Come, come weary travellers and beautiful shield maidens, the fire is lit, the Skause bubbles in the mighty cauldron, and the bread is fresh and warm. I am now an old man - but once…… ahhhhh, once I was young, strong and full of vitality. Come sit, and I will tell you of my youth, my travels in the nine worlds of Yggdrasil, of conversations with cunning dragons, and games of hnefatafl for gold and fame. Come drink fine mead with me and listen to my stories.
Once upon a time, when Odin’s beard was less grey than it is today, mighty winds carried me far from the frozen shores of the North, my North; my home. Watched over by Ægir and Njord, my longship Drakkar had weathered storms, traded battles and escaped the mighty Jormungandr himself. Many deep fogs accompanied my journey, and many strange sea monsters I did see circling my ship. Throwing mead into the winds I asked Austri, Vesti, Norðri, and Suðri themselves for help and called on all of the Gods and Goddesses to be with me. All answered my call that day, giving me fair seas for which I was grateful. And as the fogs cleared, from the deck of my ship I was shown a very strange sight, a very strange sight indeed.
Setting course for the land before my eyes, Drakkar sliced through the now calm waters, leading me to the shores of this strange land. Jumping from my ship, I landed upon her sandy shores, which I admit seemed to stretch for an eternity. Ymirs’ skull was blue that day and Sol knew no bounds, burning with the ferocity of a Valkyrie. Exploring for many miles, much strangeness I found to exist in that land. I beheld strange birds and beasts, holy men and priests, temples and tombs of ancient Kings and Queens they say lived many moons ago. And although my eyes beheld such things that I still find hard to explain, and I did hear much language still unknown to my Northern ear, I came to understand something of their ways. And during my time in that strange land, I did sit with those people, and learnt that they call themselves Kemets, or people of the black land – for the soil of the river which flows through that place is dark, rich and fertile, unlike the cold, harsh earth of our homelands.
Those people of Kemet, they are unlike any I have met before. Their skin is darker than ours, their ways as secretive as the Seeresses of the frozen North. They speak in a tongue that twists the air, like the hiss of a serpent, and their men wear linen cloths, not iron and fur. They worship Gods who are part man, part beast – gods of the river, the sun, and the dead. In their eyes, I see wisdom, but also something ancient, something that has seen centuries pass by, like the drifting sands.
And in my travels, I did ask many of these strange people to teach me. I did sit at the feet of Jarls, and I did talk to Thralls, I did learn much of their ways, though not all. I have come to know that they have a great river which flows through that land like Ymir’s very blood. This waterway feeds all of the crops of Kemet and is called ‘Nile’. I have also learnt that there is a city that they call Thebes, where great kings are entombed in the mountains, their bodies wrapped in linen and guarded by curses.
And in my travels, I have beheld such feats of building that I still wonder if I saw them at all. These people of Kemet build from the very sand and stone beneath their feet, like none I have seen before. They live in dwellings of mud bricks rather than the turf and wood of my own land, and I must admit this allows for shade from Sol herself. But their real skill is in shaping stone, which they use for their mighty temples. Strange and mysterious runes, the like I have never seen before or since, were carved deep into the walls of those mighty temples. Hieroglyphs they called these, and I must admit that as skilled as I am in reading runes, I could not read those strange symbols; but I could feel the weight of their power. It is as if the very stones themselves whisper the names of these strange Gods and Goddesses who are reckoned to occupy those places; and who the priests of Kemet claim to be older than the stars. I have asked Odin for his guidance in such matters, and Thor and Freya too. The Gallows Lord is silent on such things; but will hopefully speak to me soon.
I stood before vast structures which the peoples of Kemet term ‘the pyramids’, made from great blocks of stone and I did marvel. They tell me that they, mortal men, did build these structures. But as they tell me this they smile slightly, and I suspect that the Jotun may have had a hand in such things. Regardless, these stone giants touch the heavens and I am sure that the Æsir themselves can touch the very top of these so called pyramids if they have a mind to.
And I did walk with my pack on my shoulders, I traded iron for treasures found in their kingdom. Gold, fine linen, and strange spices that taste of fire and earth I did trade. The merchants I found to be cunning but could not best me, I was no fool. I made my trade fair, and I did have many goods to bring back to the North. And in my time in Kemet, I drank and eat with locals who all told of great battles on the horizon. But looking at the people of Kemet I saw that their true strength was not in their warriors, who were mighty and brave, but in their knowledge of the stars and the river. They know the land like a wolf knows its forest, and I find that respect worthy.
And so now let us drink our mead and look into the fire. Tonight, we all sleep beneath the same moon, that which hangs above the dead of Kemet and my own homeland. Let us raise a horn, offer a prayer to Odin and discover that which cooks in my pot – maybe it will have some of the hers and spices from my travels and trades. Though I am old now, I am still a Viking – a wanderer, and warrior. And thinking of my time in the land of Kemet, I cannot help but feel awe at the vastness of that land, where the Gods and Goddesses walk, and the river carries the weight of history itself.
