The Eyraland Thor and the Icelandic Foss Hammer

"National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik. Figure of god Thor ( ca. 1000 AD ), made of bronze" by Wolfgang Sauber, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyrarland_Statue The image has not been changed and the image owner does not endorse this blog.



A figurine depicting what appears to be a seated Thor, grasping a hammer was discovered in 1815 or 1816 when it was unearthed from the soil at the Eyraland farm near Akureyri in Iceland. The figure is made of bronze and is currently housed in the National Museum of Iceland. I have 2 bronze replicas of the Eyraland Thor and they are used as altar items in my worship of Him.

As I have mentioned before (and need to keep reiterating) the type of hammer that 'Thor' is holding is in the typical Icelandic cross shape, almost a duplicate of the 'Wolf's Cross' found at Foss in Iceland, currently also housed in the National Museum. This clear resemblance should once and for all close the argument as to whether the Foss Hammer is a hammer or a cross. This variation of the hammer was clearly local to Iceland and the argument that it is a 'hybrid' between the Christian cross and Thor's Hammer does not hold water in view of the form that the hammer takes in the hands of the Eyraland Thor.

The argument in favour of it being a hybrid is that it could be disguised as a cross by its wearer (to avoid persecution) but as it dates back to the 10th century and thus PREDATES the Christianisation of Iceland this does not make one iota of sense. Even after the Icelandic Althing voted to accept Christianity in the year 1000 heathenism was still tolerated as a private practice on the island. So it begs the question why anyone would seek to disguise his hammer amulet PRIOR to the Christianisation process?

I have several variants of the Foss Hammer in a variety of metals: pewter, bronze and stainless steel and indeed the St Justin (larger size) Foss Hammer was the second Thor's Hammer I ever purchased in the mid 1990s. I particularly recommend their version which is much chunkier than the original and their products do come with a life time guarantee. The chief gothi of the Asatru Association in Iceland, Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson has been photographed wearing a Foss Hammer himself. Surely there can be no higher recommendation than this?