Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society
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Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society Proceedings of the 11th International Saga Conference 2-7 July 2000, University of Sydney Edited by Geraldine Barnes and Margaret Clunies Ross Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney Sydney, Australia July 2000 © 2000, Contributors All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 1-86487-3167 Contents David Ashurst 1 Journey to the Antipodes. Cosmological and Mythological Themes in Alexanders Saga Sverre Bagge 14 Rigsflúla and Viking Age Society Richard N. Bailey 15 Scandinavian Myth on Viking-period Stone Sculpture in England Simonetta Battista 24 Interpretations of the Roman Pantheon in the Old Norse Hagiographic Sagas Mai Elisabeth Berg 35 Myth or Poetry, a Brief Discussion of Some Motives in the Elder Edda Claudia Bornholdt 44 The Bridal-Quest Narratives in fii›reks saga and the German Waltharius Poem as an Extension of the Rhenish Bridal-Quest Tradition Trine Buhl 53 Reflections on the use of narrative form in Hrafnkels saga Freysgo›a Phil Cardew 54 Hamhleypur in fiorskfir›inga saga: a post-classical ironisation of myth? Martin Chase 65 The Ragnarƒk Within: Grundtvig, Jung, and the Subjective Interpretation of Myth Carol Clover 74 Saga facts Einar G. Pétursson 75 Brynjólfur biskup Sveinsson, forn átrúna›ur og Eddurnar Alison Finlay 85 Pouring Ó›inn’s Mead: An Antiquarian Theme? Elena Gurevich 100 Skaldic Praise Poetry and Macrologia: some observations on Óláfr fiór›arson’s use of his sources Jan Ragnar Hagland 109 Gerhard Schøning and Saga Literature Anna Mette Hansen 118 The Icelandic Lucidarius, Traditional and New Philology Lotte Hedeager 126 Skandinavisk dyreornamentik: Symbolsk repræsentation af en før-kristen kosmologi Frands Herschend 142 Ship grave hall passage – the Oseberg monument as compound meaning K. S. Heslop 152 ‘Gab mir ein Gott zu sagen, was ich leide’: Sonatorrek and the myth of skaldic lyric John Hines 165 Myth and Reality: the Contribution of Archaeology Peter R. Hupfauf 175 The role of the artist in contemporary society as compared to pre-Christian and early Medieval society in Northern Europe Karl G. Johansson 181 Bergr Sokkason och Arngrímur Brandsson – översättare och författare i samma miljö John Kennedy 198 Translations Of Old Norse Prose 1950-2000 Thomas Krömmelbein 208 The Reception of Old Norse Myth in Germany 1760-1820: Enthusiasm, Rejection and Recovery Hans Kuhn 209 Greek gods in Northern costumes: Visual representations of Norse mythology in 19th century Scandinavia Annette Lassen 220 Hƒ›r’s Blindness and the Pledging of Ó›inn’s Eye: A Study of the Symbolic Value of the Eyes of Hƒ›r, Ó›inn and fiórr Lars Lönnroth 229 Andrew Ramsay’s and Olof Dalin’s influence on the Romantic Interpretation of Old Norse Mythology John McKinnell 239 Encounters with Völur Mindy Macleod 252 Bandrúnir in Icelandic Sagas Rory McTurk 264 Chaucer and Old Norse Mythology Mats Malm 277 Baldrs draumar: literally and literarily Edith Marold 290 Die Húsdrápa als kosmologisches Gedicht John Stanley Martin 303 From Godan to Wotan: An examination of two Langobardic mythological texts Bernard Mees 316 Völkische Altnordistik: The Politics of Nordic Studies in the German-Speaking Countries, 1926-45 John Megaard 327 Vagn Åkesons vekst og fall Elena Melnikova 334 The Reminiscences of Old Norse Myths, Cults and Rituals in Old Russian Literature Stephen Mitchell 335 Learning Magic in the Sagas Else Mundal 346 Coexistence of Saami and Norse culture – reflected in and interpreted by Old Norse myths Britt-Mari Nasstrom 356 Healing hands and magical spells Agneta Ney 363 Genus och rumslighet i Völsunga saga Lena Norrman 375 Woman or Warrior? The Construction of Gender in Old Norse Myth Richard North 386 go› geyja: the limits of humour in Old Norse-Icelandic paganism Richard Perkins 396 A verse attributed to Eyvindr skáldaspillir; and again the origin of dróttkvætt Sandra Petersson 397 Swords, Shields and Disfigurement: Symbols of Law and Justice in Norse and Modern Mythology Russell Poole 398 Old Norse/Icelandic Myth in Relation to Grettis saga Neil Price 410 The ‘Home of their Shapes’: Old Norse Mythology and the Archaeology of Shamanism Catharina Raudvere 411 Myths - ways of telling, ways of arguing Hermann Reichert 412 Probleme der Quellenbewertung am Beispiel der Gruppenbildung von Göttern, insbesondere Asen und Wanen Kári Reid 429 The Advantage of Self-Possession: Knowledge and Advice in fiorgils saga ok Hafli›a Elizabeth Ashman Rowe 441 Origin Legends and Foundation Myths in Flateyjarbók Jens Peter Schjødt 455 Myter som kilder til ritualer - teoretiske og praktiske implikationer Rudolf Simek 468 Rich and Powerful: The Image of the Female Deity in Migration Age Scandinavia