.png)
.png)
Email this article 
Journey to the otherworld: Edda and Nornagests þáttr
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-1-17-25
Abstract
The article is devoted to the pre-Christian ideas of the Scandinavians about the journey to the other world. In archaic burial cult, the afterlife was associated with the tomb, which was the entrance (gate) to the other world, and the lord of the afterlife (Scandinavian Hel). From this arose paradoxical beliefs in the life of the deceased simultaneously in the tomb (the afterlife) and wandering to the other world (in the underworld Hel, heavenly Valhalla). Archaeological burial complexes of the Viking age reflect these ideas: in the afterlife dwellings (burial chambers) there were cock horses, etc.
About the Author
V. Ya. PetrukhinRussian Federation
Vladimir Ya. Petrukhin, Dr. of Sci. (History)
bld. 32a, Leninskii Av., Moscow, 125993
References
1. Berezovaya, N.V. (2002), “Icelandic beliefs about the “living dead” and their connection with the Scandinavian burial cult”, Predstavleniya o smerti i lokalizatsii inogo mira u drevnikh kel’tov i germantsev [Ideas about death and localization of the other world in the ancient Celts and Germans], T.A. Mihailova (ed.), Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury, Moscow, Russia, pp. 226–252.
2. Ellis, H.R. (1968), The Road to Hel, Greenwood press, publishers, N. Y., USA.
3. Ganina, N.A. (2005), “Valkyrie: the genesis of myth and the specifics of German areal traditions”, Mifologema zhenshchiny-sud’by u drevnikh kel’tov i germantsev [The myth of the woman-the fate of the ancient Celts and Germans], T.A. Mikhailova (ed.), Indrik, Moscow, Russia, pp. 104–117.
4. Gräslund, A.-S. (1991), “Var Mammen-mannen Kristen?”, Mammen: grav, kunst i vikingetid. Red. M. Iversen, Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, pp. 205–210.
5. Gvozdetskaya, N.Yu. (1999), “Semantics of the name Hel in Elder Edda”, Atlantika: zapiski po istoricheskoi poetike [Atlantic: notes on historical poetics], iss. IV. Moscow, Russia, pp. 3–32.
6. Gvozdetskaya, N.Yu. (2005), ”Valkiric myth in women’s images “Elder Edda”, Mifologema zhenshchiny-sud’by u drevnikh kel’tov i germantsev [The myth of the woman-the fate of the ancient Celts and Germans], T.A. Mikhailova (ed.), Indrik, Moscow, Russia, рр. 78–103.
7. Grimm, Ya. (2019), Germanskaya mifologiya [German mythology], vol. I., tr. by D.S. Kolchigin, Izdatel’skii dom YaSK, Moscow, Russia.
8. Grönbech, V. (2019), Epokha vikingov: mir bogov i mir lyudei v mifakh severnykh germantsev [The culture of Teutons], tr. from English by E.V. Lamanova, Tsentrpoligraf, Moscow, Russia.
9. Pedersen, A. (1997), “Similar Finds – Different Meanings? Some preliminary thoughts on the Viking-age burials with riding equipment in Scandinavia”, Burial æ Society/ The Chronological and Social Analysis of Archaeological Burial Data, edited by Claus Kjeld Jensen æ Karen Høilund Nielsen. Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, Denmark, pp. 171–184.
10. Petrukhin, V.Ya. (1975), “On the characters of the ideas about the afterlife in the Scandinavian Viking age”, Sovetskaya etnografiya, no 1. pp. 44–54.
11. Petrukhin, V.Ya. (2017), Rus’ v IX–X vekakh: Ot prizvaniya varyagov do vybora very [Rus’ in the 9-10th centuries: from the calling-in of the Varangians to the search of faith], 3rd ed. Neolit/Forum, Moscow, Russia.
12. Pushkina, T.A. (1997), “Wax and candles in the Old-Russian burials”, Arkheologicheskii sbornik / Trudy gosudarstvennogo Istoricheskogo muzeya [Archaeological collected articles. Works of the State Historical Museum], iss. 93, I.V. Belotserkovskaya (ed.), Gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii muzei, Moscow, Russia, pp. 123–133.
13. Roesdahl, E. (1983), “Fra vikingegrav til Valhall”, T. Kisbye og E. Roesdahl (red.) Beretning fra Andet tværfaglige vikingesymposium, Højbjerg, Aarhus, Denmark, pp. 39–49.
14. Smirnitskaya, O.A. (2005), “Giant names in “Edda” and Tula”, Mifologema zhenshchiny-sud’by u drevnikh kel’tov i germantsev [The myth of the woman-the fate of the ancient Celts and Germans], T.A. Mikhailova (ed.), Indrik, Moscow, Russia, pp. 62–77.
15. Steinsland, G. (2009), Fornordisk religion, Natur æ Kultur, Stockholm, Sweden.
16. Toporova T.V. (2002) “Old-German believes in the Otherworld”, Predstavleniya o smerti i lokalizatsii inogo mira u drevnikh kel’tov i germantsev [Ideas about death and localization of the other world in the ancient Celts and Germans], T.A. Mihailova (ed.), Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury Moscow, Russia, pp. 340–434.
Supplementary files
For citation: Petrukhin V.Y. Journey to the otherworld: Edda and Nornagests þáttr. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2020;(1):17-25. https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-1-17-25
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
