<p>By examine cremated remains from graves dated to late Iron Age I wanted to find out what sorts of animals were placed in the graves. But also to see if the animal sacrifices had any connection to the Old Norse religion. The osteological material that were analysed were from both cremated humans and animals and had been dated to Viking Age. The material is from burial ground 59 at Laxare, Boge parish on Gotland. In addition to the human remains, the material contains bones from horse, cattle, sheep/goat, pig, dog, cat, bear, birds and fish. The combination between the species seems to be common all over Scandinavia during the late Iron Age. Except from analysing the material from Laxare I also studied litterature written by other scientist on the subject of animals in Old Norse religion. This was made to understand as much as possible about the religion and how people looked upon animals before Christianity.</p><p>It seemed that animals were very important in religion during the Viking Age in this area on Gotland. Some of the species that were sacrifices in the graves had big importance in peoples daily life but also in myths. The world needed humans, animals and gods to survive and everything were depending on the harmony between them. The horse was clearly a religious animal, and it shows both in the archaeological material and in the written stories from this time. Even cattle, goat and pig are other animals that describe to be important for the religion. The dog seems to be important in the archaeological material but is not mentioned very much in the written myths.</p><p>It is rather clear that the animal sacrificed in graves from the late Iron Age in Sweden is not only for food in the afterlife but also has a very important meaning for the religion and peoples understanding about Cosmos.</p>

By examine cremated remains from graves dated to late Iron Age I wanted to find out what sorts of animals were placed in the graves. But also to see if the animal sacrifices had any connection to the Old Norse religion. The osteological material that were analysed were from both cremated humans and animals and had been dated to Viking Age. The material is from burial ground 59 at Laxare, Boge parish on Gotland. In addition to the human remains, the material contains bones from horse, cattle, sheep/goat, pig, dog, cat, bear, birds and fish. The combination between the species seems to be common all over Scandinavia during the late Iron Age. Except from analysing the material from Laxare I also studied litterature written by other scientist on the subject of animals in Old Norse religion. This was made to understand as much as possible about the religion and how people looked upon animals before Christianity. It seemed that animals were very important in religion during the Viking Age in this area on Gotland. Some of the species that were sacrifices in the graves had big importance in peoples daily life but also in myths. The world needed humans, animals and gods to survive and everything were depending on the harmony between them. The horse was clearly a religious animal, and it shows both in the archaeological material and in the written stories from this time. Even cattle, goat and pig are other animals that describe to be important for the religion. The dog seems to be important in the archaeological material but is not mentioned very much in the written myths. It is rather clear that the animal sacrificed in graves from the late Iron Age in Sweden is not only for food in the afterlife but also has a very important meaning for the religion and peoples understanding about Cosmos.

This essay deals with the concept of 'soul' in beliefs among north germanic pagans. As it comes forth in written sources, this concept can easely be seen as an odd contradiction, since the concept of 'soul' after the demise of a person seems to split. There seems to exist both an idea of different realms for the dead, and a thought that the dead would 'live' on in their graves. Some researchers, i.e. Price (2002) and Kaliff (1997), think that the soul of the dead human according to Nordic pagan belief split apart in a way, that there was an idea of the human soul being made up of several aspects, each with its own goal an purpose. Five such aspects have been identified - a protective free-soul, a personification of the inviduals luck (and possibly part of his/her destiny), a physical body or an aspect of the soul abilitating shape shifting, a persons thoughts and goals and very essence, and finally the dead body 'living' on in the burial mound. An alternative interpretation (i.e. Ellis 1968) is that the different explanations of the future of the dead are results of different traditions, connected to geographically and/or chronologically fixed ideas, but that certain remnants of earlier traditions could remain even when a new view of the afterlife has taken over. I have chosen to discuss these different viewpoints by comparing them with each other and with later swedish folklore, that is documented and seemingly originating during christian times. By peeling off views and beliefs of known christian origin, suprisingly well preserved representations of presumably older (pagan) views of the 'soul' and and its aspects have been identified. Furthermore, representations of soul aspects not yet described in connection with nordic paganism, and still not traceable to christian views, have been found. The result of the essay is that the theory of several soul aspects in pre-christian or pagan nordic beliefs seems to hold up best. Even if there, without a doubt, to some degree existed local variations and even though no tradition remains unchanged over time, it still would seem that the influence of these factors cannot in full explain the observed variation in views on soul aspects in pre-christian viking age Norse religion.

