“Thorgrim Godi was a great sacrificer; he had a large temple raised in his grass-plot,[[265]] one hundred feet in length and sixty in breadth, and every man was to pay temple-tax to it. Thor was most worshipped there; the inmost part of it was made round as if it were a dome; it was all covered with hangings, and had windows; Thor stood in the middle, and other gods on both sides. There was an altar in front made with great skill and covered above with iron; on it there was to be a fire which should never die out, which they called holy fire. On the altar was to lie a large ring of silver, which the temple priest was to wear on his arm at all meetings. Upon it all oaths were to be taken in cases of circumstantial evidence. On the altar was to stand a large bowl of copper, in which was to be put the blood which came from the cattle or men given to Thor; these they called hlaut (sacrifice-blood), and hlaut-bolli (sacrifice-bowl). The hlaut was to be sprinkled on men and cattle, and the cattle were to be used for the people (to eat) when the sacrificing feasts were held. The men whom they sacrificed were to be thrown down into the spring which was outside near the doors, which they called blót-kelda. The cross-beams which had been in the temple were in the hall at Hof, when Olaf Jónsson had it built; he had them all split asunder, and yet they were still very thick” (Kjalnesinga, c. 2).
“On Thorsness, where Thórólf Mostrarskegg landed, there was a very holy place (helgi-stad); and there still stands Thor’s stone, on which they broke[[266]] those men whom they sacrificed, and near by is that dom-ring where they were sentenced to be sacrificed” (Landnama ii., c. 12).
This passage shows that the dom-ring where men were sacrificed was different from the dom-ring where the people met to judge; the former seems to have been always made with stones, while the latter, as we have seen from Egil’s Saga, were made with hazel poles. It is probable that many of the dom-rings which are now seen were used as sacrificing places.
Not far from the large ship-form grave of Blomsholm, in a silent pine forest, stands a magnificent Dom-ring (see next page [370]), a witness of the great past. What unwritten records are stamped upon its stones! what unrevealed histories lie for ever buried from our sight! how much they would tell if they could speak! The ring is about 100 feet in diameter, and is composed of ten standing stones. Near by is the eleventh. In the centre is a huge boulder, overlooking the rest; its uncovered part stands about 5 feet above the ground; it is 9 feet long by 7 feet wide.
“When Thórd gellir established the fjordungathing (quarter Things) he let the Thing of the Vestfirdingar be there (on Thorsness); thither men from all the Vestfjords were to come. There may still be seen the dom-ring within which men were doomed to be sacrificed. Within the ring stands Thor’s stone, on which those were broken who were used for sacrifice, and the blood-stains can still be seen on the stone” (Eyrbyggja, c. 10).
Fig. 778.—Dom-ring, or sacrificing ring, Blomsholm, Bohuslän.
Many dom-rings[[267]] are seen in the country without the sacrificing stone in the centre; these may have been used as enclosures for duelling, while others similar to the above engraving may have been horg or sacred altars.
Sacrificing mounds, and apparently mounds in which offerings were deposited, are mentioned, but unfortunately we have no description of them.
“King Olaf[[268]] had there (Karlsá) broken the sacrificial mound of the heathens; it was so called because usually, when they had great sacrifices for a good season, or for peace, all were to go to this mound, and there sacrifice prescribed animals; they carried thither much property, and put it into the mound before they went away. King Olaf got very much property there” (Fornmanna Sögur v. 164.)