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IMAGES OF THE GODS. 197
usually of wood, sometimes of metal, and but very
seldom of stone. They were called go5 (Gods) or
skurSgoS (carved Gods) ; although the latter term
may possibly be from the Christian times, when the
effort was made to cast all possible odium on the
worship of idolg. No images have been preserved
which may be regarded with certainty as relics of
the Asa worship. This is to be attributed partly to
the zeal of the first propagators of Christianity in
destroying all idols, partly to the perishable material
of which they were mostly made, and partly, no
doubt, to the lack of real beauty in them, for when
the belief in their sacredness was departed, they
could no longer inspire as mere works of Art. It is
therefore from the old written accounts alone,* and
especially from our Sagas, that we are able to draw
any information of the precise nature of the idols of
our heathen forefathers.
Whenever these are mentioned they are described
as being in human likeness, sometimes full-sized and
sometimes smaller, having the appearance and the
attributes corresponding to the presumed essence and
qualities of the God whom they were intended to
represent. The large statues which had their place
in the temples, were often hung with drapery and
costly ornaments, and generally stood upon an ele-
vation or pedestal (stallr or hjallr), which appears at
at the same time to have served as an altar. Sometimes
also they ha,d images of the Gods on the prow
of their war-ships, perhaps as a kind of figure-head.
Smaller images were carried about their persons as
amulets.