Old Nordic/Germanic Religions

In questo breve testo si tenta di raccogliere le fonti più importanti concernenti la religione germanica. È opportuno tenere presente che la locuzione ‘religione germanica’ racchiude un’ampia varietà di contenuti, in quanto i popoli germanici non costituivano un nucleo culturale precisamente definito ed omogeneo al proprio interno.

SAMANDRAG I dette essayet ser eg nærare på Njardarlog (Tysnes i Sunnhordland) slik ein kan skimta eit omriss av øya i bronsealder og fram mot vikingtid, på mytene kring gudinna Nerthus og gudane Njord og Tyr, og synlege far i form av bautasteinar, gravfunn og spor i stadnamnforsking -og tankespinn.

Completata nel 1789, sotto gli auspici dell'Aufklärung tedesca, quest'opera del curato Christfrid Ganander è in assoluto la prima trattazione scientifica di ampio respiro sulla mitologia finlandese e, insieme, una delle sue più preziose fonti a monte dell'imponente lavoro di riorganizzazione effettuato da Elias Lönnrot per il suo Kalevala. Impostato in forma enciclopedica, il Mythologia Fennica espone elementi tratti da tutti i livelli della tradizione, sia colta che popolare. Da un lato, vi sono i temi legati al mondo letterario delle saghe scandinave, dai miti sul misterioso "fondatore" Fornjótr alle battaglie degli antichi re svedesi contro gli stregoni finnar, per arrivare ai resoconti dei navigatori vichinghi sui misteriosi popoli incontrati lungo le più remote rotte nord-orientali. Ma Ganander riporta anche una notevole quantità di materiale folklorico finnico e lappone, che espone affidandosi all'autorità dei runot raccolti dalla viva voce del popolo. Tra divinità, spiriti guardiani ed esseri  soprannaturali, tra riti sciamanici e celebrazioni sincretiche, spiccano le tradizioni sui possenti Kalewan pojat, i "figli di Kalewa", tra i quali il lettore riconoscerà i principali eroi kalevaliani – Wäinämöinen, Ilmarinen, la signora di Pohjola, il malevolo Soini (Kullervo) – le cui fisionomie, non ancora addomesticate dalla penna di Lönnrot, si affacciano qui con tratti sovrumani e terrifici.
Con l’attenzione del naturalista e con l’entusiasmo del pioniere, Christfrid Ganander si sforza di far luce sul materiale mitico-leggendario della più remota periferia d’Europa, con analisi a volte ingenue, a volte sorprendenti, aprendo la strada alla successiva stagione del risveglio nazional-romantico finlandese.

The name Gefion by which early Danes invoked a female chthonic deity may occur in first two monster episodes of the Beowulf poem five times.  Understood as a proper noun instead of a word for “sea,” the passages appear to argue against such veneration, that may have been rooted in matrilineal tribal practices descended from the Neolithic period.  Avowals of patriliny in the poem, likewise, suggest a shift in kinship systems was underway.  The hall itself may symbolize consolidation of a more hierarchical system among the Danes.

Among the citations of this article is: Hilda Ellis Davidson, ‘Gefjon, goddess of the Northern seas’, in Patricia Lysaght, Seamus Ó Catháin, Daithi Ó hÓgáin (eds.), Islanders and Water-Dwellers, Proceedings of the Celtic-Nordic-Baltic Folklore Symposium (Dublin: Department of Irish Folklore, University College, Dublin, 1999), 51-9.

Excavation of Scandinavia’s earliest great hall at Gudme, Funen, Denmark has brought it, instead of Lejre, Zealand, Denmark into consideration as a model for Heorot – Frank Battaglia, “Not Christianity versus Paganism, but Hall versus Bog: The Great Shift in Early Scandinavian Religion and its Implications for Beowulf,” Anglo-Saxons and the North, Matti Kilpiö, Leena Kahlas-Tarkka, Jane Roberts and Olga Timofeeva, eds. (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2009), 47-67.