Daniel Sävborg 480 Om dateringen av Eddans hjältedikter Clive Tolley 498 The Adaptability of Myth in Old Norse and Finnish Poetry Matthew Townend 511 Contextualising the Knútsdrápur: Skaldic Praise-Poetry at the Court of Cnut Torfi H. Tulinius 526 Saga as a myth: the family sagas and social reality in 13th-century Iceland Fedor Uspenskij 540 A Toponymic Aspect of the Euhemeristic Concept. Comments on Snorri’s Interpretation of Ásgar›r, Mi›gar›r and Útgar›r in the Prose Edda and Ynglingasaga Lars van Wezel 541 Mythic Elements in Hrafnkels saga Freysgo›a: Prolonged Echoes and Mythological Overlays Diana Whaley 556 Myth and Religion in the Poetry of a Reluctant Convert Tarrin Wills 572 The reception of myths concerning literacy and poetry Kellinde Wrightson 579 Three Miracles of the Virgin Mary Concerning Childbirth Set in Medieval Iceland Stefanie Würth 580 Ragnarök: Götterdämmerung und Weltende in der nordischen Literatur Journey to the Antipodes. Cosmological and Mythological Themes in Alexanders Saga David Ashurst Birkbeck College, London First a look at evidence for the shape of the world as it was imagined by audiences of Alexanders saga, the mid-thirteenth-century account of Alexander the Great which is a translation of Walter of Châtillon’s Latin epic, the Alexandreis. Simek (1990, 102-103) has listed a small number of texts which indicate that Old Norse audiences of the thirteenth century, at least in ecclesiastical and courtly circles, were familiar with the belief that the earth is spherical. This idea had been an integral part of scholarly learning in Europe since the Carolingian renaissance of the eighth century, and from the twelfth century it was being taught to most clerics; by the thirteenth century it had found its way into popular literature (Simek 1996, 25). Evidence for the familiarity of this belief at the very start of the thirteenth century in Iceland can be found in a passage from Elucidarius, where the teacher explains to his pupil that the head of Man was given a rounded shape in the likeness of the world: Hofofl hans vas bollot ígliking heimballar (Simek 1990, 401, transcribed from MS AM 674a, 4to, dated ca.1200). Being so brief, the explanation could not have made sense 1 2 David Ashurst unless the idea of a spherical world was taken for granted. In mid-thirteenth- century Norway, by contrast, the writer of Konungs skuggsjá makes his wise king take the trouble to discuss the shape of the earth at some length, and to clinch his argument with the famous image of an apple hanging next to a candle, where the apple represents the earth and the candle is the sun. The use of this image is rather confused, but the conclusion is perfectly clear: Nu skal aa flui marka at bollottur er iardar hrijngur (Kon. sk. 1945, 11). To these references may be added a passage in Alexanders saga, not mentioned by Simek, in which the Persian King Darius sends an insulting letter to the youthful Alexander who has already, at this point, made extensive conquests in Persian territory. Darius’ envoys present Alexander with a ball which his letter says is to be understood as a plaything more suitable to Alexander’s age than are shields and swords. Alexander replies that he puts a different interpretation on the gift, for the shape of the ball represents the world which he will conquer: Bollrenn markar me› vexte sinom heim flenna er ec man undir mec leggia (Alexanders saga 1925, 1932-33).1 This is a close paraphrase of the corresponding lines in the Alexandreis (Walter 1978, II.38- 39): Forma rotunda pilae speram speciemque rotundi, Quem michi subiciam, pulchre determinat orbis. The story of Alexander’s riposte was certainly well-known in thirteenth-century Europe, not only through the Alexandreis, which was hugely successful and became a school text, but because it also occurs at paragraph I.38 in sundry versions of the Alexander Romance.2 Even if the Old Norse audience of Alexanders saga did not already know the story, however, it is clear that they were expected to understand its point without difficulty; for it is the translator’s habit to explain matters which he thinks might cause difficulty, but here he renders the account pithily and without any comment of his own. Vestiges of mythological thinking in which the earth seems to be imagined as a flat disk, however, may be found in a passage where the clash of the opposing armies at Gaugamela is said to shake the ground and to make Atlas stagger: Athals stakra›e vi› er einn er af fleim er vpp hallda heimenom. sva at hann fek varla sta›et vndir byr›e sinne (Al. Saga 1925, 6525-27). Here heimr means ‘sky’, in contrast with the earth on which the titan is standing. The explanation of Atlas as ‘one of those who hold up the sky’, implying that there are others, is an addition to the Latin text (see Walter 1978, IV.293-296).