Archive

Book Chapter

Part I. Theoretical and Conceptual ComparisonsJens Peter Schjødt, Pre-Christian Religions of the North and the Need for Comparativism: Reflections on Why, How, and with What We Can Compare

Pre-Christian Religions of the North and the Need for Comparativism: Reflections on Why, How, and with What We Can Compare Jens Peter Schjødt, Aarhus University Abstract: This article is concerned with some of the problems we have in attempting to reconstruct the pre-Christian religion of the North from extant sources which are for the most part much later than the beliefs and practices they describe. Read more

Book Chapter

Pernille Hermann, Methodological Challenges to the Study of Old Norse Myths: The Orality and Literacy Debate Reframed

Methodological Challenges to the Study of Old Norse Myths: The Orality and Literacy Debate Reframed Pernille Hermann, Aarhus University Abstract: In pointing to a theme of importance for source evaluation, this essay gives an overview of the study of Old Norse myths from the perspective of the orality/literacy debate. It seeks to provide a picture of emerging tendencies and directions in scholarship. Taking off… Read more

Book Chapter

Kate Heslop, Framing the Hero: Medium and Metalepsis in Old Norse Heroic Narrative

Framing the Hero: Medium and Metalepsis in Old Norse Heroic Narrative [1] Kate Heslop, University of California, Berkeley Abstract: This essay argues for a medial perspective on heroic legend. Traditional iconographic approaches to this material are methodologically problematic and their potential for generating new readings seems limited. The essay proposes focusing instead on the primary sources’ own discourse on… Read more

Book Chapter

Jonas Wellendorf, The Æsir and Their Idols

The Æsir and Their Idols Jonas Wellendorf, University of California, Berkeley Abstract: Accounts of the destruction of cult figures are conventional narratives that present a standardized sequence of events, although details may vary from one text to the other. The multitude and longevity of such accounts show that they remained popular through millennia. The standard polemic against cult figures includes lines such as “They… Read more

Book Chapter

Part II. Local and Neighboring TraditionsTerry Gunnell, Blótgyðjur, Goðar, Mimi, Incest, and Wagons: Oral Memories of the Religion(s) of the Vanir

Blótgyðjur, Goðar, Mimi, Incest, and Wagons: Oral Memories of the Religion(s) of the Vanir [1] Terry Gunnell, University of Iceland Abstract: This article focuses on the recurring motifs concerning the peculiarities of the religion of the gods referred to as the Vanir, drawing on a range of Old Norse accounts from different times including Landnámabók, Gísla saga Súrssonar, Hrafnkels… Read more

Book Chapter

Torun Zachrisson, Volund Was Here: A Myth Archaeologically Anchored in Viking Age Scania

Volund Was Here: A Myth Archaeologically Anchored in Viking Age Scania Torun Zachrisson, Stockholm University Abstract: A recently discovered object from the Viking Age shows a winged human figure. It has been interpreted as a representation of Volund the smith, and, more specifically, the version of the legend found in Þiðreks saga. The context for the object, the center Uppåkra in Sweden, is compared… Read more

Book Chapter

Olof Sundqvist, The Temple, the Tree, and the Well: A Topos or Cosmic Symbolism at Cultic Sites in Pre-Christian Northern Europe?

The Temple, the Tree, and the Well: A Topos or Cosmic Symbolism at Cultic Sites in Pre-Christian Northern Europe? Olof Sundqvist, Stockholm University Abstract: Revisiting the sanctuary in Uppsala described by Adam of Bremen in the Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, this essay finds additional evidence from a comparison with West Slavic materials, and argues that the mythic elements rendered by the cultic site (Valhǫll,… Read more

Book Chapter

Thomas A. DuBois, The Mythic Sun: An Areal Perspective

The Mythic Sun: An Areal Perspective Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison Abstract: Old Norse materials regarding the sun present conflicting stories about its identity and nature. These contradictions are examined in light of folk song materials and other evidence from Balto-Finnic, Sámi, and Baltic cultures to investigate to what extent a shared mythic narrative of a female sun (or sun’s daughter) may have… Read more

Book Chapter

John Lindow, Comparing Balto-Finnic and Nordic Mythologies

9. Comparing Balto-Finnic and Nordic Mythologies John Lindow, University of California, Berkeley Abstract: This paper briefly considers several points of comparison between Balto-Finnic (“Kalevaic”) and Nordic mythology: time depth; form; content, including larger structures and specific comparisons; shamanism. Although these points are easy to locate, in the end they bear little weight. However, the breadth and depth of the Balto-Finnic materials, collected as they… Read more

Book Chapter

Part III. Global TraditionsRichard Cole, Snorri and the Jews

Snorri and the Jews Richard Cole, University of Notre Dame Abstract: This essay considers the mythological writing of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) in its most temporally proximal comparative context: the intellectual culture of thirteenth century Christian Europe, specifically one particular area of the High Medieval imagination: Christian narratives about Jews. Particular attention is paid to Snorri’s use of anti-Jewish typology in his depiction of… Read more