Definition of a 'Viking Helmet' = A mettle cap with two horns or wings attached. Right??

A great roar of wind ripped through the great sail as waves dash against the long side of the longboat, lined with many round shields - each carved with unique figures of their heathen gods. Through the vast blanket of fog the mighty dragon head at the front still reigned supreme, even in the thickest of storms.

From aboard the ship men scurried around to their duties, dressed in furs with helmets of gold - horns and wings rested upon either side of them. The leader of the ship taking out his sword gave a terrifying yell and, turning towards some of the other men call out that he knew -

Wrong!!!

*wind stops and the leader looks confused*

"What?" the leader says, "How dare you stop my raid upon the village!"

*voice* - because I wanted to.

*leader* - I shall teach you not to stand against me in these matters! I am a Viking and -

*voice* - no. You're not. You are little fake cartoon made by the minds of illiterate people.

*leader is stunned* - what? So, I'm not a Viking?

*voice* - no.

*leader* - what is a Viking then?

*******
Well, everywhere I go it seems that the meaning of Viking is portrayed wrong. When the words 'Viking helmet' are mentioned {for example}, a random person usually thinks of a little gold cap, that looks like a upside-down bowl, with two white horns or wings coming out of the side. A 'Viking' is betrayed as a scary/cruel man, with an axe in his hand, chasing after some helpless monk and raiding a monastery - oh! and of course wearing the all-famous 'helmet'. He is a cruel barbarous man who cares nothing for his family, except to get an heir to take his place when he is dead.

I am constantly seeing this everywhere. Nearly everyone I have know has probably thought this; and if not the last part, they all known about their 'helmets'. Not just the children! Adults! This is so wrong! And furthermore, it's sad. It wasn't until last winter that I actually even knew about the myth of their 'helmets'.

An article from Wikipedia describes the Viking helmets as "a rounded cap... {with}... a spectacle guard around the eyes and nose, in addition to a possible mail aventail.......from rune-stones and other illustrations, we know the Vikings also wore simpler helmets, often peaked caps with a simple nose-guard. It is unlikely that any Viking helmets had HORNS or WINGS mounted on them, but illustrations from the 19th Century popularized this representation." {italics, caps, and 'with' added} I also read in a book that there is no evidence for such myths anywhere.


This is a picture of an Anglo-Saxon helmet {The Anglo-Saxons where Vikings from various places who came into England and settled there. Alfred the Great was an Anglo-Saxon for instance}. I think this is the real helmet. It may one that was copied after it.... but either way, this is somewhat how they looked.



Here is another. This one and the one above where both found in the Sutton Hoo ship excavated in Suffolk, England, 1939. Note: these are probably somewhat close to the Viking's helmets, but they were not the same.

Either way, as you can see this is much different than the upside-down-bowl-helmet-with-horns-or-wings.

So, where did all of these myths about the horned-helmet come from? No one is quite sure. I personally believe that it started when the Vikings were beginning to attack the northern monasteries in the Roman Empire in the middle to late 400's A.D. { it was 476 A.D that the Western Roman Empire collapsed, so it would have been some time before this}. Because they attacked the helpless monks and villages, they were probably looked upon as beasts, having pity on no one and being merciless - not to mention the every-day people had never seen men like the Vikings before. Thus tales were likely spread around how they were like great beasts killing everyone - hence could have come the horned-helmets. Where the wings could have come from? I don't know. But I'm not very sure about the horned helmets originating then, since the article above states that it wasn't until the 19th century that they "popularized this representation".

As for why the Vikings came and started to attack England and other parts of the Roman Empire..... I will have to save that for another post.

~Freya Hrethric

I apologize for the font change!