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Chesspiece (Rook equivalent) from Scotland, depicting a Norse berserker biting his shield, 12th century AD (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 years ago by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/historyartifacts@lemmy.world

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[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 31 points 2 years ago (2 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_chessmen

Viking berserkers are often described as biting their shields out of battle madness and fury in Norse accounts.

[–] fed0sine@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Are they Vikings, or are they rodents?

[–] wieson@feddit.org 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My sign's Thor's hammer

My hands are cold

[–] TheOneAndOnly@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

And I'm on my knees

Praying for an omen

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality

[–] jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago

I'm just a Norse guy who likes the taste of shields.

[–] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Didn't they also used to take mushrooms before battles in some cases?

[–] nature_man@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Probably no.

We currently have no concrete evidence to how the berserkers worked themselves up into such a frenzy, with mushrooms being just one of many theories. The myth that they used mushrooms comes from several places, one of its biggest factors being that other warriors from different cultures did use mushrooms (the Aztecs are one culture that did so I believe) before or during battle.

[–] r4venw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

I was under the impression that it was good old fashioned battle PTSD. Iirc, berserkers were reported to sometimes attack anyone nearby in their frenzy, not just the enemy faction.

[–] mudstickmcgee@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Another popular "theory" is that they would coat their shields in mushroom, ( either, fly agaric or liberty caps, depending on who you talk to) and bite them in battle to re-up their trip