The religion of the ancient Germanic people is largely unknown to modern historians. It exerts signs of being the predecessor to the later Norse religion, as well as the successor to the proto-Indo-European religion. Using ancient sources, etymology, and archaeology this paper seeks to uncover what is known of the early Germanic religion during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, roughly from 500 B.C - 100 A.D.

This doctoral thesis analyses the occurrence and context of human sacrifice in Old Norse religion. The aim of this study is to investigate the written sources that mention human sacrifices in the Late Iron Age Scandinavian cultures and discuss the interpretation of these sources. An analysis of the archaeological sources from Sweden, dated to the Late Iron Age, which have previously been interpreted as traces of human sacrifices have also been conducted and discussed in comparison with the written sources. The contextualisation of the human sacrifice in Old Norse religion is in focus and a structural categorisation of the social and religious contexts where human sacrifice occurred, as well as how this theoretical structure entails new interpretations of the phenomenon of human sacrifice in Old Norse religion is conducted.
One question in focus in the study is how to interpret and use the term human sacrifice in Old Norse religion. This includes a discussion of the definition of the term sacrifice and human sacrifice and their potential application in the study of Old Norse religion. An overview of previous research about the topic of human sacrifice in each discipline, from the first beginning of the disciplines in the early 19th century to this day is presented. The study also includes a discussion of whether human sacrifice was a living practice in Old Norse societies, in which contexts it appears, which conceptions are connected to the practice, and how it was reflected in the Old Norse myths. The contextualisation of the human sacrifices in the sources includes a discussion of who sacrificed, where and when the sacrifices were performed, which divinities were the intended receivers, who the victims were, as well as the potential results of the sacrifice within the society, what conceptions the sacrifice was connected with, and how the sacrifice is mirrored in the Old Norse mythology.
The primary source material has been given a prominent position in the analysis and the conclusion of the study is that the occurrence of human sacrifice as a living tradition in Old Norse religion up until the end of the Viking Age is confirmed. From a social perspective, human sacrifices have been useful to consolidate and confirm a prevailing or new power hegemony in the martial contexts where the victorious part use the vanquished enemy as a sacrificial gift to, prominently, the god Óðinn. Besides the religious experience, the sacrifice has also been able to confirm the political structure as the warlord affirms his claim and right to his social position. It concludes with the result that human sacrifices have been useful to maintain and confirm an older social order, when this has been exposed to pressure. A political development, connected to the Christianisation, occurs during the Viking Age and finally leads to the extinction of the human sacrifices as a living practice in the North.

Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press. ISBN 978-951-765-977-2

The early Germanic-speaking peoples of Europe lacked a word for 'religion', as one might expect of people who cultivated a variety of religious practices in various times and places. In early Anglo-Saxon England, religious practices and beliefs were very likely subject to contestation and the accommodation of rival interests, in keeping with the syncretistic nature of Anglo-Saxon culture in general.

This essay surveys many of the noteworthy aspects of this syncretistic religious culture, starting from the writings of Bede, evidence drawn from the Old English lexicon, place-name evidence, and evidence drawn from funerary archaeology, and moving on to consider textual evidence drawn from the late Anglo-Saxon period.

Coauthored with Lauren Fountain. The first in-depth survey of English language translations of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's "Risala" of its kind, intended for researchers, translators, and enthusiasts searching for an 'ideal' translation to consult. This PDF edition is based on an ongoing web-based resource, a part of the Mimisbrunnr.info project. Readers can find it at the following URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/ahmad-ibn-fadlan-risala-english-edition-survey

