Customer Reviews

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Pelican)

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Though first published some 40 years ago, this volume remains useful as a serious, yet accessible overview of Norse mythology. But, as a starting point to those new to the subject, I would recommend The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, which is a wonderfully evocative account of the Northern pantheon.

Davidson's book is a fine overview of the subject from a more scholarly perspective. It is a book of modest scope and the author is conservative in her assertions. At times her diffidence is endearing, at others it is frustrating. Clearly, the book is a product of its time. Overall, it has withstood the test of time and I anticipate it will be used for decades to come.

Davidson provides an accessible, scholarly overview of Norse deities and mythology. Three of her eight chapters give us an overview of the nordic cosmos and themes, the rest tell us stories of the deities.

Odin and Thor each get their own chapters, as well as sharing a chapter on their attributes as underworld deities. Freyr and Freya also receive a chapter dedicated (mostly) to them as fertility deities. Yet another chapter considers sea deities, and a catch-all chapter discusses the remaining gods.

Perhaps the greatest shortcoming of this overview is Davidson's failure to discuss the differences between the Aesir and the Vanir. Although these are pointed out, the significance is not discussed in detail. Could the warrior cult of the Aesir have edged out the fertility cult of the Vanir during the chilling of the climate that has taken place over the past 2,500 years or so? Does this competition reflect the Indo-Kurgan invasions that Gimbutas wrote about, where we see the gods of the victors gaining supremacy over the deities of the conquered? What of the giants? Do they represent deeper, primal forces and archetypes? Or are they the gods of yet an earlier culture?

Those who seek a "Norse" Wicca, will do well to read about the Vanir, Freyr & Freyja. This chapter lays out a nice outline of the nordic fertility tradition (which is congruent with Wicca, unlike the battle tradition of Odin & Thor). Davidson discusses the roles of the "volva" or witches/seers and their magic or "seithr."

This is an excellent comprehensive overview for somebody who would like an introduction to the Norse Mythos. It should be followed by Metzner's Well of Remembrance (sorts out Aesir and Vanir issues, as well as shamanic practices) and Crossley-Holland's Norse Myths (retells the myths). Then, the serious student ought to dive into the Eddas themselves.

(For further discussion, click on the "about me" link above & drop me a line. Thanks!)

H.S. Ellis Davidson wrote GODS AND MYTHS OF NORTHERN EUROPE around forty years ago, when other people's belief systems were viewed as myths and Christianity was viewed as "the one true religion" even by scholars. Although Davidson was objective as she could be and still be published, a modern scholar would have less concern with what other people think. Still, this book is a useful place to begin if you seek to know more about the gods of the Germans, Swedes, Danes and other northern people.

Davidson relies on three main sources, Procopius (writing in the early 6th Century in Byzantium), Tacitus (writing in the later Roman Empire), and Snorri Sturlson who attempted to set down the story he found in Iceland in the Prose Edda in the early Middle Ages.

Davidson says of Sturlson, "There is little doubt that on the whole Snorri has given us a faithful picture of heathen mythology as he found it in the poets." Davidson has some reservations about the Prose Edda, however, because it records what had heretofore been an oral tradition. However, all early history has an oral basis, including the Bible. Modern archeology is providing much evidence that what is found in these older texts has a basis in fact.

Why should you read this book? If you are an opera fan, you will learn more about the Valkyries, Valhalla, and the Ring Cycle. If you're a fan of literature you will gain insight into the symbols contained in poems and prose. You might better understand Beowolf or Elliot's poem "The Wasteland." If you are interested old paintings, you might better understand some of the attributes of saints, or other "holy" people. Tarot readers may better understand the cards. If you puzzle over fairytales and nursery rhymes you may find enlightenment.

Those with an interest in WWII will come to understand where Hitler obtained some of his ideas (a student of German history he was familiar with the warrior tales which he used to rally his own troops). Those who are interested in the underpinnings of the current neo-Nazi movement may find some interesting material in these pages.

Sadly, northern stories have become tainted by the interest of modern terrorists, but they have an intrinsic worth any serious student of religion will recognize. It doesn't take much imagination to see that the tales of Christian saints and even Christ as depicted in northern Europe were heavily influenced by Northern "mythology".

A good part of the Roman Catholic traning I received as a child, including praying to various saints for special favors, is rooted in northern mythology in disguise (and I wouldn't have had it any other way). For one seeking understanding of forebears (even Protestants) this book is a delightful discovery.

When I was a child and "it" thundered and lightening struck, my Protestant-converted-to-Catholic mother (who attended seances on Fridays with my Dutch Reformed Grandmother) always said "it" was god and his angels bowling in heaven. Davidson tells of Woden and Odin rolling their chariots across heaven, the root of the word "thunder" from the Thor, the thunder god, and the rolling of heads of the dead.

