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Gallehus horn

Gold horn, now lost · Southern Jutland, Denmark · c. 400 CE

Draft content, not yet reviewed.

An old engraving of a long curved horn, its bands covered in small figures and animals.
Ole Worm's 1641 engraving of the long horn. Drawings like this are the only record of what the horns looked like.Ole Worm (1641) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Two gold horns on a black background.
Modern copies of the two horns. The originals no longer exist.National Museum of Denmark · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
A hand-drawn strip of runes with small dot-like word dividers between some of them.
The inscription as J. R. Paulli drew it in 1734. The reading above comes from drawings like this one.J. R. Paulli (1734) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Read it rune by rune

Rune 1 of 32

e ehwaz

ek hlewagastiz : holtijaz : horna : tawido :

Shown left to right in reading order, in the standard rune shapes used on this site. On the object, the shapes, spacing, and direction can differ. Dashed runes are damaged or uncertain. Text: Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn); National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns

What it says

Ek Hlewagastiz Holtijaz horna tawido.

I, Hlewagastiz Holtijaz (of Holt, or Holti's son), made the horn.

Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn)

The object

Object
Gold horn (lost) Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn); National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns
Found
Gallehus, near Møgeltønder, Denmark Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn); National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns
Date
375/400–460/470 CE Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn)
Fate
Stolen and melted down in 1802 National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns

Reading it

  • The inscription is a full sentence in which the maker names himself: "I, Hlewagastiz Holtijaz, made the horn." Holtijaz can be read as "of Holt" or "Holti's son."

    Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn)

  • A word divider follows each of hlewagastiz, holtijaz, horna, and tawido. There is none between ek and hlewagastiz.

    Rundata: DR 12 † (Gallehus horn)National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns

What happened to it

  • Two gold horns were found at Gallehus: the long horn in 1639, and the short horn in 1734, a few metres away.

    National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns

  • Both horns were stolen and melted down in 1802. What they looked like is known only from drawings made in the 17th and 18th centuries, so the inscription is read today from those drawings, not from the gold.

    National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns

  • Copies made in 1859–60 are too large but probably have the right shape. A set made in the 1970s is the right size.

    National Museum of Denmark: The Golden Horns