Altuna Runestone
| Altuna Runestone | |
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| Rundata ID | U 1161 |
| Country | Sweden |
| Region | Uppland |
| City/Village | Altuna |
| Produced | 11th century |
| Runemaster | Several |
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Text – Native |
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| Old Norse : See article. | |
| Text – English | |
| See article | |
| Other resources | |
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Runestones – Runic alphabet Runology – Runestone styles |
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The Altuna Runestone (Altunastenen), listed as U 1161 in the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone with images from Norse mythology that is located in Altuna, Uppland, Sweden.
The Altuna Runestone is a granite stone 1.95 meters in height that was discovered in 1918 by a local historian in the wall of a chapel located near its current location. Before the historical significance of runestones was recognized, they were often used as materials in the construction of roads, bridges, walls, and buildings. It is one of few surviving runestones with exclusively pagan illustrations from Norse mythology. Most surviving runestones were raised during the 11th century after the Christianization of Sweden, and they were raised by people who wanted to show that they too adhered to the new faith, at least outwardly so.
One side of the Altuna Runestone, however, illustrates a legend recorded in the Hymiskviða of the Poetic Edda, in which the Norse god Thor fishes for Jörmungandr, the Midgard serpent. Thor goes fishing with the jötunn Hymir using an ox head for bait, and catches Jörmungandr, who then either breaks loose or, as told in the Gylfaginning of the Prose Edda, the line is cut loose by Hymir. The Prose Edda provides the additional detail that while Thor was pulling on the line with Jörmungandr on the hook, his feet went through the bottom of the boat. The image on the Altuna Runestone does not show Hymir, which may be due to the narrow shape of the stone, but it shows Thor, his line and tackle and the serpent, and notably, Thor's foot which has been pushed through the hull of the boat. This encounter between Thor and Jörmungandr seems to have been one of the most popular motifs in Norse art. Three other picture stones that have been linked with the myth are the Ardre VIII image stone, the Hørdum stone, and the Gosforth Cross. A stone slab that may be a portion of a second cross at Gosforth also shows a fishing scene using an ox head.
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Wikipedia