DOCSLIB.ORG

Herjans Dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Herjans Dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age Luke John Murphy Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Félagsvísindasvið Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Femininities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age Luke John Murphy Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Leiðbeinandi: Terry Gunnell Félags- og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2013 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni Trú og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Luke John Murphy, 2013 Reykjavík, Ísland 2013 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 ABSTRACT Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, Supernatural Feminities, and Elite Warrior Culture in the Late Pre-Christian Iron Age This thesis is a study of the valkyrjur (‘valkyries’) during the late Iron Age, specifically of the various uses to which the myths of these beings were put by the hall-based warrior elite of the society which created and propagated these religious phenomena. It seeks to establish the relationship of the various valkyrja reflexes of the culture under study with other supernatural females (particularly the dísir) through the close and careful examination of primary source material, thereby proposing a new model of base supernatural femininity for the late Iron Age. The study then goes on to examine how the valkyrjur themselves deviate from this ground state, interrogating various aspects and features associated with them in skaldic, Eddic, prose and iconographic source material as seen through the lens of the hall-based warrior elite, before presenting a new understanding of valkyrja phenomena in this social context: that valkyrjur were used as instruments to propagate the pre-existing social structures of the culture that created and maintained them throughout the late Iron Age. ÚTDRÁTTUR Herjans dísir: Valkyrjur, yfirnáttúrulegar kvenverur og vígamannamenning höfðingja á síðari hluta járnaldar Þessi ritgerð er athugun á valkyrjunum á seinni tímum járn aldar, með sérstöku tilliti til þeirrar notkunar sem stríðshöfðingjar þjóðfélagsins sóttu í, sköpuðu og ýttu undir slík trúarleg fyrirbrigði. Sóst er eftir að staðsetja tengsl milli mismunandi gerða valkyrja og annarra yfirnáttúrulegra kvenvera (þá sérstaklega dísirnar), gegnum nána og varkfærnislega skoðun á heimildum. Þaðan af verður dregin tillaga að nýrri skipan að grunni yfirnáttúrulegra kvenvera á seinni tímum járnaldar. Ritgerðin mun þá ransaka frávik valkyrjanna frá grunn stigi, með grannskoðun á hinum ýmsu einkennum þeim tengdum í skáldlegu, óbundnu máli, og sjónrænum heimildum, með tilliti til sjónarmiðs þeirrar menningar sem stríðshöfðingja þessa tíma bjuggu við. Að lokum er borin fram nýr skilningur á valkyrjunum í þessu félagslega samhengi: að valkyrjur þjónuðu sem áhöld til þess að útbreiða fyrirliggjandi félagsskipan þess þjóðfélags sem skapaði og viðhélt þeim í gegnum síðari hluta járn aldar.1 1 My thanks to Árni K. Guðmundsson, Embla Þórsdóttir and Haukur Þorgeirsson for their invaluable linguistic assistance with the drafting of this Icelandic text. 3 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 CONTENTS List of Figures.............................................................................................................5 Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................6 1.1 Valkyries and Valkyrjur ...............................................................................6 1.2 Sources..........................................................................................................11 1.3 Methodology..................................................................................................25 1.3.1 Comparativism, Change and Variety.............................................................28 1.3.2 Modelling the Past..........................................................................................37 1.4 The Structure of this Thesis.........................................................................41 Chapter 2: Valkyrjur in the Old-Norse Cultural Continuum...............................43 2.1 Distinguishing the Valkyrjur.........................................................................43 2.2 The Dísir: a ‘Base State’ for Supernatural Femininity in the Late Iron Age?................................................................................................................50 2.2.1 The Dísablót: Cult and Ritual.........................................................................50 2.2.2 (Supernatural) Ladies......................................................................................63 2.3 Conclusions: Taxonomising the Dísir and Valkyrjur..................................91 Chapter 3: Valkyric Discourse in the Late Iron Age.............................................98 3.1 Approaching the Valkyrjur............................................................................98 3.2 Horn-Bearing and Valhöll...........................................................................101 3.3 Óðinn and Agency........................................................................................122 3.4 Sex after Death?...........................................................................................126 3.5 Silver ‘Valkyries’ and Iconographic Horn-Bearers..................................131 3.6 Spirits on the Battlefield..............................................................................138 3.7 Valkyrjur as Catalysts: Psychopompoi.......................................................144 Chapter 4: