Norse & Germanic
Mjölnir
Mjölnir
Smashes anything, and returns to its owner's hand when thrown.
WeaponFirst recorded 1220
Loading artifact…
Photograph: A Greek gold necklace made in Taranto in southern Italy, fourth to third century BCE. Fine gold chains hang in several layers with a disk bearing a face at the center.
Focus the photograph, then use the arrow keys to pan and the plus and minus keys to zoom. The buttons at the lower left also move it. Press a numbered button on the photograph to zoom to that note.
3,000 × 2,441 PX3000×2441
ArchiveNorse & Germanic · Jewel
Brísingamen
Brísingamen
A dazzling golden necklace that enchants all who see it.
- Owner
- The goddess Freyja
- Maker
- Four dwarves
- First record
- Poetic Edda, Lay of Thrym1270
- Gallery
- Norse & Germanic
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
Brísingamen is the necklace of Freyja, goddess of love and beauty. In the Lay of Thrym, when the giant Thrym steals Thor's hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, she grows so furious that the necklace bursts.
The fourteenth-century Sörla þáttr tells its history. Freyja lost her heart to a necklace made by four dwarves, and won it at the price of spending a night with each of them.
When the trickster god Loki stole the necklace and fled, the watchman Heimdall is said to have changed into a seal, fought Loki and brought it back.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Gold necklace(Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, late 4th–3rd century BCE), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
More from Norse & Germanic
Norse & GermanicGiant's Sword
Ealdsweord eotenisc
So large an ordinary man could not lift it. Its blade melted in the monster's blood.
WeaponFirst recorded 1000
Norse & GermanicHrunting
Hrunting
A patterned steel blade steeped in venom. It had never failed in battle.
WeaponFirst recorded 1000
Norse & Germanic