Myths of the Pagan North

The Gods of the Norsemen

Christopher Abram

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781847252470
• eBook ISBN: 9781441102003
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

As the Vikings began to migrate overseas as raiders or settlers in the late eighth century, there is evidence that this new way of life, centred on warfare, commerce and exploration, brought with it a warrior ethos that gradually became codified in the Viking myths, notably in the cult of Odin, the god of war, magic and poetry, and chief god in the Norse pantheon. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when most of Scandinavia had long since been converted to Christianity, form perhaps the most important era in the history of Norse mythology: only at this point were the myths of Thor, Freyr and Odin first recorded in written form. Using archaeological sources to take us further back in time than any written document, the accounts of foreign writers like the Roman historian Tacitus, and the most important repository of stories of the gods, old Norse poetry and the Edda, Christopher Abram leads the reader into the lost world of the Norse gods.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• About this book
• A Guide to Pronouncing Old Norse
• List of Illustrations
• 1 The Sources of Norse Mythology
• 2 The Gods on the Ground: Religious Culture as a Background to Pagan Myth
• 3 Myths in the Viking Age: Norway, Iceland and Beyond, c. 850–950
• 4 The Twilight of the Gods: The Age of Religious Conflict in Norway, c. 950–1000
• 5 Pagan Myths under Conversion: Norway and Iceland, c. 980–1000
• 6 The Rebirth of Norse Mythology: Denmark and Iceland, c. 1150–1350
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• eCopyright