Sweden 955

     The stamp issued by Sweden in 1973 shows a Viking ship on a stone from the eighth century, was found at Stora Hammars, Lärbro on the island of Gotland, Sweden. It shows a ship, sail, warriors, shields, and the helm. The stone is three meters high The picture on the stamp reproduces a part of the image on the stone. There are six scenes on the stone. The portion on the stamp is the last scene which is interpreted as the ship carrying the hero of the other scenes to the land of the dead. There are two others picture stones discovered at Lärbro, which also have a similar ship scene as the last scene on the stone.

     From top to bottom the scenes on the stone show (1) a woman flanked by two men with swords (2) two men with raised arms, two swords and a horse (3) a man hanging from a tree surrounded by warriors, an eagle (probably representing Odin) above (riding ?) (4) a ship full of Vikings facing a group of a group of armed men on land with a woman between (5) warriors surrounding a man on the ground under a horse with an eagle above it (6) the ship.