Abstract
Most of the scholars who at some point in their investigations have dealt with the problematic of the Scandinavian creation myths agree that these myths are often very inconsistent and not lacking in contradictions. The discrepancies not only stem from the fact that “the ancient Scandinavian world model was not a logical structured system”, but also because the sources dealing with cosmogonic and anthropogenic myths are of an ambiguous nature, sometimes even within the scope of single poems. In the mythological poems and narratives concerned, motifs and plots are not always sharply delineated, sometimes contain different versions of the myths, interpolations, and/or are often coloured with Christian symbolism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Eddukvæði (2014). J. Kristjánsson & V. Ólason (eds.), vol. I. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka Fornritafélag.
Enūma Eliš (2013). Babylonian Creation Myths. W. G. Lambert (ed.). Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Epic of Atraḫasīs (2002). Readings from the Ancient Near East: Primary Sources for Old Testament Study. B. T. Arnold & B. E. Beyer (eds.). Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Snorri Sturluson Edda. Prologue and Gylfaginning (1988). A. Faulkes (ed.). London: The Viking Society for Northern Research.
Snorri Sturluson Edda. Skáldskaparmál (1988). A. Faulkes (ed.). London: The Viking Society for Northern Research.
Secondary Sources
Bek-Pedersen, K. (2011). The Norns in Old Norse Mythology. Edinburgh: Dunedin.
Brink, S. (2004). Mytologiska rum och eskatologiska föreställingar i det vikingatida Norden.
In A. Andrén et al. (eds.), Ordning mot Kaos. Studier av nordisk förkristen kosmologi (pp. 291 – 316). Lund: Nordic Academic Press (Väger tiil Midgaard, 4).
Clunies Ross, M. (1998). Snorri’s Edda as narrative. In H. Fix (ed.), Snorri Sturluson: Beiträge zu Werk und Rezeption (pp. 9 – 21). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter.
Dronke, U. (1997). Poetic Edda Vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon.
Dundes, A. (1988). The Flood as Male Myth of Creation. In A. Dundes (ed.), The Flood Myth. Berkeley: U of California P.
Frymer-Kensky, T. (1987). The Planting of man: A Study in Biblical Imagery. In M. H. Pope et al. (eds.), Love & Death in the Ancient Near East (pp. 131 – 145). Guilford: Four Quarters.
Gíslason, T. (1984). Herr skyldi dverga dróttir skepia. In Festskrift til Ludwig Holm-Olsen (pp. 84 – 89). Øvre Ervik: Avheim & Eide.
Holtsmark, A. (1964). Studier i Snorres mytologi. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Hultgårds, A. (2006). The Askr and Embla myth in comparative perspective. In A. Andrén et al. (eds.), Old Norse Religion in long-term Perspectives. Lund: Nordic Academic Press.
Jacobsen, Th. (1970). Towards the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture. W. L. Moran (ed.). Cambridge: Harvard UP (Harvard Semitic Series, Vol. xxi).
Josefsson, G. (2011). Var Embla en klängranka. Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 116, 71 – 96.
Kure, H. (2002). Emblas Ask. Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 117, 161 – 170.
Kure, H. (2003). In the Beginning was the Scream. In R. Simek & J. Meurer (eds.), Scandinavia and Christian Europe in the Middle Ages (pp. 311 – 319). Bonn: University of Bonn.
Linke, U. (1988). Women, Androgynes, and Models of Creation in Norse Mythology. The Journal of Psychohistory, 16(3), 231 – 262.
McKinnell, J. (2008). Völuspá and the Feast of Easter. Alvíssmál, 12, 3 – 28.
Meid, W. (1991). Aspekte der germanischen und keltischen Religion im Zeugnis der Sprache. Innsbruck: Inst. für Sprachwiss. d. Univ.
Mundal, E. (2001). Skapning og undergang í Völuspá. In Á. Egilsdóttir & R. Simek (eds.), Sagnaheimur (pp. 195 – 207). Wien: Fassbaender (Studia Medievalia Septemtrionalia, 6).
Mundal, E. (2012). Austr sat in aldna. In O. E. Hauden et al. (eds.), Fjöld veit hon froeða (pp. 315 – 327). Oslo: Novus.
Ólason, V. (1992). Eddukvæði. In V. Ólason (ed.), Íslensk bókmenntasaga, I. Reykjavik: Mál og Menning.
Pettinato, G. (1971). Das altorientalische Menschenbild und die sumerischen und akkadischen Schöpfungsmythen. Heidelberg: Abhandlung der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Schjødt, J. P. (2009). Om religion i jernalderen. In K. M. Boe, T. Cappele & Ch. Fischer (eds.), Tollundmandens verden: Kontinentale Kontakter i tidlig jernalder (pp. 56 – 68). Silkenborg: Wormianum — Silkeborg Kulturhistoriske Museum.
Schjødt, J. P. (2018). Pre-Christian Religions of the North and the Need For Comparativism: Reflections on Why, How, and with What We Can Compare. In Pernille Hermann et al.
(eds.), Old Norse Mythology-Comparative Perspectives (pp. 3 – 29). Cambridge: The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature, Harvard University.
Steinsland, G. (1983). Antropogonimyten i Völuspá. Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi, 98, 80 – 107.
Steinsland, G. (2001). Ask og Embla i Vǫluspá — fri fantasi eller gammel tradisjon ?. In Á. Egilsdóttir & R. Simek (eds.), Sagnaheimur (pp. 247 – 262). Wien: Fassbaender (Studia Medievalia Septemtrionalia, 6).
Stübe, R. (1924). Kvasir und der magische Gebrauch des Speichels. In Festschrift Eugen Mogk zum 70. Geburtstag (pp. 500 – 509). Halle a. d. Saale: Niemeyer.
Van den Toorn, K. (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans.
West, M. L. (2007). Indo-European Poetry and Myth. New York: Oxford UP.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Antón, T.M. (2021). Völuspá, the Uncertainty of Norse Creation Myths and some Babylonian Parallels. In: Bernabé Pajares, A., Martín Hernández, R. (eds) Narrating the Beginnings. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32184-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32184-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-32183-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-32184-0
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)