Study › Runes & Norse › The Triple Horn of Odin
The Triple Horn of Odin is three interlocked drinking horns. It stands for the Mead of Poetry, which Odin drank from three vessels, and for the gifts of poetry and wisdom.
What is the Triple Horn of Odin?
The Triple Horn is three drinking horns interlocked, and it stands for the tale of the Mead of Poetry. Brewed from the blood of the wise being Kvasir, the mead was kept in three vessels — Ódrœrir, Boðn and Són — deep in a mountain, guarded by the giantess Gunnlöð. Odin won it by cunning, drinking all three horns dry in three great draughts and escaping in eagle-shape to carry it back to Asgard.
What it means, and how old it is
So the emblem belongs to Odin as god of poetry, wisdom and inspiration, the gifts the mead bestows. Interlocking horns appear in Viking Age carving — most famously on the Snoldelev runestone in Denmark — though the neat three-horn badge in common use today is a tidied modern rendering of that older motif.
Read the Mead of Poetry and the Snoldelev Stone.
Questions
What does the Triple Horn of Odin mean?
Poetry, wisdom and inspiration, the gifts of the Mead of Poetry.
Is the Triple Horn Viking?
Interlocked horns are carved on the Snoldelev stone; the neat badge used today is a modern version.