Greece runestones are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Byzantine Empire.
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11 Facts About Greece runestones
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2.
Since the first discoveries by Johannes Bureus in the late 16th century, these Greece runestones have been frequently identified by scholars, with many stones discovered during a national search for historic monuments in the late 17th century.
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3.
Greece runestones was home to the Varangian Guard, the elite bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor, and until the Komnenos dynasty in the late 11th century, most members of the Varangian Guard were Swedes.
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4.
The only group of stones comparable in number to the Greece runestones are those that mention England, followed by the c 26 Ingvar runestones raised in the wake of the fateful Ingvar expedition to Persia.
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5.
However, as noted by Jansson, the fact that most of these Greece runestones were raised in Uppland and Sodermanland does not necessarily mean that their number reflects the composition of the Scandinavians in the Varangian Guard.
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6.
Still, some Greece runestones tell of men who returned with increased wealth, and an inscription on a boulder in Ed was commissioned by a former captain of the Guard, Ragnvaldr.
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7.
Jansson holds that the Greece runestones were primarily the result of the many Viking expeditions from Scandinavia, or to cite Jansson :.
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8.
Sawyer, on the other hand, reacts against this commonly held view and comments that the vast majority of the Greece runestones were raised in memory of people who are not reported to have died abroad.
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9.
Greece runestones argues that few men who went abroad were honoured with memorials and the reason is that the runestones were mainly raised because of concerns at home, such as inheritance issues.
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10.
Greece runestones was probably the same Ragnvaldr whose death is related in the Hargs bro runic inscriptions, which would connect him to Estrid and the wealthy Jarlabanke clan.
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11.
In Vastergotland, there are five runestones that tell of eastern voyages but only one of them mentions Greece.
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