Gold , Gods and Women

Women in lron Age Scandinavia were not passive homemakers. Instead they had considerable interest in and occasional influence over events outside the domestic sphere. Through a study of the gold bracteates their function, runic inscriptions and iconography —the role of women will be investigated. Gold bracteates were not artefacts with exclusively male associations, but rather, they demonstrate the influence of women in political matters.

analyzed the archaeological material from Vestlandet in Norway, and she regards the early Iron Age as a period characterized by ideological conflicts between the older, kinship-based society, which was largely maintained by women, and the newer maledominated political system of chiefdoms, which depended on greater contacts and alliances between groups separated by vast geographical distances.This new system engendered a new aesthetic of the masculine warrior, which is subsequently reflected in the weapon graves.The retinue was of greater importance in this new social system (Hedeager 1992:184ff;Axboe 1996:196).The Mig-  ration Period is regarded as a ti me characterized by widespread violence and upheaval.Char- lotte Fabech is of the opinion that the people of this period lived in societies which were affected by aggression and war (Fabech 1991:283) and that this is reflected, for example, in the war-booty sacrifices (for a different opinion on the crisis of the Migration Period, see Näsman 1988).
The standard view of the Migration Period might be considered over-simplified and onedimensional.If this is the case, certain modifications of this view may be in order.
For example, war and aggression have been over-emphasized and less attention has been paid to the more mundane aspects oflife in the period.As a result, gold bracteates have been given an all too militaristic interpretation, in which male associations are taken for granted.
In the evolving chiefdoms of the Scandi- navian region a system of reciprocal gift- giving developed as a means of consolidating and ensuring mutual trust and goodwill between the different groups involved in political alliances, as they were not kinsmen.The gift was a potent tool for forging new alliances or reaffirming old ones (Vestergaard1991 :98).Aron J. Gurevich describes the relationship between giver and receiver as characterized by "magic dependence" (Gurevich 1985:223).In this climate, in which bonds of kinship were supplemented by pol itical all iances, gold bracteates held special significance in the exchange of gifts.As both jewellery and gifts, gold bracteates demonstrated prestige and the highest political status.

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN IRON AGE SOCIETY
The division oflabour in Iron Age Scandinavia is generally regarded in terms of a rigid separation between the public sphere, which was controlled by the men, and the domestic sphere to which women were confined.Seemingly, the dividing line between the public and domestic spheres was drawn at the threshold.Any work or chores within the home was the sole responsibility of the women.Similarly any work outside was performed by the men (Holtsmark 1964:565).This division of la- bour, which is regarded as having been a social norm, can be traced back to the writings of Aristotle.This model prevails, and even today it is u sed uncritically (Arwill-Nordbladh   1994:36ff).This conventional view of the division of labour in prehistoric societies does notgive acomprehensivepicture, and therefore the conclusions drawn from these notions regarding male and female activity are fallacious.Indeed it might be said that differences between the gender roles of men and women have been over-emphasized, and consequently the potential for both men and women to transgress the imagined boundaries of their respective spheres, has been overlooked.By confining male and female gender roles and behaviour-impermeable spheres, a rigid framework is established which cannot easily accomodate evidence which is suggestive of such transgressions.Indeed, such evidence is often omitted or regarded as anomalous or marginalised for precisely this reason.In other words, it would be better to avoid such inflexible stereotypes in favour of a looser model in which the traditional roles of men and women might more easily overlap.
The state of opposition that Hjprungdal (1991: 112ft) discerns between the old kinship- based ideology maintained by women and the Cttrtettt Sssetiish Arehaeologi; Viih 5, l997 male warrior aesthetic, might not stand in sharp contrast to each other.The differences that appear in the archaeological material found in graves may evoke the different roles played by men and women in this period, rather than being evidence of a conflict of interests between the two groups.The two different ideologies may be regarded as complementary rather than in opposition to each other, and both systems were necessary to accomodate changes in society.
Many different conclusions have been drawn from the analyses of Old Norse- Icelandic literature, in which women are often decribed as strong and willful.Therefore the opinions regarding the postion of the Iron Age women vary accordingly.The literature is considered to reflect that strong and independent women were apparently typical (Guttormsson 1992:188;Mundal 1992).Altemativ- ely, it has been argued that such literature should be regarded in terms of propaganda written by men of the church to emphasize their progress towards civilization since heat- hen times andtodenounce independent women (Jochens 1986).Naturally these analyses are not wholly objective but are coloured by per- sonal views, and consequently the conclusions regarding the prehistoric woman become biased to a certain extent.One example of this is the image of Iron Age woman as homemaker, responsible for the family budget, which is manifest in descriptions of the Viking Age (Arwil l-Nordbladh 1991).There is widespread agreement that women of the period rarely, if ever, ventured outside their allotted sphere of influence.However, by comparing legal documents with rune stones and registers of landed property, Birgit Sawyer has come to the conclusion that the position of women in the late Iron Age was not as restricted as it appears in legal documents of the time.Sawyer is of the opinion that "both prehistoric and medieval women, in practice, were able -and expectedto act independently, although dif- ferent customs, ideals and laws formally restricted their liberty of action" (Sawyer 1994:6, my translation).Another example of the permeability between the roles of men and women is the Viking Age rune stone from Jättendal, Häl- singland, which was carved by a woman (Klint-  berg 1996).The complementary roles of men and women in the division of labour were conditioned culturally and were to a greater extent fixed, which naturally limited personal choice.However, a certain merging of the gender roles was necessary in some situa- tions.Perhaps gold bracteates reflect a situa- tion in which the role of women was pivotal to the public sphere.
In Norse-Icelandic literature it was the woman who could, withoutputting her honour at stake, cross the division between the gender roles.The same kind of overstepping of boundaries by a man was not socially acceptable.A man in this situation would lose social status, whereas a woman could occasionally behave in a way which was traditionally regarded as masculine.These women are portrayed favourably in the literature, and it is emphasized, by stressing their femininity and female characteristics, that they were not considered manly.Strong women were appreciated, and the strength of men and women was regarded equally (Meulengracht Sörensen 1993:206).
It is essential that the general view of Iron Age women is discussed in depth, as the image that is often put forward is too simplistic and overlooks important subtleties.

