MUSEUM OF THE WORLD Global history’s finest objects

“This is testament to the astonishing fame). The images on the lid are similarly mysterious, and parts of this piece are wealth of cultural and historical missing. We know the hero of the scene is called Ægilli, because his name is written influences circulating in England” in . Perhaps he is Weyland’s brother Egil, famed as a master archer.

son; Weyland has made a goblet from his Egil’s name is far from the only 2 Franks Casket skull. On the right-hand side of the same writing on the casket. It bustles with panel is a cheerier scene: the three Magi inscriptions in and , Created by: unknown craftsman, bowing before baby Jesus as the Star of written in both runes and the Roman early eighth century Bethlehem hangs in the sky above. alphabet. This is a truly multidimensional work – the words crawl all over the Now at: , London The back panel of the casket hums casket, some written back to front or with menace and panic, busy with little upside down. My favourite inscription, Chosen by: Eleanor Barraclough human figures. It depicts the attack on running around the front panel, trans- Jerusalem during the First Jewish-Roman lates as: “The flood cast up the fish on the War in AD 70. At the top left corner the mountain cliff, the terror king became sad This extraordinary object, also known Romans storm the city, swarming over the where he swam on the shingle. Whale as the Auzon Casket, is an intricately domed building in the middle of the panel. bone.” The last two words are the answer carved little box made in Anglo-Saxon In the top right-hand corner the city’s to this ‘meta’ riddle – because the casket England – possibly – in the inhabitants flee from the invaders, itself is fashioned from whale’s bone. early eighth century. Its whale-bone possessions hidden under their cloaks, panels are inscribed with scenes from casting worried glances behind them. I love this casket because it’s a Germanic, Christian, Roman and Jewish beautiful piece of art, but also rather tradition. The front panel features two The smaller left panel depicts Romulus like a cartoon strip. Every time I visit it, very different stories. On the left-hand and Remus, mythological founders I find new details to admire. At the same side is Weyland, master blacksmith of of Rome, being suckled by a wolf. time, it is testament to the astonishing Germanic legend, surrounded by the tools The right panel on the opposite side (the wealth of cultural and historical of his trade. He appears in poems, sagas original of which is in the Museo Nazionale influences that were circulating in and runestones from the Anglo-Saxon del Bargello in Florence) is harder to England during this period – ancient and Nordic world, and is famous for taking interpret. It features cloaked human myths and tales, Biblical scenes, historic terrible vengeance on his captor, King figures, a horse, and a warrior decked out clashes. Yet it still holds its mysteries, Niðhad. Look closely at the panel and you in helmet and shield, possibly depicting preserving traces of once-famous stories can see the headless corpse of the king’s the legend of (of dragon-slaying now lost to the mists of time.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough is associate professor of medieval history and literature at Durham University, and author of Beyond the Northlands (Oxford University

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