Exkurs: Germanische Magievorstellungen | Miriam Jolien Blümel as deutsche Wort ‚Hexe' hat möglicherweise seinen Ursprung in dem altgermanischen Begriff ‚hagazussa' oder ‚hagzissa'. ‚Hag' bedeutet soviel wie Zaun und verweist auf die Idee von einer Zaunreiterin, die von der diesseitigen in die jenseitige Welt schaut und sich in beiden bewegen kann. Die sprachliche Herleitung veranlasste die alte Forschung, die Wurzeln des frühneuzeitlichen Hexenglaubens in germanischheidnischen Magievorstellungen zu suchen, was die moderne Hexenforschung soweit widerlegen konnte. Hinweise auf die Ausübung von Magie gibt es in der altnordischen Literatur, allen voran in den isländischen Sagas und Eddas. In beiden Prosagattungen wird in Erzählnebensträngen von Magie oder magischen Absichten berichtet. Besonders die Sagas erzählen von der Ausübung von Schadenszauber. Ideen vom Hexensabbat, von nächtlichen Zusammenkünften, rituellen Morden oder Kannibalismus aus den Hexereianklagen der Frühen Neuzeit fi nden sich dort nicht. Im Fokus stehen vielmehr Personen, die durch bestimmte Fähigkeiten ihre Mitmenschen und ihre Umwelt beeinfl ussen können. Die Ausübung von Schadenszauber bleibt immer eine Frage des Blickwinkels: Schädlich für wen oder zu wessen Gunsten? Miriam Jolien Blümel Magievorstellungen und magische Praktiken bei den Germanen Im Altnordischen gibt es ein einziges, meist positiv besetztes Wort, das den Bereich Religiosität und Magie mit allen Facetten von Glaube, Moral, Brauch und Tradition umfasst: ‚Seidhr.' Die Herleitung des Begriffs ist nicht hinreichend geklärt, im weitesten Sinn meint es jedoch eine Vielzahl von Praktiken, um Wissen über die Zukunft zu erlangen und den Lauf der Dinge zu beeinfl ussen -mit sowohl heilsamer als auch übelwollender Absicht. Dazu dient eine Zeremonie bestimmter Länge, vollzogen durch einen oder mehrere Ritualführer vor einem bestimmten Publikum und laut Sagatexten mit spezieller Ritualausrüstung. Einige Details zum Ritual bietet die Eriks Saga Rauða (Saga von Erik dem Roten): die Ausführung, durch Männer als auch Frauen gleichermaßen, ist eher halböffentlich; der gewünschte Effekt betrifft nur eine kleinere soziale Gruppe. Ursprünglich ist Seidhr beim Göttergeschlecht der Wanen verbreitet. Nach deren Untergang lehrt Freya, die erste ‚seidhkona' (Seidhfrau), es den Asen. Odin, oberster Gott der Asen, ist Seidhr-Meister und fähig, Feuer zu löschen, die See zu beruhigen, den Wind mit Worten abzulenken sowie die Toten zu erwecken. Er kann seine Feinde in Schlachten blind und taub machen, sie vor Angst lähmen und ihre Waffen nutzlos werden lassen. Währenddessen liegt sein Körper wie schlafend oder tot da, und er nimmt die Gestalt von Vogel, Fisch oder Schlange an. Odin ist außerdem der Gott der Weisheit und der Runen. Das Wissen über sie empfi ng er laut Hávamál (die Sprüche des Hohen) durch sein Selbstopfer an der Weltenesche Yggdrasil. Dieses lässt sich mit einem schamanistischen Einweihungsritual vergleichen und entspricht der magischen Praxis des ‚útiseta', des rituellen ‚Draußen sitzen'. Dazu musste man sich in der Nacht in freie Wildbahn begeben, um die Geister der Toten rufen und befragen zu können. Wie Runen für Runenmagie angewendet werden, wo sie stehen und welche Arten es gibt, weiß auch die Walküre Sigrdrífa, die es in den Sigrdrífumál (Die Erweckung der Walküre) dem jungen Siegfried lehrt. Heute gelten Runen als rein funktionelle Schriftzeichen, die je nach Situation und Kontext sakrale, profane oder magische Verwendung fi nden. Einer der wenigen archäologischen Funde, dessen Runeninschrift als ‚magisch' anerkannt wurde, ist das Amulett aus dem schwedischen Lindholmen-Moor. Der zwischen 350 und 550 n. Chr. auf dem Amulett festgehaltene Liebeszauber lautet: "Ich ritze dir 8 Asen, 9 Nöte, 13 Thursen (Riesen)." Die vermutlich älteste literarische Nachricht zu Runen und deren Verwendung fi ndet sich in der Germania des römischen Geschichtsschreibers Tacitus. Er beschreibt ein Orakel, das mit Hilfe bestimmter Zeichen funktioniert, die in Holzstäbchen eingeritzt sind. Verglichen mit der altnordischen Literatur gibt es kaum Quellen über magische Praktiken der kontinentalen germanischen Völker. Parallelen zeigen jedoch die althochdeutschen und angelsächsischen Gedichte. Zum Beispiel der zweite der Merseburger Zaubersprüche, in einer Handschrift des 10. Jh. überliefert, inhaltlich aber sicher älter, thematisiert die Heilung eines Pferdes durch Odin als Zauberarzt. Eben dieses Motiv mit Balders Fohlen fi ndet sich auf den Goldbrakteaten aus der Völkerwanderungszeit, die wahrscheinlich an einer Kordel als Amulett um den Hals getragen wurden. Die so genannten ‚C-Brakteaten' oder ‚Gott-Pferd-Amulette' zeigen ein Haupt, mutmaßlich Odin, unter dem sich ein pferdähnliches Tier befi ndet. Vermutlich kommt aus Odins Mund oder seiner Nase ein heilender Hauch, vielleicht aber auch ein Zauberspruch, welcher auf das Ohr des Tieres gerichtet ist. Heidnische Vorstellungen spiegeln sich auch noch in magischen Gegenständen aus dem christlichen Glauben wider, z.B. in Bleiamuletten des 11.-12. Jh. mit christlich-magischen Inschriften. In der Regel zusammengefaltet, blieb die Inschrift dem Betrachter verborgen. Ihr Zweck war es, Alben/Elfen zu beschwören bzw. diese abzuwehren. Alle Götter und Wesen des germanisch-heidnischen Glaubens waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt diabolisiert und ihre vielschichtigen, oftmals zwiespältigen Charaktere in einem Pool von Dämonen und Teufeln aufgegangen.

