copy-pasted from my Librarything account: Very interesting book, offers a great deal of info regarding Norse/Germanic mythology. A must for any one interested in this matter. ( )

A very interesting and scholarly look at the myths and deities of northern Europe - both the continental, Anglo-Saxons and Norse (aka Vikings). The author describes the various gods and goddesses, and attempts to trace their origin. She then attempts to related the cults of these mythological characters to the daily lives of the people, and provides some ideas on why these heathen beliefs gave way to the Christian faith. This is an introductory text with many nuggets of interesting ideas and connections. Readers should have some familiarity with Norse myths before tackling this book - the author discusses the myths of northern Europe, she doesn't deal with the stories in full detail as is provided in books like [b:The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings|10060707|The Penguin Book of Norse Myths Gods of the Vikings|Kevin Crossley-Holland|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1329819840s/10060707.jpg|25499] or similar.

The many scholarly books written by [a:Claude Lecouteux|434420|Claude Lecouteux|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1355108680p2/434420.jpg], as well as, [b:Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition: Customs, Rites, and Ceremonies|22748240|Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition Customs, Rites, and Ceremonies|Nigel Pennick|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1406525695s/22748240.jpg|42293072] may be of interest to readers who enjoyed this book. ( )

A man's heroic deeds will win renown, and his fine qualities will be passed on to his descendents. Such is the noblest form of immortality, and the great gods themselves achieved no more. [217]

Readable and clear, Davidson's slim narrative is not shallow summary but a muscular outline of the achievement and character of Norse mythology. The emphasis is analytic: Davidson identifies themes across myths and deities, summarises archaeological evidence and source materials, traces broad influences in modern belief and religion. Myths are not retold so much as characterised, and the people who believed and lived these stories are considered at the level of individual tribes and communities. Davidson avoids glossing over discrepancies, pointing out contradictory aspects of stories and especially of deities, reinforcing the major gaps in the historical record. For example, in the case of almost any deity except Odin, Thor, and Freyr, there is virtually no archaeological evidence of worship or cults, making clear how oversimplified are the popular characterizations of Heimdall, Loki, Balder, and others.

We find in the myths no sense of bitterness at the harshness and unfairness of life, but rather a spirit of heroic resignation: humanity is born to trouble, but courage, adventure, and the wonders of life are matters for thankfulness, to be enjoyed while life is still granted to us. [...] The dangers of this view of the world lay in a tendency towards lack of compassion for the weak, an over-emphasis on material success, and arrogant self-confidence: indeed the heroic literature contains frank warning against such errors. [218-19]

Undoubtedly some conclusions are dated but it should be fairly easy to determine which, based on where new evidence or sources became available since 1964. I suspect that Davidson will be wrong, when she is wrong, because pertinent source materials simply aren't available: she'll be wrong for what's requisite yet missing, and not wrong for making an untenable reading, or for neglecting some pertinent theme. All considered, a fine entry point for my renewed interest in the Norse tradition.

Man must not take himself or even his gods too seriously, and this is an attitude which goes deeper than the wit of Snorri, it is part of the spirit of the myths themselves. The exuberant exaggerations of the Irish sagas are not for the northern gods; Freyja, Thor, Loki have the robust common sense which the Vikings themselves admired hugely. [...] This sense of proportion ... helps to preserve in the myths a keen realization of the strength of fate. [217]

//

To be confirmed: apart from Valhalla, open to a select minority, there is no afterlife for Vikings, nor immortality for their gods. There is, however, a conviction that life follows a cycle, that the Nine Worlds will be destroyed (including Valhalla) only to make way for something new, once again with Yggdrasill at the center.

Extensive notes, glossary, and bibliography suggest further reading and avenues of exploration. ( )

We can see the myths as a vigorous, heroic comment on life, life as men found it in hard and inhospitable lands. The gods never cease their struggle against the creatures of cold and darkness. Thor, perhaps the best-loved deity of the north, is characteristic of the Vikings in his resolute pertinacity. The values for which he stood—law and order in the free community, the keeping of faith between men—were those by which the Vikings set great store, even though they themselves often appeared to the outside world as the forces of destruction unleashed. Odin represented the other side of life, the inspiration granted to the warrior and the poet, and the secret wisdom won by communication with the dead. In his cult and in the religion of the Vanir we see most clearly the shamanistic tendencies of northern religion, the emphasis on man's powers to reach out beyond this harsh and limited world. Above all, the northern myths are clear-sighted in their recognition of the reality of the forces of destruction. The fight in a narrow place against odds, which has been called the ideal of heroic literature in the north, is given cosmic stature in the conception of Ragnarok, the doom of the gods, when Odin and his peers go down fighting against monsters and the unleashed fury of the elements.

I have just finished a re-read of this book, which I first read in 1995/6. It was published in 1964, so there are probably more up to date books on the same subject, but it is a very interesting study of the Norse Gods and their Germanic counterparts.

Starting with what Snorri Sturluson wrote about the Gods and Giants and the structure of the mythological worlds linked by the World Tree Yggdrasill, the authors discusses what is known about each of the main Gods and some of the more obscure ones, how they may have developed from what was known about the Gods of the Germanic tribes on the borders of the Roman Empire, links to the Shamanism of Northern Europe and Asia, and the ways in which the representation of the myths may have been affected by contact with the new religion of Christianity.

I am left wanting to visit the Viking Age Gosforth Cross in Cumbria, and the Old Manor House at Knaresborough in Yorkshire, which was built round an oak tree whose branches used to form ceiling beams until they had to be removed in the late 20th century due to rot. ( )

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe attempts to tease out the traditional beliefs of the Germanic peoples from antiquity until the last conversions to Christianity in the Middle Ages. Unlike with other strands of paganism, such as the ancient Greek and Roman religions, there is much less material to work with and much of it is either fragmentary, written by outsiders, or set to paper only in the Christian era when widespread belief in the old gods and goddesses was gone.

This doesn't stop Davidson, and she manages to produce a thorough of what we do know as well as provide much food for thought in terms of what has probably been lost to the ages. Starting with a basic overview of Snorri's Prose Edda, the author continues with biographies of all the major deities known to us and describes their roles in society. Suffice to say it wasn't all Vikings and Valhalla. From the beginnings of the world tree to the end of Ragnarök, it is all covered here.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the northern gods and goddesses, there is so much we don't know that it will only leave you wanting to learn more. ( )