Author: Daniel McCoy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781533393036
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you'd expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it's written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that's easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths - more than any other book in the field - while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You'll learn about the Vikings' gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.
The Viking Spirit
Author: Daniel McCoy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781533393036
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you'd expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it's written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that's easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths - more than any other book in the field - while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You'll learn about the Vikings' gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781533393036
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you'd expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it's written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that's easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths - more than any other book in the field - while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You'll learn about the Vikings' gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.
Summary of Daniel McCoy's The Viking Spirit
Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN: 1669365352
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 69
Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The longship sways on the windy sea like a seer in a trance. After days of hard rowing, the crew is exhausted. They had set sail from the western coast of Scandinavia several days ago, bound for the eastern coast of England. #2 The Vikings landed in a deserted town, and began to search it. They found a large ornate building in the center of the city, and entered it. The building was more lavish than anything Sverrir had ever seen, and the townspeople had apparently brought all of their valuables into it. #3 The townspeople of Bebbanburg perform a strange gesture that involves touching one of their hands to four different parts of their torso and head as the Vikings begin to hew down anyone who stands in their way. The Vikings suffer heavy losses in the battle, and most distressingly for Sverrir, Hauk falls after having fought valiantly. #4 The poem was so intricate and learned that the simple warriors could not understand parts of it. The king was said to be a descendent of Odin, and his generosity was unparalleled. The raid was presented as an unmitigated, glorious victory.
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN: 1669365352
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 69
Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The longship sways on the windy sea like a seer in a trance. After days of hard rowing, the crew is exhausted. They had set sail from the western coast of Scandinavia several days ago, bound for the eastern coast of England. #2 The Vikings landed in a deserted town, and began to search it. They found a large ornate building in the center of the city, and entered it. The building was more lavish than anything Sverrir had ever seen, and the townspeople had apparently brought all of their valuables into it. #3 The townspeople of Bebbanburg perform a strange gesture that involves touching one of their hands to four different parts of their torso and head as the Vikings begin to hew down anyone who stands in their way. The Vikings suffer heavy losses in the battle, and most distressingly for Sverrir, Hauk falls after having fought valiantly. #4 The poem was so intricate and learned that the simple warriors could not understand parts of it. The king was said to be a descendent of Odin, and his generosity was unparalleled. The raid was presented as an unmitigated, glorious victory.
Myths of the Pagan North
Author: Christopher Abram
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847252478
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
An engaging account of the world of the Vikings and their gods.
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847252478
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
An engaging account of the world of the Vikings and their gods.
Nordic Religions in the Viking Age
Author: Thomas Andrew DuBois
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812217148
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Thomas DuBois unravels for the first time the history of the Nordic religions in the Viking Age. "A seminal study of Nordic religions that future scholars will not be able to avoid."—Church History
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812217148
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Thomas DuBois unravels for the first time the history of the Nordic religions in the Viking Age. "A seminal study of Nordic religions that future scholars will not be able to avoid."—Church History
The Love of Destiny: the Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism
Author: Dan McCoy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781492761556
Category : Europe, Northern
Languages : en
Pages : 98
Book Description
We're all familiar with the pop culture depictions of Norse mythology that are shallow and trite at best, and often downright misleading. They owe far more to puerile fantasies of being a macho superhero than they do to the ways in which the pre-Christian peoples of northern Europe actually thought of themselves and their spirituality.Even many of the attempts to revive the practice of heathen spirituality in the modern world suffer from similar shortcomings; many of these attempted reconstructions have unfortunately only reconstructed the most superficial elements of this ancient tradition, grafted them onto an essentially Christian way of perceiving and experiencing the world, and missed the bigger picture.The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism explores this bigger picture. In this relatively short book or long essay by Dan McCoy, the author of the articles on Norse-Mythology.org, many of the recurring themes in these articles are explored in much more depth. The book articulates the heart of the indigenous Germanic worldview - the unconditional affirmation of the world as the very embodiment of the gods - and shows how the rest of that worldview is structured around that central idea.To do this, it "translates" the narratives and images that comprise the pre-Christian mythology of the Norse and other Germanic peoples into the more familiar idiom of conceptual language, and contrasts this polytheistic mythology with the mythology of four monotheistic religions: ancient Judaism, Greek rationalism, Christianity, and modern science. It argues that many of the most taken-for-granted ideas in the modern world, such as the dichotomy between "good" and "evil" and the dichotomy between the "objective" and the "subjective," frame their topics in counterproductive, monotheistic ways, and shows how Germanic polytheism offers compelling alternatives that are truly "outside the box." Ultimately, it evokes a way of engaging with the more-than-human world that honors our inescapable and awe-inspiring entanglement within it.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781492761556