The reception of the Poetic Edda in Germany is as long as it is ambiguous. The remote connection of Germanic and Scandinavian culture and literature led to a distinctive, symptomatic identification with Nordic mythology and the Poetic Edda in particular. The actual, physical editions in German translation from roughly two hundred years document the interpretations, intentions, and approaches of editors, translators, and scholars who have aimed to make the Poetic Edda understandable to the German audience. This thesis is subjected to an analysis of the physical copies by means of Gérard Genette’s concept of paratexts that is applied as a major tool in order to reveal how the editing of a book is also a way of interpreting its content. The reader is taken on a journey through the Poetic Edda “from the inside out”. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular part of the paratext, such as questions of page construction, the ordering of the poems of Codex Regius, and the additional material the poems are equipped with. Later chapters deal with the outer parts of the editions, where obsolete, revised interpretations have survived in blurbs, titles, and on the cover. Thus, the author wishes to present the various, continuous, and changing ways of publishing the Poetic Edda in Germany that has led to a contradictory but nevertheless fascinating variety of editions.

Please note: This thesis is available as hard copy at the National and University Library of Iceland as well as online here at academia.edu and under the weblink above.

O presente trabalho por meio de uma metodologia comparada entre as fontes literárias e arqueológicas buscou compreender as modificações ocorridas nas praticas cultuais que possibilitaram a forja de ideais, de legitimação e a formação das funções das realezas escandinavas, além de buscar as funções e ânsias que esses homens tinham sobre seus deuses. Evidenciando por fim a importância dos antigos costumes nórdicos e da mitologia nórdica como instrumento de legitimação e de criação de poderes sociais, contribuindo para a compreensão de um período onde rito, mito e os poderes sociais estavam em plena conexão, relações essas que marcariam o período Viking na Escandinávia. Tendo assim sua baliza temporal inserida entre os séculos VIII e X sendo o primeiro o século no qual surgiram as primeiras realezas escandinavas e o segundo o século no qual os povos escandinavos começaram a sofrer um processo de conversão ao cristianismo.

