The runic inscription begins on the left edge (here part of a coherent text) continues right of the arch in Latin (language and letters), and changes back to runes on the right edge with a word in corrupt Latin (afitatores instead of < lat. habitatores, inhabitants). There is no line on the bottom edge, only two words, seeming to comment on the scenes.

Arranged according to the sections on the edges the text reads:

her fegtaþ
titus end giuþeasu HC FUGANT HEUALM
afitatores
dom gisl


The words giuþeasu (instead of OE. iuþeas) and afitatores (instead of lat. habitatores) are odd, but were developed in order to achieve the proper runes in numbers and value. Why else should the rune master spell the same word once end (here), then again and (R- and H-Panel)? The same reason goes for fegtaþ instead of fehþ.
Having a closer look at the Latin part we notice some letters that are undoubtedly runes ( and ) or could be read as letters or runes (). The symbol is not part of the text though it will have a function.

The translation depends on the introductory formula:

"here fight" or: "army fights"
Titus and the Jews - here flee Jerusalem'(s)//
inhabitants //
verdict (or: power, dignity) - hostage(s)


Let us have look at the left edge: Again it is composed of 9 runes, bringing up the total value of all three "9-rune charms" up to 330. We may suspect another magic formula: "In case of war". What is normally translated as "here fight" could also be interpreted as "army fights" (comp. Engl. 'army', Germ. 'Heer', O.E. 'here'). As the F- and R-panels bear independent 9-rune formulas on this edge we may well prefer this interpretation.

On the panels F and R, we remember, the incantation was followed by the thematic magic rune, there and , here . This spear shaped rune stands for the name (OE) Tir, Tiw (ON Tyr). It is the name of the highest god, the Germanic equivalent of Greek Zeus. Before Woden graced the scene he was the leading god of rule, warfare and justice, protector of the Germanic Thing. All these qualities can be found in this depiction: Warfare and victory (k>her fegtaþ), and a ruler (Titus) exercising justice (k>dom, gisl). Old English his very name in means 'fame, glory, honour' and 'ornament', the same as the ambiguous word dom can express. What other rune but could be more appropriate at this spot? Even the person, Titus himself, was a good choice as we can tell by the title he was given: Armor et deliciae generis humani, "Love and delight of the human race."

The words dom and gisl, certainly comment on the scenes they go with, but at the same time they may hide a name, DOMGISL. The name is reported, though not in context with the casket. Did our rune master fill in his name in order to increase his spell? If so, he would only have followed a common practice.

Why does the text change to Latin in word and script? And why only for a few words, but not for the complete sentence? And why did the rune-master mix Roman letters with runes and majuscules?

Here as elsewhere he was aiming at wordings, which had to produce certain numbers and values. Thus we find the "S" in its runic variation (cf. Chessel Down and St. Cuthbert's Coffin), the "R", which, anyway, is similar in shape to its runic counterpart , and four times the rune-like . Apart from that there is the letter a, which appears twice in the shape of a manuscript majuscule instead of the kind we know from the ABC. Moreover this letter helps to form a grammatically wrong verb form, (fugiant instead of fugiunt).

This way the carver achieves a row of 20 (i.e. 19 +1) runes with the anciently shaped , symbol of the ‘Sun’, in a significant position (16) and framed it by two majuscule type letters a in order to produce a luni-solar calendar like the Metonic Cycle. This includes the common Germanic cycle of 8 years, which is framed by the majuscule type letters a. These two cycles served to adjust the solar year and the lunar cycle, and in this particular case the formula was designed to perpetuate the magic spell, which was meant to influence the life of the casket’s royal owner
 

The depiction is clearly separated into an upper and a lower level, and these bands are vertically divided by an arch, so that the whole picture falls into four segments. It shows Titus conquering Jerusalem after long siege in September 70 AD.

In the upper left segment we see five armed warriors attacking the Jews, Romans under Titus. He might be the one wearing a helmet or the one distinguished by his armour, but this is less likely as the general would be armed with a sword rather than a spear. It would be Titus himself then, who kills a fleeing enemy, may be one of the leaders of the Jewish revolt. He is being hit by the Roman behind him, going down on his knees, his sword slipping from his hand. Two of his people just manage to escape across the arch, which on the original might have stood for the Jewish temple.

