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The Greece runestones (Swedish: ''Greklandsstenarna'') are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age until about 1100 and were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes. All the stones have been found in modern-day Sweden, the majority in Uppland (18 runestones) and Södermanland (7 runestones). Most were inscribed in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few inscriptions mention men who returned with wealth, and a boulder in Ed was engraved on the orders of a former officer of the Guard. On these runestones the word ''Grikkland'' ("Greece") appears in three inscriptions,〔U 112, U 374, U 540, see Jesch 2001:99〕 the word ''Grikk(j)ar'' ("Greeks") appears in 25 inscriptions,〔Ög 81, Ög 94, Sö 82, Sö 163, Sö 165, Sö 170, Sö 345, Sö Fv1954;20, Sm 46, Vg 178, U 73, U 104, U 136, U 140, U 201, U 358, U 431, U 446, U 518, U 792, U 922, U 1016, U 1087, see Jesch 2001:99. Here G 216 is also included, whereas Jesch (2001:99) does not include it. She does not consider it to be monumental (2001:13).〕 two stones refer to men as ''grikkfari'' ("traveller to Greece")〔U 270 and U 956, see Jesch 2001:100〕 and one stone refers to ''Grikkhafnir'' ("Greek harbours").〔U 1016, see Jesch 2001:100〕 Among other runestones which refer to expeditions abroad, the only groups which are comparable in number are the so-called "England runestones" that mention expeditions to England〔Jansson 1980:34〕 and the 26 Ingvar runestones that refer to a Viking expedition to the Middle East. The stones vary in size from the small whetstone from Timans which measures × × to the boulder in Ed which is in circumference. Most of them are adorned with various runestone styles that were in use during the 11th century, and especially styles that were part of the Ringerike style (eight or nine stones〔U 136, U 140, U 201, U 431, U 1016, Ög 81, Ög 94, Vg 178 and possibly on Sö 82 (see Rundata 2.5).〕) and the Urnes style (eight stones〔U 73, U 104, U 112, U 446, U 540, U 922, U 956, and U 1087 (see Rundata 2.5).〕). Since the first discoveries by Johannes Bureus in the late 16th century, these runestones have been frequently identified by scholars, with many stones discovered during a national search for historic monuments in the late 17th century. Several stones were documented by Richard Dybeck in the 19th century. The latest stone to be found was in Nolinge, near Stockholm, in 1952. ==Historical background== (詳細はBlack Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and on the wider Mediterranean Sea.〔 Greece was home to the Varangian Guard, the elite bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor,〔Larsson 2002:145〕 and until the Komnenos dynasty in the late 11th century, most members of the Varangian Guard were Swedes.〔Blöndal & Benedikz 2007:223〕 As late as 1195, Emperor Alexios Angelos sent emissaries to Denmark, Norway and Sweden requesting 1,000 warriors from each of the three kingdoms.〔Brate 1922:64〕 Stationed in Constantinople, which the Scandinavians referred to as ''Miklagarðr'' (the "Great City"), the Guard attracted young Scandinavians of the sort that had composed it since its creation in the late 10th century. The large number of men who departed for the Byzantine Empire is indicated by the fact that the medieval Scandinavian laws still contained laws concerning voyages to Greece when they were written down after the Viking Age.〔Jansson 1987:43〕 The older version of the ''Westrogothic law'', which was written down by Eskil Magnusson, the lawspeaker of Västergötland 1219–1225, stated that "no man may receive an inheritance (in Sweden) while he dwells in Greece". The later version, which was written down from 1250 to 1300, adds that "no one may inherit from such a person as was not a living heir when he went away". Also the old Norwegian ''Gulaþingslög'' contains a similar law: "but if (a man) goes to Greece, then he who is next in line to inherit shall hold his property".〔 About 3,000 runestones from the Viking Age have been discovered in Scandinavia of which c. 2,700 were raised within what today is Sweden.〔Jesch 2001:12–13〕 As many as 1,277 of them were raised in the province of Uppland alone.〔Jesch 2001:14〕 The Viking Age coincided with the Christianisation of Scandinavia, and in many districts c. 50% of the stone inscriptions have traces of Christianity. In Uppland, c. 70% of the inscriptions are explicitly Christian, which is shown by engraved crosses or added Christian prayers, while only a few runestones are explicitly pagan.〔Harrison & Svensson 2007:192〕 The runestone tradition probably died out before 1100, and at the latest by 1125.〔 Among the runestones of the Viking Age, 9.1–10% report that they were raised in memory of people who went abroad,〔For a low figure of 9.1% see Appendix 9 in Saywer 2000, but for the higher figure of 10%, see Harrison & Svensson 2007:196.〕 and the runestones that mention Greece constitute the largest group of them.〔Jansson 1987:42〕 In addition, there is a group of three or four runestones that commemorate men who died in southern Italy, and who were probably members of the Varangian Guard.〔Jesch 2001:86–87〕 The only group of stones comparable in number to the Greece runestones are those that mention England,〔 followed by the c. 26 Ingvar runestones raised in the wake of the fateful Ingvar expedition to Persia.〔Jesch 2001:102–104〕 Blöndal & Benedikz (2007) note that most of the Greece runestones are from Uppland and relate it to the fact that it was the most common area to start a journey to Greece, and the area from which most Rus' originated.〔 However, as noted by Jansson (1987), the fact that most of these runestones were raised in Uppland and Södermanland does not necessarily mean that their number reflects the composition of the Scandinavians in the Varangian Guard. These two provinces are those that have the greatest concentrations of runic inscriptions.〔 Not all those who are commemorated on the Greece runestones were necessarily members of the Varangian Guard, and some may have gone to Greece as merchants or died there while passing by on a pilgrimage.〔 The fact that a voyage to Greece was associated with great danger is testified by the fact that a woman had a runestone made in memory of herself ''before'' she departed on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem: "Ingirún Harðardóttir had runes graven for herself; she would go East and out to Jerusalem. Fótr carved the runes." However, Blöndal and Benedikz (2007) state that although there were other reasons for going to Greece, it is certain that most of the runestones were made in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who died there. Still, some runestones tell of men who returned with increased wealth,〔Blöndal & Benedikz 2007:224〕 and an inscription on a boulder in Ed was commissioned by a former captain of the Guard, Ragnvaldr.〔Jansson 1980:20–21〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greece runestones」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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