much later, in the 19th century (1800s), richard wagner and other artists in the romantic period made operas and other artwork about ancient germanic culture. they liked the vikings because they were not greeks or romans. they were the first to have the idea of vikings wearing helmets with wings or horns on them and drinking out of hollowed-out animal horns. some ancient germans wore helmets with horns on them, but real vikings did not. wagner and his partners deliberately dressed the actors in the opera "ring des nibelungen" so they would look like ancient germans and so the audience would feel like modern germans came from medieval vikings.