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.

Jorge Luis Borges's story "El Zahir" describes a moment where the protagonist finds rest from his monomania by reworking one of the central texts in Old Germanic myth, the story of Sigurd and Brynhild. The approach taken here by the protagonist is the paradigm used in this thesis for understanding Borges's own strong readings of Old Germanic literature, specifically Old Scandinavian texts. In chapter one, a brief outline of the myth of Sigurd and Brynhild, with a particular emphasis on Gram, the sword that lied between them, is provided and juxtaposed with Borges's own family history, focusing on the family's storied military past. This image of the sword as the symbol for the north and its relation to Borges's family and political interests is sustained throughout the thesis. Chapter two is a survey of the various facets of Borges's literary output that were influenced by Nordic myth and literary styles: first, literary criticism, second, poetry and prose, and third, translation. The survey shows that Borges's engagement with the north began early and was maintained throughout his life. Likewise, after working through seven works from disparate periods it becomes clear that Borges is not merely introducing the Spanish speaking world to Old Scandinavian texts, but, in the same fashion as the protagonist in "El Zahir," subsuming them in a way that is uniquely Borgesian. The third chapter follows the same approach as the survey but focuses on Borges's short stories, specifically two short stories from his collection entitled Libro de Arena: "Ulrica" and "Undr." Many of the conclusions that emerged in the survey are further validated in the analysis of these two stories, but with greater emphasis on how they relate to Borges's later years, and the themes that begin to surround his preparation for death. The concluding chapter summarizes the findings of the previous three chapters by way of a close reading of Borges's tombstone. Each aspect of the stone is connected to Old Germanic myth and how that symbolized the eventual consummation of his joy: the sword that kept him separated from love was eventually lifted, as it was for Ulrica and Javier in "Ulrica."

A methodology for ageing foetal and neonatal cattle is developed, involving radiographic examination of infant mandibles for early developmental stages in molariform teeth; tooth-wear methodologies are imprecise at this stage before wear commences. Known-age modern bovine foetal and neonate material are collected as a control assemblage for method development (n=73); six Neolithic to Norse era assemblages from Orkney are examined using the modified technique together with standard tooth-wear analysis and other methodologies. Foetal and died-at-birth material is diagnosed at most sites using the new technique, together with a range of other peri-natal age-groups. Ageing at this early stage is highly relevant in the diagnosis of milking as a palaeoeconomy: the accepted view is that unwanted (male) calves were slaughtered to maximise milk for human consumption, hence a surfeit of neonate calf remains, as at the study sites. The diagnosis of foetal and died-at-birth material challenges this view, suggesting that attritional causes may have contributed to deaths at this stage. Although milking was probably carried out at most of the study sites, this may have been combined with slaughter of cattle for meat in a pragmatic exploitation strategy. Literary research shows possible attritional causes of abortion and early death in calves, in particular dietary insufficiency in pregnant cows, microbial infections, and also inadequate colostrum uptake. Additionally, research is used to consider the challenges to health that early milking might have posed, to the calf as mentioned, but also to the cow, where three main health issues are highlighted: infertility, mastitis and lameness.

A large database of domestic mammal bone measurements from sites across Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland is presented. The reasons for variations in bone growth of domestic ungulates are examined in detail; nutrition is identified as a key factor in the determination of adult bone size and shape. Possible sources of variation in bone size in both time and space in the North Atlantic region are identified. Four hypotheses are proposed; firstly that bone dimensions, particularly breadth, will decrease with increasing latitude in the study region; secondly that higher status sites will raise larger livestock than lower status sites within the same time period and region; thirdly the size of domestic mammals in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland will increase in the Later Iron Age, possibly in relation to increased fodder supply; finally at times of environmental degradation (climatic and/or landscape) domestic mammal size will decrease. The latitude hypothesis could only be partly upheld; there is no evidence for increased size with site status; a small increase in size is noted at some Scottish Iron Age sites and varying results are found for the environmental degradation hypothesis. The results are discussed with particular reference to how changes in the skeletal proportions of domestic mammals affect their human carers and beneficiaries. The potential of further expanding the dataset and integrating biometrical data with other forms of evidence to create a powerful tool for the examination of economic and environmental changes at archaeological sites is discussed.

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.

This paper focuses on the comic layers in Eddic mythological poetry, namely in Lokasenna, Hárbarðsljóð and Ϸrymskviða, and on their relation to the Old Norse religion. In the past, these comic and seemingly blasphemic poems used to be interpreted as a display of criticism of the religious system or, due to the impossibility to date their origin, as a product of late decadent paganism or even as a Christian satire of this religion. This paper shows that such interpretations are not necessary, and that the comic Eddic poems could have existed as a functional part of the Old Norse religion. It points out the affinity of the categories of religious humour and chaos. Subsequently, it presents various theories, mostly from the field of anthropology of religion, which show that a temporarily confrontation of order with chaos can be a desirable practise for a religion, and that humour can serve as a suitable means to achieve such a confrontation. The second part of the paper focuses on the particular Eddic poems. It analyses in detail their comic layers, and examines the possibilities of their function within the Old Norse religion on the background of the notion of piety and blasphemy in their time. It demonstrates their link to the tradition of ritualized verbal duels and other socio-cultural phenomena,...

