Norse Mythology

Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the myths of North Germanic pre-Christian religion.

Most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled in medieval Iceland in Old Norse, notably as the Edda.

Norse mythology is the best-preserved version of wider Germanic paganism, which also includes the closely related Anglo-Saxon and Continental varieties. Germanic mythology can be shown to preserve certain aspects attributed to common Indo-European mythology.

Norse mythology has its roots in Proto-Norse Iron Age Scandinavian prehistory. It flourishes during the Viking Age and following the Christianization of Scandinavia during the High Middle Ages passed into Scandinavian folklore, some aspects surviving to the modern day.

The mythology from the Romanticist Viking revival came to be an influence on modern literature and popular culture.

The sagas (from Icelandic saga, plural sögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland.

The texts are epic tales in prose, often with stanzas or whole poems in alliterative verse embedded in the text, of heroic deeds of days long gone, tales of worthy men, who were often Vikings, sometimes Pagan, sometimes Christian. The tales are usually realistic, except legendary sagas, sagas of saints, sagas of bishops and translated or recomposed romances. They are sometimes romanticised and fantastic, but always dealing with human beings one can understand.