Buddha statue from 6th c found in Viking hoard in Helgo, Sweden

Biblical Archaeology Review ^ | March/April 2005 | "Worldwide" editor

[SunkenCiv]

This fifth or sixth century A.D. statue of the Buddha from northern India was found in a Viking treasure horde on the Swedish island of Helgö. Globalization is clearly not a recent phenomenon... [F]ew people got around as much as the Vikings. From their Scandinavian coves they visited, raided, traded with and settled in lands from Newfoundland to Baghdad. They conquered Britain, terrorized Ireland and France, settled Iceland, raided Spain and ranged throughout the Mediterranean basin. They established a major presence in Russia, the Ukraine and the Crimea, sending their longboats down the Volga into the Black Sea. They raided Constantinople no less than four times... It is unlikely that any of his ideas made it to Viking Sweden, but one never knows.

[SunkenCiv]

[Cultural Jihad]

Interesting!

[SunkenCiv]

Related tidbit... A nice ivory figurine from India was recovered from a dig in Pompeii, the Roman city buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD.

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[GoLightly]

Your article sent me looking for a map of Helgö's location. I came across a couple of sites I found interesting & thought others in the group might also find them interesting.

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/christy/32/830.html

http://viking.hgo.se/Newsletter/NEWS6.pdf

[ViLaLuz]

They prolly bought it on eBay.

[ken21]

now that is interesting!

i'll be back later today to read this.

[blam]

"This fifth or sixth century A.D. statue of the Buddha from northern India.

Wonder how they know this?

[SunkenCiv]

When they picked it up, they found "product of northern India" on the bottom.

[SunkenCiv]

Arts of the Silk Roads
by John Major
Asia Society

A mirror from India with an ivory handle carved in the shape of a female fertility deity was buried under volcanic ash at Pompeii in 79 CE. Among the first images of Buddhist deities in human form were those carved in the province of Gandhara (present-day Pakistan) in the 2nd century CE. Unlike anthropomorphic Buddhist images carved farther south in India, these Gandharan figures, which were based on provincial Roman models, wear heavy, toga-like robes and have wavy hair. The figural tradition of Buddhist art spread through Central and East Asia and also to Southeast Asia, taking on local and regional characteristics.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

(mostly) related topic:

Tamil Trade
INTAMM | 1997 | Xavier S. Thani Nayagam
Posted on 09/11/2004 8:07:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1213591/posts

[ruoflaw]

Thanks for another interesting thread!

[SunkenCiv]

You're welcome, and thank you. Somehow or other I'd missed it before, I'm not too sure that the discovery wasn't made a while ago.

[SunkenCiv]

Ancient Buddhist Temple Uncovered In West Afghanistan
Mainichi Daily News | 11-19-2003
Posted on 11/19/2003 3:25:04 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1025204/posts

[SunkenCiv]

the original article (and photo) is no longer online (check the Wayback Machine though), even though it turns up on the BAR search engine (go figure). Here's a related story or two.

The Viking Museum
http://www.virtualoslo.com/html/body_viking_museum.html

"...Also on display is a bucket with carvings of Buddha heads. The bucket is from 850 a.d. and it is amazing that Norwegians kept Buddha symbols at that time. The bucket is imported, but we do not know where from. Most probably it is from England "

Viking Brooch
http://www.williamreimann.com/heritage/heritage/country_denmark1.html

"The Vikings were aggressive explorers, and their contact with many cultures (the most extraordinary proof of this being perhaps the small bronze Buddha-figure from Northern India which was discovered during an excavation at the 6th century trading post of Helgõ in Sweden), if anything, brought them a greater self-awareness of the unique qualities of their own art."

The Viking Age
http://www.norseamerica.com/vikingage/vikingage.html

"In a Viking grave in Sweden archeologists found a figure of Buddha from northern India."

Der "Buddha" von Oseberg
http://www.niflungen.de/ose/index_e.htm

"Another finding from Norway, the figure of Myklebostad, is so similar  to Oseberg’s Buddha that a work of the same artist might be possibly hypothesized. The breast is also here adorned with 'runehakekors'. The difference is that we do not find the Lotus seating position in this figure, but it stands on its feet. This further finding further decreases the possibility, that the Oseberg-Figure is an accidental booty from the British islands. If the proof of a British manufacture could really be produced, this could be inferred on the basis of the ornamentation because of its working."

[SunkenCiv]

bumping this topic, pointing to some much older related topics:

Ancient Site in Newfoundland Offers Clues to Vikings in America
Source: New York Times
Published: May 9, 2000 Author: JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Posted on 05/11/2000 17:07:40 PDT by H.R. Gross
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a391b4b4c4693.htm

Did the Vikings Stay? Vatican Files May Offer Clues
Source: The New York Times
Published: December 19, 2000 Author: WALTER GIBBS
Posted on 12/19/2000 05:26:52 PST by sarcasm
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a3f621c380f.htm

Did the Vikings Stay? Vatican Files May Offer Clues (THREAD II)
Source: The New York Times
Published: December 19, 2000 Author: WALTER GIBBS
Posted on 12/22/2000 16:04:39 PST by sarcasm
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a43ec175835.htm

[SunkenCiv]

Just a bump.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[Gengis Khan]

Mostly they identify the source from the artistry of the Buddha statues if not anything else. Most places where Buddha statues are carved have their own distinct style. For example, Gandharan Buddha artifacts are very different from those you would find in Nepal or Tibet.

[blam]

"Most places where Buddha statues are carved have their own distinct style."

Thanks. I think I knew that...just didn't connect.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks.

[SunkenCiv]

Crystal Amulet Poses Question On Early Christianity (Denmark - 100AD)
Denmark DK | 3-9-2007
Posted on 03/09/2007 2:37:30 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1798187/posts