Viking brooch Pitney, bronze

Product description

The Viking brooch is a replica of an 11th-century original found in Pitney, England. The original is now part of the collection at the British Museum in London. Crafted in the Urnes style, the brooch also clearly features Anglo-Saxon elements. The Midgard Serpent is depicted upon the brooch.

Dragons were the mythical counterpart of serpents and were amongst the earliest myths of modern humans. As humans spread across the world, so too did dragon mythology. In many Indo-European cultures, dragons play a prominent role in their mythologies. In Germanic and later Viking mythology, dragons are seen as all-devouring monsters. Whilst they symbolise the evil beast that must be defeated by a hero, they also represent the destroyer archetype. These two archetypes—the destroyer and the hero's adversary—reinforce one another.