Scary units

**Macilrille** · 09-07-2009, 19:38

Phalanx, it is if you cannot come up with more examples than he does. I have an extensive knowledge of the sources for Viking Age Denmark- Scandinavia and though I cannot deny or disprove the existance of naked warriors, I find it unproven as well. At some point I guess I will have to write my own interpretation...

Power, your link did not show me any source saying that Vikings drank Reindeer urine after feeding them mushies, nor did a google search for "Urine- Reindeer-Viking". In fact with my knowledge of sources for the Viking age I can say with 99.5% certainty that there is no such source. There is but a lack of knowledge and a fascination with Berserkers giving birth to various wild fantasies and with the I-net everybody can spread their ideas- the wilder, the more popular...

There are no original Viking written sources really, unless you count runestones.
Our foreign sources does not mention the practise.
Our later (medieval) sources I am 95% certain do not either.
Only very- very few Vikings in the absolute furtherst parts of Norway owned reindeer, most of the northern Norwegians just taxed the tribes up there, Sami, Finns etc (they had other names then).

That is why I can say with a fair degree of certainty that Vikings might have gotten p*ssed, but they did not drink Reindeer p*ss to get high.

Now Odin is the ultimate Shaman (read how he acquired the Runes) and he was the God of Battles and Dead (and also of Skaldic inspiration...), and no doubt Vikings would go into battle rage- in fact it is often attested and fits their culture and what we know of their ideology and belief, but it is for many other peoples as well. I bet you some of the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan have tried it... so to go from there and elaborate to a special elite corps of naked berserkers (and ulfhednir/wolfskins) it a bit far-fetched for my taste, sorry but I was weaned on source criticism...

**paullus** · 09-07-2009, 20:40

The presence of nude Celtic combatants is well established in the historical record. There may be some who desire to paint the occurence as a rarity, an "out in a blaze of glory" tactic at Telamon and the practice of a small set of champions, but both historical accounts and representative art provide overwhelming testimony that a good many Celtic warriors fought in the nude. While we might be tempted to excuse the Pergamene Gauls and a few other examples as artistic renderings of the nightmare Galatian, we'd still have to deal with the presence of naked "friendly" Gauls, such as those depicted in Ptolemaic terracotta or the one shown on the painted Amazonomachy sarcophagus from late 4th century Etruria.

**Moros** · 09-07-2009, 20:50

In eastern Siberia, the shaman would consume the mushrooms, and others would drink his urine.[90] This urine, still containing active hallucinogens may actually be more potent than the A. muscaria mushrooms with fewer negative effects, such as sweating and twitching, suggesting that the initial user may act as a screening filter for other components in the mushroom.[91]

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Good thing I know a bit about them shrooms.