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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Mathias Nordvig, Creation from Fire in Snorri’s Edda: The Tenets of a Vernacular Theory of Geothermal Activity in Old Norse Myth

Creation from Fire in Snorri’s Edda: The Tenets of a Vernacular Theory of Geothermal Activity in Old Norse Myth Mathias Nordvig, University of Colorado, Boulder Abstract: This article argues that Snorri’s version of the creation myth in Snorri’s Edda contains imagery from volcanic activity described in terms of a “vernacular theory of geothermal activity”. The vernacular theory of geothermal activity mythologizes natural events, volcanic… Read more

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5. Breaking the Measure: Grammatisation through Prosody

5. Breaking the Measure: Grammatisation through Prosody φανήσεταί σοι λόγος εἷς εἰρόμενος Dionysius of Halicarnassus On Literary Composition 26/141.3 U-R. You will think it all one continuous piece of prose 5.0 Introduction Many verses and clusters of verses in Homer show a level of syntactical coherence over, or beyond, the boundaries of the metrical phrase, sometimes even over the boundaries… Read more