Where is the Rök runestone located?
The Rök runestone stands beside the church in Rök, in Ödeshög Municipality in Sweden's Östergötland province.
Questions about Rök runestone
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who carved the Rök runestone and why?
A man named Varinn carved the Rök runestone in memory of his dead son, Vámóðr, according to the inscription's opening lines.
How old is the Rök runestone?
The stone was probably carved in the early 9th century, based on its short-twig runes and the form of its language.
How long is the inscription on the Rök runestone?
The inscription runs to around 760 characters, the longest extant pre-Christian runic inscription known.
What does the Rök runestone say about Theodoric the Great?
It names a king, Þjóðríkr the bold, understood to be the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who effectively ruled as emperor of the western Roman Empire and died in 526 AD. The passage likely refers to a famous statue of Theodoric on horseback that stood in Ravenna before Charlemagne moved it to Aachen in 801 AD.
Why is the Rök runestone inscription so hard to read?
Parts of it are encrypted two ways, through a Caesar-style letter displacement and through special cipher runes, and it uses riddling kennings in the style of Old Norse skaldic poetry. Partway through, the carver Varinn also switches from the Younger Futhark to the older Elder Futhark alphabet.