The essay has its beginning in the source material that deal with ancient Norse religion before the people in the Nordic countries became Christian. The fact that there are no contemporary written or authentic sources available that can tell us something about the Norse religion during the Viking age is problematic. Archeological source materials is available, but tend to talk more about power relationships and social status than the old Norse religion and the way people practiced their faith. Medieval Christian writers are a source of knowledge of the Norse religion; however, they can only highlight the Norse religion from a Christian point of view and ways of evaluating the pagan faith, making them less reliable. The written sources of this paper are based on the written by two medieval Christian writers, Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri Sturluson. These sources are among the first to treat the Norse religion process after the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia. The survey is based on the Saxo Grammaticus history work "Gesta Danorum" as in the ninth book "Ragnar Lodbrok story" portrays the Amazon Ladgerd, the figure which the thesis directs its focus against, and Snorri Sturluson written collection of ”Heimskringla" which deals with Earl Haakon and his patron goddess Torgerd Holgabrud in battle of Hjoerungavaag year 986. The survey is also influenced by the Icelandic poetry from which Saxo Grammaticus' and Snorri Sturluson´s history writing originates. In this essay, I use source criticism and a comparative method to study the relationships between the two sources and the way they depict the Amazon Ladgerd and Torgerd Holgabrud in the historic context. The essay can help to give a better understanding of the Amazon and the role women warriors have had in the ancient Norse religion, which future research can benefit from. With the support from earlier research on the ancient Norse religion, I can show that there is a connection between the two sources Saxo Grammaticus' “Gesta Danorum” and Snorri Sturluson’s "Heimskringla ". Both sources depict the Amazon and women warriors’ role in the ancient Norse religion - based on a Christian world view and feminine ideal. The study shows several similarities between the Amazon Ladgerd and Torgerd Holgabrud, which can indicate that the two women warriors is the same History fairytale figure. The sources lead me on the track by another female, giantess Gerd, which proves Ladgerd´s and Torgerd Holgabrud's real character and origin. Saxo Grammaticus, Snorri Sturluson and the Icelandic poetry depictions of Ladgerd, Torgerd Holgabrud and Gerd is simultaneously a reflection of a pre-Norse ritual, the "blot", and a Norse royal ideology.

This essay takes its start in the problematic situation concerning source material in the study of the Norse religion before the Christianization of Scandinavia. There is a lack of written sources from the time when the religion was still practiced. There are plenty of archeological sources economic situation than their religious beliefs. The Icelandic stories written in the 13th and 14th centuries give us a broad pictureof the Norse mythology, but the writers were Christians which makes their reliability questionable. The focus of this essay is therefore on two texts written during the time when the Norse religion was still in practice. The first source is the travel notes written in 922 by the Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Fadlan who met a group of the Rus’ people. The Rus’ were mainly Scandinavians (possibly from Sweden) and their religious practices hence falls under the category of Norse religion. Ibn Fadlan showed a great interest in the Rus’ and describes their ritual sacrifices and a funeral of theirs in great detail. The second source is the description of the heathen cult in the Swedish town of Uppsala written in 1076 by the Christian scholar Adam of Bremen. He describes Uppsala as the last outpost of the religion and among other things he describes their practices, their ritual sacrifices and a golden temple. I’ve used a comparative method as well as a historical critical method in order to findcredible similarities between the two sources. The focus is placed on the descriptions of the ritual sacrifices in both of the texts and how they can be understood in their context. This is done to find a common ground within the religion in order to construct a framework from which further research may find its foundation. With the help from earlier research on these two texts, on other written material, such as thethe Icelandic stories, and on archeological findings I’ve found many similarities between my two sources which can be considered as real parts of the Norse religion. These are the sacrifice to images of the gods, the sacrifice of different animals, the sacrifice in sacred groves and the hanging of scarified animals in trees and on treelike poles, the central role of sacrificing heads of animals and different ritual practices in order to experience a higher reality. Human sacrifice can be strongly questioned and both of the texts point to hanging as a mean of execution instead of sacrifice.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2017-01-18T13:56:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 8622162 bytes, checksum: 0bcfb8b91dbbbf51331420e49b3ad1b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-18T13:56:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivo total.pdf: 8622162 bytes, checksum: 0bcfb8b91dbbbf51331420e49b3ad1b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The Vikings, people who inhabited the Medieval Scandinavia, before the adoption of Christianity as the official religion in the eleventh century, had a very rich set of beliefs, rites and myths that were partially preserved by oral culture, manuscripts and archaeological remains and has been studied by researchers from all over the world. This dissertation makes an investigation of religious symbolisms attributed to animals in stone monuments erected during the Viking Age, and for that we use, as a study center object, the iconography present in the Scandinavian steles, making a dialogue between these imagistic representations and literary sources of Norse mythology, as well as many other sources of Old Norse Religion. Thus so, besides highlighting the peculiarities, inquiries and religious characteristics related to the main animals present in the Nordic religion, this work provides an overview of the current concept of religion of the Vikings and their most important aspects in a systematizing approach, because no one element of this fascinating religiosity of the north can be understood disassociated from the rest. / Os vikings, populações que habitavam a Escandinávia Medieval, antes da adoção do cristianismo como religião oficial no século XI, possuíam um riquíssimo conjunto de crenças, ritos e mitos que foram parcialmente preservados pela cultura oral, por manuscritos e por vestígios arqueológicos e que vem sendo estudado por pesquisadores de todo o mundo. A presente dissertação realiza uma investigação dos simbolismos religiosos atribuídos aos animais em monumentos de pedra erguidos durante a Era Viking, e para tanto, utilizamos como objeto central de estudo a iconografia presente nas estelas escandinavas, fazendo um diálogo entre estas representações imagéticas e as fontes literárias da mitologia nórdica, bem como com diversas outras fontes da Religiosidade Nórdica Pré-Cristã. Desta maneira, além de evidenciar as peculiaridades, indagações e características religiosas relacionadas aos principais animais presentes na religiosidade nórdica, este trabalho fornece um panorama geral da atual conceituação da religiosidade dos vikings e seus aspectos mais relevantes em uma abordagem sistematizadora, pois nenhum elemento da fascinante religiosidade deste povo pode ser entendido desassociado dos demais.