WOMEN AND ALLIANCES
As mentioned previously, the gold bracteates have been interpreted as a medium that facilitated political arrangements.A large part of the bracteates have been found in contexts that are associated with women and, according to Birgit Arrhenius this may reflect the fact that bracteates were used as morning gifts, as gold bracteates have occasionally been found in Frankish graves with otherwise non-Scandinavian artefacts (Arrhenius 1992).However, this interpretation is too narrow, since women Current Swedish Arehaeologs; Voh 5, l997 enabled alliances not only when they got married, but also in many other situations.
Anders Andrén (1991)is of the opinion that the bracteates demonstrate that women were seen as makers of political alliances, and furthermore that the gold bracteates have functioned as ethnic markers for groups of people outside the Scandinavian region who claimed a southern Scandinavian heritage.
Gold bracteates are, for instance, found in female graves in Kent, in southern England, where the leading families traced their descent from Jutland, Denmark.The function of the gold bracteates has thus changed over time and over geographical areas (ibid:254).
One of the most important ways to create or preserve alliances in Migration Period so- ciety was through marriage between people of different families.A marriage involved longterm legal as well as moral obligations and was therefore considered especially reliable.
In Anglo-Saxon poetry the wife is given the name "peace-weaver" as the possibility of peace between the two families was significantly improved, and this also is believed to apply to the Germanic peoples (Arrhenius 1992:20;Enright 1990:66).
Marriage probably had the form of a contract between the families of the bride and groom, who were expected to be of equal social standing and comparable wealth (Sawyer 1992:38).There is much to indicate that neither the man nor the woman had any influence over the choice of the person they married (Meulengracht S&rensen 1993:177).
Nevertheless women as well as men had a strategic interest in marrying as well as possible since that gave honour, which was of great social importance.This increase in honour strengthened the social position of the family (ibid:231).The woman was seen as the guardian of honour and was in some ways responsible for making sure the honour was not lost (ibid:246).To be able to do this, she had to act.
Since the gender role of the woman restricted her to the domestic realm, she had no direct influence in the public areas of society.However, this did not imply that she was passive; rather, she had to act indirectly through the men to have an effect on activities that took place outside the household.One important factor that rendered this possible was, as Sverre Bagge points out, that the woman had room to operate as a consequence of belonging not only to her own family but also to that of her husband (Bagge 1990:21).
In addition to this, her children were completely integrated into her husband's family.Furthermore Bagge believes that the woman could act indirectly through her sons, which would have been particularly effective in conflicts with her husband.The relationship between the sons and their father was probably characterized by competition; the sons were in an inferior position until the death of their father, and therefore the position of the woman was strengthened by the support of her sons (ibid:21).The spatial restrictions of the woman were moreover compensated by verbal action.Agneta Breisch sums up the situation: "The men had the swords, the wo- men had their tongues" (Breisch 1994:86,my translation).The Hetzerin motif which is frequent in the Norse literature, whereby wo- men goad their reluctant husbands or male relatives into taking revenge, is a reflection of this strategy by women to participate ver- bally (ibid:86; for a different opinion see Jochens 1986:49f).
Consequently the woman as well as the man had an interest in strengthening the social position of the family, although their ways of achieving this were different as they were restrained by their culturally-defined gender roles.The woman should therefore not merely be seen as a passive object of exchange in the marital barter.

