5 VIKING MYTHS BUSTED!
INTERVIEW
Hi, I’m Chiara and today we are interviewing Ragnar, a Viking man who will tell us more about the customs and traditions of his society and will help us bust 5 Viking myths !!
- Ragnar, based on archaeological findings we discovered that Vikings were wearing a helmet, is that right?
Yes, but only God-like warriors wore helmets with protruding “horns”, Viking raiders and traders wore simple helmets or skull caps without horns, to protect the head from impact.
- The historical document describing the Viking raids was objective proof of the extreme violence used, so were you all warriors?
No we weren’t, the majority of us were warriors but others lived a peaceful existence: farming, trading and integrating across the four continents that we settled.
- And where did you settle?
We settled in Scandinavia, Iceland, Ireland and England
- Is it true that everywhere you went, you took what you wanted and left?
No, it’s not, or better to say, not always because many of us pillaged the places they reached, bringing back coins from across the known world to be buried in hoards back in their homelands. However, many chose to remain in the lands they encountered, establishing lasting and important settlements.
- We always thought that the Vikings were ignorant and treated their women badly,is that true?
Are you kidding? Absolutely we were the greatest naval engineers and travelers the world had seen.
Women played an important role in our society; they were guardians of the keys to both propriety and wealth, and some of them were trained to be military leaders.
- Last question, how did you live, in an unkempt way or…
One thing you certainly cannot say is that we Vikings were unkempt. In fact we were quite vain.
We lived in large and luxurious halls.
Ok thank you so much for releasing this interview and clarifying all kinds of Viking stereotypes. Thank you and see you at the next interview.