If anyone’s qualified to separate Viking fact from Viking fiction, it’s a man who has built a career singing about them. Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg says a lot of what most people believe about the Vikings simply doesn’t hold up.
The seafaring Scandinavians are usually pictured as blood-soaked raiders who spent the 8th through 11th centuries pillaging their way across what is now Europe. According to one of Viking metal’s most recognizable voices, the reality was a good deal more ordinary — and, in a few cases, the exact opposite of the legend.
Speaking with Metal Injection for a segment tackling 10 of the most common Viking myths, Hegg knocked down some long-held beliefs, starting with the idea that Vikings were filthy. In fact, he says, they were unusually clean for their era:
“Here’s a fact, Vikings were known for their impeccable hygiene in Europe because they would wash once a week, which was definitely not the common thing to do in Viking Age and Medieval Age Europe, let me tell you.”
“So Vikings were cleaner than most,” he continued. “They would groom their beards and they were actually quite vain. They would cut their hair and stuff so they were fairly clean actually.”
Then there’s the most iconic image of all — the horned helmet. Hegg says that picture is a much more recent invention than people assume:
“That’s actually a 19th century construction. In fact, very few Viking helmets have ever been found and those that have been found did not have horns. Also, on picture stones and stone carvings where Vikings have been depicted, there were no horns on their helmets.”
Hegg worked through several other misconceptions as well. He points out that “Viking” was really a job description rather than a distinct people, and he shoots down the notions that they drank from the skulls of their enemies or lived as complete outlaws. Most of them, he notes, were farmers. Far from being lawless, Viking society was carefully ordered:
“The Viking society actually had very elaborate laws about a lot of stuff,” he said.
“In fact, in very late Viking Age and early Medieval Age Scandinavia we have some of the first written law books in the world. So there was a structure to society that was not found anywhere else.”
“And the laws were not connected to religion. They were by men, for men.”
Amon Amarth, meanwhile, aren’t slowing down. The Swedish band’s 13th studio album, The Allfather Awakens, is due out October 2 via Metal Blade Records, led by the single “Gjallarhorn.”
You can watch the full video down below.