This monograph traces the history of one of the most prominent types of geographical myths of the North-West Atlantic Ocean: transmarine otherworlds of blessedness and immortality. Taking the mythologization of the Viking Age discovery of North America in the earliest extant account of Vínland (‘Wine-Land’) and the Norse transmarine otherworlds of Hvítramannaland (‘The Land of White Men’) and the Ódáinsakr/Glæsisvellir (‘Field of the Not-Dead’/‘Shining Fields’) as its starting point, the book explores the historical entanglements of these imaginative places in a wider European context. It follows how these Norse otherworld myths adopt, adapt, and transform concepts from early Irish vernacular tradition and Medieval Latin geographical literature, and pursues their connection to the geographical mythology of classical antiquity. In doing so, it shows how myths as far distant in time and space as Homer’s Elysian Plain and the transmarine otherworlds of the Norse are connected by a continuous history of creative processes of adaptation and reinterpretation. Furthermore, viewing this material as a whole, the question arises as to whether the Norse mythologization of the North Atlantic might not only have accompanied the Norse westward expansion that led to the discovery of North America, but might even have been among the factors that induced it.
Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: North-Western Europe: Scandinavia, Ireland, and the Land of the Living

Chapter 2: The Classical Mediterranean: Rome, Greece, and the Islands of the Blessed

Chapter 3: Eastern Roots?

Chapter 4: Continuity, Interaction – and Westward Expansion?

Appendix: Beyond History

Bibliography

Index

An extended review and discussion of Ernst Jünger’s short novel ‘Besuch auf Godenholm’ published in German in 1952 and published for the first time in English in February of 2015 as ‘Visit to Godenholm’ by Edda Publishing. The novel and my review will be of interest to all those concerned with the history of psychedelic cultures, not least because it contains a very early and expansive literary account of the LSD experience. Although the psychedelic sequence in the novel is not attributed to the effects of a drug, the account is based on one of the early LSD sessions that the prominent German author Jünger shared with Albert Hofmann, as attested in Hofmann’s ‘LSD my Problem Child’. The potential for the use of LSD as an aid in psychotherapy was considered as early as 1950 and Jünger’s novel significantly concerns the healing of psychological trauma, but in the setting of an esoteric initiation under the guidance of a formidable magus named Schwarzenberg. The events in the novel set in the immediate aftermath of World War Two are framed in terms of Nordic mythology. Jünger, who died aged 102 in February 1998, had experimented with psychoactive drugs throughout his adult life. Published in Psychedelic Press UK Journal, 2015, Volume III,

This paper presents a case study on formula selection and variation in eddic poetry. It includes a general discussion of approaches to formulae in eddic poetry, problems with these, and offers a new model for addressing the relative fixity of formulaic expressions.  Although focused on Old Norse poetry, this discussion has a broad relevance to approaching other oral-poetic traditions through limited medieval sources or their relationships.

The paper analyzes the thirteen formulaic stanzas in Alvíssmál which ascribe poetic synonyms to different types of mythic being. The formula is approached through linguistics rather than directly from Oral-Formulaic Theory. Meter and alliteration are discussed as conditioning and determinant factors. The ‘alliterative rank’ of terms is correlated with their formulaic use to accomplish alliteration. An inclination to non-variation is demonstrated for the poem - i.e. variation in the use of formulae is avoided rather than tapping its potential.  The concentration on a single text takes this discussion into detail, including e.g. observing indicators of some form of interruption in the documentation process evident through changes in use of manuscript abbreviations correlated with peculiarities in formula use. Binary models of ‘improvization’–‘memorization’ are shown to be insufficient to describe actual variation. ‘Crystallization’ is proposed as an alternative. Comparison with stanzas quoted in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda suggest that a formula and its variable element were inclined to crystallize as a whole-line unit in memory, and that constraints of alliteration, semantics and syllabic rhythm within a line limited variation as a process of social negotiation in transmission. The hypothesis of whole-line crystallization is tested elsewhere in the eddic corpus, drawing examples from Vǫluspá, Skírnismál and Þrymskviða, where it offers an explanation for grammatical peculiarities or inconsistencies associated with repeating lines.