Conclusions............................................................................................149 Bibliography..............................................................................................................151 Word Count (excluding Critical Apparatus): 44,914 words, 146 pages 4 Luke John Murphy MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis Kennitala: 090187-2019 Spring 2013 LIST OF FIGURES 1.A , Arthur Rackham, “Brünnhilde”, illustration to Richard Wagner, The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie, trans. Margaret Armour (London and New York: William Heinmann and Doubleday Pace & Co., 1910), p. 102 ........................................................................................................................8 1.B, Valkyrie, a superheroine from the Marvel Universe. Image Source: The Comic Book Database ...8 1.C, Dollmann, “The Ride of the Valkyrs”, reprinted in H. A. Guerber, Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1908), p. 176 ..........................12 1.D, Altuna Runestone, U 1161, Rundata ...............................................................................................16 1.E, Svanberg’s model of ritual systems in southern Scandinavia. After Fredrik Svanberg, Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003), fig. 59, p. 144 ............................................................................................................................30 2.A, The Oseberg Wagon “Triangle Carving”. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ..........................83 2.B, Figure 2.B, Euler diagram showing relationships between dísir, after Chapters 2.2.1-2.2.2 ..........95 2.C, Figure 2.C, Euler diagram showing relationships between dísir, valkyrja, fylgja and draumkona, after Chapters 2.2.1-2.2.2 ..........................................................................................................96 3.A, Helgafell, Breiðafjörður, Iceland, from the NE. Image Source: Author .......................................114 3.B, Reconstruction of Birka Chamber Grave Bj. 834, as seen from above. Artist: Þórhallur Þráinsson. After Neil S. Price, The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (Uppsala: The Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2002), p. 136 ...........................................................................................................................116 3.C, Picture Stone, Tjängvide, Gotland. After James Graham-Campbell, The Viking World. 3rd edn. (London: Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2001), p. 179.........................................................................132 3.D, Silver Brooch, Tissø, Denmark. Image Source: Nationalmuseet Website, ‘Freja’.......................134 3.E, Silver Figurine, Hårby, Denmark. Image Source: Nationalmuseet Website, ‘Fynbo finder valkyrie fra vikingetiden’.......................................................................................................................135 3.F, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing male and female figures, armed, in animal costume. After Arne Emil Christensen, Anne Stine Ingstad and Bjørn Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav: Vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys, 2nd edn. (Oslo: Schibsted, 1993), p. 244 .......................................................................................................................................136 3.G, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing a figure in bird costume. Artist: Sofie Krafft. After Christensen, Ingstad and Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav, p. 245......................................137 3.H, Detail from the Oseberg Tapestry showing a woman holding a sword. Artist: Sofie Krafft. After Christensen, Ingstad and Myhre, Oseberg dronningens grav, p. 245......................................137
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Examination of the Role of Wealhtheow in Beowulf
    Merge Volume 1 Article 2 2017 The Pagan and the Christian Queen: An Examination of the Role of Wealhtheow in Beowulf Tera Pate Follow this and additional works at: https://athenacommons.muw.edu/merge Part of the Other Classics Commons Recommended Citation Pate, Tara. "The Pagan and the Christian Queen: An Examination of the Role of Wealhtheow in Beowulf." Merge, vol. 1, 2017, pp. 1-17. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ATHENA COMMONS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Merge by an authorized editor of ATHENA COMMONS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Merge: The W’s Undergraduate Research Journal Image Source: “Converged” by Phil Whitehouse is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Volume 1 Spring 2017 Merge: The W’s Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 1 Spring, 2017 Managing Editor: Maddy Norgard Editors: Colin Damms Cassidy DeGreen Gabrielle Lestrade Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kim Whitehead Faculty Referees: Dr. Lisa Bailey Dr. April Coleman Dr. Nora Corrigan Dr. Jeffrey Courtright Dr. Sacha Dawkins Dr. Randell Foxworth Dr. Amber Handy Dr. Ghanshyam Heda Dr. Andrew Luccassan Dr. Bridget Pieschel Dr. Barry Smith Mr. Alex Stelioes – Wills Pate 1 Tera Katherine Pate The Pagan and the Christian Queen: An Examination of the Role of Wealhtheow in Beowulf Old English literature is the product of a country in religious flux. Beowulf and its women are creations of this religiously transformative time, and juxtapositions of this work’s women with the women of more Pagan and, alternatively, more Christian works reveals exactly how the roles of women were transforming alongside the shifting of religious belief.
