The image of the Vikings that has come down to us has little in common with what their culture actually represented. The only unchanging fact was that they were excellent sailors and ferocious fearless warriors.
The bulk of them were peasants of Norwegian, Danish and Swedish origin. In the campaigns they were drawn by a thirst for profit and a noticeable overpopulation in their native territories.
Warrior nation
The Vikings were not any single nation. This people included several ethnic groups at once. The entire Scandinavian territory was not at that time divided into three states. It was a dynamically changing political map of small tribes. The very concept of “Viking” denoted rather a warrior who participates in a campaign rather than belonging to a particular ethnic group. Everything had to be mined independently in new territories.
Now one can often hear the opinion that the Vikings were not washable dirty savages who only knew how to kill. They killed, no doubt, and also preferred to be captured. And the numerous finds of household tools such as combs for combing, tweezers, razors and soap residues suggest that the Vikings kept an eye on their appearance and were very clean.
Moreover, people who possessed such a deep culture and belief systems (namely, in the plural, they did not have a common religion on all), simply could not be animals driven by a thirst for blood.
Their buildings were carefully decorated, and the layout was worked out with no less scrupulousness than modern architects do.Their weapons were literally a work of art.
Speaking of the Vikings, today they represent tall large blondes, but historical data indicate that the average Viking had an increase of about 170 centimeters, which is a little even by ancient standards. The Vikings were a multinational and hospitable people, with them a huge number of nations settled and hiked, which had a different hair color and physique.
Speaking of hair, the white color was considered ideal and attractive, because they used a special soap to lighten the hair.
