page_title: Greece runestones
section_title: U 358
hierarchical_section_title: Greece runestones / The runestones / Uppland / U 358
caption_attribution_description: Runestone U 358, which is located in the cemetery of Skepptuna church in Uppland, Sweden. This is a picture of an archaeological site or a monument in Sweden, number Skepptuna 1:1 in the RAÄ Fornsök database.
context_page_description: The Greece runestones are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age until about 1100 and were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes. All the stones have been found in modern-day Sweden, the majority in Uppland and Södermanland. Most were inscribed in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few inscriptions mention men who returned with wealth, and a boulder in Ed was engraved on the orders of a former officer of the Guard.
  On these runestones the word Grikkland appears in three inscriptions, the word Grikkar appears in 25 inscriptions, two stones refer to men as grikkfari and one stone refers to Grikkhafnir. Among other runestones which refer to expeditions abroad, the only groups which are comparable in number are the so-called "England runestones" that mention expeditions to England and the 26 Ingvar runestones that refer to a Viking expedition to the Middle East.
  The stones vary in size from the small whetstone from Timans which measures 8.5 cm × 4.5 cm × 3.3 cm to the boulder in Ed which is 18 m in circumference.
context_section_description: The runestone U 358 (location) in the RAK style was first mentioned by Richard Dybeck who discovered the stone in the foundation of the belfry of Skepptuna Church. The parishioners did not allow him to uncover the inscription completely, and they later hid the stone under a thick layer of soil. It was not until 1942 that it was removed from the belfry and was raised anew a few paces away. The stone is in light greyish granite. It is 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) tall above the ground and 0.78 m (2 ft 7 in) wide. The contractor of the runestone was named Folkmarr and it is a name that is otherwise unknown from Viking Age Scandinavia, although it is known to have existed after the close of the Viking Age. It was on the other hand a common name in West Germanic languages and especially among the Franks.
  Latin transliteration:
  fulkmar × lit × risa × stin × þina × iftiʀ × fulkbiarn × sun × sin × saʀ × itaþis × uk miþ krkum × kuþ × ialbi × ans × ot uk salu
  Old Norse transcription:
  Folkmarr let ræisa stæin þenna æftiʀ Folkbiorn, sun sinn. Saʀ ændaðis ok með Grikkium. Guð hialpi hans and ok salu.
  English translation:
  "Folkmarr had this stone raised in memory of Folkbjörn, his son. He also met his end among the Greeks. May God help his spirit and soul."
caption: Runestone U 358
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