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Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature
Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature A Brief Study Ritgerð til MA-prófs í íslenskum miðaldafræðum Li Tang Kt.: 270988-5049 Leiðbeinandi: Torfi H. Tulinius September 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank firstly my supervisor, Torfi H. Tulinius for his confidence and counsels which have greatly encouraged my writing of this paper. Because of this confidence, I have been able to explore a domain almost unstudied which attracts me the most. Thanks to his counsels (such as his advice on the “Blóð-Egill” Episode in Knýtlinga saga and the reading of important references), my work has been able to find its way through the different numbers. My thanks also go to Haraldur Bernharðsson whose courses on Old Icelandic have been helpful to the translations in this paper and have become an unforgettable memory for me. I‟m indebted to Moritz as well for our interesting discussion about the translation of some paragraphs, and to Capucine and Luis for their meticulous reading. Any fault, however, is my own. Abstract It is generally agreed that some numbers such as three and nine which appear frequently in the two Eddas hold special significances in Norse mythology. Furthermore, numbers appearing in sagas not only denote factual quantity, but also stand for specific symbolic meanings. This tradition of number symbolism could be traced to Pythagorean thought and to St. Augustine‟s writings. But the result in Old Norse literature is its own system influenced both by Nordic beliefs and Christianity. This double influence complicates the intertextuality in the light of which the symbolic meanings of numbers should be interpreted. -
How Uniform Was the Old Norse Religion?
II. Old Norse Myth and Society HOW UNIFORM WAS THE OLD NORSE RELIGION? Stefan Brink ne often gets the impression from handbooks on Old Norse culture and religion that the pagan religion that was supposed to have been in Oexistence all over pre-Christian Scandinavia and Iceland was rather homogeneous. Due to the lack of written sources, it becomes difficult to say whether the ‘religion’ — or rather mythology, eschatology, and cult practice, which medieval sources refer to as forn siðr (‘ancient custom’) — changed over time. For obvious reasons, it is very difficult to identify a ‘pure’ Old Norse religion, uncorroded by Christianity since Scandinavia did not exist in a cultural vacuum.1 What we read in the handbooks is based almost entirely on Snorri Sturluson’s representation and interpretation in his Edda of the pre-Christian religion of Iceland, together with the ambiguous mythical and eschatological world we find represented in the Poetic Edda and in the filtered form Saxo Grammaticus presents in his Gesta Danorum. This stance is more or less presented without reflection in early scholarship, but the bias of the foundation is more readily acknowledged in more recent works.2 In the textual sources we find a considerable pantheon of gods and goddesses — Þórr, Óðinn, Freyr, Baldr, Loki, Njo3rðr, Týr, Heimdallr, Ullr, Bragi, Freyja, Frigg, Gefjon, Iðunn, et cetera — and euhemerized stories of how the gods acted and were characterized as individuals and as a collective. Since the sources are Old Icelandic (Saxo’s work appears to have been built on the same sources) one might assume that this religious world was purely Old 1 See the discussion in Gro Steinsland, Norrøn religion: Myter, riter, samfunn (Oslo: Pax, 2005). -
The Extent of Indigenous-Norse Contact and Trade Prior to Columbus Donald E
Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research Volume 6 | Issue 1 Article 3 August 2016 The Extent of Indigenous-Norse Contact and Trade Prior to Columbus Donald E. Warden Oglethorpe University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/ojur Part of the Canadian History Commons, European History Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Medieval History Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Warden, Donald E. (2016) "The Extent of Indigenous-Norse Contact and Trade Prior to Columbus," Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/ojur/vol6/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Extent of Indigenous-Norse Contact and Trade Prior to Columbus Cover Page Footnote I would like to thank my honors thesis committee: Dr. Michael Rulison, Dr. Kathleen Peters, and Dr. Nicholas Maher. I would also like to thank my friends and family who have supported me during my time at Oglethorpe. Moreover, I would like to thank my academic advisor, Dr. Karen Schmeichel, and the Director of the Honors Program, Dr. Sarah Terry. I could not have done any of this without you all. This article is available in Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/ojur/vol6/iss1/3 Warden: Indigenous-Norse Contact and Trade Part I: Piecing Together the Puzzle Recent discoveries utilizing satellite technology from Sarah Parcak; archaeological sites from the 1960s, ancient, fantastical Sagas, and centuries of scholars thereafter each paint a picture of Norse-Indigenous contact and relations in North America prior to the Columbian Exchange. -
Viking-Age Sailing Routes of the Western Baltic Sea – a Matter of Safety1 by Jens Ulriksen
