#41: Viking Misconceptions

If you imagine Vikings as big strong men that run around with metal helmets and horns protruding from the sides, your imagination is skewed by an early opera from the 1800s. The edition of horns would have compromised the actual Viking helmets. The metal needed to be one piece to keep the warriors as safe as possible, and they had better uses for horns anyway.

Horns were used for drinking things like beer and mead. Another myth is that everyone in the area was a Viking and that they burned the dead bodies on ships. Vikings were simply the raiders from each colony, much like soldiers, and there is no evidence to suggest that dead Vikings were given a burial at sea on a burned ship. That would be a significant waste of money. They were burned on pyres on land.