The thesis focuses on the reflection of the discovery of America by the Norsemen, and does so in three steps. Firstly, the approach to and the significance of the Norse voyages to America in the medieval materials, and especially in the Vinland sagas, are presented. This part is accompanied by a general introduction into the sagas. Secondly, the situation in the 19th century is introduced. In this period a lot of scientific works as well as works of art aiming at the Norse voyages to the New continent arose. The factors that led to this increased interest are explored, e.g. national movement in Scandinavia. Thirdly, the contemporary reflexion of the Norse discovery of America is analyzed (particularly its influence on works of art, society, politics and scientific research). The methodology used in this thesis is discourse analysis, which points out to the changing reflexion of the given topic.

This thesis examines the memorial meaning attributed to royal power in the Icelandic legal tradition, as it is textually negotiated in sources extant from the period c. 1250-1500. It discusses the significance and functions of the Norwegian king's legal authority as part of the Icelanders' collective remembrance of their country's legal past (spanning the years c. 870-1302), and as a defining element in the creation of the Icelandic identity as a community of law. The scope of analysis covers thirteenth- to fifteenth-century legal sources (sections of law-books and legal texts preserving legal arrangements between Iceland and Norway made in the eleventh century and in the period c. 1260-1302), and a fourteenth-century account of the Norwegian king's involvement in a settlement dispute in ninth-century Iceland. These main sources are analysed against the background of several auxiliary sources (saga narratives, diplomas) from a New Philological perspective and scrutinised using the methods developed in cultural memory studies. This provides a novel perspective on the primary sources, filling a gap in recent scholarship on cultural memory in Old Norse literature and historiography. Both categories of texts, drawing on oral and written traditions of law-making and story-telling, are vehicles for multi-faceted culturally meaningful and often contradictory memories of the Norwegian king. The Icelandic laws preserve provisions bestowed upon the Icelanders by the Norwegian monarchs, whereas the sagas convey semi-mythological images of the monarchs, who act as legislators, negotiators of legal agreements with the Icelanders, and as law-keepers. By analysing the memorial functions of royal power in the primary sources, the thesis argues for the complexity of the Icelanders' self-definition as a kingless community of law, who nevertheless incorporate and actively engage with royal power, which shapes the collective memory of the country's legal tradition.

The aim of this thesis is to set up characteristic attributes of saga time structure and with concern to these to show how the Old Norse people understood time. Main attention is concentrated on the time structure of the family sagas. First, it is shown the principal of the dating in saga and how it differs from the principal of dating in annal and chronicle. I proceed to deal with the most common time indications to appear in saga and their role in the storytelling. The focus point of this thesis is a comparison of narrated time and time of narration. To support this intention, I use the three concepts of Gerard Genette - duration, order and frequency. Based on the duration concept, I try to investigate why extensive time leaps abound in sagas and what on the other hand appears to have been given some extra author's attention. According to the order concept, a question is discussed to what extent the saga holds the chronological composition. Within the frequency concept, it is compared how many times an event occurs to how many times it is narrated. In the following chapters the time structure of the kings'sagas and the legendary sagas is discussed. The crucial difference between the time structure of these and the structure of family saga is established. There is a conclusion to each chapter,...

The aim of this master’s degree essays is to analyse and compare the first-contact situations and means of communication as described in four different sagas including Legendary Sagas and Sagas of Icelanders, more specifically Vínlandsagas. Two additional papers on contacts and communication with indigenous people from the perspectives of Spanish conquistadores and Brittish settlers in Australia were reviewed to establish a baseline for behaviour in contact situations with unknown peoples. The analysis of both sagas and additional sources shows that neither of them focus in their description on communications tools and instead focus on the different behaviour of the indigenous people as observed by the settlers and conquistadores and on the actions and transactions with the indigenous peoples. / Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die Beschreibungen von Erstkontaktsituationen und Kommunikationsmitteln in vier verschiedenen Sagas zu vergleichen und zu analysieren. Zu diesem Zweck wurden Vorzeitsagas und Isländersagas, insbesondere Vínlandsagas untersucht. Zudem wurden zwei ergänzende Artikel zu Erstkontakten und Kommunikation mit indigenen Bevölkerungen aus der Sicht von spanischen Conquistadores und britischen Kolonisateuren in Australien aufgearbeitet, um eine Operationslinie für das Verhalten in Kontaktsituationen mit fremden Bevölkerungen zu haben. Die Analyse von sowohl Sagas als auch den ergänzenden Quellen zeigt, dass weder Sagas noch spätere Aufzeichnungen Beschreibungen der Kommunikationsmittel en detail erwähnen. Stattdessen liegt der Fokus auf dem vom eigenen abweichenden Verhalten und dem Umgang mit den indigenen Bevölkerungen.