Runes
Literacy in the Germanic Iron Age

Stephen Pollington

This new survey investigates the origins of runes and the reasons for their creation. What combination of factors impelled the script's creation? How was it transmitted from generation to generation? Who used it, when and how?

The author divides the thousand-year history from inception to widespread adoption into phases and traces the runes' transition from the secret of a closed social class to the common property of entire societies.

This up-to-date study takes into account recent finds from Britain, Scandinavia and the Continent together with new interpretations of old finds.

£29   428 pages  82 black & white illustrations


BACK TO BOOK LIST