Throat Singing Vikings: A new translation of the account of Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb al-Tartushi and his visit to the Schleswig area in the 9th century, and his observations of a form of singing that exhibited a 'Humming' sound from the throat that could possibly be a form of throat singing. This new translation is compared against various older translations in an attempt to gain a better understanding of Al-Tartushi's original account.

Author: Noel Braucher

This is a compilation of what is known about the Germanic people of the north during the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 B.C - 100 A.D). Using ancient primary sources as well as other disciplines such as archaeology and linguistics I address everything known about their tribes, religion, government, and lifestyle in this essay.

Side note: I wrote this because I was playing Rome II Total War as the Suebi Confederation and after attempting to research what was known of my faction I found there was little written on this people in general. I felt I needed to change this!

This article analyses the 1936 ‘‘Wotan’’ essay by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in light of one of its reigning motifs, Ergriffenheit. First, this term is examined within the works of Protestant theologian Rudolf Otto and Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who used it to describe what they claimed to be the original religious experience, a state of being deeply stirred or even seized by the ‘‘the holy’’ or by ‘‘the ultimate reality.’’ The article then examines antecedents in Jung’s theory of states of psychic seizure, in which two halves of the psyche come into conflict, the resolution of which leads to an increased capacity
to create the arts of culture. The analysis then moves to the ‘‘Wotan’’ essay itself, where Jung brings together his own theory of psychic seizure with the theory of the original religious experience as proposed by the above-named scholars of religion in order to suggest that, under National Socialism, the Germans were in the midst of a collective confrontation with their own inner divinity, which should lead to a national spiritual rebirth. The article then investigates the works of several of themen Jung mentions in the essay, as well as his use of ancient Germanic mythology, to support his claim. Through his portrait
of the Germanic archetype Wotan, Jung psychologizes and thereby essentializes the Romantic image of the Germans as ‘‘a people of poets and philosophers’’ as well as that of a Nietzschean ‘‘master-race.’’ In conclusion, the article argues that, at least in 1936, Jung’s attitude towards Hitler and National Socialism was much more favorable than has previously been recognized.
PLEASE NOTE: This article has been exapnded and revised as chapter 6 of my book, "Jung's Wandering Archetype: Race and Religion in Analytical Psychology".

Oggigiorno i prodotti di intrattenimento (libri, fumetti, film e serie tv) del mondo anglofono sono pieni di riferimenti e rimandi al mondo norreno, alla sua mitologia e mitografia. Fra i molti esempi, potremo citare la seria tv canadese Vikings (2013-in corso), i fumetti della casa editrice Marvel dedicati a Thor (comparso per la prima volta in Journey into Mistery nel 1962), adattati in una trilogia di film (2011, 2013, 2017) ma anche diverse opere di letteratura per l'infanzia 1. Questo breve articolo cercherà di illustrare un primo periodo di ripresa e intertestualità con questi elementi: il XVII° secolo e l'inizio del XVIII°.

This paper will shed light on the vestiges of the magic practice of Seiðr that have survived the centuries through oral tradition among the Black Sea-, Volga-, and Pennsylvania-German cultural diasporas of the Americas in the form of the folk healing arts. These separate and distinct culture groups, having brought ancestral practices with them, preserved a system of healing magic called “Brauche” as charms and incantations that contain pre-Christian elements.