This thesis is the first study to examine the interaction between gods and giants in Old Norse mythology from the perspective of Iron Age halls. Its central aim is to contextualise Old Norse mythological narratives that describe the interactions between gods and giants in a hall environment, and to show how the mythological depictions can be compared to the norms and rules found in Iron Age hall culture, especially in connection with its warrior ideology. The relationships observed also apply to the Iron Age’s aristocratic sovereigns and their dynamic dealings – both peaceful and martial – found in the connection and rivalry between different halls and hall owners. The giants are related to the concept of “the Other”, and as hall-owners can thus be contextualised with real social relations in Iron Age society. The investigation centers arounds key topics from the perspective of a hall setting, departing from mythic traditions regarding Óðinn and Þórr as guests in the halls of giants. These topics include grið within the hall; the good and generous host; the dangerous and hostile guest; the hall as an arena for knowledge and mead; and finally the destruction of halls as an attack on the hall owner’s fame and honour. Similarities and differences between myths about Óðinn’s and Þórr’s interaction with hall-owning giants are examined in depth, and it is argued that Óðinn embodies wisdom and extracts knowledge or valuables from the giants by cunning tricks or manipulation, having (usually) travelled there alone and in disguise. Þórr, on the other hand, is argued to embody physical strength, honour, glory and courage, and his dealings with the giants revolve around these issues. He seldom seems to travel alone or under cover, and when his courage or honour is threatened, his response is to kill his host (and his retinue) and to destroy the giant’s hall. It is argued that the Old Norse conception of the world is to be understood as neither dualistic or monistic. Instead, it is proposed that the myths can be understood from a perspective of conflicts that are temporal and not permanent in nature.

Amongst the Iron Age Scandinavian elite, there are several supra-regional and multifaceted tripartite (or threefold) symbolic expressions. These include expressions found in art, artefacts and monuments, such as the triangular stone-settings, or Sw. treuddar, which may be the strongest manifestation in the landscape. In addition, tripartite symbolism is found in the elite’s óðal-claims and also Norse mythological structures. Due to the widespread pervasiveness of tripartite symbology within the culture of the Iron Age elite, these phenomena are conceptualised in the theoretical framework of a ‘tripartite ideology’. This study addresses the questions of why was the tripartite ideology so enduring within the Nordic Iron Age, in what ways did it manifest and what positions did it hold in the Iron Age elite’s socio-cultural and religious thought-world? This research examines the monumental, artefactual, social and mythological manifestations of the tripartite ideology in Iron Age Scandinavia. The objective is to formulate a theory which synthesises the various expressions of tripartite symbology using a source-pluralistic methodology, which combines archaeological evidence with both emic (insider) and etic (outsider) historical sources, alongside religious studies and semiotics in order to provide a more representative picture of the function of treuddar and tripartite symbolism in the Iron Age elite milieu. The result of this methodology is that the tripartite ideology is connected with the Iron Age elite’s ancestral óðal-claims based on a legendary or divine descent, along with acting as a‘liminal locus’ whereby the Other World could be accessed.

Domarringarna (Stone circles) are mysterious monuments preserved from Prehistory. With this study, I will discuss them and their meaning from different angles. I have mainly used a qualitative method of working through of previous research on Stone circles, but I also worked with a quantitative approach by compiling statistics. A clear result was difficult to achieve. Several of the new sources are based on the older research. More research and archaeological studies are required to obtain more evidence that can support new interpretations.

This essay is an analysis of Brian Wood's Viking epic Northlanders, published by Vertigo/DC between the years of 2007-2012. The aim is to identify how Old Norse faith and Christianity are portrayed. This is done by using the theory of representation as developed by Stuart Hall and putting them into the historical context of a postmodern, secular western world of thought. The research shows a wide variety of religiosity in both Norse and Christian characters. Some common trends have been identified though, and these are a general appreciation of physical strength within the Norse religion and a general tendency in Norse religion to explain natural phenomena and to have fatalistic leanings while Christianity rather seeks to offer comfort in times of need. The results also show that one of the greater roles Christianity plays in Northlanders is contributing to, or sometimes forcing a societal change, while the practitioners of the Norse faith tend to lean toward stability. There is also a tendency to present the northerners as outcasts, while the Christian counterparts are part of an establishment.