Description

An introduction to Norse mythology, sagas, and culture. The class will read translations of medieval texts recalling traditions of the old Norse gods and their cults during the Viking Age (ca. 800-1050 AD), as these were preserved in 13th-century Icelandic texts, but also in Latin, Arabic, Old High German, Old Swedish and Old English manuscripts and runic inscriptions. Students will explore the worldview and value system of this unique culture, and examine relations, often violent but sometimes comic or friendly, between groups of highly intelligent, vulnerable beings, both living and dead, male and female, animal and human, god and giant - a crowded universe full of trolls, elves witches, dwarfs, valkyries, berserks, shapeshifters, and various social classes of human beings.