Did the Vikings Get a Bum Rap?

[Still Waters]

A Yale historian wants us to rethink the terrible tales about the Norse.

http://news.national...inavia-winroth/

[aquatus1]

Well...sure.

Don't pretty much all ancient people?

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I saw a documentary that basically said "viking" wasn't a noun, it was a verb. There was no "viking culture" but rather a culture of going Viking, going out to see and raiding and the like.

Basically, like Romans, anyone could go Viking not just the Norsemen.

[Thorvir]

Vikings were little different from other peoples during their time. They're not the only ones to go a-raiding and seize chunks of land from others.

[Keel M.]

I saw a documentary that basically said "viking" wasn't a noun, it was a verb. There was no "viking culture" but rather a culture of going Viking, going out to see and raiding and the like.

Basically, like Romans, anyone could go Viking not just the Norsemen.

Yes I heard that too.

[acute]

Obviously, the Vikings couldn't carry out their raids without a spot of pillaging and slaughtering, but they later assimilated north and east of the Danelaw.

[SHaYap]

I do wonder how the Norse folks got pushed out and up that far north hinterland in the first place ~