As described in a number of sagas, the “blood eagle” was a particularly gruesome form of ritual sacrifice of high-status captives to the god Odin. Historians have debated whether this ritual was an actual practice or an invention of thirteenth-century saga writers based on a misunderstanding of an eleventh-century skaldic poem.
In this episode of the podcast Tis But A Scratch: Fact and Fiction About the Middle Ages, co-hosts Richard and Ellen review the evidence for the Viking Blood Eagle.
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Check out more video episodes from Tis But A Scratch: Fact and Fiction About the Middle Ages on their YouTube channel.
As described in a number of sagas, the “blood eagle” was a particularly gruesome form of ritual sacrifice of high-status captives to the god Odin. Historians have debated whether this ritual was an actual practice or an invention of thirteenth-century saga writers based on a misunderstanding of an eleventh-century skaldic poem.
In this episode of the podcast Tis But A Scratch: Fact and Fiction About the Middle Ages, co-hosts Richard and Ellen review the evidence for the Viking Blood Eagle.
Check out more video episodes from Tis But A Scratch: Fact and Fiction About the Middle Ages on their YouTube channel.
See also: Vikings actually could tear out a person’s lungs, researchers suggest
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