Author: Noel Braucher

This paper - first published in German, in Herdfeuer (2020) 56 - presents, as an important finding for the history of Germanic religion, in the Christian Middle Ages, an analysis of the praise poem, Carmen de Imagine Tetrici, by the Carolingian theologian, Walahfrid Strabo (8009 - 849), chaplain at the royal court, at the time. By close analysis, mindful of the rules of contemporary aesthetics, and of theologically based reception of the religious-cultural heritage of Antiquiy, including the pagan Germanic, it van be shown, that Walahfrid invokes 'Lady Holda' ad patron deity of divination or seerdom. The persistance of this understanding of Lady Holda - the Mother Holle of Grimm's folk tale collection - and its vitality in cultural awareness, is shown by analysis of a sermon of Martin Luther for Advent. This is framed by a view to present public interest in Mother Holle, as deity, and on her sites of worship, in a discernible movement of retrieval of cultural roots, and by a concluding section on divination in Greco-Roman Antiquity, as presented and discussed by Plutarch. Consequences for the retrieval and practice of divination are considered.

The myth or tale of the theft of the thunder-instrument from the thunder-god by his adversary (ATU 1148b) is encountered almost exclusively in the Circum-Baltic.  It is found in Germanic, Sámic, Finnic and Baltic cultures.  It is otherwise only encountered in one early Greek source of questionable cultural provenance.  This paper reviews the evidence of the tradition in different cultures, with a critical reassessment of the Germanic traditions, which have often been given priority.  ATU 1148b will be addressed as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon.  The paper approaches the distinct forms of ATU 1148b in each culture’s traditions in relation as reflecting socio-historical processes.  Emphasis is given to patterns of social use and how these are conditioned by relationships to other traditions and conceptions in each cultural milieu.  The evolution of the tradition into its various forms is considered the result of a long and dynamic process of interaction between cultures.  This development makes it unreasonable to attribute the Circum-Baltic traditions and forms exclusively to either Finno-Ugric or Indo-European traditions.  It is proposed that ATU 1148b is best approached as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon and representative of a Circum-Baltic mythology which is dependent on historical processes of linguistic-cultural interaction and exchange.  It is proposed that the concentration of ATU 1148b across diverse cultures in the Circum-Baltic is at least partially attributable to the maintenance of corresponding mythic narratives in adjacent cultures.  This explanation would find parallels in the persistence and form of genres (e.g. oral epic in Northern Europe) and stylistic priorities (e.g. alliteration in Northern Europe), which also appear to exhibit isoglosses related to cultural contact.

In this seminar paper written in english I focus on the interpretation of the ornaments of some archaeological finds from the 6th and 7th century Carpathian Basin in the context of germanic mythology. The discussion is about bird shaped brooches, germanic bracteates and the decoration of one particular find, the belt buckle from the 85th grave of the early 7th cemetery at Kölked-Feketekapu B. By this I am hoping to give a few clues as to how did the mythology look like for the germanic peoples living in the Carpathian basin at this time, compared to the later written sources about nordic mythology.

Klappentext: In übersichtlicher Form fasst das Buch unser Wissen über die religösen Vorstellungen der Germanen zusammen. Unter Rückgriff auf archäologische Quellen der germanischen Frühzeit und der Zeit der Völkerwanderung werden die sich besonders durch den Kontakt mit dem Römerreich wandelnden und regional sehr unterschiedlichen religiösen Gebräuche der Germanen vorgestellt, verständlich diskutiert. Angesichts der in der Vergangenheit durch ideologische Verirrungen und in der Gegenwart durch neuheidnische Fantasiekulte verzerrten Perspektiven, stellt dieses Buch, nüchtern und verständlich klare Sachverhalte und plausible Erklärungen aus dem disparaten Quellenmaterial zusammen das ganz unterschiedliche Fachgebiete wie Archäologie, Alte Geschichte und Germanistik dar.

In this thesis, I will investigate whether shieldmaidens’ symbolic meaning in the collective imaginary had originates in a timeless heritage (if, for instance, the maiden warrior can be defined as an archetype) or whether they are the re-elaboration of specific figures (and in this case, it is necessary to identify the historical characters, the way in which they are determined, etc.).

