Viking Art Contest Entry - The Longship

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS ART WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

My entry for the Viking Art contest on deviantART.

The theme was to represent what makes a Viking a Viking. For me, the choice seemed pretty obvious - the longship. During the Viking age (approx. 8th-11th cents.), these warriors and merchants managed to become the most powerful force in Europe, and it was because of the longship. They were pretty much the only people who had the ability to travel with speed and agility on both open sea AND rivers, giving them an astounding edge in terms of mobility. In the course of less than 400 years, they spread, conquered, traded, settled, feuded amongst themselves, and brought about their own destruction in the fight with the Norman (ex-Viking) king.

I wanted to get the ship as the centerpiece. The outer circle depicts the viking story of journeys, battles, conversion/assimilation, and ultimately death. Winding around the symbols of their lives is the "world-serpent," Jormungandr, the mythical embodiment of the dangers they faced. Watching over the ship is the Odin, the All-Father, god of battle, and wisdom.

The text around the edge is a poem I wrote. Certainly not Shakespeare, but it serves its purpose. I wrote it, translated it into Old Norse using online translators, and transliterated it using the medieval version of the Norse runic alphabet. It reads:

"If rolling seas, and storm, and death allow,
A greater glory we will seek to find.
A ram's skull we have fixed upon the bow,
An off'ring and an omen, luck to bind.
And if, by chance, we light on softer shore,
As best we can, we'll trade, and wed, and stay.
New kin and ken we'll find on cliff and moor,
And dream of home, long lost and far away."

(DISCLAIMER: it's a really bad translation. I don't speak Old Norse or any of its contemporary associated languages, so I had to work with what was available to me.)