Vikings: A History of the Northmen by W. B. Bartlett

Author:W. B. Bartlett [Bartlett, W. B.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2019-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

Ibn Fadlān and the Rūs

One of the best-known pieces of evidence we have for the activity of the Vikings on the other side of Europe in the land of the Rūs comes from an Arab ambassador, Ibn Fadlān. He was part of a delegation sent by the Caliph al-Muqtadir in Baghdad to the Bulgars on the Volga. Traditionally, this was a nomadic group of tribes who now sought help in building a fort and a mosque as well as instruction in the Muslim religion; their chief also wanted to forge an alliance against his traditional Khazar enemies. In 921/2, Ibn Fadlān met with a group of Rūs merchants on the Volga, who probably came from Kiev, and while he was there he witnessed something extraordinary, namely the funeral of a chieftain. These events are normally interpreted as being a representation of conventional Scandinavian rituals, though a caveat is needed as there might also be an influence from Slavic customs that gave them a particular local flavour.53

The ceremony that Ibn Fadlān witnessed lasted for several days and was marked by sacrifices of animals and slaves. A volunteer was requested, a slave girl who would willingly die and take her place next to their dead lord. For several days this volunteer was waited on hand and foot before the act of sacrifice was carried out. As the climax of the ceremony approached, she was raised in the air three times; the first time she said she could see her father and mother, the second time her dead relatives and following the third elevation she said that she could see her Master sitting in paradise, which was green and beautiful. She was then led to the funeral ship. Two bracelets that she was wearing were taken off and handed to the old woman who was to perform the sacrifice, a witch-like hag known as ‘The Angel of Death’. Two anklets were also removed and handed to the serving girls who had attended her during the previous few days who were the daughters of the ‘Angel’.

The victim was given a cup of alcoholic nabid to drink and sang a song in honour and perhaps trepidation of her approaching death. She was taken into the pavilion on the deck of the ship where six men entered and had sex with her. Finally, they strangled her while the Angel thrust a dagger between her ribs. While this horrific ritual was being played out, the men surrounding the pavilion beat an intoxicating rhythm out on their shields, a sound mostly drowning the cries of terror emanating from inside the pavilion from the sacrificial victim. Animals were slaughtered and thrown onto the ship; a dog was cut in half, two horses were chopped to pieces, two cows were slain, as were a cockerel and a hen. This was a gruesome coterie of death. Archaeological evidence from elsewhere also attests to the use of sacrifices in burials, giving indirect credence to these events; for example, a tenth-century burial of

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