Tomorrow, I may tell you of another journey if the Norns allow, for the world is wide, and I am but a small speck in its endless dance. And as I tell of my journeys, howl them into the wind of time so that they may be heard for much time to come, our bellies growl like the great wolf himself; and pangs grip me like the Midgard serpent - I know that both demand food.
And once Fenrir has been bound, we can settle and dream of further voyages on Drakkar. May Thor’s hammer guide us wherever the winds may take us next.
What our Norse ancestors must have seen on their travels is quite amazing to think about. In f modernity with online shopping, supermarkets and hypermarkets stocking the latest ingredient from every cornet of the world and immigration opening the world to our taste buds, we seem to forget that it wasn't always like this. Imagine the first Viking explorers discovering herbs and spices of distant places.
What evidence do we have for Vikings reaching Kemet? we certainly know that Vikings possessed mastery over the waters. It is known, from the historical record that Vikings appeared to have reached the Western Mediterranean - up to the Italian Peninsula. Whether or not they stayed long of course is unknown, but they certainly sacked Italy in the 9th century. Throughout the Viking Age, many Vikings would have sailed and known about routes around Gibraltar, and thus may have gained accessing the Eastern Mediterranean.
On the other hand, Scandinavians mainly traveled by way of waterways like Volga - Dniepr in Russia to Constantinople, and therefore it is possible that they would have traded with the Muslim merchants in those areas; either in the Great Bulgars in the Volga river or around the Caspian Sea. Of course, if we look at the trade routes, up to the middle of the 10th century silver found its way to the Caspian Sea from the Central Asia or further East, so we may posit that Viking traders and explorers possessed strong incentives to travel further South.
From modernity we now understand that Viking was a job description including a seeker of land, explorer, mercenary etc. we also know that by the end of the 10th century, the Byzantine Empire and Fatimid Egypt opposed each other over Syria. Before concluding truce in 1001 CE, Emperor Basil II with his Varangians (reported by many sources to posses Russians and Scandinavian Viking warriors) led an expedition into Western Syria - autumn of 999. A Syrian Christian chronicler, Yahya of Antioch, mentions that the emperor let the Varangians burn St. Constance church in the city of Homs containing refugees from the sacked city (Yahya of Antioch, in: Patrologia Orientalis 23 (1932): 458). After this, the emperor's army went to the port of Tripolis unsuccessfully trying to take it from the Fatimid (Kaldellis 2017: 104). It is logical that the Varangians would have found themselves accompanying the emperor in this campaign. Once the battle was over, Viking would have found their way back to Tripolis, even in small numbers.
We must remember that historical evidence for the Viking era is very scant, and we must look to the surrounding history of the other nations, peoples, myths, legends and world events in piecing all of this together. In my assumptions I may be completely wrong, but this is the fun part and what keeps things fresh always looking for fresh evidence from the past
References
Yahya of Antioch, Chronicle, ii, trans. A. Vasiliev (into French), in: Patrologia Orientalis 23 (1932).
Christys, Ann. Vikings in the South: Voyages to Iberia and the Mediterranean. London: Bloomsbury, 2012.
Kaldellis, Anthony. Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A. D. to the First Crusade. Oxford: OUP, 2017.
To celebrate our Viking explorer ancestors reaching Egypt, or at lease the middle east I offer you this month something that they may have encountered.
Ful Medames
(Preparation time 5mins, cooking time 35mins)
The most popular street food snack in Egypt, Ful is a paste of mashed broad (fava) beans flavored with garlic and olive oil. It is labeled out of large copper pots, often into pockets of pitta bread and typically sold as an inexpensive takeaway sandwich

Ingredients:
1 x 400g can fava beans (or broad beans)
1 x small onion, finely chopped
2 x garlic cloves, crushed
100ml olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 x large, ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped (or 200g can of chopped tomatoes if you prefer)
1 x ½ lemon, juiced
2 tbsp tahini
How to make:
Drain the beans and rinse. Fill the empty, clean can with water and pour into a saucepan with the beans. Bring them to the boil to warm through, then take them off the heat.
Meanwhile, in a separate medium frying pan, gently fry the onion and garlic in all but a few tablespoons of the olive oil for 5 mins, then add 2 tsp sea salt flakes, the cumin, chilli flakes and tomatoes.
Drain the beans, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Add to the onion mixture and cook over a low heat for 30 mins, stirring often and adding some of the cooking liquid if it looks dry.
Using a potato masher, mash the beans with the remaining olive oil, lemon juice and tahini. The final consistency should be a chunky, soft purée. If it splits slightly, mix in a drop of cold water.
This is a flexible dish that goes well with many different things. Serve this with a salad, eggs, warm or cold grains and/or warm bread of your choice
As a suggestion, try serving with couscous or barley bread
Until next time brave explorers - may your bed be dry, and your horn be full....
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