Viking-Age sailing routes of the western Baltic Sea – a matter of safety1 by Jens Ulriksen Included in the Old English Orosius, com- weather conditions, currents, shifting sand piled at the court of King Alfred the Great of bars on the sea fl oor and coastal morphol- Wessex around 890,2 are the descriptions of ogy. Being able to cope with the elements of two diff erent late 9th-century Scandinavian nature is important for a safe journey, but sailing routes. Th ese originate from Ohthere, equally important – not least when travelling who sailed from his home in Hålogaland in like Ohthere – is a guarantee of safety for northern Norway to Hedeby, and Wulfstan, ship and crew when coming ashore. Callmer probably an Englishman,3 who travelled suggests convoying as a form of self-protec- from Hedeby to Truso. Th e descriptions are tion, but at the end of the day it would be not detailed to any degree concerning way- vital to negotiate a safe passage with “supra- points or anchorages, and in spite of the fact regional or regional lords”.7 Th ey controlled that lands passed are mentioned in both ac- the landing sites that punctuate Callmer’s counts, the information provided is some- route as stepping-stones. times unclear or confusing. For example, In consequence of the latter, Callmer departing from Hålogaland, Ohthere refers focuses on settlement patterns in order to to both Ireland and England on his starboard identify political and military centres – cen- side even though he obviously has been un- tres with lords who controlled certain areas able to glimpse these lands when sailing of land (and sea) and were able to guaran- along the Norwegian coast.4 Th e same pecu- tee safety within their ‘jurisdiction’. -
an Examination of the Relationship Between the Icelandic Conv
“FATE MUST FIND SOMEONE TO SPEAK THROUGH”: CHRISTIANITY, RAGNARÖK, AND THE LOSS OF ICELANDIC INDEPENDENCE IN THE EYES OF THE ICELANDERS AS ILLUSTRATED BY GÍSLA SAGA SÚRSSONAR Item Type Thesis Authors Mjolsnes, Grete E. Download date 01/10/2021 15:39:20 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/81 1 “FATE MUST FIND SOMEONE TO SPEAK THROUGH”: CHRISTIANITY, RAGNARÖK, AND THE LOSS OF ICELANDIC INDEPENDENCE IN THE EYES OF THE ICELANDERS AS ILLUSTRATED BY GÍSLA SAGA SÚRSSONAR A THESIS Presented to the Faculty Of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS by Grete E. Mjolsnes, B. A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 2008 2 Abstract Iceland surrendered political control to the Norwegian monarchy in 1262, but immediately resented their choice. The sagas about reliance on the Norwegians, clearly illustrating that the Icelanders knew where this path was leading them. Gísla Saga is a particularly interesting text to examine in light of the contemporaneous political climate, as it takes place in the years leading up to the conversion but was written between the conversion and the submission to Norwegian rule. Though Gísla does not explicitly comment on either the conversion or the increase in Norwegian influence, close examination illuminates ambiguity in the portrayal of Christian and pagan characters and a general sense of terminal foreboding. This subtle commentary becomes clearer when one reads Gísla Saga in light of the story of Ragnarök, the death of the gods and the end of the Norse world. Characters and images in Gísla Saga may be compared with the events of Ragnarök, the apocalyptic battle between the Æsir and the giants, illustrating how the Christian conversion and Norwegian submission brought about the end of Iceland’s golden age by destroying the last home of the Norse gods. -
History Today Magazine, Vikings Warriors of No Nation
Norse travellers reached every corner of the known world, but they were not tourists. The ‘racially pure’ Vikings of stereotype were, in fact, cultural chameleons adopting local habits, languages and religions. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough VIKINGS WARRIORS OF NO NATION Viking ship carrying Harold III of Norway against his half-brother Olaf II in 1030, c.1375. 2 | History Today | April 2018 April 2018 | History Today | 3 n January 2018, President Trump Odinism and white supremacy are bedfellows. expressed a preference for immigrants Such ideas of racial and cultural purity from affluent nations such as Norway, as would have been alien to the inhabitants of the opposed to those from what he termed medieval Nordic world. They may have come ‘shithole countries’. The indignant from the northernmost fringes of Europe – and Iresponse was on a global scale. Photos of in the case of Icelanders, in the middle of the beautiful African sunsets and wildlife were North Atlantic – but Norse travellers reached posted. One Norwegian woman tweeted: ‘We every corner of the known world. are not coming. Cheers from Norway.’ Trump was not the first to misuse Blond men in boats Scandinavian countries as a poster child for Thanks to chronicles and letters written by racism. The Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy Christian holy men, perpetuated by modern rested on the premise of the Nordic race as books, cartoons and films, an enduring Viking superior to all others. Particularly disturbing stereotype is engrained in our collective was the ‘Lebensborn’ programme initiated by cultural imagination: blond men in boats with the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler to secure beards and battle-axes, sailing slate-grey seas the racial purity of the Third Reich. -
