Eyrarland Statue Explained

The Eyrarland Statue is a bronze statue of a seated figure (6.7 cm^[1]) from about AD 1000 that was recovered at the Eyrarland farm in the area of Akureyri, Iceland. The object is a featured item at the National Museum of Iceland. The statue may depict the Norse god Thor and/or may be a gaming-piece.

The statue was unearthed in 1815 or 1816 on one of two farms called Eyrarland in the vicinity of Akureyri.^{[2] [3] [4]}

If the object is correctly identified as Thor, Thor is here holding his hammer Mjöllnir, sculpted in the typically Icelandic cross-like shape. It has been suggested that the statue is related to a scene from the Poetic Edda poem Þrymskviða where Thor recovers his hammer while seated by grasping it with both hands during the wedding ceremony.^[5] Another suggestion comes from the archeologist Kristján Eldjárn, who has written that it could be the central piece from a set of hnefatafl, based on its similarities to a smaller whalebone figure discovered in Baldursheimur together with black and white gaming pieces and a die.

See also

• Odin from Lejre
• Rällinge statuette

Notes and References

1. Book: Úr íslenzkri listsögu fyrri alda. 1 June 1962. Birtingur. 5. 5 November 2016. is.
2. Book: Eldjárn, Kristján. Dronke, Ursula. Ursula Dronke. etal . The bronze image from Eyrarland. Specvlvm norroenvm: Norse studies in memory of Gabriel Turville-Petre. Odense University Press. 1981. 75. 978-87-7492-289-6.
3. Book: Perkins, Richard. Thor the wind-raiser and the Eyrarland image. Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London. 2001. London. 82. 978-0-903521-52-9.
4. Book: Bertelsen, Lise Gjedssø. Ingi Sigurðsson . Jón Skaptason. Some New Aspects of the Ringerike-Style Statuette from Eyrarland, Northern Iceland. Aspects of Arctic and sub-Arctic history: proceedings of the International Congress on the History of the Arctic and the Sub-Arctic Region, Reykjavík, 18-21 June 1998. University of Iceland. 2000. Reykjavík. 507. 978-9979-54-435-7.
5. Book: Ross, Margaret Clunies . Margaret Clunies Ross . Acker . Paul . Larrington . Carolyne . Reading Þrymskviða . The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology . Routledge . 2002 . London . 188–189 . 0-8153-1660-7.