Guy pushing his stomach with another guy using a weapon on his back. (Stora Hammar Stone)Famed for their bloody attacks and quick longboats, Vikings have long been connected with brutal,
excessive violence. Between the 11th and eighth centuries, these groups left their Nordic homelands to make their fortunes by trading and raiding throughout Europe.Particularly infamous is the so-called “blood eagle”, a gory routine these warriors are said to have performed on their most disliked opponents. The ritual apparently included sculpting the victim’s back open and cutting their ribs far from their spinal column, prior to the lungs were pulled out through the resulting wounds.The final fluttering of the lungs splayed out on the outspread ribs would allegedly look like the motion of a bird’s wings– thus the eagle in the name.Read the rest of this short article …