The Vikings were people of Norse culture, during the Viking Age. The Viking Age started when a longship full of raiders attacked an unsuspecting monastery on the coast of Lindisfarne. They killed mercilessly, and pillaged all the gold and jewels contained in the monastery, not caring for it's holy position in society. The Vikings attacked monasteries and churches so often, that the priests built towers only accessible by rope ladder to hide themselves in. They attacked holy places because they had lots of wealth in them, and they weren't expecting to be attacked. Apart from raiders, the Vikings were farmers, explorers and advanced technologists. They discovered Iceland, moved to Greenland, and even explored all the way to North America. Because their longships could travel down rivers, they raided and settled down a series of rivers, and traveled down to the Mediterranean Sea, settling in Turkey and areas near there. The Vikings set a high standard for their countries, as their technologies were advanced and they had a very effective way of governing society. Even though the countries they raided regarded them as berserkers, and sometimes even barbarian, the Vikings were very cultural and similar to the other countries. Their literature and language was just as advanced as others, and they wrote long sagas about the history of their culture or some important event or person. They inscribed runes and pictures onto large stones, called rune stones. These stones survive today. They buried their dead under the earth, under mounds or surrounded by rocks. They were also sometimes buried in or with their ships, along with their possessions, as they believed that they took whatever items nearby their corpse along with them into the afterlife. Their religion is a very interesting one. They have tiers of realms, along with the tree of life. The tree of life is the creator of all things, and it's roots are the passages between realms. The highest realm is Asgard, where the gods reside. In it is Valhalla, where the honourable dead and kings reside. Below that is Midgard, which is the Earth and this realm, which is guarded by the Midgard serpents, who don't let any living people through to another realm. Below Midgard is. Hel, where the evil souls go to suffer for eternity.