GP 18 Ardre kyrka VI

Context and Discovery ⓘ
This is one of eight picture stones found in the summer of 1900, beneath the floor in Ardre church during restoration work: Ardre kyrka I–VIII (GP 15–18, 20, 21, 23). This stone is one of four slabs in an open cist with a coherent runic inscription, the Ardre cist, consisting of Ardre kyrka I, II, V, and VI (GP 15–18). See more about the find circumstances and interpretations of the cist in GP 17 Ardre kyrka V. In Gotlands runinskrifter I, the four stones in the cist are treated together as G 114.
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GP 15 Ardre kyrka I
GP 16 Ardre kyrka II
GP 17 Ardre kyrka V
GP 20 Ardre kyrka VII
GP0021
GP 23 Ardre kyrka IV

Measurements, Material and Condition ⓘ
Sandstone slab, 5.5–7 cm thick. The height at the middle is 0.62 m, the width 0.82 m, the height of the carving is 0.5 m at the middle. The edge below the carving is 0.10-0.15 m high (GR I, p. 212). The height from the lower edge of the decoration to the middle of the upper edge is 0.5 m (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22). Both upper corners have been broken off, and a large piece is missing on the left side. Elias Wessén believes that especially the corners might have been exposed to some force when the cist was broken. In the broken surface of the upper right corner, there is a half of a drilled hole, corresponding to the drilled holes on Ardre kyrka V. The shape and size of this stone is similar to Ardre kyrka V, and Pipping called them ‘siblings’ although he did not recognize that they were parts of the same monument (Pipping 1901, p. 28). The slab is broken on the middle, but the inscription and the pictures are not badly damaged.

The obverse is worn down by footsteps, treated just like Ardre V. The narrow sides are dressed at right angles towards the obverse, the upper edge carefully polishes, and the vertical edges less carefully polished. The reverse is rough, but carved along the better-preserved vertical edge in an area that is 5 cm wide and up to 1 cm deep, with its bottom hewn flat, for insertion of the ledge of one of the gable stones (i.e., Ardre kyrka I and II), while at the other vertical edge, the back is so flat that such chiselling work was unnecessary (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22).

The decoration is executed in the same manner as that on I, II, and V. On this stone, and in a sense also on I and II, considerable remains of red paint can be made out in the dug-out areas (in runes and in the background field). As mentioned by Pipping, the paint was identified by chemical examination as minium (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22).

At some point before the publication of Gotlands runinskrifter I in 1962, the slab was mended (GR I, p. 212). A photo of Ardre kyrka VII with a signature H. A-son (possibly Hulda Andersson, photo assistant at the Swedish National Heritage Board and the Historical museum in the 1920s to 1930s), which seems to show how the two parts of the broken stone are glued together, may indicate that the stones from Ardre church were repaired in 1934 (Run- och bildstenssamlingen ATA).
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GP 17 Ardre kyrka V
GP 15 Ardre kyrka I
GP 16 Ardre kyrka II
GP 20 Ardre kyrka VII

Description of Ornament and Images ⓘ
On this stone, we see two four-legged animals in runestone style, which are surrounded by ribbons and serpents. In the upper part of the picture is a large, standing figure looking to the right and wearing a chin beard. His arms are stretched out laterally. On the man’s right arm sits a small beardless and childlike figurine. A network of snake bodies surrounds the figures, with one snake's mouth appearing to snap at the back, two at the belly, one at the chest and another at the hand of the bearded man. With his hand stretched forward, the bearded man grasps the tail of a snake, as if he wanted to make his way through the crowd and protect the child. Between the front extremities of the two large quadrupeds lies another bearded person on his back. He seems to support himself on a forearm and want to straighten his upper body. With one hand, the reclining man grasps the body of a serpent that winds around his neck (Oehrl 2019, p. 58).
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Interpretation of the Imagery ⓘ
Lindqvist thought that the large figure tried to protect the small figure, possibly a child, from a group of attacking serpents (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22). It has been suggested that the large figure is Saint Christopher carrying the Christ child (Thunmark-Nylén 1990–91, p. 190; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p. 83). However. the small figure is not necessarily a child. David Wilson suggested that it is a woman (Wilson 1995, p. 206). In Christian iconography, the soul of man is often depicted as a reduced human being or as a child, often without wings, carried by an angel. Another reason, according to Oehrl, to reject the interpretation of the small figure as a child is because it does not take into account the animal figures and the reclining anthropomorphic figure, a reservation also voiced by Thorgunn Snædal (Snædal 2002, p. 96). Instead, Oehrl suggests that it is a soul guide, probably Michael, who carries a soul depicted as a child through otherworldly places of horror. Snake attacks are among the dangers of the journey to the afterlife and the torments of the realm of the dead and hell. Comparable scenarios have been handed down in numerous medieval texts, especially vision literature, and iconography. An early example is the Utrecht Psalter. The role of Michael as a psychopomp is widespread in the Middle Ages; in Western Europe the cult of Michael reaches a peak between 950 and 1050. Also in the conversion North, especially in missionary sermons, the Archangel Michael is of great importance. On at least seven runestones from the period between 1050 and 1150, Michael is invoked as a helper of the soul in the hereafter; one of them, GP 208 Hogrän kyrka I (G 203), is a Gotland stone. The runestone of Ängby (U 478) states that Michael should 'protect' the soul of the deceased, and the stone of Klemensker on Bornholm (DR 399) states that he should lead her to paradise. Michael the Spiritual Guide is encountered not only in visionary literature, but also in the Latin liturgy of the dead, which had a strong influence on the Swedish rune stones (Oehrl 2019, p. 59 and literature cited therein).