RUNIC INSCRIPTIONS ON BRACTEATES
The role of the woman as a facilitator of alliances was important not only in marriage affairs but in other situations as well, and this Current Swedish Archaeology; VoL 5, i997 Gold, Gods anal Women 103 is reflected in the runic inscriptions on the gold bracteates.Andrén (1991)has analyzed the words lapu, alu and laukaR that occur in 22 bracteate inscriptions, and he has been able to show that the Germanic bracteates have copied form and function from the Roman imperial coins.
The first two words, lapu and alu, meaning invitation and mead, point clearly to the kind of situations in which bracteates were worn: at feasts where useful contacts were made or maintained and oaths of allegiance were ta- ken.The inscriptions reflect the role of women in these circumstances.The woman hosted these festive gatherings, where high status was attained through generosity.Hospitality, which was the responsibility of the woman, was of great importance in Iron Age society.
The woman could, through invitations, establish relations with other households and as a resul t of thi s could take on duties that were usually the responsibility of the man (Bagge 1990:21).To arrange feasts and to give gifts were of the utmost significance when attempting to improve or strengthen the social position in the Scandinavian Iron Age society (Gurevich 1985:239).
There seems to have been a special connection between mead and women, not only because it was the women who brewed it but also because they played an important role at the occasions on which it was consumed.According to Norse-Icelandic literature, it was women who had the mead already prepared for the occasions when the men drank toasts to one another to confirm oaths and agreements (Andrén 1991:253).The responsibility of the women in this situation is further indicated by the pendants found depicting women holding drinking-horns.The same theme occurs on a number of Gotlandic picture stones where a man, interpreted as Odin, is greeted by what is presumed to be a valkyrie holding a horn of mead (Andrén 1993:41).The task of the valkyries to offer mead to Odin reflects the responsibility of the ordinary women to serve food and drink to their men (Jesch 1991:127).
Furthermore it is described in the Norse-Icelandic literature that it was the responsibility of priestesses (gydjorna) to bless the mead before the ritual sacrifices (Adol fsson & Lund- ström 1993:11).All these examples point toward the special connection bet ween women and mead, and this connection is also clearly demonstrated on the bracteates.
The third word, laukaR, meaning onion, also occurs in Old Norse literature.Onions principally occur in works dealing with fertil- ity and are primarily connected with women.One well-known example is from Flateyjarbok, in which there is a description of a fertility rite where a horse's penis and some onions were wrapped together in linen.
The woman of the house is in charge of the ceremony (Steinsland & Vogt 1981:87).The inscription lnukaR also occurs on a number of bone knives from western Norway.These knives have only been found in female graves and the complete inscription reads li nalaukaR, meaning "linen and onions" (Hjprungdal 1991:108; Magnus 1992:140).The alliterative linnlaukaR is presumed to be part of an old chant (galder) that was used in connection with fertil i ty rites (Steinsl and &.Vogt 1981:93).
Another reason to associate the symbolism of the onion with women is that powers attributed to the onion are often represented within traditional Old Norse women's names.For example, names ending in -gard and -borgh are associated with fertility and protection (Otterbjörk 1968:208).The biggest sources in terms of names are the runic inscriptions and the Old Norse literature, which are largely of later origin than the bracteates, but there is a distinct continuity in the use of personal names from the Migration Period up to the Viking Age (Hald 1968:217).
Consequently the runic inscriptions in this group can be attributed equally to male and female settings, although the personal names on the bracteates, which have so far been identified, are male names.The bracteates reflect the responsibilities of women in politi- cal situations, and even though these situations have been dominated by men the role of women is described on the bracteates.