You may recognize the analogy in the tales of Washington Irving, who wrote about Rip Van Winckle and bowling and Ichabod Crane and thuderous hooves of a headless horseman. Irving like my mother was Dutch. The Dutch have not forgotten their "myths" and I suspect neither have the Germans or other northern people. We've just disguised them in our religion, poems, tales and other artistic forms--thank Goodness.

There isn't much more to add to the kudos, some overly gushy, presented in the other twenty nine (as of July 1, 2010) reviews spanning a decade of Amazon critique. This is a fine scholarly work and a Mandatory Read for Modern Heathens and reconstructionist pagans beginning a course in this study. However, that's only if one concentrates on the Chapters 1 thru 8 between the Introduction and Conclusion.

The Introduction contributed to ushering in what is now recognized as "reductio (or argumentum) ad Nazium" (generically, The Nazi Card) with this freaky thought: "The Nazis tried to revive the myths of ancient Germany in their ideology, but such an attempt can only lead to sterility and moral suicide." Sure. And Hitler's Positive Christianity had nothing to with any of that horrific era. The Holocaust and the Eddas, now there's a hookup!

For those who connect with these ancient beliefs, you should know you "...cannot return to the mythological thinking of an earlier age..." Davidson is keen to point out it's beyond our reach, without entrance, nostalgic and childish, powerless and capable only of a faith easily tossed out as being merely imaginative. What dumbbells we be.

Only a few sentences are devoted to the dignity and virtues of the Northerners as recorded by ancient historians. Those qualities are quickly repulsed with the observation they were after all The Barbarians, don't you know.

As for "Conclusion: The Passing of the Old Gods," Davidson draws exclusively on Bede, and narrowly, very narrowly, on the sagas about converted Pagan nobility and the Hávamál itself to proffer that the Heathen faith was to die out by default - doomed to be lost. They had no deep philosophy and acceptance of life, their beliefs being limited, fragmentary and perfunctory. Those knuckle dragging mud dwellers were just waiting on something else to drop in.

She proposes that Christianity is measurably richer and deeper and the Heathens longed for the complex and organized society of the Christians. After thousands of years, the imposers of a foreign culture presented the idiots with Christ and it was, "Oh yeah. Cool! Thank God we don't need any more of those dumb songs and that ancient Anglo Saxon Law and Danelaw junk. Can we craft some artsy stuff now? What's a loin cloth?"

There isn't even cursory mention of the tyrannical orthodoxies and pogroms of the European monotheists that wreaked terror and death not only upon the Northern Heathens and other pagans but a vast spectrum of peoples. Those are dismissed in the incredible final sentence of her Conclusion as "struggles" and "striving after a different goal" and "beyond the scope of the book." Beyond the scope of the book... Yeah, sure. Especially the Christian scope.

Modern travelers on the Northern path embrace their 6000+ year old history and theology and all its richness and beauty, what with so eloquent an accounting in this fine example of Davidson's old college try. I thought of tearing out those sullied pages, but I find myself drawn to them every now and then when I'm in the need of a chuckle or two.

Since this book was published and some of these here reviews written, there's been an explosion of interest and scholarly work regarding new findings about the Old Gods and Ways as well as increased importance in the study of WHAT WAS ALWAYS THERE IF ONE LOOKED FOR IT. Despite its doom and it all having died out and been replaced and we all being childish, sterile and morally suicidal...

Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson was born at Bebington, Cheshire, in 1914. She was educated at Park High School for Girls, Birkenhead, and Newnham College, Cambridge, where she took Firsts in English and Archaeology. She received her Ph.D in 1940 after three years of research under Professor and Mrs. Chadwick into the pagan beliefs of Scandinavia. In my opinion, her works rank amongst the best that have ever been penned by a female scholar of Northern Myths despite the fact that this particular submission was originally written in 1964, some 40 years ago!

Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by HRE Davidson is broken down into Eight Chapters:

Introduction
1) The Myth Makers
2) The Sources of our Knowledge
3) New Light on the Myths

Chapter One
The World of the Northern Gods
1) The Prose Edda
2) The Gods and their World
3) Thor and the Giants
4) The Doom of the Gods
5) The Giants and the Dwarfs
6) Myths outside the Prose Edda

Chapter Two
The Gods of Battle
1) Odin, Lord of Hosts
2) The Germanic War Gods
3) The Valkyries of Odin
4) The Beserks of Odin
5) The Worship of the War God

Chapter Three
The Thunder God
1) Thor in the Myths
2) The Temples of Thor
3) The Hammer of Thor
4) The God of the Sky
5) Thor and his adversaries

Chapter Four
The Gods of Peace and Plenty
1) The Deity in the Wagon
2) Freyr, God of Plenty
3) Companions of Freyr
4) The Mother Goddess
5) The Goddess Freyja
6) The Power of the Vanir

Chapter Five
The Gods of the Sea
1) Ęgir and Ran
2) Njord, God of Ships
3) The Depths of the sea

Chapter Six
The Gods of the Dead
1) Odin and Mercury
2) Odin as a Shaman
3) The Realm of Odin
4) The Burial Mound
5) Thor and the Dead
6) The Dragon and the Dead

