wintersoulstice2 replied to your post “Greetings friend,it is told That odin wanders among us. Do you have…”
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to roam off subject, but I have a question regarding a pendant I wear non-stop. It’s called a Triton and is of both Norse and Celtic origin. It has two seahorses, a triquetra and a labrynth. I was wondering if you’re familiar with it and if so, could you tell me about it? I appreciate any help. Much love and many blessings!
There is no need to apologize! I am definitely one that loves going off subject. I am actually quite a fan of Celtic history as well, so I am more than happy to look into this matter a bit further! I was not familiar with this upon reading this, but I do believe that I have managed to dig it up based off your description (I really, really hope so, at least):
Assuming that this is the pendant you are referring to, I can tell you that it is a Pictish symbol, depicted on what is referred to as a Class II stone, which gives us a date for this symbol (eighth or ninth century, aka ca. 700-800). These stones are classified based on the work of Allen and Anderson in the early 1900s:
Class I: 6th to 8th Centuries AD. An unworked stone or boulder, incised with symbols but not crosses.
Class II: 8th to 9th Centuries AD. Usually shaped, and are decorated in relief with a cross and other symbols, both Pictish and Christian.
Class III: 8th to 9th Centuries AD. Shaped stones, decorated with Christian motifs, displaying no uniquely Pictish symbols. Includes cross-slabs, gravemarkers and free-standing crosses. (1.)
Below is a picture of Aberlemno II, which is the Pictish stone in Scotland from where the pendant above comes from (look at the bottom right portion in particular):
Since I have not studied Pictish art enough, I cannot (with confidence) begin to break down each individual element that makes up the pendant. Though, based on your description, you do seem to know and understand the various components within the overall symbol. I can, however, provide you with a little bit of historical background. After all, you may not be familiar with the Picts, or even how such a stone came to be.
The word ‘Pict’ comes form the latin word pictii, which means ‘painted ones.’ It is the term (more like a nickname) that was used to describe the “tribal descendants of the indigenous Iron Age tribes of northern Scotland.”(2.) To summarize it simply, I will quote Anna Ritchie:
“The Picts were Celts. Their ultimate ancestors were the people who built the great stone circles like Calanais on the Isle of Lewis in the third millennium BC in Neolithic times, and the broths in the early Iron Age from about 600 BC to AD 200. We have no evidence of any major invasions of Scotland after the initial colonisation by farming peoples soon after 4000 BC – there seems to have been very little fresh blood coming in during the Bronze Age.” (3.)
To fast forward a bit to more relevant material, there was a great battle in 685 CE, called the Battle of Dunnichen. this was a battle between the Picts and the Saxons, who were (at this time) led by a king called Ecgfrith. He was a rather headstrong king, and in his rashness he attacked the Picts, which was against the advice of all the men in his council. This is told to use by Bede:
“King Ecgfrith…rashly led an army to ravash the province of the Picts. The enemy pretended to retreat, and lured the king into narrow mountain passes, where he was killed with the greater part of his forces on the 20th of May and the 15th [year] of his reign.” (4.)
About ten kilometers north of Dunnichen is a place called Aberlemno, and the stone picture above is in the churchyard there. My source goes into far more detail regarding the other side of the stone (the back side), but the stone itself was quite possible made “as a memorial depiction of the Battle of Dunnichen itself.”(5.)Such a background story truly gives this stone, and the symbols presented on it, a sense of life. This battle was no minor incursion, mind you. Some scholars argue that this battle decided the fate of Scotland, whether it would remains a Celtic nation or fall into the grasps of what would become English.(6.)
Anyway, I do hope that was the kind of information you were looking for. I am not familiar enough with Pictish art to tell you what the pendant itself fully represents, but I do believe that you will find the background story interesting as well (I hope).
Thank you for asking! It was a pleasure to answer.
FOOTNOTES:
Fig.1. From the Etsy shop SensitivePreceptions.
1. See the PDF at this link: [https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/media/13445/pictish-stone-trail.pdf]
Fig.2. [http://www.thepictishtradingcompany.co.uk/communities/1/004/012/972/261/images/4617336151.jpg]
2. Magnus Magnusson, Scotland: The History of a Nation. (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 24. This is also where the information regarding the word ‘pictii’ is cited from.
3. Ibid. I cite Magnusson because I quoted it from his text, but he indicates that the original comes from Anna Ritchie’s Picts (Historical Scotland, 1989).
4. Ibid., 28. Magnusson does not cite here with detail, but he notes in the text that this quote if from the “Venerable Bede.”
5. Ibid., 30.
6. Ibid. Magnusson does not name these scholars, not does he cite any of their names or works, so I am going solely off of his word in this book.
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