Researchers have expose the earliest known runic inscription referencing the Norse godOdin , house physician of the heavenly kingdom of Asgard and superintendent of Valhalla . Etched into the surface of an ornamental gold magnetic disk , the etching predates the next previous honorable mention of Odin ’s name by around 150 years .
The thin amber ornament – or bracteate – was find amongst a trove of ancient gem that has come to be known as the Vindelev Hoard since its discovery in the central Jutland region of Denmark in 2020 . Thought to have been bury around 1,500 geezerhood ago , the stash is importantly old than the previous oldest book of facts to Odin , which appears on a brooch that has been dated to the latter part of the sixth century .
After a long conflict to represent the ancient letter of the alphabet – orrunes – scratch into the bracteate , researchers finally decode the phrasal idiom “ he is Odin ’s man ” in relation to a portrait of a figure who may have been call “ Jaga ” or “ Jagaz ” . With no other written source useable from 5th - century Denmark , runologists are incertain on the nose who this somebody was , although the name is likely to refer to a king or overlord whose divine right to prevail came directly from Odin .
“ The runic inscription was the most unmanageable I have ever had to interpret in all my years as a runologist , ” said Lisbeth Imer from the National Museum of Denmark in astatement . “ It is the first time in the history of the humankind that Odin ’s name was mentioned . This means thatNorse mythologycan now be go out all the agency back to the other 5th C . ”
The difficulty in deciphering the lettering owed to the fact that many of the runes had faded , while the school text itself was spell without spaces between the Scripture and in a somewhat archaic style . “ Not only has the bodily structure of the speech communication developed tremendously since the fifth 100 , but many words have also fallen out of use , ” say ancient speech specializer Krister Vasshus .
“ Generally , we find short runic inscription with fairly comprehensible contentedness , but this prison term the textbook is long and consists almost all of new Bible . That made it extremely unmanageable to interpret . ”
concord to Vasshus , the successful transformation of the text may assist research worker decipher other ancient runic inscriptions . For instance , more than 200 graven bracteates have been found in Northern Europe , yet the vast bulk of these have so far proved too difficult to interpret .
Odin is among the most famous Nordic god , and is consort with warfare , death , and wisdom . The Father of the Church of Thor and Baldr , Odin was believed to preside over Valhalla , the heavenly hall where half of all slain warriors spend their eternal days .
The other one-half were think to travel to Fólkvangr , which was the domain of the goddess Freyja .