    [Show full text]
  • Ragnarocks You Take on the Role of a Viking Clan Using Runestones to Mark Your Clan’S Claims of Land
    1 1 IN NORSE MYTHOLOGY, HUMANS EXIST IN THE LAND OF MIDGARD - A PLACE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD TREE AND CONNECTED TO THE NINE REALMS. AMONG THESE NINE REALMS LIVE GODS AND GODDESSES, SERPENTS AND SPIRITS, AND ALL MANNER OF MYTHICAL AND MYSTICAL CREATURES. In Ragnarocks you take on the role of a Viking clan using Runestones to mark your clan’s claims of land. In the advanced game, your clan worships one of these powerful beings from another realm who lends you their power to help you outwit rivals and claim territories for your clan. At the end of the game, the clan who controls the most territory in Midgard wins! Contents Heimdallr Odin Guardian of Asgard Sól Ruler of the Aesir Goddess of the Sun Art Coming Soon Art Coming Soon Art Coming Soon SETUP: Draw two additional Mythology Powers with [Odin icon] andCommand hold them. cards. These are your START OF YOUR TURN: AT THE END OF YOUR TURN: You may relocate one of your vikings Settled You may either play a Command card this turn to any unoccupied space that was from your hand, or pick up all your played BEFORE YOUR MOVE: not Settled at the beginning of this turn. You may Move one space with Command cards. If you play a Command your Selected Viking card, you gain(ignore that setuppower powers). until your next turn 32 Mythology Cards 40 Runestones 6 Viking Pawns 1 Tree Stand 1 Game Insert Board 2 3 basic game setup 1 Remove game pieces from the insert and set them where all players can reach them.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Names and Denomination of Livonians in Early Written Sources
    ESUKA – JEFUL 2014, 5–1: 13–26 PERSONAL NAMES AND DENOMINATION OF LIVONIANS IN EARLY WRITTEN SOURCES Enn Ernits Estonian University of Life Sciences Abstract. This paper presents the timeline of ethnonyms denoting Livonians; specifies their chronology; and analyses the names used for this ethnos and possible personal names. If we consider the dating of the event, the earliest sources mentioning Livonians are Gesta Danorum and the Tale of Bygone Years (both 10th century), but both sources present rather dubious information: in the first the battle of Bråvalla itself or the date are dubious (6th, 8th or 10th century); in the latter we cannot be sure that the member of the Rus delegation was really a Livonian. If we consider the time of recording, the earliest sources are two rune inscriptions from Sweden (11th century), and the next is the list of neighbouring peoples of the Russians from the Tale of Bygone Years (12th century). The personal names Bicco and Ger referred in Gesta Danorum, and Либи Аръфастовъ in Tale of Bygone Years are very problematic. The first certain personal name of a Livonian is *Mustakka, *Mustukka or *Mustoikka (from Finnic *musta ‘black’) written in 1040–1050s on a strip of birch bark in Novgorod. Keywords: Livs, Finnic peoples, ethnonyms, anthroponyms, onomastics DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12697/jeful.2014.5.1.01 1. Introduction This paper (1) seeks to present the timeline of ethnonyms denoting Livonians; (2) to specify their chronology; (3) and to analyse the names used for this ethnos and possible personal names. It is supple- mental to the paper by Mauno Koski on words denoting Livonians (Koski 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • The Culture of Literature and Language in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland
    The Culture of Literature and Language in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland 15th International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Scottish Literature and Language (ICMRSLL) University of Glasgow, Scotland, 25-28 July 2017 Draft list of speakers and abstracts Plenary Lectures: Prof. Alessandra Petrina (Università degli Studi di Padova), ‘From the Margins’ Prof. John J. McGavin (University of Southampton), ‘“Things Indifferent”? Performativity and Calderwood’s History of the Kirk’ Plenary Debate: ‘Literary Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Scotland: Perspectives and Patterns’ Speakers: Prof. Sally Mapstone (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews) and Prof. Roger Mason (University of St Andrews and President of the Scottish History Society) Plenary abstracts: Prof. Alessandra Petrina: ‘From the margins’ Sixteenth-century Scottish literature suffers from the superimposition of a European periodization that sorts ill with its historical circumstances, and from the centripetal force of the neighbouring Tudor culture. Thus, in the perception of literary historians, it is often reduced to a marginal phenomenon, that draws its force solely from its powers of receptivity and imitation. Yet, as Philip Sidney writes in his Apology for Poetry, imitation can be transformed into creative appropriation: ‘the diligent imitators of Tully and Demosthenes (most worthy to be imitated) did not so much keep Nizolian paper-books of their figures and phrases, as by attentive translation (as it were) devour them whole, and made them wholly theirs’. The often lamented marginal position of Scottish early modern literature was also the key to its insatiable exploration of continental models and its development of forms that had long exhausted their vitality in Italy or France.
