Norse Myth Origin: Where Norse Mythology Came From?
With the open source of information and knowledge on the Internet, we can easily get the whole of Norse mythology within seconds. But are you just reading it without wonder its origin? Have you ever wonder where Norse mythology came from? We are glad to hear the answer Yes. If not, we are willing to shed some light upon the Norse Myth Origin. This blog post is trying to explain where Norse Mythology came from.
Norse mythology consists of many pre-Christian beliefs, legends, and tales of the Scandinavian people. Those people include people living in Iceland where most of the sources of Norse mythology were written. Oral tradition was collected and recorded into manuscripts around the 13th century. The most famous texts that somehow stood the test of time were the Eddas (Prose Edda and Poetic Edda).
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda was also known as the Younger Edda or the Snorri's Edda. Prose Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland around the 13th century. Only seven manuscripts of the Prose Edda survive but none is complete and each of them has variations.
A manuscript of Prose Edda
Poetic Edda
Poetic Edda is a modern collection of Old Norse poems. The Poetic Edda is different from the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. The poems from Poetic Edda were primarily passed down orally from poet to poet and from singer to singer. No certain author was known even though each poem had a tendency of showing strong individual characteristics. While studying the Poetic Edda, the scholars met with the problems of the dating and the location of Poetic Edda. Firm results have yet to be yielded. The Poetic Edda contained 29 long poems revolving around Norse Gods and legendary heroes like Sigurd the Volsung.
Quote from Poetic Edda
Other materials
Other sources we are mentioning here are the Scandinavian folklore, inscriptions, picture stones, and places named after gods.
The most interesting material might be the inscriptions which were believed to depict Norse mythology. Tjangvide Image Stone, for example, was a stone dating back to the Viking time that depicted the scene of the Valkyrie Odin's female helping spirit welcoming Odin back to Valhalla. Other picture stone also captured the same motif of Valkyrie welcoming Odin back to Valhalla. Andre Image Stone III illustrated the scene of Thor capturing Loki or Loki's punishment inside the stone. Overall, thanks to these picture stone, we get more proof to conclude the importance of Norse gods in Viking tradition. (See more: Viking Picture Stones Explained)
Tjangvide Picture Stone
