Eskator psbracteate
The Eskatorpsbrakteate (DR BR74 IK241, 1) is a bracteate (from Latin bractea "thin metal sheet") made of pure gold, from Eskatorp. in Fjärås near Kungsbacka in Halland in Sweden . It was found in 1867 by Peter Andreasson near the Kungsbackafjord. It is located in the gold room of the Statens historiska museum in Stockholm . The inventory number is SHM 3670. A copy is in the Gothenburg City Museum.
The bracteate, which consists of compressed gold plates, is a pendant that is dated to the Nordic Iron Age (400-550 AD). It weighs 16 grams and has a diameter of 40.6 mm. It is decorated with a series of patterns in five rows of rings. In one of the rings there are 21 small squares of 16 points each, which are symmetrically arranged in a grid. The outer ring has about forty small stamped crosses. An edge tape wrapped with gold wire has started to peel off. In the middle there is an animal that looks like a donkey. The big-eared donkey lifts its front right hoof in an elegant gesture. Seventeen dots float around the donkey and a ring with a runic inscription framed the motif (as with the bracteate DR BR 66 from Väsby in Skåne ).
The inscription reads:
"Wigar, erilar wrote Trolltingestarna (brakteatena)."
Erilar was a title to the king's adviser during the Viking Age and Middle Ages . Another, more hypothetical, interpretation is that Erilar is referring to Hercules, a controversial warrior and a Germanic tribe.
context
The Germanic bracteates of the 5th and 6th centuries are circular decorative discs made of precious metal, embossed on one side by dies . They have their origin in the imitation of late antique Roman imperial medallions . Of the more than 900 bracteates found so far, around 300 each come from Denmark and Sweden , 190 from Norway , 30 from England and 20 from the continent south of Denmark. The greatest concentrations are found in Gotland and western Norway . About a third of the bracteates wear runes , which can only be partially interpreted as texts.
literature
- Jan Peder Lamm: Fornvännen 1993, Historiska nyheter 50, sid 18, Eskatorpsbrakteaten - Herulens guld, Historiska museet