In the sagas, Norse gods never went through long and thoughtful inner conflicts over right and wrong but somehow always managed to become heroes. Old Norse religion and social practices were able to justify and even idealize this Viking way of preparing for battle, finding their excuses in often ferocious Norse mythology.
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This state of trance helped the berserkers break free of social constructs and critical thinking and made them act more aggressively and ruthlessly than any other warriors in history. Self-induced hysteria put the berserkers into the dissociative state of mind, which caused them to act solely based on their subconscious instincts and primal impulses. Psychiatrists believe that Viking men performed spiritual rituals before battles, after which they probably went into some form of self-induced hysteria, which helped them lose control of their consciousness. However, the most probable explanation of 'going berserk' comes from neither history nor archaeology but psychiatry.
Historians believe that stinking shade had a dual purpose during the Viking age, for it was used both as medication and as war paint to scare off the enemy.
In one berserker's grave found in 1977, archaeologists found decomposed traces of Hyoscyamus niger, commonly known as stinking shade. Having that said, it doesn't mean Viking men didn't use other forms of remedies to ease the pain in battle. Although Siberian shamans may found the impact of fly agaric mushroom satisfactory, the same thing indeed can't be told about the Vikings.īerserkers were known in history as fierce and blood-thirsty warriors who 'bit their shields' and were 'strong as bears' and 'mad as dogs or wolves.' So it is hard to believe that their drug of choice was fly agaric, whose main effects are sedation, depression, and apathy. Nonetheless, it is necessary to remember that Ödmann's theory of 'going berserk' first appeared in 1784, which was long after the Viking Age, and that Ödmann had no previous knowledge on the effects of this toxic mushroom. He claimed that just like the Siberian shamans, berserkers probably ingested Amanita muscaria - commonly known as fly agaric mushroom. In one of his writings, Christian priest Ödmann suggested a theory that 'going berserk' came as a result of consuming various psychoactive substances. Infamous Viking berserkers were associated with many myths, one of which is the myth about hallucinogens. Sadly, we have to disappoint the doubters because berserkers were exactly like the legends paradoxically describe them - as noble savages. But how much of it is right, and how many stories of berserkers were simply an addition to the Old Norse religion. Popular culture portrays them as almost supernatural, unkempt, and blood-thirsty barbarians who ravaged everything standing in their way - history remembers them as the fiercest of all the Germanic warriors. It is not a lie that berserkers with their infamous reputation sometimes seem more mythological than actual people who lived and fought all over Medieval Scandinavia. The perfect example of losing control and fighting in trance-like fury are Viking ruthless warriors – berserkers. But in some situations, even the most respectable warriors lost self-control during battles, and their behavior became animalistic.
In many cultures, warriors were a vital part of society, and their peers revered the most skilled ones.