I just finished writing about 1300 words about the viking age runestone U 785 at Tillinge church west of Enköping. It is made of gray granite and is 1.7 meters tall and 0.8-1 meter wide. The inscription is inside a serpent with a head seen from the side. There is no cross on the stone, even though the inscription has a Christian prayer.
It has been raised after a man called Gudmund who died in Serkland. Possibly during the viking expedition by Ingvar the Far-Travelled or another expedition to the same area near the Caspian Sea. It is also possible that he worked as a varangian guard in the Byzantine empire.
The transliteration of the inscription is:
uifas-- ... : risa : s(t)in : þ(t)ino : ub : at : k-þmunt : bruþur : sin : han : uarþ : tuþr : a : srklant- kuþ halbi : ant : ans
Translated into English:
Vifast had the stone raised up after Gudmund, his brother. He died in Serkland. God help his soul.
#runestone #VikingAge #history #StandingStoneSunday #Viking