Category : Europe, Northern
Languages : en
Pages : 98
Book Description
We're all familiar with the pop culture depictions of Norse mythology that are shallow and trite at best, and often downright misleading. They owe far more to puerile fantasies of being a macho superhero than they do to the ways in which the pre-Christian peoples of northern Europe actually thought of themselves and their spirituality.Even many of the attempts to revive the practice of heathen spirituality in the modern world suffer from similar shortcomings; many of these attempted reconstructions have unfortunately only reconstructed the most superficial elements of this ancient tradition, grafted them onto an essentially Christian way of perceiving and experiencing the world, and missed the bigger picture.The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism explores this bigger picture. In this relatively short book or long essay by Dan McCoy, the author of the articles on Norse-Mythology.org, many of the recurring themes in these articles are explored in much more depth. The book articulates the heart of the indigenous Germanic worldview - the unconditional affirmation of the world as the very embodiment of the gods - and shows how the rest of that worldview is structured around that central idea.To do this, it "translates" the narratives and images that comprise the pre-Christian mythology of the Norse and other Germanic peoples into the more familiar idiom of conceptual language, and contrasts this polytheistic mythology with the mythology of four monotheistic religions: ancient Judaism, Greek rationalism, Christianity, and modern science. It argues that many of the most taken-for-granted ideas in the modern world, such as the dichotomy between "good" and "evil" and the dichotomy between the "objective" and the "subjective," frame their topics in counterproductive, monotheistic ways, and shows how Germanic polytheism offers compelling alternatives that are truly "outside the box." Ultimately, it evokes a way of engaging with the more-than-human world that honors our inescapable and awe-inspiring entanglement within it.
The Age of the Vikings
Author: Anders Winroth
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400851904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
A major reassessment of the vikings and their legacy The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history. Drawing on a wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence, Anders Winroth captures the innovation and pure daring of the Vikings without glossing over their destructive heritage. He not only explains the Viking attacks, but also looks at Viking endeavors in commerce, politics, discovery, and colonization, and reveals how Viking arts, literature, and religious thought evolved in ways unequaled in the rest of Europe. The Age of the Vikings sheds new light on the complex society, culture, and legacy of these legendary seafarers.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400851904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
A major reassessment of the vikings and their legacy The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history. Drawing on a wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence, Anders Winroth captures the innovation and pure daring of the Vikings without glossing over their destructive heritage. He not only explains the Viking attacks, but also looks at Viking endeavors in commerce, politics, discovery, and colonization, and reveals how Viking arts, literature, and religious thought evolved in ways unequaled in the rest of Europe. The Age of the Vikings sheds new light on the complex society, culture, and legacy of these legendary seafarers.
The Viking Way
Author: Neil S. Price
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN: 9781842172605
Category : Archaeology and religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological or historical research has been done to explore what this may really have meant to the men and women of the time. This book examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, looking at its meaning and function, practice and practitioners, and the complicated constructions of gender and sexual identity with which these were underpinned. Combining strong elements of eroticism and aggression, sorcery appears as a fundamental domain of women's power, linking them with the gods, the dead and the future. Their battle spells and combat rituals complement the men's physical acts of fighting, in a supernatural empowerment of the Viking way of life. What emerges is a fundamentally new image of the world in which the Vikings understood themselves to move, in which magic and its implications permeated every aspect of a society permanently geared for war. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Neil Price takes us with him on a tour through the sights and sounds of this undiscovered country, meeting its human and otherworldly inhabitants, including the Sámi with whom the Norse partly shared this mental landscape. On the way we explore Viking notions of the mind and soul, the fluidity of the boundaries that they drew between humans and animals, and the immense variety of their spiritual beliefs. We find magic in the Vikings' bedrooms and on their battlefields, and we meet the sorcerers themselves through their remarkable burials and the tools of their trade. Combining archaeology, history and literary scholarship with extensive studies of Germanic and circumpolar religion, this multi-award-winning book shows us the Vikings as we have never seen them before.