The upper right segment shows thirteen more refugees, one with a flask, two others with walking canes, properly put under hic fugiunt …"here flee ..." They are deserting the town to escape from Roman retribution.

The lower left segment (just below the Roman soldiers) shows a court hearing. Victory is one aspect of glory, punishment the other. It is probably the commander in chief himself sitting on the "Throne of Justice" (as it is no bench), a cup in his hand. A servant below the throne is holding something like a scroll and another cup, which he seems to pass on to a person on the right of the royal chair. This man, too, seems to be holding a scroll. He is accompanied by a soldier (one of Titus' body guard?). The repetition of scroll and cup seem to hint at the completion of a contract. It looks as if a brave warrior is receiving his reward, may be, a thane is granted a fief. The lord will drink to him and therewith confirm the contract. On the left, we see a warrior in his armour. He is being held by his hair, probably condemned because of cowardliness. Perhaps they will cut his hair off and sell him into servitude. With the word doom both episodes are commented on. A good fortune for the one, a tough fate for the other.

Beneath the picture of the Jewish refuges, lower right segment, we have a group of eight people, commented on by gisl, 'hostages'. The first three persons could be Roman soldiers on sentry duty, the one with the yoke might have been Simon bar Giora or John of Gischala on the original. Simon and John, the ringleaders of Zealots, were left alive and taken to Rome to be presented to the citizens in a triumphal procession.

That huge arch (rather not the Ark of the Covenants) may have been adopted from the manuscript and will have meant the temple. However, our carver did certainly not cut them, believing that he was depicting Seraphim and Cherubim, as frequently suggested. If these beasts were angels, one would hesitate to go to Heaven, if admitted. There may have been Jewish symbols on the original picture, but the rune master has cast them out, just like he removed the angel from the picture of the Magi. He fills in animals in Anglo-Saxon or Irish style, their tails etc. forming knots and their beaks twisted. The temple is now crowded by an assembly of the beasts of the battlefield.

There are three pairs of animals depicted. On the bottom we have 'sitting' horses, anatomically rather odd. Right under the arch we have two bird heads, connected by knot ornaments. The animals between bottom and top are hard to interpret, but if we find a meaning for the other two couples we might deduce from that. To begin with, the birds, they may refer to Woden's ravens, Hugin and Munin, while the horses could be connected with Tiw (patron of this panel). Horses are his attributes, just like spear (!) and sword (Pollington, p. 51). Though these creatures between bottom and top do not look like anything biology teaches, we detect ears with them, mammals then, and no birds. If the others are the companions of the 'gods of war', these may be the heads of the missing cohort, the wolves Geri und Freki (the ones we have seen on the R-Panel). For the sake of interlaced presentation the long muzzles, which the beasts by the Roman twins already show, become even longer here. We would have all the animals we meet elsewhere on the panels: the wolves from the R-Panel and Æ-Panel, the birds from F-Panel and the H-Panels, where there is that horse as well. A perfect pagan zoo of war, the beasts of battle arranged, as we often find it with those animals at the Tree of Life. If the temple has thus been turned into an Anglo-Saxon sanctuary, the ornament on its top was meant to identify it. Does it allude to the Valkyrie's runic symbol? Is that one mixed with a crucifix here, syncretism at its peak, so to speak?

All the traditional pictures so far (Magi, Roman twins, Titus) have transformed into a pagan setting, topics altered to make them work.

Wikipedia Entry

The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Runic Casket) is a little[1] whalebone chest, carved with narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional low-relief and inscribed with runes, dateable from its pagan elements to the mid-seventh century (that is, during the height of the Heptarchy and the period of Christianization of England). The casket is densely decorated with images and Futhorc runic[2] inscriptions whose interpretation have occupied linguists. It is now kept in the British Museum. Generally reckoned to be of Northumbrian origin,[3] it is of unique importance for the insight it gives into secular culture in early Anglo-Saxon England.