The reclining person has been interpreted as a pilgrim drowned in the Jordan, and an interpretation of the reclining figure as a fallen warrior or Daniel in the lion's den has also been considered (Thunmark-Nylén 1990/91, p. 190; Lamm/Nylén 2003, p. 83; Staecker 2004, p. 68; Ardre is wrongly called Garde in Staecker’s article, but it is clear that he refers to the Ardre cist; see Oehrl 2019, p. 59). Another possibility is that it is Gunnar in the snake pit (Lindqvist 1931, p. 166). Lindqvist meant that the man lying at the very bottom is not under attack by the serpents but is himself taking hold of the body of one of them (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22). Snædal, too, considers that the two upper figures among the serpents could be a variant of earlier picture stone motifs with snake pits, while she suggests that the lying figure is a fallen warrior (Snædal 2002, p. 96; 2004, p. 58; 2010, p. 445). Sigmund Oehrl calls attention to the hall consisting of poisonous snakes, which is mentioned in the end-time vision of the Voluspá as a postmortem punishment site. In the interpretation proposed by Oehrl, the bound Satan in human form or the bound Loki is more likely to be depicted. However, it could also be a soul that has to wander without a soul guide, fallen by demon attacks and tormented. In numerous visions of the afterlife of the Middle Ages, the visionary guided and protected by an angel or a saint sees damned souls who are punished and martyred by demons. It is possible that the reclining human figure of Ardre VI is not only strangled by a snake, but also trampled down by the bound four-legged beasts (Oehrl 2011, pp. 241f.). The figure who unsuccessfully defends himself against the attacks of the worms is a dead sinner who wanders through the places of horror without guidance and is tormented by demons (Oehrl 2019, p. 59).

In a runestone context, the four-footed runic animal has been interpreted as a dragon, lion or wolf (see GP 167 Halla Unsarve; for a summary of earlier interpretations, see also Oehrl 2011, pp. 48ff.). Lindqvist thought that the two large four-footed animals on Ardre VI themselves were being attacked by serpents (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 22). In Oehrl’s understanding of the motif, the four-footed animal often probably signifies the Fenris wolf, as a symbol of demon powers, Ragnarök and the end of time – especially when it appears in fetters (Oehrl 2006; 2011, pp. 289–293). The four-footed animals on this stone are described as fantastic dragon-like monsters with a neck and a body like a snake. They may be regarded as a particularly stylised variant of the predator frequently depicted on the Swedish runestones of the late Viking Age. Here, too, the bound monsters, between whom the soul guide fights his way through the crowd of serpents, are the bound Satan in the form of a dog or the bound Fenris wolf. According to Oehrl’s interpretation, these monsters can be regarded as dragon-like demons, which populate the afterlife together with the snakes and threaten the souls and even may represent the devil himself (Oehrl 2019, p. 59).

The stones in the Ardre cist were 3D-scanned in 2007 as part of a research project at Stockholm University (Kitzler Åhfeldt 2013). The cist is included in a study comparing the carving techniques of rune carvers on Gotland and the Swedish mainland respectively (Kitzler Åhfeldt 2019, see GP 17 Ardre kyrka V).
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GP0208
GP 167 Halla Unsarve
GP 17 Ardre kyrka V

Type and Dating ⓘ
Type E, cist stone. Style group Pr4, 1070–1100 (Gräslund 2006, p. 126). Brate, Pipping and Noreen agree with a dating around the middle of the 11th century, while von Friesen indicated that it cannot be older than 1040–50, but possibly some decades younger (GR I, p. 220). Snædal includes the stone in her Ardre group, sepulchral monuments in the form of picture stones with runic inscriptions along the edge and pictorial elements in the middle (Snædal 2002, p. 67). Snædal indicates that, based on runological criteria, the runic picture stones from Ardre can be dated to 1100–1130 (Snædal 2002, p. 99f.).
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References ⓘ
Pipping 1900; 1901; Brate 1902; Noreen 1904, p. 482; Plutzar 1924, pp. 83f.; Lindqvist 1941/42, Fig. 161, 165, 224–225, II, pp. 22. Snædal 2002, pp. 73f.; Oehrl 2011, pp. 240–242; 2019, pp. 58–60, 181.

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