Search Results: Thor

In April 2019 The Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, Norway opened its doors to the new exhibition VÍKINGR containing rich treasures and unique archaeological finds from the Viking Age (c. 750 - 1050 CE). The Viking age is considered...

In Scandinavia, Christianity spread due to the support and encouragement of political rulers at the top of the society above all else. Conversion, defined here as the actions taken by kings or clerics to introduce the new religion, did not...

Loki's Brood by the German artist Emil Doepler, illustration from page 43 of Walhall, die Götterwelt der Germanen, Martin Oldenbourg, Berlin. 1905. The drawing depicts the Norse god Loki's three children by the giantess Angrboda (shown...

Illustration of Jörmungandr (the World Serpent) from the Edda oblongata, a 17th-century illuminated manuscript of the 13th-century CE Prose Edda, which is the basis for modern understanding of Norse mythology. Made c. 1680. Árni Magnússon...

The medieval sources on the discovery and settlement of Iceland frequently refer to the explorers as “Vikings” but, technically, they were not. The term “Viking” applies only to Scandinavian raiders, not to Scandinavians...

Ymir is a primordial giant, closely linked to the creation myth and the beginning of the world in Norse mythology. A creature resulting from the dramatic encounter between ice and fire, he was fed by a cosmic cow and his body parts served...

It is said that the early Norse settlers of Iceland in the Viking Age (c. 790-1100 CE) believed it was the home of the gods because of the tale of the creation of the world in Norse religion. In the time before time, the story goes, there...

The Old Norse word saga means 'story', 'tale' or 'history' and normally refers specifically to the epic prose narratives written mainly in Iceland between the 12th- and 15th centuries CE, covering the country's history as well as Scandinavia's...

Artist's depiction showing the Norse god Freyr gazing out from atop Odin's high seat to Jotunheim, realm of the giants, where he espies the giant-daughter Gerðr walking across her garden and instantly falls in love with her. This tale is...

Drawing of the Norse god Freyr by Ludwig Pietsch, 1865 CE. According to the Prose Edda, Freyr received the boar Gullinbursti as a result of a contest between dwarves and their creation, instigated by Loki.