ABSTRACT
MOREOVER they attended so steadfastly to the worship of their gods (as is also noted in the same History of the Goths and Swedes, Bk I, Ch. 12), 1 that, when a great booming arose in the 160clouds, they would discharge arrows from their bows into the air to show that they were willing to bring aid to their gods who, they thought, were at that moment being assailed by other gods. 2 Not content with this unthinking superstition, they had hammers of extraordinary weight, which they called the hammers of Jove, surrounded with a great mass of copper and held in great reverence. These they used, like the Claudian thunders and other common means of imitation, to bang out the same noises as those in the sky, which they believed were set going by hammers, and in copying with this great din the powerful sound of a smith’s tools, they thought they had quite conscientiously assisted in the wars of their gods. This use of the hammers of Jove lasted until the year of Our Lord 1130, when Magnus, king of the Götar, full of zeal for Christian teaching and loathing pagan superstition, held it his pious duty to deprive the temple of its ceremonies and Jove of his marks of honour. Magnus was for many years therefore regarded by the Götar as nothing less than a sacrilegious plunderer, who took for his spoil what belonged to those on high. 2
They thought they helped the gods with arrows
Hammers of Jove Claudian thunders
Use of hammers ceased in 1130 Magnus, king of Götar