    [Show full text]
  • Det Kongelige Bibliotek the Royal Library
    Digitaliseret af | Digitised by det kongelige bibliotek the royal library København | Copenhagen DK Digitaliserede udgaver af materiale fra Det Kongelige Biblioteks samlinger må ikke sælges eller gøres til genstand for nogen form for kommerciel udnyttelse. For oplysninger om ophavsret og brugerrettigheder, se venligst www.kb.dk UK Digitised versions of material from the Royal Librarys collections may not be sold or be subject to any form for commercial use. For information on copyright and user rights, please consult www.kb.dk / f K \ ‘■t \ I ' v / i \ \ * N C * -/ m j •• DET KONGELIGE BIBLIOTEK f;HM '■■:■. '■■■. % - t .A •»? h 130022042761 yjfc HEIMSKRINGLA SOGVR NOREGS KONE KGA SNORRA STURLUSONAR. I UPPSALA, W. S C H U L T Z, » © ■1 © U PPSA LA , 1870. AKADEMISKA BOKTRYCKERIET, * ED. BERLING. K \ • .y/, V YNGLINGA SAGA. SAGA HÅLFDANAR SVARTA. HARALDS SAGA HINS HARFAGRA. SAGA HÅKONAR GODA. SAGAN AF HARALDI KONUNGI GRAFELD OK HÅKONI JARLI. SAGA OLAFS TRYGGYASONAR. HEIMSKRINGLA. Prologus. i A b6k pessi lét ek rita fråsagnir um hhfdingja, på er nki hafa haft å nordrlondum ok å danska tungu hafa 5 mælt, svå sem ek hefi heyrt froda menn segja, svå ok ♦ nokkurar kynkvislir peira, eptir pvi sem mér hefir kent - verit; sumt pat er finnst i langfedgatali, pvi er konungar i_ ! hafa rakit kyn sitt, eda adrir storættadir menn, en sumt j er ritat eptir fornum kvædum e8a soguljodum, er menn [ 10 hafa haft til skemtanar sér. En p6 at vér vitim eigi j sannyndi å pvi, [>å vitum vér dæmi til pess, at gamlir } frædimenn hafa slikt fyrir satt haft. Pjodolfr or Hvini var skåld Haraids hins hårfagra; hann orti ok um Rhgn- vald konung heidum-hæra kvædi pat, er kaliat er Yngl-"1.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Terry Pratchett in Conversation with Dr. Jacqueline Simpson
    Sir Terry Pratchett in conversation with Dr. Jacqueline Simpson Recorded on 26th August 2010 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole as part of the Discworld Convention by Katie Brown and Julie Sutton Please note, there are some embedded links within the transcript to articles from Folklore, which you may be interested in reading. If your institution subscribes to Folklore, you may have online access. Part 3 Terry Pratchett: Almost running parallel with folklore for me is an interest not only in just the history of London but in the history of the development of the countryside, particularly over the last five centuries for example. And I’ve found many kind of interesting things there. I’m fascinated by the way folklore was entwined with truth in people’s lives. Whatever happens, urban myth for example is folklore, it is simply folklore. It’s not different from folklore. Jacqueline Simpson: No. And the amazement of the older generation of folklorists, indeed the fury of the older generation of folklorists, when young Americans and a few young folklorists also in England started saying ”we’re going to discuss, collect and analyze stories like the ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ and ‘The Hook’”. TP: Oh, the hook on the bumper? JS: Do you know ‘Kentucky fried chicken’? TP: I don’t know ‘Kentucky fried chicken’ and possibly shouldn’t at this point. Do you know about the couple in the mini car? JS: Bumpety bumpety on the roof? TP: No, no, no that was another one. That was a fact, shall we say they were in flagrante delicto.
