Table of contents:
Video: 6 iconic Viking inventions people still use today
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The Vikings are generally credited with a reputation for being rude, unwashed barbarians in horned helmets and armed with rusty axes. They are skillful sailors, ruthless invaders and brave warriors who bring bloody sacrifices to their god Odin. Despite this notoriety, the history of the Vikings is actually a legacy of all sorts of achievements. They have forever changed the way people talk, exercise, travel, and even take care of themselves.
Thanks to the latest research by scientists, it was possible to dispel the popular misconception that the Vikings are an ethnic group. Public opinion has always portrayed this "northern" people as a nation of fearless warriors, surrounded by beautiful mountains and romantic Scandinavian fjords. As it turned out, Viking is not a nationality, but a profession, one might even say that Viking is destiny.
The word "Viking" itself, translated from Old Norse, means "a person participating in a sea voyage." Scandinavia itself is also not a separate country, but a large historical and cultural region. It covers the territories of modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It is also often customary to include other northern countries in it - Iceland, Finland and the lands of the North Atlantic.
The Vikings were the bearers of everything new: language, technology, skills, beliefs, cultural habits. They very willingly created new socio-political structures in all lands where they arrived.
1. Shipbuilding and navigation
The innovative shipbuilding technology for those times was perhaps the most striking achievement of the Vikings. Thanks to their signature ships, they were able to cover much greater distances than anyone before them. The invention of the Vikings is smooth, shallow wooden ships with rows of oars along the side. These ships were very fast, lightweight, flexible, and incredibly maneuverable. They were many times superior to any other ships of that time.
Also, the Vikings have a well-deserved fame as pioneers. They were indeed very skillful sailors. In the maritime business, they used seemingly simple, but incredibly high-precision instruments, such as the solar compass. It contained calcite crystals known as "sun stones". This made it possible to determine the position of the main celestial body even after its sunset or on cloudy days. Such know-how gave the Vikings an absolute advantage when traveling long distances to foreign unknown lands. During their heyday, the Vikings managed to visit four continents at the same time.
2. English
Centuries after their first arrival in English soil in 793 AD, the Vikings were still fighting wars in the British Isles. They made constant raids, founded settlements. Of course, all of this ultimately had an indelible impact on the local culture and language. As the Vikings entered into ever closer relations with their English neighbors, the two languages, Old Norse and Old English, finally merged.
Everything happened gradually and in a completely natural way. People cultivated the land, traded with each other, got married and got married. This process is especially clearly visible in place names. Names such as Derby, Thornby, Grimsby eloquently testify to the influence of the Vikings. After all, the suffix "-by" was a Scandinavian word that meant "manor" or "village". In addition, a host of other words have become firmly established in the English language as commonly used. Also, many have acquired their modern significance thanks to the influence of the Vikings.
3. Dublin
The beautiful capital of the Emerald Isle, Dublin, is entirely due to the Vikings. It was they who founded in 841 on this site, on the southern bank of the Liffey River. The Vikings gave him the name Dubh Lynn or "Black Pool". The name was given in honor of the lake where the ancient Scandinavians moored their boats. In the center of modern Dublin, a wooden and earthen fort was erected. The settlement was concentrated around this building. In those early days, there was one of the largest slave markets in Europe.
Dublin was under the complete and absolute control of the Vikings for over three hundred years. It was until the ruler of Ireland, Brian Boru, defeated them at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Vikings left their mark on Irish soil in the form of several Norse place names. In addition, such famous cities in Ireland as Cork, Limerick, Wexford and Waterford were also founded at one time by the Vikings.
4. Skis
The oldest skis found by archaeologists date back to the 8-7 centuries BC and they were discovered in Russia. For the first time in historical documents, skiing is mentioned in the period 206-220 BC. These written records date back to China during the Han Dynasty. In the Western world, it was the Vikings who started the skiing tradition. Even the word "ski" itself comes from the Old Norse "skío". It was customary for the ancient Scandinavian tribes to use skis both for moving around their snow-covered landscape and just for fun. Even their pagan goddess Skaoi and the god Ullr were often depicted on skis or snowshoes.
5. Hairbrushes
The enemies of the Vikings liked to think of them as unkempt, unwashed barbarians. In fact, the Vikings bathed much more often than other Europeans of the time. They usually did this in hot springs, at least once a week. The Vikings made combs for combing hair from animal horns. These items are among the most commonly found in Viking graves. Of course, many peoples all over the world had crests. But it is in the form familiar to everyone that combs are considered an invention of the Scandinavians.
Tweezers, razors, and ear-cleaning spoons are the objects that scientists find when excavating Viking burials. This is further proof that even the formidable long-haired, bearded Viking warriors took their personal hygiene very seriously.
6. Sagas
One of the main sources of information about the life of the Vikings is their sagas. Of course, historians consider this source to be highly dubious. But no one will argue with how interesting and insanely fascinating these texts are.
Icelandic sagas, written by unknown authors in the XII, XIII and XIV centuries, very colorfully describe life during the Viking Age. The worship of their pagan gods is described in detail. Then how the ancient Normans eventually abandoned paganism and converted to Christianity. Victorian scholars accepted these sagas as true historical record.
Most modern historians agree that this is a very unreliable source of information about the Vikings. These biographies are more like legends, they are so heavily seasoned with myths and fantasies. Despite this, these texts are very valuable. In any case, we can thank the Vikings and those who wrote about their exploits for giving a powerful impetus to the development of such a literary genre as fantasy. We can say that this was his earliest form of manifestation.
If you are interested in this topic, read our article on how how the history of the Vikings changed thanks to the recent discovery of archaeologists.
Recommended:
7 inventions of the First World War that people use today and do not know about their origin
For 4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks, during which one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the First World War, lasted, at least 18 million people died. However, as often happens in principle, the global military crisis has served as an impetus for the development of completely principled ideas and revolutionary technologies. In this review, a story about 7 inventions of World War I, which now make the lives of modern people much better
10 Viking inventions that tell a lot about their life and history
Today, the Vikings are more often remembered as the brutal barbarian raiders who sowed death and enslaved the survivors of their raids. And few people remember that the Vikings were talented engineers, whose inventions gave them significant advantages in military affairs, in trade, in shipping and other occupations. We have collected ten amazing inventions that open the veil of secrecy over the way of life and history of the Vikings
How people were manipulated in German concentration camps, and why this strategy still works today
The destruction of not a person, but an individual - this was the main goal of the concentration camps, breaking the will, the desire for freedom and the struggle for it, but leaving physical opportunities for work. The ideal slave does not speak, has no opinion, does not mind and is ready to fulfill. But how to make an adult personality out of an adult, having lowered his consciousness to that of a child, to turn it into a biomass, which is easy to manage? Psychotherapist Bruno Bettelheim, who was himself a hostage of Buchenwald, determined the main
The most unusual artificial languages people use today
Artificial languages are created for different purposes. Some are designed to give credibility to a fictional space in a book or film, others to obtain a new, simple and neutral means of communication, while others are designed in order to comprehend and reflect the essence of the world. It's easy to get confused in the variety of artificial languages. But there are several of the most "unusual among the unusual"
People, people and again people. Drawings by John Beinart
If you only have a couple of moments to get to know Jon Beinart, then, glancing over his paintings, you will see black and white portraits or several human figures. But the drawings of this author are nevertheless recommended to be considered more thoughtfully and more carefully: and then you will see that in each image there are tens and hundreds of people, who can be peered at for hours