Annette Kolodny in Search of First Contact
In Search of First Contact The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Anglo-American Anxiety of Discovery Annette Kolodny In Search of First Contact The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Anglo- American Anxiety of Discovery ✴ Annette Kolodny Duke university Press Durham anD LonDon 2012 © 2012 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ♾ Designed by C. H. Westmoreland Typeset in Chaparral Pro by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. With DeeP Love anD enDLess gratituDe, this book is DeDicateD to my truest teachers, Past anD Present: Sarah Katz Rivkind and David Rivkind, doting grandparents who believed I could do no wrong Esther Rivkind Kolodny, my loving mother who did her best Blanche Gladstone, P.S. 139, Brooklyn, New York Harriet Knight Felder, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, New York Lillian Fischer Schlissel, Brooklyn College, New York Odd Nordland, University of Oslo, Norway Odd- Erik Bjarre, Oslo, Norway Stanley E. Fish, University of California, Berkeley Norman S. Grabo, University of California, Berkeley Mark Schorer, University of California, Berkeley Henry Nash Smith, University of California, Berkeley Dorothee Finkelstein, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut C. Hugh Holman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Per Seyersted and Brita Lindberg Seyersted, University of Oslo, Norway Gary Lindberg, University of New Hampshire, Durham Patricia Clark Smith, Mi´kmaq, University of New Mexico Arnie Neptune, Penobscot Nation elder and leader of ceremonies Wayne Newell, Passamaquoddy elder and educator James G. -
Norse America
BULLFROG FILMS PRESENTS NORSE AMERICA Study Guide by Thomas H. McGovern NORSE AMERICA 56 minutes Produced & Directed by T.W. Timreck and W.N. Goetzmann in association with the Arctic Studies Center at Smithsonian Institution VHS videos and DVDs available for rental or purchase from Bullfrog Films® ©1997 Bullfrog Films, Inc. Guide may be copied for educational purposes only. Not for resale. NORSE AMERICA Study Guide by Thomas H. McGovern North Atlantic Biocultural Organization Anthropology Department Hunter College, CUNY 695 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021 SYNOPSIS Norse America introduces the viewer to the latest findings on the Viking-Age voyages across the North Atlantic to North America. It places these medieval transatlantic travels in the wider context of prehistoric maritime adaptations in North Atlantic Europe, and illustrates the continuity of seafaring traditions from Neolithic to early medieval times. The remarkable Norse voyages across the North Atlantic were part of the Scandinavian expansion between AD 750-1000 that saw Viking raids on major European monasteries and cities, long distance trading ventures into central Asia, and the settlement of the offshore islands of the North Atlantic. The impact of Viking raiders on the centers of early medieval literacy are comparatively well-documented in monastic annals and contemporary histories, but the Norse movement westwards into the Atlantic is recorded mainly by modern archaeology and by the semi-fictional sagas produced by the Norsemen themselves. While many of the sagas describe events of the 9th and 10th centuries (complete with memorable dialog and very specific descriptions of scenery), they werefirst written down in the 13th-14th centuries in Iceland. -
Vikings LEVELED READER • T a Reading A–Z Level T Leveled Reader Word Count: 1,359 VIKINGS
Vikings LEVELED READER • T A Reading A–Z Level T Leveled Reader Word Count: 1,359 VIKINGS Z T W Written by William Houseman Illustrated by Maria Voris Visit www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. VIKINGS Written by William Houseman Vikings Level T Leveled Reader Illustrated by Maria Voris © Learning A–Z, Inc. Correlation Written by William Houseman LEVEL T Illustrated by Maria Voris Fountas & Pinnell P All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 38 www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com DRA 38 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................... 4 Viking Warriors ................................................. 7 Discovering a New Land ............................... 10 Eric the Red ...................................................... 12 Leif Ericson ...................................................... 14 Other Viking Conquests ................................. 18 Glossary ............................................................ 20 INTRODUCTION When you hear the word Vikings, do you think of warriors or do you think of explorers? Do you think of merchants or do you think of poets? The Vikings were all of these things. They were also scientists, farmers, and fisherfolk. They were courageous fighters who loved to explore the world. 3 4 The Viking Age began about twelve hundred Over time, the Vikings’ spirit of exploration years ago. The Vikings came from the coastal and adventure led them to places all around lands in northern Europe that are now the Europe. It even led them to discover new countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. lands that no one in Europe knew existed. The Vikings were used to cold weather and They seized land along the western coast of learned to sail and fight at an early age. Their Europe. They even conquered land along the ships were fast and could carry many warriors. -
