Vikings in the Mediterranean: Proceedings of an international conference co-organized by the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish Institutes at Athens, Athens, 27-30 November 2019

Abstract

This book collects the proceedings of the first-ever academic conference on the Vikings in the Mediterranean, held in Athens on 27-30 November 2019. Beginning with the research history of the Vikings in the Middle Sea, the papers gathered here review the literature and explore some of the larger Scandinavian expeditions launched into Iberian waters and the Mediterranean from the west. Other contributions explore Norse perceptions on Mediterranean geography, Arab records of Viking activities, later saga accounts, the archaeology of the raids and their aftermath, and also less violent forms of contact such as the evidence for possible diplomatic relations. The orbit of Byzantine power and military campaigns included Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, and this is reflected here in papers tha follow the careers of several famous Vikings and Varangians, exploring the logistics of their service and the varied influences that they brought back to the North. The unintended consequences are also examined, including legacies of trauma. Interactions and encounters are a common theme, unlocking how the Scandinavians in the eastern Mediterranean connected with the wider worlds of the Steppe and the Caliphate. Finally, we reflect on the complex legacies and wider ramifications of Norse engagements with the Mediterranean. Identity forms a major strand here, with considerations of gender and warriorhood, the complex material narratives attaching to objects such as the Piraeus Lion, and finally issues of transmission and reception, as the Viking-Age past has been adapted and (re)presented from early modern times down to today's museum displays. The papers presented here begin to fill in one of the last blanks on the map of the late Iron Age Scandinavian world: the memory of the Vikings in the Mediterranean, and this northern encounter with the south, is here to stay.