CHAPTER XIX. 



THE BRACTEATES. 



Gold bracteates Peculiarity of their designs Mystic and symbolical signs- 

 Earlier runes The Vadstena bracteate The svastica, triskele, and 

 triad. 



AMONG the most curious and beautiful ornaments that have 

 been discovered in the north are the gold bracteates, which 

 occur in groat numbers, but are seldom found in graves, 

 and which were used, as we can see from the loop attached 

 to them, as an ornament to be worn hanging from the neck ; 

 that they were held to be protective amulets, and were used 

 by the temple priests in religious ceremonies, is probable. 



They are formed by embossing or stamping upon a disc, and 

 the gold is extremely thin. The peculiarity of their designs, 

 and the mystic and symbolic signs which are used upon them, 

 such as the svastica, the triskele, the cross, the triad in dots, 

 birds, snakes, &c., peculiar shapes of animals, and the head- 

 dress of men, are very remarkable ; and. the sign in the shape 

 of an S, found also on objects of the bronze age, makes them 

 specially interesting. 



We must receive with a great deal of caution the interpreta- 

 tion put upon these signs by some of the archaeologists who 

 have tried to unravel their meaning, and have taken the 

 svastica for the sign of Thor, for this sign has been found in 

 Greece by Schliemann and other antiquarians ; the triskele, or 

 the triad with dots, to mean Odin, Vili, Ve, or Odin, Hoenir 

 and Lod ; the birds to be the ravens of Odin ; the human heads 

 to be representations either of Thor, Odin, or Frey ; the animals 

 to be the goat of Thor, and Odin's horse, Sleipnir. That the 

 representations with the sacred signs and the figure upon 

 them had some peculiar meaning there is, I think, no doubt ; 



