A glimpse into the real history behind the drinking horns

Most people associate drinking horns with Vikings, imagining them traditionally dressed, maybe holding swords or axes, drinking avidly their mead from drinking horns in a celebration or after a day of raids. Hm, maybe this is not exactly accurate… In reality Scandinavians used drinking horns, but the story of their use as utensils starts over a thousand of years before the era of Vikings.

Known as keras or rhyton in Ancient Greece, the drinking horn was used in many areas through the ages. The more diverse areas and their era, meant that their civilizations between them were different and even more differences could be identified between the people that used them too. The first samples were constructed by real bull’s horns and ram’s horn, later though different types of materials were used for their creation. Even the type of the horn’s vessel fluctuated in terms of design depending on their main use: for daily use, decorative or ritual vessels. So even though Vikings are first to come into mind, the history behind drinking horns differs by far!

Some of the first ones to use horns as drinking utensils, but also as ritual vessels, were the Thracians and the Scythians. An ancient reference from the Greek historian Xenophon about the Thracian leader Seuthes around the 4^th century BC indicates that the keras was an integral part of the Thracian way of life. The expressions that Xenophon used to describe it’s use were «according the Thracian law» or «according the Thracian way».

In order to not analyse in detail, let’s have a look in historical references, one by one, in summary! Until now we have said about drinking horns being integrated into the way of life in Thracians. Also, Scythians used them but they were constructed mostly by horn and metal. The most unique drinking horns were usually designed for their best warriors and their kings. Drinking horns have been discovered in Scythian graves dated from the 7^th century BC.

In Ancient Greece horns were famously used as drinking utensils, as decorations and also as ritual vessels. They used to decorate them with metal detailing but some were entirely metallic with elaborate carvings and they often drank wine from them in their different celebrations. For example, celebrations in honor of the god of the wine, Dionysus. There are many findings like pottery items on which god Dionysus with his Satyrs are being depicted holding horns and drinking from them.

Let’s talk about Rome. Evolving from the art of the previously mentioned drinking horns, Romans created their own version of a drinking horn. Drinking horns made out of glass with special decorative elements, were a symbol of power for the Roman empire and they were used mostly for drinking in celebrations but also in important rituals.

From the magnificent Roman drinking horn, through the period of ‘immigration’, German tribes were inspired from.  From the German/Roman era until the era of Vikings, drinking horns were buried mostly in women’s graves alongside with other drinking equipment.

Finally we reach the Vikings’ era! After all these civilizations that used drinking horns, maybe you might be wondering why the version of these powerful and wild raiders is more famous than the others.

Possibly this might be happening because of the two very famous myths known today: the myth associated to Thor and the one about Valhalla. According to the first myth, Thor used his horn to cause tides in the oceans. In the second myth there is a reference that when a Viking warrior had fallen into battle and enter Valhalla, a Valkyrie was welcoming the warrior and offered a drinking horn. The warrior would take the drinking horn and enter Odin’s room where he would drink with other warriors eat and fight till death, so they can resurrect and repeat the same process the next day. Vikings’ drinking horns were usually decorated with runes as the main decorative element, They had a special importance for them and they would pass down through the different generations.

References in drinking horns exist in the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf saga and the oldest poem of the anthology of poems about the legendary hero Sigurd known as Guðrúnarkviða II of the 13^th century in Medieval Europe. Even though many pagan cultures have been destroyed and turned into Christianity, horns did not lose their fame. Christians used drinking horns with much pleasure that they made them ritual vessels on the 15^th century. They were maintained as sclerokeratitis until the Early Modern period and they were still famously used for ritual purposes.

Horns managed to survive the 19^th and 20^th century. Luxurious pottery in the schema of horn from ivory, gold and porcelain appeared as luxurious decorative pieces in Austria and Germany. In the 19^th century during the reenactment of Vikings, German students started using drinking horns in different “rituals” with relevancy to…drinks!