Temple at Uppsala - Theories

Theories

Rudolf Simek says that, regarding Adam of Bremen's account of the temple, "Adam's sources for this information are of extremely varying reliability, but the existence of a temple at Uppsala is undisputed." Simek says that details of Adam's accounts have been cited as potentially influenced by the description of Solomon's Temple in the Old Testament. Simek notes, at the same time, similar chains as described by Adam appear on some European churches dating from the 8th to 9th centuries, although the description of the temple chain having been made of gold may be an exaggeration. Simek says that the numerous attempts at reconstructing the temple based on the postholes may overestimate the size of the temple, and that notes that "more recent" research indicates that the site of the 11th century temple likely adjoined the choir of the church standing there today, while the postholes discovered by Lindqvist may instead point to an earlier, burnt-down temple at the same site.

Andy Orchard states that "it is unclear to what extent Adam of Bremen's description has a basis in historical fact rather than lurid fiction" yet that Adam's account contains "a good deal of useful information (as well as considerable speculation)." Orchard points out that Adam's description of the temple has often been questioned "on several levels" and that Thietmar of Merseburg produced a considerably less detailed but similar account of sacrifices held in Lejre, Denmark earlier in the 11th century. Orchard says that archaeological digs in the area "have failed to reveal anything on the scale proposed for the temple" yet that three burial mounds at the location reveal the importance of the site.