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  3. The Vikings’ Voyage to Eternity Since the Merovingian Age

The Vikings’ Voyage to Eternity Since the Merovingian Age

游客2024-03-02  9
问题                    The Vikings’ Voyage to Eternity
    Since the Merovingian Age, during the postRoman era of the 6th7th centuries AD, Norsemen have been associated with ships— for trade, exploration, and war. No aspect of Viking culture was entirely separate from the influence of ships, including their view of death. In fact, kings and heroes, believing that they would sail to the other world after death, had themselves buried in their ships. This is proved by the epics and sagas which tell of the heroic deeds of the Vikings, many of which have survived to our own day. The greatest details regarding early Scandinavian history, including the custom of ship burial, come from the writings of the Icelandic chronicler Snorri Sturluson, who composed the Heimskringla (History of the Kings of Norway) .sometime between AD 1220 and 1235, plus numerous other works. Although much is lost in modern translations, the original poetry of the sagas remains on many levels, and historians are ever grateful to their predecessor for his attention to detail. For about four centuries, the sagas and legends were elaborate in their portrayal of ships. Documentation, of course, may have been added some untrue details for the sake of a good story.
    In addition to the legends, there is visible evidence of the influence of ships and the sea in Viking lore (口头流传的知识), as a number of ship burials have been discovered in the past two centuries. Therefore, we can use both the archaeological and the literary evidence to piece together a small window into the world of the Vikings. It is particularly interesting that the ships that do remain to this day were buried on land, an intriguing practice which, due to its pagan(异教徒) implications, died out soon after the Viking con version(皈依) to Christianity. Boat burials, in combination with sagas, indicate that Viking activity, whether trading or raiding, de pended upon reliable ships to sail, and without them the longer sea crossings that we know to have occurred would have been impossible. The voyages that had become commonplace in the 9th century would have been unthinkable 100 years earlier.
    The Vikings treated their mortal warriors with as much respect as their Gods, and this is evident in Norse mythology, particularly with the tale of Balder. This god of light was killed by a "dart of mistletoe" thrown by tile mischievous Loki, resulting in "the greatest misfortune ever to befall gods and men". Balder was given a luxurious ship burial as recorded in the Prose Edda.
    Epics and sagas were tales of pride and grandeur. Naval power, perfected early by Norsemen, had an exceptional place in these tales, and continued to be used in Christian narratives after the Conversion. There is not a great deal in the way of illustrated evidence for the earliest period of boat building by the Nordic people, but the record does increase from about the 11th century AD until the end of the Viking era. There is also literary evidence, present in many heroic sagas, of the abundance of Viking exploration and acquisition of land, beginning in about the 9th century. The most valuable evidence, however, undoubtedly comes from archaeology.
    In archaeological terms, the survival of a boat burial depends entirely upon the soil in which it was buried. For example, soil that surrounded the early 7th century AD find at Ladby is highly acidic, thus all that remained of the original vessel were the rivets(铆钉) in a ghostly outline. Nevertheless, this and other finds, allows us to determine how the ships were made.
    The Nydam boat, found in 1863 in Southern Jutland, dates from the fifth century and is a former form of the characteristic long boat associated with the height of the Viking period. Previously, ships had been designed for both trading and warfare, but the Nydam boat, measuring 76ft overall, shows characteristics that indicate that it was built primarily as a warship. This trend would continue until its climax in the Gokstad ship. The Vikings also decorated their ships with fearsome figureheads. Norse ships were decorated with heads and forms of various creatures: On the stems(船尾) can be seen different faces of metal ornamented with silver and gold.
    The Gokstad ship, found in 1880 in Sandefjorde, Norway, is 79 ft overall, doubleended, like all Nordic ships, with a high curving stem(船头) and stem posts. The remains of mast(桅杆) suggest that the original would have been about 42 ft high, making the ship rather powerful and swift in the water. The Gokstad ship was also recovered with shields attached to the gunwale(船舷的上缘), at the ready for the warriors on board. The technical perfection of this ship came as a result of a long tradition of experience and experiment that first yielded sailing ships suitable for the open seas about one hundred years before the Gokstad ship was even built.
    The Ladby ship, believed to date from the 10th century, was unearthed in 1935 on Funen, Denmark. The wooden skeleton had disintegrated(风化), leaving only an impression in the soil and rivets. From this feature, archeologists were able to determine that the vessel was 67.5 ft long and 9.5 ft wide, much smaller than the Gokstad ship, but closer in lengthtobeam ratio (1:7) for a fast speed warship. Inside, a nobleman’s body was found, together with 11 horses and several dogs. One of the nobleman’s horses bore an elaborate harness. Many other artifacts were unearthed, including a game board, arrows and a shield.
    The ship burial discovered in 1904 at Oseberg turned out to be the grave of a noble woman of sufficient status to warrant a very luxurious burial. Apart from the boat, the grave also contained a lot of artifacts including three sledges, a cart, a saddle and the remains of ten horses and two oxen, tents, beds and other domestic items that the Lady would need in her next life. The ship was most likely used as coastal transportation by the noble woman, rather than a working ship or "modern" warship, but still embodies transitional features found in later ships.
    By the beginning of the Viking period in the ninth century AD, the long ships, as they were called, were about eight meters in length, but there is one of an unusual 23 meters. Through the evidence found at shipburial sites, and other grave locations, it is clear that there was a common belief among the Norse peoples in life after death—a continuation of existence in which death was only one chapter among many. It is also demonstrate that there was not only a continuing of life, but of social statusthe most complex funerals were those of the most wealthy and powerful men, and this evidence comes not only from grave goods but from accounts such as those found in sagas and epics.
    The introduction of Christianity to the northern realms of Western Europe did not eliminate the Viking way of life in its entirety. It obviously finished the more pagan practices, yet it is remarkable that saga literature, taken as a whole, did remain relatively unaffected by Christian norms. One may be tempted to suspect this was the re suit of an exceptionally faithful and tradition from the saga age. Vikings have always been portrayed as stubborn, determined and vigorous people—that their earlier ways of life should have survived the onset of Christianity is not surprising. [br] The ship discovered in 1904 at Oseberg was probably used by ______.
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答案 a noble woman of sufficient status
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