This essay describes my work as a director in a specialized orientation within psychodrama, surrealistic psychodrama. Using the language and performance techniques of theater and under the guidance of a director, psychodrama creates an improvised narrative or story. The essay describes several dramas I have directed, reflecting on my actions and choices as a director and group leader. I examine whether my working method has allowed me to be spontaneous and creative, which I believe the example of "The dangerous bear" demonstrates. The process enabled me to establish trust and receptivity so that a newly constituted group dared to investigate conflicts in symbolic ways associated with illness and death. In addition I have investigated connections between the theory and philosophy of psychodrama and that of the theater of ancient Greece and Friedrich Nietzsche, all of which share the view that Dionysian or unbounded energy is significant for change. At the same time J. L Moreno, the founder of psychodrama, has made me aware that the philosophy of ancient Greek theater and Nietzsche require boundaries and fixed forms for this amorphous energy: Apollonian energy, calling for reflection and new roles. The essay also addresses developments in the Swedish healthcare system’s approach to treatment, where the requirement that methods be predicable and proven effective weighs more heavily than developing the individual’s own ability to function personally and professionally using good judgment and an increased ethical awareness. In conclusion I consider how, on a personal level, the essay has made it possible for me to combine creativity, logical reasoning and scholarly writing, which has been a great challenge.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the Trojan prince Paris is described in the Iliad and in the movie Troy in regard to love and bravery. Thereafter an analysis of the similarities and differences between the Iliad and the movie Troy will be made. There will also be a discussion why there are differences between an epic story which was made for over two thousand years ago and a modern movie made in the twenty-first century. The differences will be based on the perspective ancient Greek culture versus filmmaking of the twenty-first century. The method that has been used is narrative analysis where the primary data, the Iliad and the movie Troy, have been interpreted.                         The Trojan prince Paris is described as a young, handsome man driven by his passion for Helen. Because of his passion for Helen he started a war and sacrificed thousands of men of Troy for her sake. The study showed that Paris was described in both the Iliad and the movie Troy as a coward, although some of his actions were brave. One reason why there are differences between the Iliad and the movie Troy is Wolfgang Petersen’s decision to remove the interference of the gods but other reasons are also discussed in the essay.

This study is about Lilith, a demonic character from Mesopotamian mythology. She was originally described as a wind demon that caused desolation and destruction everywhere she went. According to some Jewish folklore Lilith was Adam’s first wife, though she refused to submit to him and fled to the desert. Throughout history Lilith has been given a lot of different forms and this study aims to map some of her various forms in modern time. The purpose of this study is to look into how Lilith has been used in modern litterateur. The study will examine which forms that appear and if some are more prominent than others. In order to fulfill the purpose, a qualitative content analysis has been implemented — based on the concept of archetypes that also make up the study’s theoretical foundation. The results show three authors’ books that focus on the usage of Lilith. The material consist of three occult and esoteric books and the result shows that Lilith has been used and presented in various ways. The main theme that all books supports is that Lilith is a mean to reclaim the female sexuality. It’s about interpretative prerogative, especially concerning strong female characters.

This essay seeks to explore Roland Barthes’ critique of ideology and the two notions with which ‘ideology’ is interconnected throughout his works: mythology and doxa. The primary importance of this critique, within the field of contemporary rhetoric, as I argue in this text, is to be found in its dissemination of ideological critique. Given the complex nature of the theories of Barthes, the question of his ideological critique must be asked in a twofold shape: first, the functions of the critique itself, as it unfolds throughout Barthes’ oeuvre, must be unravelled. Secondly – and this question is shown to be justified by the results of the first – the mythological structure of Barthes’ works themselves must be drawn up.  Contrary to the common understanding of Barthes (the doxa, if you will), according to which his works should be split in two – early/late Barthes or structuralist/poststructuralist Barthes – I argue instead that the most informative way to understand him is by seeing his writings as always structured around a kernel: namely ideology and its critique. The splitting of Barthes oeuvre hides in part the perennial nature of this kernel. In my reading, I seek instead to show that this kernel informs the major works of Barthes (sometimes in a complex way) by two modi: the agonistic and the anti-agonistic. In turn, these modi can be understood as nodes in the mythological system that makes up Barthes’ works, which in this essay is named barthescity.  For Barthes, mythologies function as second order linguistic systems, exchanging the expressed meaning of the first order systems (visible, audible) for their own. This is also the case with barthescity. This second meaning is shown to express a system of perspectives and properties that is described here as different parts of a single virtue. The virtuous aspect of barthescity, I argue, might be of use to the general public in their everyday being in our ideologically permeated world. Thus, the dissemination of ideological critique found in Barthes’ works, is consequently not to be understood foremost as the direct critique or theory used or propagated by Barthes himself, but rather as the indirect, mythological and rhetorical effect of his texts.

