Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore. Today, Forn Siðr, with 600 members, is an official Religion in Denmark. The mythology from the Romanticist Viking revival came to be an influence on modern literature and popular culture. The roots of the mythology go back to Germanic mythology and earlier to the Nordic Bronze Age 1700-500 BC and Proto-Indo-European religion.
Norse mythology is the study of the myths told in Germanic countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands) during the pre-Christian times, especially during the Viking Age.
Read more about Norse Mythology: Sources, Cosmology, Kings and Heroes, Norse Worship, Interactions With Christianity, Modern Influences
Famous quotes containing the words norse and/or mythology:
“Carlyle has not the simple Homeric health of Wordsworth, nor the deliberate philosophic turn of Coleridge, nor the scholastic taste of Landor, but, though sick and under restraint, the constitutional vigor of one of his old Norse heroes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“One memorable addition to the old mythology is due to this era,—the Christian fable. With what pains, and tears, and blood these centuries have woven this and added it to the mythology of mankind! The new Prometheus. With what miraculous consent, and patience, and persistency has this mythus been stamped on the memory of the race! It would seem as if it were in the progress of our mythology to dethrone Jehovah, and crown Christ in his stead.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)