Why Did Vikings Leave Graffiti Across Europe?

The Vikings left several clues to the extent of their travels, written in surprising places. Runic inscriptions in Turkey and Italy tell stories of Vikings in the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire (A.D. 395 to 1453). Scholars believe these runes were left by Vikings who were part of a loyal army serving the Byzantine emperor.

Hagia Sophia is an important Byzantine structure, first built as a Christian church in the sixth century. It later became a mosque and museum, before it was converted back to solely a mosque in 2020. Within its towering columns, domes and gilded mosaics, the names of two Vikings—Halfdan and Ari (or Arni)—can be found etched into the marble walls. 

Discovered in 1964, the first inscription is barely legible except for the letters “ftan,” leading runologists to conclude it is the Nordic name Halfdan. Though the entire message is unclear, scholars believe it is likely: “These runes were left by Halfdan.”

Roughly a decade later, in 1975, another runic name was discovered. This one reads: Ari or Are (also sometimes noted as Arni), and is similarly interpreted to mean “Ari made these runes.” Both inscriptions are in Hagia Sophia’s upper gallery, once designated only for women.

These two Norsemen were likely members of the Varangian Guard—mercenary Scandinavian soldiers who worked for the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) as far back as the ninth century, when it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

“We do not know exactly what period they left their mark there, but it seems they were on guard duty in Hagia Sophia,” explains Husamettin Simsir, visiting fellow at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. “There are several other runestones in Sweden telling about their stories in the Byzantine Empire [because] they were proud of being in the service of the Byzantine Empire. These tell us who joined certain campaigns [and] what they saw and experienced during these campaigns.”

Although Varangians likely worked in Byzantine as early as 874, the guard was formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988 to defend his throne against a rival, Simsir says. Basil requested help from the Kievan Rus—Scandinavian settlers who had moved into modern-day Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Roughly 6,000 Kievan Rus went to serve as the emperor’s bodyguards. In 999, these warriors participated in Basil’s raids in Syria and Cilicia (modern-day Turkey). While the Varangian Guard was originally composed primarily of Scandinavians, more English Anglo-Saxon fighters joined their ranks after 1066, until the guard was phased out around the 14th century.

“The ideas that we generally have about Vikings raiding and conquering are [from] the pre-Christian period, but most became Christian around the 10th or 11th century,” Simsir says. “With that zeal of the new religion, they wanted to serve the Christian emperor, which would have been the Byzantine emperor. It was also an economic opportunity for them to be able to reach the riches of the east by following the trade route to Constantinople."

Runic inscriptions thought to be left by Varangian mercenaries can also be found in Italy. The marble Piraeus Lion statue, one of four lions perched outside the Venetian Arsenal, bears the names of several Vikings and details some of their expeditions. This sculpture originated in Greece, standing guard at the port of Piraeus in Athens in the first century A.D. until it was moved to Venice in 1688 after the Venetians reclaimed Athens from the Turks. 

The inscriptions on the Piraeus Lion are more elaborate than at the Hagia Sophia. Runes on the statue’s right side are carved inside a Germanic serpent-like dragon called a lindworm. The first attempt to translate these inscriptions was in the mid-19th century by Danish historian Carl Christian Rafn. Later, Swedish runologist Erik Brate did his own translation in 1914, followed by Swedish scholar Thorgunn Snædal in 2014. What we can gather about the messages from these runes comes from looking at all three translations.

Snædal gathered that the inscriptions were likely written by three different people or groups of men. She estimates that the oldest runes on the Piraeus Lion date to the 1020s and the youngest ones were carved sometime between 1070 and 1100.

The runes on the lion’s right side, according to Rafn’s translation, roughly read: “Asmund cut these runes with Asgeir and Thorleif, Thord and Ivar, at the request of Harold the Tall, though the Greeks considered and forbade it.” 

Snædal’s interpretation confirms that “Asmund carved these runes” is written here along with the names of two of his fellow warriors, Eskil or Askel, and Torlev, but she notes the rest of the inscription is too damaged to read clearly.

On the lion’s left side, Rafn translated an inscription as saying, “Hakon with Ulf and Asmund and Örn conquered this port. These men and Harold Hafi imposed a heavy fine on account of the revolt of the Greek people. Dalk is detained captive in far lands. Egil is gone on an expedition with Ragnar into Romania and Armenia.”

“They likely went to fight against the Byzantine enemies,” Simsir says, “They probably thought, ‘this is a historical moment so let’s carve our names here.’" He adds that although the port mentioned in the inscription is not named, we can speculate it’s the port of Piraeus, since the lion was originally located there.

Lastly, Snædal translated a short inscription on the lion’s left hind leg as “young warriors carved the runes.” She also interpreted runes mentioning a warrior named Horse (or Horsi) who died “before he could receive his share of the spoils of war.” She notes the end of the inscription is written in verse form, indicating that whoever carved these runes was also a poet. The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm has a full-scale plaster replica of the Piraeus Lion, including its rune carvings.

The runic inscriptions at Hagia Sophia and the Venetian Arsenal aren’t the only ones telling of the Vikings in Byzantium. A group of runestones, mostly in Sweden, called the Greklandsstenarna, or Greek Runestones, also commemorate fallen Vikings in Greece who were likely members of the Varangian Guard. While these memorials serve as historical records in Old Norse, the Hagia Sophia and Piraeus Lion inscriptions are akin to ancient graffiti tags. This was the Vikings proclaiming: “We were here.”