So-called horned figures have intrigued scholars for a long time, these being anthropomorphic figures depicted on, or in the shape of artefacts which can be associated with speakers of early Germanic languages during the Younger Iron Age (550–1050).
Even though such artefacts have been known in scholarly circles since the middle of the 19th century, little has been published that focuses specifically on the horned figures, and most of what has been published treats them as little more than a side note. The number of discovered artefacts depicting horned figures has increased significantly in recent decades, which has led to publications on such artefacts becoming increasingly scattered and lacking in any clear overview. This development has led to some scholars basing their research on incomplete and out-of-date data. In connection with this development, it has become increasingly popular to identify the horned figures with Óðinn or other entities known from the Old Icelandic sources, a trend which is built on weak evidence.In reaction to this development, this MA-thesis aims to present an updated overview of all the relevant and scholarly published artefacts.
The figures under discussion are depicted with horn-shaped projections that are reminiscent of cattle-like horns. A total of 62 images depicted on a total of 60 artefacts are examined in this thesis. These artefacts have been found in a relatively large area including Anglo-Saxon England, the Viken region of Norway, Denmark, and Skåne, Öland, Gotland and Uppland in Sweden, along with isolated finds in Germany, Hungary and Russia.
The research has shown that the horned figures were a decidedly pre-Christian phenomenon. This phenomenon can possibly be traced to real-world ritual specialists in connection with social elites. The distribution of horned figures, however, is limited to certain areas in a Norse context, and nothing in the Old Icelandic sources can be connected with them with any certainty. It is therefore possible to conclude that the horned figures are a testament to the diversity of pre-Christian religions of the north, a phenomenon that was related to, but not the same as the picture preserved in the Old Icelandic sources.

The article considers the image of the Old Norse Vanir gods and their religion that seems to have existed in Nordic oral tradition from pres-Christian times, underlining the degree to which this "religion" was seen as being different in nature to that of the æsir.

Since ancient times celestial thunder gods have been a familiar feature in mythologies throughout the Indo-European language area. Their Irish counterpart, the Dagda, is a major personage at the centre of the Mythological Cycle, and his possible connections to the Scandinavian god Thor are examined here. Following a brief section dealing with questions of methodology, points of comparison are addressed which include the two gods' common primary role as defenders of their realm; their place in the assembly of gods; their principal weapons and implements (iron club/hammer/harp, cauldron); their associations with cosmology and artisans; and their visits to the abode of their monstrous adversaries, incorporating elements of the burlesque. Both gods appear in versions of the international tale ATU 1148B 'The Thunder Instrument' (Thor in the Old Norse poem Þrymskviða, and the Dagda's recovery of his harp from the Irish Mythological Cycle), and the nature of the parallels between the two versions is examined. The question of a borrowing during the Viking era, or of an inherited body of tradition possibly from Indo-European times, is discussed: the international tale type also leads to the myth, at a further temporal and geographical remove, of the Greek god Zeus and the theft of his thunderbolts. A proposed sequential account of the development and evolution of both gods from remote antiquity is provided.

Эпоха викингов стала главным потрясением для Европы в конце раннего Средневековья. Однако "внезапное" начало походов скандинавов на Запад в дейстительности не было таким уж спонтанным – ему предшествовал длительный и чрезвычайно интересный период культурной истории Северной Европы. Так называемый римский железный век и вендельский период породили яркое художественное ремесло, самобытный эпос, сформировали во многом уникальную скандинавскую мифологическую систему. Именно в эту эпоху возник феномен культуры, ставший визитной карточкой Скандинавии, – морской поход викингов. Книга, в которой анализируется фаза бурного подъема цивилизации Северной Европы, адресована не только специалистам-историкам, культурологам, археологам и религиоведам, но и всем читателям, интересующимся проблемами прошлого Европейского континента.