4 ms·
In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson describes the Vikings as being descended from Trojans. Much like Virgil claimed the Romans descend from Aeneas (a Trojan pri
by schnitzelstoat 4y ago
In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson describes the Vikings as being descended from Trojans. Much like Virgil claimed the Romans descend from Aeneas (a Trojan prince) in the Aeneid.
So Roman (and Greek) influence wouldn't surprise me.
- Tor3 4y agoCan't remember any such thing. Do you have a citation?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- FranzFerdiNaN 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda#Prologue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda#Prologue > The Prologue is the first section of four books of the Prose Edda, consisting of a euhemerized Christian account of the origins of Norse mythology: the Nordic gods are described as human Trojan warriors who left Troy after the fall of that city (an origin similar to the one chosen by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century to account for the ancestry of the British nation, and which parallels Virgil's Aeneid).
- neaden 4y agoThe introduction of the Prose Edda is really wild. Snorri basically tries to synthesize his understanding of history, the Eddas, and the Bible to explain how many of these are the same people or describing the same events.
- cobbzilla 4y agoSome context -- Snorri has 500 years of dark-ages obscuring whatever he wants to say [1]. I am utterly unconvinced that what Snorri writes is what the original Vikings believed. [1] The Prose Edda was written in the early 13th century; the earliest recorded Viking raids on Britain are late 8th century; original Viking culture/beliefs must be even older.
- krapp 4y agoSnorri was also a Christian writing about his culture's former pagan beliefs to a Christian audience. Recontextualizing other religions and their practices into a culturally acceptable form (ie other gods were really just powerful sorcerors or demons leading people astray) was standard practice at the time.
- cobbzilla 4y agototally agree, and you can learn a lot from Snorri, but that doesn’t make what he says about ancient traditions actually true — best to add whatever the archaeology & other forensic science says and take the whole picture.
- bazoom42 4y agoYou cant apply the term “dark-ages” to Scandinavia or Iceland.