No, Vikings Didn’t Have Horns On Their Helmets — Here’s The True Origins of the Myth

Throughout the last century, the Vikings have been portrayed in many inaccurate ways. They were male dominated, brutal, homogeneous and, of course, they wore the famous horned helmet. In reality, things were a lot less dramatic and, well, horned helmets could have been worn, but they weren’t worn by the Vikings.

The Vikings were a group of Norse seafarers who, during the early Middle Ages, explored, raided and conquered other civilizations in and around Europe, as well as areas of the North Atlantic including Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, according to a Smith College report. But perhaps more interestingly, the Vikings were not a homogeneous group, but rather a mixture of many North Germanic tribes.

“The word Viking is a profession, not an ethnicity,” says Colin Connors, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo. People living in Scandinavia at the time would not have used the term “Viking” to describe themselves; rather, they would have used it to refer to medieval pirates who attacked villages.

“It was more of a job description,” he adds.

Viking myths

Although they were known to be a fearsome group, the Norse peoples were not much more ferocious than any other society of the time. Although there was a lot of violence committed by Norse people during the Viking Age, there was also a lot of violence committed by people living in other parts of Europe during the same time period.

“It’s a myth that Nordic people were particularly violent,” says Connors.

It is also a myth that they were particularly good at war, because while they won some battles, they also met “gruesome ends”. The reason we tend to think of the Vikings as particularly violent is that their violence was recorded in writing by the Christian monks who were attacked by them.

If a Christian monk was killed by pagan Vikings, he was considered a martyr and could therefore potentially become a saint, Connors explains. If they were killed by another Christian, it was simply considered murder. This is why documenting Viking brutality was more common.

“It was good business for a Christian monk to document pagan attacks,” says Connors.

Learn more: Viking Silver Hoard reveals how Middle Eastern silver coins ended up in England

Did the Vikings wear horned helmets?

This is probably the most common historical inaccuracy regarding the Vikings. No, they didn’t wear horned helmets, but the truth behind this myth is reminiscent of a 19th century opera. Scientists know what Viking helmets actually looked like thanks to a single surviving helmet found in a Viking grave, according to the Museum of the Viking Age. They are metal with frames that surround the eyes and have no horns to speak of.

Horned helmets first appeared in the 1876 performance of Richard Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, according to the Mystic Seaport Museum. Costume designer Carl Emil Doepler borrowed the idea of ​​horned helmets from Native American populations who wore buffalo headdresses. The image was so striking that it stuck, and even today, on every Viking Halloween costume, horned helmets make an appearance.

The role of women in Viking culture

The Vikings were a patriarchal society, as was common in the early Middle Ages. However, women had more rights than in other European cultures. They could own and inherit property and manage their farms. But they were excluded from leadership in society and the ability to represent themselves in court, Connors says.

Moreover, it is very likely that these were not normally warriors, even if we have an example of a tomb of a female warrior, according to a study of Antiquity. However, we cannot know from the grave if she presented as female at that time, because all we know is that, genetically, she was female.

Still, it’s another example of how we view the Vikings the way we want to view them to achieve our own modern goals. Ultimately, this can lead to a very different perspective of what actually happened.

Learn more: 2,400-year-old warship in Denmark reveals rare fingerprint and new origin story

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