Scan barcode
A review by socraticgadfly
The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
5.0
This book is highly touted for good reasons.
"Debunking" isn't quite the right word, but Price takes us well beyond what older history may have taught us about the Vikings.
The biggest things I learned are:
1. How extensive their trade was in the East
2. More details on older religion
2A. Just how much the Norse gods do NOT really map onto the Greco-Roman pantheon (or, really, the Gaelic pantheon)
2B. How their metaphysical world includes a lot of entities that southern Europe didn't.
2C. That dwarves and elves for them were really part of one larger grouping of quasi-divinities, and how dwarves weren't short, or hunchbacked or other things.
3. Norse burial customs and their cultural relations.
4. Many Norse raids being driven primarily by slaving.
5. That the Vikings probably made a number of trips to North America, even after L'Anse aux Meadows was abandoned as a settlement.
I even had some follow-up questions, thoughts and comments inspired. I emailed Price, but he has not responded. Those ideas were:
First, even before your book, I knew that the Norse gods didn't analogize well to the Greco-Roman ones. That said, I've long seen Odin as a Norse Hermes, not Zeus. Both are somewhat tricksters (Loki is too, but in a different way). Both seek, and even more, offer, esoteric-type wisdom. Plus, one item I didn't know before that you mention? The Odinic phalliic stones? What are those but Norse versions of herms? Baldur seems the equivalent of Apollo or the Gaelic Lugh. Thor? Maybe if the hammer is the equivalent of a trident, he's the equivalent of Poseidon?
Second, and related? I notice Tyr (and older name Tiwaz) is mentioned but briefly, because you note, there's not a lot of information. And I know that he IS the equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter, by name etymology alone. Do you have any insights into how/when/why he "faded away"? As you note, there's not just a day of the week, but many place names that note him.
Third, the burial customs, and the "grave robbing" that really isn't. Is it possible that there was a set time, kind of like sitting shtetl, where you couldn't do that? Or when you had to? Like, say, one month/lunar month? You could only go in during that time, or you had to wait until after? (Since then, I've also wondered if Viking burials, especially the night ones, were always held at a certain time of month.)
Fourth, the part about "were-creatures" was very interesting, including that their acceptance/belief seems to be common among circumpolar peoples. I don't know if you know much about American Indian religions, but they're also big among the Navajos, often referred to as skin-walkers. And, probably not much more than 1000 years ago, the Navajo ancestors were living in the Canadian boreal forest lands with their Athapascan-speaking cousins.
"Debunking" isn't quite the right word, but Price takes us well beyond what older history may have taught us about the Vikings.
The biggest things I learned are:
1. How extensive their trade was in the East
2. More details on older religion
2A. Just how much the Norse gods do NOT really map onto the Greco-Roman pantheon (or, really, the Gaelic pantheon)
2B. How their metaphysical world includes a lot of entities that southern Europe didn't.
2C. That dwarves and elves for them were really part of one larger grouping of quasi-divinities, and how dwarves weren't short, or hunchbacked or other things.
3. Norse burial customs and their cultural relations.
4. Many Norse raids being driven primarily by slaving.
5. That the Vikings probably made a number of trips to North America, even after L'Anse aux Meadows was abandoned as a settlement.
I even had some follow-up questions, thoughts and comments inspired. I emailed Price, but he has not responded. Those ideas were:
First, even before your book, I knew that the Norse gods didn't analogize well to the Greco-Roman ones. That said, I've long seen Odin as a Norse Hermes, not Zeus. Both are somewhat tricksters (Loki is too, but in a different way). Both seek, and even more, offer, esoteric-type wisdom. Plus, one item I didn't know before that you mention? The Odinic phalliic stones? What are those but Norse versions of herms? Baldur seems the equivalent of Apollo or the Gaelic Lugh. Thor? Maybe if the hammer is the equivalent of a trident, he's the equivalent of Poseidon?
Second, and related? I notice Tyr (and older name Tiwaz) is mentioned but briefly, because you note, there's not a lot of information. And I know that he IS the equivalent of Zeus and Jupiter, by name etymology alone. Do you have any insights into how/when/why he "faded away"? As you note, there's not just a day of the week, but many place names that note him.
Third, the burial customs, and the "grave robbing" that really isn't. Is it possible that there was a set time, kind of like sitting shtetl, where you couldn't do that? Or when you had to? Like, say, one month/lunar month? You could only go in during that time, or you had to wait until after? (Since then, I've also wondered if Viking burials, especially the night ones, were always held at a certain time of month.)
Fourth, the part about "were-creatures" was very interesting, including that their acceptance/belief seems to be common among circumpolar peoples. I don't know if you know much about American Indian religions, but they're also big among the Navajos, often referred to as skin-walkers. And, probably not much more than 1000 years ago, the Navajo ancestors were living in the Canadian boreal forest lands with their Athapascan-speaking cousins.