Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Amsterdam University Press
Published:2nd Aug '21
Should be back in stock very soon
Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions explores the traditions of two fascinating and contiguous cultures in north-western Europe. History regularly brought these two peoples into contact, most prominently with the viking invasion of Ireland. In the famous Second Battle of Mag Tuired, gods such as Lug, Balor, and the Dagda participated in the conflict that distinguished this invasion. Pseudohistory, which consists of both secular and ecclesiastical fictions, arose in this nexus of peoples and myth and spilled over into other contexts such as chronological annals. Scandinavian gods such as Odin, Balder, Thor, and Loki feature in the Edda of Snorri Sturluson and the history of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus. This volume explores such written works alongside archaeological evidence from earlier periods through fresh approaches that challenge entrenched views.
"[...] in this volume Lyle has succeeded in bringing together a remarkably balanced and coherent collection of essays that again and again make striking observations and major contributions to current discussions."
- Matthias Egeler, Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 94, No. 3
''There are many valuable essays in this work that will be of great interest to scholars working in either Norse or Irish medieval materials.''
- Tok Thompson, University of Southern California.
''The individual scholarship contained in this volume is outstanding.''
- Dirk Schuster, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, June 2022 .
''Interconnections run through this volume in a way that gives it an overarching unity, which perfectly balances the very different approaches taken by the individual contributors and which is one of the traits that makes it a pleasure to read not just as a collection of papers, but as an actual book.''
- Matthias Egeler, Scandinavian Studies.
ISBN: 9789463729055
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
302 pages