Abstract
There are many Viking Age weights in Scandinavia, and not least in Swedcn. A few of the sphrrical weights with flat poles, which were used for weighing silver in trading situations, display so-called pseudo-Arabic inscriptions, i.e. writing which resembles Arabic but which is mostly illegible. Why did some people put Arabic-like writing on their weights, and what did they hope to achieve by this? These questions are discussed together with positive aspects of trade, interaction and encounters with foreigners, visual aspects of weights and weighing, as well as personal choices in the presentation of self-image.
Highlights
A few of the sphcrical weights with flat poles, which were used for weighing silver in trading situations, display so-called pseudo-Arabic inscriptions, i.e. writing which resembles Arabic but which is mostly illegible
In addition to actual objects that were brought to Scandinavia, there are further traces of a desire to display Eastern connections, for example paper-thin, locally crafted replicas of Islamic coins that were worn as jewellery; see figure 1
Certain objects with additional meaning. This paper concerns these Viking Age weights with pseudoArabic inscriptions, and tries to answer the questions of why there was a desire to put Arabic-like writing on these objects and what one hoped to achieve by this
Summary
There are many Viking Age weights in Scandinavia, and not least in Swcdcn. A few of the sphcrical weights with flat poles, which were used for weighing silver in trading situations, display so-called pseudo-Arabic inscriptions, i.e. writing which resembles Arabic but which is mostly illegible. This paper concerns these Viking Age weights with pseudoArabic inscriptions, and tries to answer the questions of why there was a desire to put Arabic-like writing on these objects and what one hoped to achieve by this. The spherical weights with flat poles usually consist of an iron core that is coated with a bronze/copper alloy, but there are weights of this type manufactured entirely from a bronze/copper alloy (Gustin 2004a:19) They came into use in the Baltic Sea region during the second half of the 9" century and were used throughout the Viking Age, and they have been found at trading places, manufacturing areas, in graves and as stray finds (e.g., Gustin 2004b). Besides the obvious language confusion of the inscriptions, which indicates that the weights have at least not been inscribed by persons who were fluent in Arabic (e.g. , Gustin 1997:173), there is
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