Viking Age arms and armour to claim it for Odin. Possibly due to its cultural significance, pattern welded blades are common in spear heads, and the sockets were often decorated with silver inlaid patterns. A polearm known as the "atgeir" is mentioned in several sagas of Icelanders and other literature. "Atgeir" is usually translated as "halberd", akin to a glaive. Gunnar Hámundarson is described in "Njáls saga" as cutting and impaling foes on his "atgeir". Several weapons (including the "kesja" and the "höggspjót") appearing in the sagas are Viking halberds. No weapon matching their descriptions have been found in graves. These weapons may have been
Altarpiece of the Halberd to the Papal States. The resistance had been brutally suppressed, many of the rebels having been beheaded by order of the papal legate. The upside-down halberd has been thus interpreted as a symbol of peace. The monumental composition is taken directly from the tradition of Holy Conversations in the Venetian School, inaugurated by Antonello da Messina's San Cassiano Altarpiece. It shows the Madonna and Child on a high throne, with two angels holding the crown (a 15th-century Flemish painting element also in use in Italy). In the lower part are four saints: Stephen, John the Evangelist, Simon the Zealot and