An Eye for Odin? Divine Role-Playing in the Age of Sutton Hoo

Bibliographic Data

ID7175338
AuthorsNeil Price (University of Aberdeen, corresponding author), Paul Mortimer (Sutton Hospital)
Year2014
Volume17
Issue3
Pages517-538
Publication date2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1179/1461957113y.0000000050
OpenAlexW2012096683
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited15

This paper presents some new observations concerning the construction of the Sutton Hoo helmet, as a point of entry to a wider discussion of pre-Christian religious and ideological links across Scandinavia. It will be argued that in certain circumstances and locations, such as the firelit interior of the hall, the wearer of the helmet was seen as both war leader and war god, a literal personification of Odin. This interpretation is supported and extended with a variety of Scandinavian finds from the sixth to tenth centuries, and arguably represents an unusually physical manifestation of the ritual border-crossing between human and divine elites. In the socio-political context of early medieval kingdoms, the dramatic imagery of the helmets and related military equipment had a critical role to play in the communication of power, the origin of military prowess, and the religious allegiance of a warlord

Allegiance · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Ideology · Interpretation (philosophy · Kingdom · Linguistics · Literature · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Variety (cybernetics · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies

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