    [Show full text]
  • East Baltic Vikings - with Particular Consideration to the Ctrronians
    East Baltic Vikings - with particular consideration to the Ctrronians Swedish Allies in the Saga World EAST BALTIC At the mythical battlefield of Bravellir (Sw. VIKINGS - WITH Bnl.vallama), Danes and the Swedes clashed in a PARTICULAR fight of epic dimensions. The over-aged Danish king Harald Hildetand finally lost his life, and CONSIDERA­ his nephew king Sigurdr hringr won Denmark TION TO THE for the Swedes. The story appears in a fragment CURONIANS of a Norse saga from around 1300. But since Sa­ xo Grammaticus tells it, the written tradition Nils Blornkvist must go back at least to the late 12th century. Wri­ ting in Latin he prefers to call it bellum Suetici, 'the Swedish war'. It's for several reasons ob­ vious that Saxo has built his text on a Norse text that must have been quite similar to the preser­ ved fragment. The battle of Bravellir- the Norse fragment claims - was noteworthy in ancient tales for having be­ en the greatest, the hardest and the most even and uncertain of the wars that had been fought in the Nordic countries.1 Both sources give long lists of the famous heroes that joined the two armies in a way that recalls the list of ships in Homer's Iliad. These champions are the knight­ errants of Germanic epics, to some degree rela­ ted with those of chansons de geste. They are pre­ sented with characteristic epithets and eponyms that point out their origins in a town, a tribe or a country. When summed up they communicate a geographic vision of the northern World in the 11 th and 12th centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • WAGNER and the VOLSUNGS None of Wagner’S Works Is More Closely Linked with Old Norse, and More Especially Old Icelandic, Culture
    WAGNER AND THE VOLSUNGS None of Wagner’s works is more closely linked with Old Norse, and more especially Old Icelandic, culture. It would be carrying coals to Newcastle if I tried to go further into the significance of the incom- parable eddic poems. I will just mention that on my first visit to Iceland I was allowed to gaze on the actual manuscript, even to leaf through it . It is worth noting that Richard Wagner possessed in his library the same Icelandic–German dictionary that is still used today. His copy bears clear signs of use. This also bears witness to his search for the meaning and essence of the genuinely mythical, its very foundation. Wolfgang Wagner Introduction to the program of the production of the Ring in Reykjavik, 1994 Selma Gu›mundsdóttir, president of Richard-Wagner-Félagi› á Íslandi, pre- senting Wolfgang Wagner with a facsimile edition of the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda on his eightieth birthday in Bayreuth, August 1999. Árni Björnsson Wagner and the Volsungs Icelandic Sources of Der Ring des Nibelungen Viking Society for Northern Research University College London 2003 © Árni Björnsson ISBN 978 0 903521 55 0 The cover illustration is of the eruption of Krafla, January 1981 (Photograph: Ómar Ragnarsson), and Wagner in 1871 (after an oil painting by Franz von Lenbach; cf. p. 51). Cover design by Augl‡singastofa Skaparans, Reykjavík. Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter CONTENTS PREFACE ............................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 7 BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD WAGNER ............................ 17 CHRONOLOGY ............................................................................... 64 DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS ..68 ICELANDIC STUDIES IN GERMANY .........................................
    [Show full text]
  • Geologic Map and Stratigraphy of the Yggdrasil Quadrangle from the 2015 Canmars Msr Analogue Mission
    47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2016) 2225.pdf GEOLOGIC MAP AND STRATIGRAPHY OF THE YGGDRASIL QUADRANGLE FROM THE 2015 CANMARS MSR ANALOGUE MISSION. P. A. Christoffersen1, J. D. Newman1, Z. R. Morse1, L. L. Torna- bene1, G. R. Osinski1,2, 1Department of Earth Sciences & Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada. [email protected] 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London ON, Canada. Introduction: The 2015 CanMars MSR analogue grated with orbital datasets [6] to characterize the stra- mission was a Mars Sample Return Analogue Mission tigraphy and lithologies within the Yggdrasil quadran- carried out in partnership between the Canadian Space gle. The integration of these data sets allowed for the Agency (CSA), MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates creation of a finer scale bedrock geologic map, and a Ltd. (MDA), and the Centre for Planetary Science and stratigraphic column of the quadrangle. Exploration (CPSX) at the University of Western On- tario, as part of the NSERC CREATE project “Tech- nologies and Techniques for Earth and Space Explora- tion” [1]. The 2015 CanMars mission took place in an undisclosed location in Utah, USA over the course of ~2 weeks during November using the Mars Explora- tion Science Rover (MESR) rover, built by MDA. Mission goals included evaluating hardware and soft- ware capabilities along with exploration strategies, workflow, and logistics associated with a Mars Sample Return mission. The mission payload instrumentation used by the rover included: a hand-held XRF stand-in for Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) [2], portable XRD, a hand-held Raman spectrometer, the Three Dimensional Exploration Multispectral Mi- croscope Imager (TEMMI) [3, 4], a MastCam [5], a push tube solid sampler, and a portable field core drill as a stand-in for a rock core sampler.
