"Drawing of the Sigurdsristning" Sundby Things to Do Tip by sim1

It's time to take a look at the whole carvings. It is best illustrated by this drawing of the rock carvings. This will give you a better idea off what you are seeing in all the pictures of the rock carvings on this page and give you an idea what the whole carvings looks like.

The Sigurd Carving has snakes on the outside, which are filled with decorations and runes. I told you about the Runes in the snake in the previous tips. On the inside of the snake you can see a lot of small pictures. The runic inscription on the Sigurds Ristning does not have any connection with the pictures that are inside it. These pictures tell a saga and can been seen as one of the first Nordic "cartoons".
The saga was wellknown by the time they were cut and needed no explanation to the people. The saga tells of a man named Sigurd Fafnisbane (Sigurd the Dragonslayer). The saga is both ancient and widespread throughout Europe. I will write part of the saga and show the pictograms in the next tips.

The Sigurd Saga originates from the Icelandic Eddan, a collection of Godly and heroic poems with roots way back in the 9th century. The Saga is a mix of Frankish, Burgundy, Gothic, Icelandic and Anglo-saxon material from different times. This saga of Sigurd actually was alreayd a 1000 years old when the Sigurd-inscription was cut, so no wonder it was wellknown.
The first time it was written down (besides the carvings in the runic stones) was early in the 13th century, in Iceland, by Snorre Sturlasson. Much later the German version of the saga reached us as the Nibelungenlied from the 12th century.