Lewis chessmen
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The Lewis chessmen or Uig chessmen, named after the island or the bay where they were found, are a group of distinctive 12th-century chess pieces, along with other game pieces, most of which are carve
Lewis chessmen in the National Museum of Scotland
Three bishops from the Lewis hoard in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland. Different versions of the same piece vary noticeably in size.
Medieval tablemen were often elaborately carved, like this 12th-century trictrac piece in the Louvre; the undecorated pieces found in the Lewis hoard may have been unfinished.
The Lewis chessmen in the British Museum
Berserker
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In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective berser
Lewis chessmen
…are shown holding spears and shields. The rooks are standing soldiers or "warders" holding shields and swords; four of the rooks are shown as wild-eyed berserkers biting their shields with battle fury. The kings are depicted sitting on thrones, wearing crowns, and holding swords. The queens also sit on thrones…
Artifact
Sketch
Bearhooded Germanic warriors on Trajan's Column
Animal headed warriors on the Gallehus horns.