    [Show full text]
  • The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia Religions : Ancient and Modern
    RELIGION OF ANCIENT SCANDINAVIA LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO RELIGIONS ANCIENT AND MODERN THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT SCANDINAVIA RELIGIONS : ANCIENT AND MODERN. ANIMISM. By EDWARD CLODD, Author of The Story of Creation. PANTHEISM. By JAMES ALLAN SON PICTON, Author of The Religion of the universe. THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA. By Professor GILES, LL.D., Professor of Chinese in the University of Cambridge. THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE. By JANE HARRISON, Lecturer at Newnham College, Cambridge, Author of Prolegomena to Study of Greek Religion. ISLAM. By AMEER An SYED, M.A., C.I.E., late of H.M.'s High Court of Judicature in Bengal, Author of The Spirit of Iflam and The Ethics of Islam. MAGIC AND FETISHISM. By Dr. A. C. H ADDON, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at Cam- bridge University. THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT. By Professor W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, F.R.S. THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. By THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, late of the British Museum. EARLY BUDDHISM. By Professor RHYS DAVIDS, LL.D., late Secretary of The Royal Asiatic Society. HINDUISM. By Dr. L. D. BAR NEXT, of the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. , British Museum. SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION. By WILLIAM A. CRAIGIE, Joint Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. CELTIC RELIGION. By Professor ANWYL, Professor of Welsh at University College, Aberystwyth. THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. By CHARLES SQUIRE, Author of The Mythology of the British Islands. JUDAISM By ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in Cambridge University, Author of Jewish Life in the Middle Ages.
    [Show full text]
  • And *- in Germanic
    Archaisms and innovations four interconnected studies on Germanic historical phonology and morphology Hansen, Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard Publication date: 2014 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Hansen, B. S. S. (2014). Archaisms and innovations: four interconnected studies on Germanic historical phonology and morphology. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. Download date: 01. okt.. 2021 FACULTY OF HUMANITIE S UNIVERSITY OF COPENH AGEN Ph .D. thesis Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard Hansen Archaisms and innovations four interconnected studies on Germanic historical phonology and morphology i Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................... V 1. Grammatical terms ....................................................................................................................................................... v 2. Linguanyms .................................................................................................................................................................. vi 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 5 1.1. Archaisms and innovations ....................................................................................................................................... 6 1.2. Aim and purpose of the present thesis ....................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia
    Halls, Gods, and Giants: The Enigma of Gullveig in Óðinn’s Hall Tommy Kuusela Stockholm University Introduction The purpose of this article is to discuss and interpret the enig- matic figure of Gullveig. I will also present a new analysis of the first war in the world according to how it is described in Old Norse mythic traditions, or more specifically, how it is referred to in Vǫluspá. This examination fits into the general approach of my doctoral dissertation, where I try to look at interactions between gods and giants from the perspective of a hall environment, with special attention to descriptions in the eddic poems.1 The first hall encounter, depending on how one looks at the sources, is described as taking place in a primordial instant of sacred time, and occurs in Óðinn’s hall, where the gods spears and burns a female figure by the name of Gullveig. She is usually interpreted as Freyja and the act is generally considered to initiate a battle between two groups of gods – the Æsir and the Vanir. I do not agree with this interpretation, and will in the following argue that Gullveig should be understood as a giantess, and that the cruelty inflicted upon her leads to warfare between the gods (an alliance of Æsir and Vanir) and the giants (those who oppose the gods’ world order). The source that speaks most clearly about this early cosmic age and provides the best description is Vǫluspá, a poem that is generally considered to have been composed around 900– 1000 AD.2 How to cite this book chapter: Kuusela, T.
    [Show full text]