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN: 9781842172605
Category : Archaeology and religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological or historical research has been done to explore what this may really have meant to the men and women of the time. This book examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, looking at its meaning and function, practice and practitioners, and the complicated constructions of gender and sexual identity with which these were underpinned. Combining strong elements of eroticism and aggression, sorcery appears as a fundamental domain of women's power, linking them with the gods, the dead and the future. Their battle spells and combat rituals complement the men's physical acts of fighting, in a supernatural empowerment of the Viking way of life. What emerges is a fundamentally new image of the world in which the Vikings understood themselves to move, in which magic and its implications permeated every aspect of a society permanently geared for war. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Neil Price takes us with him on a tour through the sights and sounds of this undiscovered country, meeting its human and otherworldly inhabitants, including the Sámi with whom the Norse partly shared this mental landscape. On the way we explore Viking notions of the mind and soul, the fluidity of the boundaries that they drew between humans and animals, and the immense variety of their spiritual beliefs. We find magic in the Vikings' bedrooms and on their battlefields, and we meet the sorcerers themselves through their remarkable burials and the tools of their trade. Combining archaeology, history and literary scholarship with extensive studies of Germanic and circumpolar religion, this multi-award-winning book shows us the Vikings as we have never seen them before.
The Road to Hel
Author: Hilda Roderick Ellis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110763234X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
This 1943 book uses a variety of evidence from archaeology and literature concerning Norse funeral customs to reconstruct their conception of future life.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110763234X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
This 1943 book uses a variety of evidence from archaeology and literature concerning Norse funeral customs to reconstruct their conception of future life.
A Handbook to Eddic Poetry
Author: Carolyne Larrington
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316720853
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 675
Book Description
This is the first comprehensive and accessible survey in English of Old Norse eddic poetry: a remarkable body of literature rooted in the Viking Age, which is a critical source for the study of early Scandinavian myths, poetics, culture and society. Dramatically recreating the voices of the legendary past, eddic poems distil moments of high emotion as human heroes and supernatural beings alike grapple with betrayal, loyalty, mortality and love. These poems relate the most famous deeds of gods such as Óðinn and Þórr with their adversaries the giants; they bring to life the often fraught interactions between kings, queens and heroes as well as their encounters with valkyries, elves, dragons and dwarfs. Written by leading international scholars, the chapters in this volume showcase the poetic riches of the eddic corpus, and reveal its relevance to the history of poetics, gender studies, pre-Christian religions, art history and archaeology.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316720853
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 675
Book Description
This is the first comprehensive and accessible survey in English of Old Norse eddic poetry: a remarkable body of literature rooted in the Viking Age, which is a critical source for the study of early Scandinavian myths, poetics, culture and society. Dramatically recreating the voices of the legendary past, eddic poems distil moments of high emotion as human heroes and supernatural beings alike grapple with betrayal, loyalty, mortality and love. These poems relate the most famous deeds of gods such as Óðinn and Þórr with their adversaries the giants; they bring to life the often fraught interactions between kings, queens and heroes as well as their encounters with valkyries, elves, dragons and dwarfs. Written by leading international scholars, the chapters in this volume showcase the poetic riches of the eddic corpus, and reveal its relevance to the history of poetics, gender studies, pre-Christian religions, art history and archaeology.
The Saga of the Jómsvíkings
Author: Lee M. Hollander
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292788749
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 118
Book Description
A loyal translation of the medieval Icelandic saga of a strong ruler and his men versus a brotherhood of fierce Viking mercenaries. In A.D. 986, Earl Hákon, ruler of most of Norway, won a triumphant victory over an invading fleet of Danes in the great naval battle of Hjórunga Bay. Sailing under his banner were no fewer than five Icelandic skalds, the poet-historians of the Old Norse world. Two centuries later their accounts of the battle became the basis for one of the liveliest of the Icelandic sagas, with special emphasis on the doings of the Jómsvíkings, the famed members of a warrior community that feared no one and dared all. In Lee M. Hollander’s faithful translation, all of the unknown twelfth-century author’s narrative genius and flair for dramatic situation and pungent characterization is preserved. “[A] famous tale of derring-do . . . Hollander has been able to do the even more difficult job of faithfully rendering one text into English with complete loyalty to the style and spirit of his original.” —Speculum
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292788749
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 118
Book Description
A loyal translation of the medieval Icelandic saga of a strong ruler and his men versus a brotherhood of fierce Viking mercenaries. In A.D. 986, Earl Hákon, ruler of most of Norway, won a triumphant victory over an invading fleet of Danes in the great naval battle of Hjórunga Bay. Sailing under his banner were no fewer than five Icelandic skalds, the poet-historians of the Old Norse world. Two centuries later their accounts of the battle became the basis for one of the liveliest of the Icelandic sagas, with special emphasis on the doings of the Jómsvíkings, the famed members of a warrior community that feared no one and dared all. In Lee M. Hollander’s faithful translation, all of the unknown twelfth-century author’s narrative genius and flair for dramatic situation and pungent characterization is preserved. “[A] famous tale of derring-do . . . Hollander has been able to do the even more difficult job of faithfully rendering one text into English with complete loyalty to the style and spirit of his original.” —Speculum