In the first two chapters of the informative book, Modern-day Vikings: A Practical Guide to Interacting with the Swedes, Christina Johansson Robinowitz and Lisa Werner Carr provide readers with an overview of Sweden’s history and relate it back to present day Sweden. Modern day Sweden is most notably known for their welfare state. They are reputed for the countries conscious efforts towards equality, fairness, and high values. However, the Swedes also have a barbarous Vikings past that contradicts the welfare state they have obtained in this present day and age. The Vikings were known for being merciless warriors who used their impressive ships to travel to faraway lands and raid wealthy, defenseless monasteries . The very fact that the Vikings…
On June 8th 793ce foreign ships brought an unexpected surprise to the Lindisfarne monastery, the Northmen had arrived. This attack marked the beginning of the Viking Age, an era of raids that shook the western world until its end at the battle of Hastings in 1066. These Northmen arrived and promptly the “heathen miserably destroyed God's church by rapine and slaughter .” It is important to note that the Vikings had an oral tradition and no known sources exist depicting events from their perspective. “We see the attack through the eyes of the victims, who spread the word that the Vikings were bloody and violent. In fact, they were violent, but no more than anyone else at the time. Compared to Charlemagne’s armies, the Vikings were amateurs.…
Odin himself doesn’t know of when Ragnarolf will happen. He gathers the best warriors to join him in Ragnarolf so he will be ready to fight the giants and the wolf, who are both the foundation of this world…
Vikings were intriguing but ruthless. They were fierce warriors. They lived in Scandinavia, but they traveled a lot. They invaded villages in search of valuables, because their land could not support them. Most of the villages were defenseless, so the vikings could invade easier.…
Loki was the trickster of Norse mythology. The Norse gods, like Odin the All-Father, Thor the thunderer and the beautiful Iduna, who kept the gods youthful with her apples, were powerful and warlike but frequently foolish. Loki was not a god but he was allowed associate with them because he was clever and amusing. Loki never felt accepted by the gods and so he was always looking for ways to impress them and sometimes to get even with them. It was because of Loki's meddling that the gods came to their doom. This is the story of how it…
1. Who were the Vikings? ------The Vikings were also traders , explorers and settlers. They were highly advanced and not as primitive and barbaric as they are portrayed.…
The Vikings came from what is known as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. During the time from the 8th to the 11th centuries the Vikings traveled in their longboats to the British Isles and the coast of Europe raiding the settlements.…
Beowulf can be analyzed in an endless numbers of ways. There are different morals, themes, and meanings behind the story. A common meaning, maybe even the most important, is the dual ordeal in Beowulf. The dual ordeal is an external battle with vicious opponents and an internal battle with human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, betrayal, and self concern. Each external battle Beowulf wins, his internal battle grows.…
Odin had great power he could cause a war on earth by simply throwing his spear, the Vikings worshipped odin because he decided who would win battles.…
Each monster Beowulf fights against represents the adversary of what the Germanic culture deems as righteous and good. Grendel, the first monster, did not like the fact that there were parties in the mead hall so he tried to put an end to their pleasure and happiness. After Grendel, the people of Herot were peaceful and comfortable but Grendel’s mom took that peace away by instilling fear in the citizens. Later on, the dragon is also represented as an adversary since the Germanic culture generally loves and has a need for gold but the dragon took that away by hoarding the gold.…
The Vikings were people who lived from 800-1100 AD. Most of the lived in Scandinavia, but they also had colonies in places such as England, Ireland, Scotland, and many other places in Eastern Europe. The main language that they spoke was called Old Norse, and it has become the basis of many languages today, including Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. The word Viking comes from the Old Norse word vikingr, which means "camp", or "dwelling place". They wrote in an alphabet known as Runes. Runes were also used to write many Germanic languages at this time.…
To me, the monsters, especially Grendel, appear to represent chaos. Similar to all societies even today, the Germanic warrior society had certain rules that the population adhered to in order to keep the society from collapsing due to lack of structure. Though Grendel consistently endangered the functionality of that society as Grendel continues to constantly harass the inhabitants of Heorot as he terrorizes the town for his own pure pleasure due to his nature. Upon Beowulf’s arrival to Heorot, Hrothgar explicitly clarifies his domain’s current condition, “It bothers me to have to burden anyone with all the grief that Grendel has caused and the havoc he was wreaked upon us in Heorot, our humiliations” (473-476). Given the usual traits of the…
Vikings; expert traders, craftsmen, raiders and warriors, came from the area known as Scandinavia. Scandinavia is a region in Europe which the Vikings lives and dominated. It consists of Norway, Sweden and part of northern Finland.…
The Vikings wanted riches and exotic items from other places in the world and this led to them voyaging and raiding. As the Vikings began traveling the: “Viking merchants were soon chasing these exotic products in trading emporia across northwestern Europe such as forested in Frisia and hamwic”(Hubbard). As trade routes began crossing through Scandinavia and Europe, goods from all over were being traded. The Vikings wanted these exotic riches and began raiding in order to obtain them. The need for exotic riches was one of the factors that led to the voyages as they would travel to these exotic places only to raid and take what they wanted.…
The oral traditions of the earliest European ancestors depict a realm in which gods and giants are at a constant battle, fated to destruct their universe. As the Norse Myths retell the driving force of divine power and influence between giants and gods, their opposing relationship provides an insight to understanding the dynamics of Yggdrasill. The Norse Myths seek to prove that the gods are morally advanced whereas the giants are naturally stagnant, providing an antagonistic relationship through interactions of fertile gods overcoming sterile giants.…