THE ICONOGRAPHY
The iconography of the bracteates is difficult to interpret.This is due to the fact that an entire series of events is depicted in one motif (Hauck   el al. 1985; Arrhenius 1987:111).The same holds true for the Gotlandic picture stones in which one figure might represent an entire myth.Both on the picture stones and on the bracteates a man, who has been interpreted as Odin, occurrs frequently (Andrén 1993:41).
This type of picture stone belongs to a later period, the Viking Age (ibid:36), but can serve as an example of an art form that in many ways resembles that of the bracteates.
Few bracteates are identical.Most have minor differences even though they were sometimes manufactured using the same die.
It seems as if the variations in symbolism were deliberate and that the different combinations of symbols had different meanings.The differences between the bracteates were, therefore, intentional (Arrhenius 1987:110).
Perhaps the bracteates were intended for a particular person already at the stage of manufacturing, and the symbolism may therefore have been adapted to sui t that specific person.This might explain why the bracteates were never mass-produced, even though it would have been technically possible.Only one or two identically imprinted bracteates have been recovered (Axboe 1992:50).

ODIN AS WAR-GOD
The iconography of the bracteates fits well with the idea of the Migration Period as a time of intense competition, fragile alliances and war.Scenes from Germanic mythology are depicted on the bracteates, and the god that appears most frequently is Odin (Axboe 1991:193).The inscription houraR on a bracteate from Funen, in Denmark, supports this theory.HourctR literally means "the High One", and it is the same name that is used for Odin in Havamal, that is, "the Speech of the High One".The reason why Odin occurs most frequently on the bracteates is believed to be that people in such hostile times gave prominence to the god of war over other, less belligerent, gods (Axboe 1990:27,1991:196).
The depicted symbolism and mythology is regarded as militaristic and by association male.As a consequence there appears to be a conflict between the male iconography and the prevalence of female find contexts (Lamm 1994:53).
Odin is believed to have appealed primarily to men who prayed for victory in war (Sawyer 1992:79).Through this focus on Odin in his capacity of war-god his other characteristics are overlooked, though they are equally, if not more important in this context.The gods of Germanic mythology are complex and have several, often paradoxical, features.Odin is the god of war but he is also the god of knowledge and magic, and it is in this sense that he should be regarded on the bracteates.
The reason Odin is regarded somewhat one-dimensionally as a war-god could be that research has concentrated on the appearent conflict between two different religious systems: the a:sir cult and the vanir cult.The vanir cult is believed to originate from the Nerthus cult in the Bronze Age in which women had a strong position.Peace and fertil- ity were central, and the importance of kinship was also emphasized.The vanir cult is belie- ved to have been in opposition to the male- dominated, war-oriented a:sir cult, where loyalty and camaraderie were given priority over kinship (Sawyer 1992:79; Hj91rungdal   1991:104).By viewing the two cult systems as conflicting, the obvious differences between the systems come into focus.The female, fertility-based, vanir cult has been contrasted with the male, war-oriented, a:sir cult in a way that might not be accurate.As a result the image of Odin has become biased and his warlike characteristics have been over- emphasized, and consequently his other features have been left out.

Instead of regarding the systems as
Current Swedish A rchaeolog»; VoL 5, /997 Gold, Gods and Wotnen 1 05 opposites they should be seen as two complementary, intertwined systerns.In her analysis of Vestlandet in Norway, Hjprungdal does not find any indications of a conflict between the different cult systems during the early Iron Age.A number of graves can be attributed to both systems (Hjprungdal 1991: 109).

