@byjacklynn: Upon arrival in Istanbul I was most exited to see this graffiti! It is located in the upper gallery of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It consists of runic characters carved into the marble balustrade and the inscription dates to approximately the 9th century CE. During that period, Hagia Sophia functioned as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral. It is attributed to a Norse (Viking) visitor, likely a member of the Varangian Guard, an elite unit of the Byzantine emperors. The inscription has been interpreted as reading “Halfdan carved these runes.” “Halfdan” is a documented Old Norse personal name. It was identified as runic in the 20th century by Scandinavian scholars. The graffiti provides physical evidence of Norse presence in Constantinople (modern Istanbul). #historytok #Vikings #türkiye

Kim :

I went to the Hagia Sophia yesterday, and found this carving! It looks like some form of Greek to me

Houseofboo1816 :

Was it THE Halfdan or just A Halfdan.

sayhiSammie :

Humanity is the same across time. The ancient graves in northern Scotland were vandalized by vikings - they wrote things like, "Vlad's wife is hot" and "I fucked here". Its all just bathroom stall grafitti.

ƙ@ś!ɛ :

It's like a high school desk! "Kasie was here!"

Kris :

I always love seeing things about how people have always just been people 🥰

Leonis :

While it is the most famous and easily accessible, as well as being the hardest to decipher due to being worn down, this is one of 3 sets of runes found there. one set simply says "Árni" which is a name, and the third says "Arinbárðr rеist rúnar þessar" / Arinbárðr carved these runes. Besides that there are also a few carved drawings of their ships

D4GNY :

I love the story of this inscription. A professor who could read Norse saw it and was like OMG Tour Guide do you know what this is???

Phi :

Halfdan wuz here

guthwineandcheese :

There's so much history there! I specifically want to see the Serpentine Column at the Hippodrome. It was originally at the Oracle of Delphi and reportedly made from melted weapons from the Battle of Plateau. It's one the oldest artifacts with a written history throughout its existence.

Eddie 🇪🇺 :

There's Latin and Greek graffiti in the Pyramids from bored Hellenic and Roman Troops garrisoned in Egypt.

welcome2thearthaus :

That’s it. I’m going back to school for my 2nd bachelors in history. I love learning stuff like this way too much to not.

QuestionablyChristian :

Plot twist: he was a shitbag who just got fired from his job and left a little vandalism behind as one last "NO, fuck YOU!"

Brown Coconut Rice :

I remember when our tour guide pointed it out a few years ago. I can't believe it's under glass now. Did you get to take a picture of the key hole that leads to the main hall?

Cody Wanderbeard 🇨🇦 :

Did Halfdan realise how much people would have to pay to go into a construction site? 😂

Fredo🥂 :

Nina Rea527 :

How lucky are you to see this in person👏👏👏

panoramic_quiz :

Epic song choice

OlympusMons :

harold finehair seeing this

Jacob :

Flashback to Vikings on History Channel

Nielsen G :

😎 ….. The joy of traveling is nothing new 🤩

ashtyn :

it’s so funny how some things never change

Sunnie🌻💛☀️ :

“lol I waz here”

dear.michelle :

Wow. That is so cool.

Skibumplus3 :

Amazing place!