ghtly before. They are known as futharks for their first six letters. Several alphabets are known to exist. The Norse contend that the god Odin, while hanging from the Yggdrasil, the World Tree, he gave up one eye two learn the secrets of the runes. Thus the Norse say Odin acquired the runes and then gave it to them. Runic carvings have been found anywhere Vikings have ever been. Over 5,000 stones in Sweden have been found with runic carvings on them. Not only kings and chieftains used runes. Archaeologists have found many small pieces of wood and bone causally marked with mundane runic messages, including Kiss me. Runic inscriptions cover the shoulder of a lion statue that once stood at the gates of the Athenian port city of Piraeus (the statue was taken the Venice as booty in 1687). The sculptures graffiti, which is now illegible due to wear, offers proof of the Viking presence in the Mediterranean. Also, in the Hagia Sophia basilica in Istanbul, runic carvings scratched into a parapet spell out the Viking name Halfdan. Runes were probably taught from parents to children.The mythology of the Norsemen is as harsh as their environment. They believed in an underworld called Hel, an icy realm where those who died of age or sickness went, ruled by a half-rotting goddess with the same name. Wrapping itself around the world was a gigantic serpent named Jormungundr who at Ragnarok, the final battle between good and evil where evil will win, will rise up and kill and be killed by Thor. Also, there is Feninr, the wolf that tried to devoir the sun, but who the gods chained and imprisoned. When Ragnarok occurs, his chains will break and he will devoir the sun and Odin himself as well. On the other side of the coin, in Asgard, where the other Norse gods live, is Valhalla-the Hall of the Slain- where slain Viking warriors go after death. In Valhalla, these warriors fight and feast all day. And at the end of each day, the slain wa...