This thesis analyses how norse mythology is being used in modern videogames. This is done via a qualitative content analysis using grounded theory of the game God of War from 2018 by Santa Monica Studios, and comparing the games contents with literature regarding Norse mythology, the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, as well as studies done on similar games in fields closely related to the subject. The subjects that get compared in this thesis are the gods: Freyja, Mimir and Baldur, the places: Niflheim and Muspelheim, the events: Fimbulvinter and Ragnarök, and studies done on other games usage of norse mythology and -society, ehere the other games in question are: Jotun by Thunder Lotus Games, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice by Ninja Theory, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Bethesda Game Studios. The Thesis aims to identify the changes between the games representation of Norse mythology and the mythology itself, how the changes have been shaped by our contemporary society, how these changes can be explained, and finally if similar phenomenon can be observed in other games based on or using Norse mythology as inspiration. Some of these changes are for example how the Fimbulvinter and Ragnarök starts with Baldur’s death, the climate of places such as Niflheim and Muspelheim, the heavy usage of strong female characters, and the origins of certain gods, like Mimir for example. Hopefully, this thesis can be used as a basis and inspiration for thesis and studies done in this or closely related subjects in future studies. The rest of the thesis is written in Swedish.

The sacrificial tree of Frösö: A symbiosis of two cultures? This bachelor thesis deals with the site of what has been interpreted as the remains of a sacrificial tree under the church of Frösö, on the island of Frösö. The found material consists predominantly of animal bones, where a large part has been identified as wild animals such as brown bears, but also a large number of juvenile pigs. Previous research has interpreted the place as an Old Norse place of worship to the Norse god Frey, due to the rich numberof pigs and the islands theophoric name (translated to “The island of Frey”). The unusual wild animals, such as squirrels and red deer have been interpreted as a staging of the ancient world tree Yggdrasil in Norse mythology. The overrepresentation of bones from brown bear however has been debated and is often compared to Sami bear graves. There are some similarities to the bear graves, but the differences that exist needs to be looked at more closely. The aim is to process materials and interpretations in a more holistic way. This is done by discussing various ritual acts, belief system and the choice of place of worship and sacrificial material, then apply this to the findings under the church of Frösö. Since such a large part of the bone material descents from brown bears, the use of bears in various cult practices has also been studied. The aim of this study is to provide new insight and interpretation of which ethnic groups may have used the site, before the church was built.The discussion concludes that a symbiosis is possible in the vicinity of the island, and that it is therefore not unlikely that this also applies to the island of Frösö. The found material under the church of Frösö could be remnants of a bear ceremony, but it could also be remnants from a more economic aspect or simply a mixture of the two. The bear was important financially in the Norse society and a Sami influence, based on their customs and beliefs, is not entirely unlikely given the close contact that existed. This could therefore have been symbolically incorporated into the religious rites.

The Gorgon is a creature described as terrible in ancient literature. It was depicted with glaring eyes, tusks and a hanging tongue and was a part of Greek antiquity from Archaic to Roman Period. The Gorgon motif has frequently been adorned on different materials. The reason as to why such a creature was depicted has been a subject of interest in earlier studies. The Gorgon motif has been elaborately studied in combination with buildings, armours and vases. A gap of knowledge that is still to be filled is a deeper examination of the Gorgon motifs on coins, which is the inspiration for this study in which the main aim is to approach an understanding of what function the Gorgon motif could have had on Archaic Greek coins. The study is based on a collection of 42 Archaic coins from Athens and Neapolis in Macedon. Through Panofsky's theory of iconography the material is analyzed and discussed via a series of sub-questions; ‘Did the Gorgon motifs differ depending on the location?’, ‘What combination of features appear on the coins?’, ‘To what extent was the Gorgon myth linked to the locations that used the motif and what other myths were used on coins during the same period? ’, ‘Is there a link between the use of Gorgon motifs on coins and on other material objects?’ The paper measures the possible explanations of the Gorgon motif with archaeological finds and ancient texts dealing with the Gorgon, many of which point to the fact that the Gorgon’s function generally served a purpose as an apotropaic symbol. Its function as a possible amulet is investigated using previous research that studies the symbolic significance of the Gorgon, as well as tracing its background and examination of the Gorgon myth to find possible connections with other mythical creatures. / Gorgonen är en varelse som beskrivs som fruktansvärd i den grekiska antikens litteratur. Den avbildas med stirrande ögon, betar och en hängande tunga. Gorgonen har varit en del av den grekiska antiken sedan dess början och har varit ett populärt motiv på olika material. Det har funnits stort intresse i tidigare studier kring anledningarna till att en sådan varelse valts att avbildas. Motivet har studerats omsorgsfullt när det har smyckat byggnader, rustningar och vaser. En lucka som inte har fyllts än inom ämnet är en djupare undersökning av gorgonmotiven på mynt, vilket även är ämnet för denna studie med syftet att närma sig en förståelse för de funktioner som Gorgonmotiven fyllde på mynt under arkaisk grekisk tid. Studien baseras på ett urval av 42 arkaiska mynt från Aten och Neapolis i Makedonien. Genom Panofskys trestegsmodell analyseras gorgonmotiv som framkommer på mynten och svarar på en rad viktiga underfrågor: Skiljer sig gorgonmotiv åt mellan platser Vilka kombinationer av gorgoner förekommer på mynten? I vilken utsträckning var gorgonmyten kopplad till de platser som använde motivet, vilka andra myter användes på mynten under samma period? Finns det ett samband mellan användningen av gorgonmotiv på mynt och på andra objekt? I uppsatsen bedöms möjliga förklaringar till gorgonmotivet med arkeologiska fynd och antika texter som behandlar gorgonen, varav många pekar mot att gorgonens funktion i allmänhet fyllde ett apotropeiskt syfte. Detta undersöks med hjälp av tidigare forskning av gorgonens symboliska betydelse samt kopplingen med andra mytiska varelser genom att spåra dess bakgrund och granskning av gorgonmyten.