ODIN AS GOD OF KNOWLEDGE AND MAGIC
Odin is not depicted on the bracteates as the war-god but rather in his capacity as the god of knowledge and magic.A good example of this is a group of C-bracteates that have been interpreted by Hauck as Odin breathing life into Balder's injured horse (fig.1).He is helped by some birds that can be seen on some of the bracteates (Axboe 1992:49).Odin is able to heal the injured horse as he has supernatural abilities and knowledge of sorcery.
In the Ynglinga saga there is a passage describing how Odin learns the practice of seidr, which with the exception of Odin was an exclusively female activity.Seidr was sorcery used, for example, to gain knowledge about the future or to destroy an enemy (Ström-  bäck 1968:76).The practice of seidr was linked to the concept of ergi, which meant that a male practitioner would become more feminine and run the risk of losing his masculinity (Brendalsmo & Rgthe 1992:93).
The only male that could be associated with ergi was Odin, since the loss of honour would be too great for an ordinary man who would lose social status.The concept of ergi is very close in meaning to the word argr, which denotes the passive man in a homosexual encounter.It was not primarily the homosexuality in itsel f that was frowned upon but rather implied passivity, cowardice and weakness, which were regarded as exclusi vely female features (ibid:93).To be accused of arg r was the most devastating thing that could happen to a man and as a consequence many people could be killed in retaliation (Steins land 1990:61).In Lokagenttct there is a passage describing how Loke derides Odin and accu ses him of having practiced seidr in a state of ecstacy like a sorceress.Even Odin's man- hood is questioned by Loke, and Odin is said to be of args adal (Strömbäck 1935:57).The danger of being associated with argr is also indicated by the curse on the rune stones in Björketorp and Stentoften, in Sweden, where the word occurs (Jacobsen 1935:57).
When Odin practiced seidr or performed sorcery he was in a state of ergi and therefore his nature had as many female as male char- acteristics.Consequently Odin was able to move between male and female just as he was able to shape-shift and change into animals, which is also depicted on the bracteates.It is Odin's ability to transform and to cross bord- ers that is important in the study of the iconography of the bracteates.The iconography of the bracteates can not be regarded as purely male, as Odin is often depicted in the mythological scenes as androgynous.

BALDER AND TYR
Balder and Tyr are two other gods that are frequently depicted on bracteates and have also been interpreted as having a male association, as they personify archetypal male characteristics.
The bracteates that depict the death of Balder are difficult to classify as male or female.In Germanic mythology Balder was the son of Odin, and he was wise, handsome and popular among the other gods.He dies after being shot with a twig of mistletoe, the only thing in the entire world that can injure him.Balder is often portrayed as quite passive in the myths; he may, however, have had more warlike characteristics in earlier versions.His name occurs in kennings to mean warrior (Bxksted 1990:157).On the bracteates Bal- der is depicted with the mistletoe hanging out of his chest and he is flanked by a figure on each side (fig.2).One figure is supposedly Odin and the other is Loke, the instigator of the murder (Axboe 1991:193f).
One of the mythological scenes depicting Tyr is the one in which the wolf Fenrir bites his hand off (fig.3).The wolf became too strong for the a:sir to control, and in order to chain him Tyr put his hand into the mouth of the wolf as a sign of goodwill.The wolf bit off his hand when he understood that he had been tricked.The characteristics associated with Tyr are courage and eagerness to fight, and he was furthermore regarded as the god who decided which side would win the battles (Ba.ksted 1990:123ff).A bracteate from Års, in Den-  mark (fig.4), is suggested by Arrhenius to depict the god Tyr, since the spear carried by the figure might be interpreted as the rune T, alsocalledTyr (Arrhenius 1987:113).On some of the bracteates which represent the death of Balder, the figure that has been interpreted as Odin holds the same kind of spear.The spear on the bracteate from Års points towards the figure himself, and Inger-Lise Kolstrup (1991:199)has interpreted this as symbo- lizing Odin's self-sacrifice as described in Hcivamal.Odin sacrificed himself in order to gain knowledge and obtain the runes.
The warlike characteristics of Balder are virtually unsubstantiated, and therefore these bracteates should not be considered as appealing primarily to men.On the contrary, the death of Balder and his return from Hel after Ragnarok has been interpreted as   (Hauck et al. 1985) Current Swedish Archaeotogy, Vol. 5, l997 symbolizing the recurring seasons and the eternal cycles of nature, where spring follows winter and death is followed by rebirth (Dumézil 1973:61).Balder is therefore more associated with fertility and agriculture than with aggression and war.Tyr's warlike char- acteristics have been over-emphasized.He is principally the god of law.There is not a single passage in the literature where Tyr is described on the battlefield (ibid:43).Therefore it is unlikely that these myths were chosen for the bracteates as militaristic symbols.Besides, the iconography should not be interpreted solely on the basis of the personal characteristics of the different gods.
Although Tyr and possibly Balder are gods that have some belligerent aspects to their characters, this is not the most important factor in the study of the iconography.The myths that have been identified are not wholly belligerent.It is entirely possible that the depicted myths were selected for altogether different reasons.Both myths -the death of Balder, and Tyr and the wolf Fenrir -involve violence and death but not in warlike situations.
Ifthat had been the main aim of the iconography it would not have been difficult to find more suitable examples from Germanic mythology.
The iconography of these two groups of bracteates can therefore not be regarded as militaristic, and as such they would not have appealed only to male warriors.Thus there is reason to assume that the iconography attracted men and women alike which is not contradicted by the implications of the contexts of the finds.

