The Norse peoples of the Viking Age, though lacking what we would call an organized religion, were certainly not without a well-developed belief structure of their own. This picture stone from Gotland (known as the Tjangvide image stone), dating from the 8th or 9th century, seems to provide an interesting contrast between the worlds of the mythological and the real, showing the realm of the gods above in contrast to a “traditional” image of a manned longship below them.

The upper reaches of the image seems to depict Asgard, realm of the gods. Featured is the war-god Odin upon his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, drinks being offered by woman (likely Valkyries), and what seems to be the entrance to Valhalla, hall of slain heroes.¹ In contrast, the lower parts depict warriors – and largely mundane warriors, at that – sailing on a longship.2 Could this represent a contrast between the human world, Midgard, and the world of the gods? Alternately, many picture stones on Gotland seem to recount popular stories. The rider could indeed not be Odin, especially if the depiction of the horse is intended to represent speed and not eight literal legs. Finally, the stone bears a runic inscription, though one that is ultimately not helpful to our understand of the image, recounting that the stone was raised in memory of a brother.³

Still, despite the uncertainty surrounding this picture stone, it is most likely that the upper portion of it does in fact show a conception of the Norse afterlife. We can imagine, however, that this stone was not so ambiguous at the time of its creation. Providing a pictorial depiction of a story or a concept that was no doubt known to its audience, this picture stone merely serves to reinforce to use modern readers that there seems to have been widely accepted and conventional depictions of Norse mythology. One did not need text to explain what such an image meant.

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