The majority of the history of the casket was unknown until relatively recently. It was in the possession of a family in Auzon in Haute Loire (upper Loire region) France. It served as a sewing box until the silver hinges were traded for a silver ring. Without the support of these the casket fell apart. The parts were shown to a Professor Mathieu from nearby Clermont-Ferrand, who sold them to an antique shop in Paris, where they were bought in 1857 by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, who subsequently donated the panels in 1867 to the British Museum, where he was Keeper of British and Medieval. the missing right end panel was later found in a drawer by the family in Auzon and sold to the Bargello Museum, Florence, where it was identified as part of the casket in 1890. Investigation by W.H.J. Weale revealed that the casket had belonged to the church of Saint-Julien, Brioude; it is possible that it was looted during the French Revolution.[4]

The imagery is multiform in its inspirations: a single Christian image, the Adoration of the Magi, keeps company with images of Roman history (Emperor Titus) and myth (Romulus and Remus), with northern myth (Weyland the Smith, an episode from the Sigurd legend and one that is apparently an otherwise unrecorded episode of Weyland's brother [[Egill).[5]

 Description

 Front panel

left half of front panelThe front panel shows the vengeful murder and rape by Weyland on the left panel, and the adoration of the Magi on the right. Around the panel runs the inscription,

hronæs ban
fisc . flodu . ahof on ferg (compound continued on next line)
enberig
warþ ga:sric grorn þær he on greut giswom
Which may be interpreted as:

"whalebone
fish flood hove on mountain
The ghost-king was rueful when he swam onto the grit"
The two alliterating lines constitute the oldest piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry:

fisc flodu / ahof on fergenberig
warþ gasric grorn / þær he on greut giswom

 Left panel
oÞlæ unneg //
Romwalus and Reumwalus // twoegen
gibroðær
a // fœdde hiæ wylif // in Romæcæstri:.
"far from home / Romulus and Remus, twain brothers / the she-wolf fed them in Rome-chester"

 Rear panel
her fegtaþ
+titus end giuþeasu HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM
afitatores
dom gisl
"Here fight / Titus and the Jews — here they flee Jerusalem / inhabitants / doom / hostage"

[edit] Right panel
This panel contains three more alliterating lines:

herh os sitæþ on hærmberge
agl(ac) drigiþ swa hir i erta e gisgraf
særden sorgæ and sefa tornæ
Translation is difficult; usually her hos sitæþ is read, "here sits the horse" (there is a horse in the panel, but it isn't sitting). Becker reads herh os, "the god of the wood". Erta appears to be a proper name, perhaps Erce, the Anglo-Saxon Earth goddess. særden has various interpretations. Becker attempts the translation:

"the wood-god sits on harm's mountain"
"causing ill fortune, as Erta demanded"
"they cause sorrow and heartache".
inside the panel:

risci / bita / wudu
"twig / biter / wood"

 Lid

Egil defending himself and a lady who is probably his wife Olrun.The lid shows a scene of an archer, labelled Ægili, single-handedly defending a fortress against a troop of attackers. A lady who is probably his wife or lover is also shown within the fortress. In Norse mythology, Egil is named as a brother of Weyland, who is shown on the front panel of the casket. The Þiðrekssaga depicts Egil as a master archer and the Völundarkviða tells that he was the husband of the swan maiden Olrun. The Pforzen buckle inscription, dating to about the same period as the casket, also makes reference to the couple Egil and Olrun (Áigil andi Áilrun).

Interpretation
Becker (1973) attempted to interpret the casket as a whole, finding a "programme" documenting a warrior-king's life, with each of the scenes emblematic of a certain period in life, the front panel for "birth", the picture and inscription on the left panel meant to protect the hero on his way to war, the back panel documenting the peak of a warrior-king's life is glory won by victory over his enemies, the right panel alluding to a heroic death in battle. Becker also attempts a numerological analysis of the inscriptions, counting a total of 288 or 12 x 24 signs (runes, Latin letters and punctuation).