The aim of this essay is to observe how the pre-Christian mythology of Scandinavia, commonly known as Norse mythology, is depicted during the first season of the History Channel TV-series Vikings from 2013, and to analyze how well those depictions correspond with modern day knowledge of that mythology. More specifically this essay studies how the pre-Christian gods, myths and rituals are depicted. To accomplish this the essay uses a modified version of a method called structured observation, a method otherwise associated with observing people. Roland Barthes theory of a primary- and secondary meaning of language is used as the theoretical framework for this essay.  The results show that many Christian themes can be detected in Vikings. For example, in the depictions of the god Odin who sometimes becomes a symbol for the Christian God. This is shown by depicting Odin being able to have decided people’s destinies, he is not tied to a specific task, and is prayed to in a manner that looks like a Christian prayer. Modern norms of equality between genders, a linear perception of time, and a distaste for human sacrifice can be detected in the Series’ depictions of Valhalla, Ragnarök and rituals of sacrifice. The myths depicted in Vikings can be divided into three categories: how humans understand the world, what happens after you die in battle and what will happen during the end of the world. The rituals depicted all happen during one of two ceremonies: funerals and sacrifice.

The purpose of this essay is to show that what defines a hero is far more complicated than the prolific author and mythological expert Joseph Campbell would have one believe – in his view, heroic qualities stem from a certain type of chosen individual and reoccurring narrative motifs without taking social structures and masculinity into account. By analyzing the characters Beowulf and Odysseus through a filter, consisting of Campbells model of the “hero’s journey” along with perspectives provided by studies in the masculinity field done by Raewyn Connell and Jørgen Lorentzen together with Claes Ekenstam, this essay concludes, in short, the following: applying Campbells model of the hero does reveal several similarities between the two characters, though it ultimately fails to prove any deeper connection. The aspects brought into focus by utilizing different concepts of masculinity however, proved to be more enlightening, with the most notable conclusion that the various tests forced upon both Beowulf and Odysseus mirror Raewyn Connells concept of “the hegemonic masculinity”, which in essence means that the most elevated masculine qualities existing in the context of the book are also the same ones being targeted by the antagonistic forces present in the story.

Tyr – A historical and comparative study of configurations and formations connected to the Old Norse god Tyr. Klas af Edholm   This thesis has two aims. One is a discussion of the history of the study of Old Norse religion and related aspects, centered on how general tendencies within the area of research have affected the interpretations of the god *Tīwaz/Tyr. Thereby, it treats a selection of influential trends of interpretation, and a selection of prominent scholars of the field. The second aim is an empirical and comparative analysis of the Old Norse source material and, to some degree, the continental Germanic, the Baltic, and the other Indo-European material. Tyr has been interpreted according to trends of research in the field; the mythological character has been used as a projection screen of the theories. Already from the beginning, Tyr was interpreted as a sky god; connected to this was the conception of an original high god. The interpretations of Tyr as a sun god, sky god, and/or law god are close related to this high god conception. These interpretations of the god Tyr has built their arguments upon the etymological connection to Indo-European words for ‘heaven, celestial’ and ‘god’, but they have not taken enough consideration of the Old Norse sources. Georges Dumézil interpreted Tyr, according to his système tripartite, as a law god. This understanding of the god has been widely adopted, but cannot be confirmed; the Old Norse material only speaks of Tyr as a war god. The comparative Indo-European etymological material indicates that his function as sky god is archaic, while the martial traits shared with the continental Germanic and Celtic counterparts prove that this characteristic must have evolved early. Tyr (or rather his predecessor *Tīwaz) lost his celestial traits and became an unmitigated war god, and as such we perceive him in the Old Norse religion.