THE GODDESS WHO WEAVES
A group of bracteates that have been found in Germany and Denmark depict a woman.The image is viewed as a weaving goddess by Michael J. Enright (1990) and the symbols that surround the depicted woman are interpreted as swifts, spindles and other weaving paraphernalia (fig.5).The image, which has its origins of inspiration in the portraits of the weaving Virgin Mary in Byzantine art, has been adapted to Germanic mythology in which weaving metaphors are numerous.Weaving has ambiguous symbolic meanings, like most things in Norse mythology.In one passage from Njals saga, weav-   (Hauck et al. 7985)  ing is related to valkyries and warfare.In Voluspa, however, weaving is associated with the Norns, and so indirectly with prophecy and fate.The non-militaristic symbolism is only mentioned cursorily in Enright's analy- sis.Instead the warlike characteristics of this weaving goddess are accentuated.It is also worth mentioning that this figure was, until quite recently, interpreted as a stylized man (ibid:58).
In Norse mythology weaving is also associated with the goddess Freyja, who is also known as Hörn.Hörn is closely related to the Old Icelandic word hörn and the Swedish dialectical word hö r, meaning linen.Traces of the cult of Hörn can be found in place-names, for example, in Härnevi which occurs in seve- ral cases in Uppland, in Sweden (Enright 1990:59).Another example where Hörn forms the origin of the name is Husaby-Är- nevi, which is the old name for the parish of Husby-Långhundra, Uppland (Calissendorff 1986:33).Hörn is primarily associated with female characteristics, which is indicated by the use of Hörn as a kenning for woman (Enright 1990:59).Another relevant aspect i» that Hörn, or Freyja, is linked to the runic i nscri ption linalaukaR on the Norwegian bone knives mentioned previously, which occur only in female graves.

BRACTEATES AND POWER
One conclusion which might be drawn from this is that the iconography of the bracteates should not be seen as having exclusively male associations, but rather, the symbolism might just as accurately be interpreted as female.
Both men and women in the society of the Migration Period would have been been able to relate to different elements within the imagery, and this is possibly reflected in southern and western Norway where bracteates have been found in both male and female contexts.
The bracteates can hardly be labelled male or female but can be considered to have androgynous symbolic meanings.Since there is reason to believe that we can only interpret fragments of this culturally-defined symbo- lism, it would be pointless to attempt to categorize gold bracteates as male or female based on such insubstantial evidence.This would only result in further deviation from the original, deliberate ambiguity of the symbolic language.
The bracteates found in female hoards and graves demonstrate the (albeit indirect) influence of women in political matters, and therefore women can not be regarded as passive onlookers who were only involved in exceptional circumstances.
The symbolic meaning of the bracteates is elusive and the message of the bracteates is not yet deciphered in its entirity.The same can be said of the find contexts where bracteates can not easily be classified since they are found in both hoards and graves, and in both male and female contexts.Whether bracteates are categorized as male or female is of minor significance; the people who wore gold bracteates held social status and the bracteates themselves represented power more than anything el se.
English revised by Laura Wrang.