912-15, BI, 18), Bragi Boddason, Þórr’s Fishing 3 (formerly Ragnarsdrápa 15; see Finnur Jónsson 1912-15, BI, 3), SHM 25654 (Södra kvinneby amulet) and Þrymskviða 1 (Neckel and Kuhn 1983, 111). The evidence base for identifying a man with a hammer as Thor is shown in Figure 7. In cases where the attribution is obvious (e.g. Thor is a male being), this status can be indicated in the table (here represented as an asterisk, but occupying a separate field in the table).

Figure 7: Links between texts, beings and attributes

This system separates but links the evidence base (references) to the interpretative connections; the amount of evidence and relative dating can be incorporated into the analysis by the links; thus the Eyrarland image is connected to Thor by the image of a man with hammer; this shares the same connection as a number of textual sources, including a runic inscription and a ninth-century poem. The Rällinge statuette identified as Freyr, which has an enlarged phallus, shares a connection with the god based on a more limited range of sources.

6.3. Other objects

The examples above include anthropomorphic figures which can be identified with mythological beings or narratives, however tenuously. There are other types of objects which do not fall into these categories which nevertheless may be useful for understanding the pre-Christian religions. One such example is the Thor’s hammer motif that is found on a large number of objects from Scandinavia. These objects consist normally of an amulet-like object made of metal with a two-dimensional representation of a double-sided hammer with a very short handle.

Such objects do not need to be explicitly linked to a particular mythological being to be of interpretative value. The Attributes category can be used to label objects with this type of hammer image and can be linked to the object via Attributes in texts table. Where multiple objects are extremely similar or identical, perhaps because they are modelled on the same image or even cast with the same die, these can be represented by a single entry in the category of pictures with multiple links to the objects themselves.

Folkloric sources which mention named beings can be linked to the resource according to the structures outlined in the previous section (5). For sources which have clear connections (such as narrative motifs) with mythological narratives but do not use identifiable mythological names, the structures outlined in this section can be used to link them to the interpretative concepts.

References