A Viking-Age Settlement in the Hinterland of Hedeby Tobias Schade
L. Holmquist, S. Kalmring & C. Hedenstierna-Jonson (eds.), New Aspects on Viking-age Urbanism, c. 750-1100 AD. Proceedings of the International Symposium at the Swedish History Museum, April 17-20th 2013. Theses and Papers in Archaeology B THESES AND PAPERS IN ARCHAEOLOGY B New Aspects on Viking-age Urbanism, c. 750-1100 AD. Proceedings of the International Symposium at the Swedish History Museum, April 17–20th 2013 Lena Holmquist, Sven Kalmring & Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson (eds.) Contents Introduction Sigtuna: royal site and Christian town and the Lena Holmquist, Sven Kalmring & regional perspective, c. 980-1100 Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson.....................................4 Sten Tesch................................................................107 Sigtuna and excavations at the Urmakaren Early northern towns as special economic and Trädgårdsmästaren sites zones Jonas Ros.................................................................133 Sven Kalmring............................................................7 No Kingdom without a town. Anund Olofs- Spaces and places of the urban settlement of son’s policy for national independence and its Birka materiality Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson...................................16 Rune Edberg............................................................145 Birka’s defence works and harbour - linking The Schleswig waterfront - a place of major one recently ended and one newly begun significance for the emergence of the town? research project Felix Rösch..........................................................153 -
PDF Download the Vinland Sagas 1St Edition
THE VINLAND SAGAS 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Anonymous | 9780140447767 | | | | | The Vinland Sagas 1st edition PDF Book These sagas provide great context for the Norse discovery of America. However, according to these sagas, the island got the name to encourage people to emigrate and settle there. It was longer, more The two sagas in question are very short, and the introductory matter is probably no longer up to date the translation is years old. About this Item: Planeta, Bercelona, To ask other readers questions about The Vinland Sagas , please sign up. Please contact us for details on condition of available copies of the book. For all that the Graenlendinga Saga is described as 'primitive' in style, it feels measured in structure if labelled a 'Vinland Saga', because exploration takes place throughout. Indeed, the fiercest character to emerge from these tales is that of Freydis, the illegitimate daughter of Leif, whose rampant greed led to brutal deceit, treachery and the eventual murder of her supposed partners. These accounts portray vikings or at the least the ones exiled to Greenland and beyond as brutish, vile cretins who have some sailing and survival skills. This being the earlier Viking name for most likely Eskimos. More information about this seller Contact this seller 5. This terrified Karlsefni and his men so much that their only thought was to flee, and they retreated farther up the river. Community Reviews. Reading them back to back makes it easier to compare the conflicting historical accounts which is good for historical purposes but it just highlights the parts where Christianity was shoe-horned in, giving it a bigger role than it probably had in reality. -
JOANNA KATARZYNA PUCHALSKA* Vikings Television Series: When
The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture Nr 15 (3/2015) / ARTICLE JOANNA KATARZYNA PUCHALSKA* (Jagiellonian University) Vikings Television Series: When History and Myth1 Intermingle ABSTRACT This article concentrates on the History Channel’s contemporary television series entitled Vikings. The author raises the issue of the popularity of the historical drama genre and the presence of Viking topics in popular culture. The text explains why it is difficult to accuse the producers of Vikings of incompetence when it comes to the real Vikings and their world. However, it is obvious that the creators of the series did not want to restrict their vision so at the same time the show cannot be perceived as a historical record. To substantiate such a thesis, the author devotes the main part of the article to the presentation of numerous historically doubtful or disputed traits which can be found in the Vikings series such as the problem of dates and personages, dubious geography and locations, anachronistic armour, description of the temple of Uppsala or the bloody-eagle rite. Viking women-warriors and ships are also discussed. The conclusion stresses the real phenomena showed in this tele- vision feature. KEY WORDS Vikings, history, historical fiction, popular culture 1 In this article I would generally like to follow the narrower definition of myth as a narration or story and as the term is popularly understood – i.e. a widely held belief, a fic- tion or an exaggerated or idealized conception – Słownik etnologiczny – terminy ogólne, red. Z. Staszczak, Warszawa–Poznań 1987; Oxford Dictionaries, [online] http://www.ox- forddictionaries.com/definition/english/myth [accessed: 30.05.2015].