The Swedes were a North Germanic tribe who inhabited Svealand in central Sweden and one of the progenitor groups of modern Swedes, along with Geats and Gutes. They had their tribal centre in Gamla Uppsala.
Piraeus Lion drawing of curved lindworm. The runes on the lion tell of Swedish warriors, most likely Varangians, mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor.
The Runestone DR 344 is one of the earliest surviving instances of the name Svíþjóð, in Scandinavia (only Runestone DR 216, Beowulf and probably also the Getica are earlier).
Gamla Uppsala was the main religious and political centre of the tribe.
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus
North Germanic peoples, Nordic peoples and in a medieval context Norsemen, were a Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are identified by their cultural similarities, common ancestry and common use of the Proto-Norse language from around 200 AD, a language that around 800 AD became the Old Norse language, which in turn later became the North Germanic languages of today.
Depiction of ancient rituals at the Rock Carvings in Tanum, Nordic Bronze Age
Stone slab from The King's Grave in southern Sweden, Nordic Bronze Age, 1400 BC
The gilded side of the Trundholm Sun Chariot, Nordic Bronze Age
The Royal Mounds at Gamla Uppsala contains hundreds (originally thousands) of tumuli mainly from the Vendel and Viking period, but also with a few possible cairns dating back to the Nordic Bronze Age.
