Sleipnir also features on one of the Ardre stones, a set of 10 tablets displaying runes and images dating back to the 10th century. The Swedish Museum of National Antiquities uses the rider’s image on the horse as its official logo. However, some analysts believe the rider is a dead Einheri that Sleipnir is carrying to Valhalla, and so the woman could be a Valkyrie. One interpretation is that the rider is Odin and the horse Sleipnir. The upper portion contains an engraving of a woman offering a drinking horn to a rider on a large, gray eight-legged horse. The stone is divided into an upper and a lower section, separated by a line of valknuts (a symbol of three interlocked triangles). The Tjängvide image stone is a Viking Age relic in Tjängvide, about 1½ miles west of Ljugarn in the province of Gotland, Sweden’s largest island. Their reproductions in print or digitally usually depict the horse as being gray. Two ancient carved stones contain images of an eight-legged horse. The Prose Edda contains detailed information concerning Sleipnir, including the background to his birth and a description of his coat being grey in color. His fellow pantheon had decided he was responsible for them agreeing to compensate a builder who Loki had seemingly set the impossible task of completing the fortification of Asgard in less than one season. Strangely, Sleipnir was born of Loki after the mischievous god had to resort to trickery to extricate himself from a tricky situation. Is Sleipnir Male or Female?Īlthough there does not seem to be much evidence indicating Sleipnir is a male, there is none to suggest the animal is female.

He was “the best horse among gods and men,” according to the Prose Edda. Sleipnir was not a god, but he did belong to one – Odin, the supreme god of all Norse mythology. Some works and articles translate his name as “the one who slides.” What is Sleipnir the God of? Sleipnir means “The Slipper” or “Slippy” in Old Norse. It is pronounced “slayp-nir” with the stress on the first syllable.

Sleipnir band wikipedia