Myth and Environment in Early Iceland

Myth and Environment in Early Iceland
Author: Mathias Nordvig
Publisher: Borderlines
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781641892926

Volcanoes in Old Norse Mythology details how Viking Age Icelanders, migrating from Scandinavia to a new and volcanically active environment, used Old Norse mythology to understand and negotiate the hazards of the island. These pre-Christian myths recorded in medieval Iceland expound an indigenous Icelandic theory on volcanism that revolves around the activities of supernatural beings, such as the fire-demon Surtr and the gods Odin and Thor. Before the Icelanders were introduced to Christianity and its teachings, they formulated an indigenous theory of volcanism on basis of their traditional mythology much like other indigenous peoples across the world.

Influences of Pre-Christian Mythology and Christianity on Old Norse Poetry

Influences of Pre-Christian Mythology and Christianity on Old Norse Poetry
Author: Andrew McGillivray
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-10-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1580443362

The Eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál serves as a representation of early pagan beliefs or myths and as a myth itself; the poem performs both of these functions, acting as a poetic framework and functioning as sacred myth. In this study, the author looks closely at the journey of the Norse god Óðinn to the hall of the ancient and wise giant Vafþrúðnir, where Óðinn craftily engages his adversary in a life-or-death contest in knowledge.

Norse Mythology for Kids

Norse Mythology for Kids
Author: Mathias Nordvig
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2021-10-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781638788324

"Featuring timeless stories from such countries as Iceland, Norway, and Denmark, this is your entryway into the magical world of Scandinavian folklore. With vividly detailed illustrations that pair with each myth, you'll feel like you are defending Asgard on the battlefield with the almighty Odin, shape-shifting from a snake to a hawk with the trickster Loki, slaying dragons with the brave Sigurd, and much more. Follow these engaging Norse mythology legends, and learn everything there is to know about the tall tales of the Norse"--

Medieval Iceland

Medieval Iceland
Author: Jesse L. Byock
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 1990-02-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780520069541

Gift of Joan Wall. Includes index. Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-248) and index. * glr 20090610.

Under Osman's Tree

Under Osman's Tree
Author: Alan Mikhail
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2017-03-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 022642717X

The early modern Middle East was a crucial zone of connection between Europe and the Mediterranean world, on the one hand, and South Asia, the Indian Ocean, and sub-Saharan Africa, on the other. Accordingly, global trade, climate, and disease both affected and were affected by what was happening in the Middle East s many environments. The trans-territorial and trans-temporal character of environmental history helps shed new light on the history of the region, and Alan Mikhail s latest tackles major topics in environmental history: natural resource management, climate, human and animal labor, water control, disease, and the politics of nature. It also reveals how one of the world s most important religious traditions, Islam, has related to the natural world. This is a model book that sets the course for Middle East environmental history."

Iron Age Myth and Materiality

Iron Age Myth and Materiality
Author: Lotte Hedeager
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2011-04-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136817263

Iron Age Myth and Materiality: an Archaeology of Scandinavia AD 400-1000 considers the relationship between myth and materiality in Scandinavia from the beginning of the post-Roman era and the European Migrations up until the coming of Christianity. It pursues an interdisciplinary interpretation of text and material culture and examines how the documentation of an oral past relates to its material embodiment. While the material evidence is from the Iron Age, most Old Norse texts were written down in the thirteenth century or even later. With a time lag of 300 to 900 years from the archaeological evidence, the textual material has until recently been ruled out as a usable source for any study of the pagan past. However, Hedeager argues that this is true regarding any study of a society’s short-term history, but it should not be the crucial requirement for defining the sources relevant for studying long-term structures of the longue durée, or their potential contributions to a theoretical understanding of cultural changes and transformation. In Iron Age Scandinavia we are dealing with persistent and slow-changing structures of worldviews and ideologies over a wavelength of nearly a millennium. Furthermore, iconography can often date the arrival of new mythical themes anchoring written narratives in a much older archaeological context. Old Norse myths are explored with particular attention to one of the central mythical narratives of the Old Norse canon, the mythic cycle of Odin, king of the Norse pantheon. In addition, contemporaneous historical sources from late Antiquity and the early European Middle Age - the narratives of Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, and Paul the Deacon in particular - will be explored. No other study provides such a broad ranging and authoritative study of the relationship of myth to the archaeology of Scandinavia.

Ragnarok

Ragnarok
Author: A.S. Byatt
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2011-08-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 184767965X

As the bombs rain down in the Second World War, one young girl is evacuated to the English countryside. Struggling to make sense of her new wartime life, she is given a copy of a book of ancient Norse myths and her inner and outer worlds are transformed. Linguistically stunning and imaginatively abundant, Byatt’s mesmerising tale - inspired by the myth of Ragnarok - is a landmark piece of storytelling from one of the world's truly great writers.

Landscape, Tradition and Power in Medieval Iceland

Landscape, Tradition and Power in Medieval Iceland
Author: Chris Callow
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2020-08-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004331603

In this volume Chris Callow provides a critical reading of the evidence for changes in Iceland’s socio-political structures from its colonisation to the 1260s when leading Icelanders swore oaths of loyalty to the Norwegian king.

The Folk-stories of Iceland

The Folk-stories of Iceland
Author: Einar Ólafur Sveinsson
Publisher: Viking Society for Northern Research University College
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2003
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

In Iceland, people do not compose verse just to comfort themselves; they worship poetry and believe in it. In poetry is a power which rules men's lives and health, governs wind and sea. This book contains an account of the various types of Icelandic folk-story, their origins and sources, the folk-beliefs they represent, and their meanings.