Rök Runestone, Norse runestone at Röks church, Sweden
The Rök Runestone is a granite block beside the church at Rök in Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland. Its surfaces hold more than 760 runic characters spread across five sides of the stone.
Varin commissioned the monument in the 9th century for his deceased son, combining commemoration with mythological narratives. The inscription was made at a time when Norse societies still transmitted their stories mainly through oral tradition.
The text represents the earliest example of Swedish written language and uses several runic alphabets alongside encrypted passages. This combination of different writing systems and codes demonstrates the high skill of the stonecutter.
The stone stands under a pyramid-shaped protective roof directly beside the church at Rök and can be visited all year round. The roof keeps rain and snow off, allowing you to view the characters in any weather.
The inscription names twenty kings and links Thor with historical figures such as Theodoric the Great. This blending of myth and history makes the stone a rare witness to early medieval worldview.
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