Chapter Seven
The Enigmatic Gods
1) Bragi and Idun
2) Mimir and Hoenir
3) The Twin Gods
4) Forseti
5) Heimdall
6) Loki
7) Balder

Chapter Eight
The Beginning and the End
1) The World Tree
2) The Creation of the World
3) The End of the World

Conclusion: The Passing of the Old Gods
Works of References
Names and Sources
Index

On page 9 the author says:

"We cannot return to the mythological thinking of an earlier age; it is beyond our reach, like the vanished world of childhood. Even if we feel a nostalgic longing for the past, like that of John Keats for Ancient Greece or William Morris for medieval England, there is no way of entry. The Nazis tried to revive the myths of ancient Germany in their ideology, but such an attempt can only lead to sterility and moral suicide. We cannot deny the demands of our age, but this need not prevent us turning to the faith of another age with sympathetic understanding, and recapturing imaginatively some of its vanished power."

On the point of value for money, this book more than fulfils the requirement as a user friendly and reasonably priced reference paperback to the Old Gods and their passing into what is Christianity. Some might argue that there are themes of comparative mythology in this work but when you consider that it was based on the academia of the early 60s, surely this is to be expected.

I liked this book- I found it easy to read and understand, and it was not as "dated" as one would think. Really covered a lot of area about Norse myth, and I would definitely recommend it to those interested in the subject! Lots of focus on the deities and the roles they served as well, which is sometimes overlooked in books like these.

Davidson's review of Norse Mythology goes far beyond the usual summaries and cursory explorations of other authors. Here, in her typically broad scope and style, she incorporates data from the Eddas, archeology, Sagas, and practically anything else she can think of to provide as complete a picture as possible of the Northern heathen imagination of pre-christian Europe. It is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the Northern European ancient folk religion.

Davidson's method is conservative and thorough, and she avoids making wild speculations in her analysis. Furthermore, this book in particular is very accesible, but it also covers a huge amount of material in considerable depth given the modest length of the book. This therefore begs for repeat readings and reviews of key elements. Her chapter on Yggdrasil is extremely illuminating, for example, because she goes beyond the simple depictions offered by some scholars, and tries to get into the minds of the heathens who actually held these symbols dear.

Those with Germanic/Northern European ancestry will find this work especially relevant, since it explains so many aspects of the folk religion and rituals of their ancestors, and the deep wisdom that they convey in their symbols. Outstanding and very readable reference, and a classic in the field, ranking with the best works of Dumezil, Turville-Petre, Lindow, Simek, and Orchard. The only drawback is her conclusion, which is quite dated, where she speculates that the heathen religion was doomed to failure, since the pagans were longing for something which Christianity provided. No disrespect to Christianity, but that's a terrible oversimplification, which overlooks the bloody and ruthless conversion methods of the Scandinavian kings. I'm reminded of a tour of a Norwegian church where I was informed that the conversion efforts in Norway "encountered considerable resistance". I laughed out loud at the sheer nerve of such a statement...those stubborn heathens, so resistant to new ideas; I can't imagine why when the king was threatening to slaughter your entire family if you didn't convert. Saying that such efforts "encountered resistance" borders on insult and seems to justify such cruel methods, but there you have it. Whatever the case, Davidson should know better! One wonders what Davidson's reasoning might be for the steady increase in neopagan and reconstructionist paganism. Does Christianity, by the same logic, have some kind of 'fatal flaw' that people are longing for, and so leading them to convert to such systems?

Still, an excellent resource overall. I hope this review has been helpful to you.

If you're interested in Norse mythology, there are a few books you just have to have. Most important of all are the primary sources: Snorri's "Edda" (Faulkes seems to be the current favorite translation), the "Poetic Edda" (Larrington is a good translation there), maybe Saxo if you're really into it, possibly a few sagas...

And then there are the secondary sources--that is to say, sources written with the purpose of interpreting and understanding the primary sources. You'll want at least one of the dictionaries: Lindow to start out with, then either Simek or Orchard (or both), maybe a good general-purpose Viking book like Roesdahl's "The Vikings"...

...And you'll want this book. You simply must have this book, if you're any kind of fan of Norse Mythology at all. It's a classic. It's not even half as big as my Lindow dictionary, but somehow it seems to contain five times the information. It's superbly written. It hits on most of the major characters, stories and phenomenon and describes them thoroughly, but it also digs up obscure tidbits of archaeological information, tying one thread of this myth to another, fitting in tiny pieces of the puzzle that you didn't even know existed.

For this book Davidson drew on what must have been her staggering and far-reaching knowledge of mythology and folklore, not simply Norse mythology but mythologies from far and wide, as far away as India. She takes you far, far back into the primordial days in which the roots of these myths took hold, trying to understand the hows and wheres and whys of their origins. She makes no outlandish assumptions, draws no unfounded conclusions: she simply presents what is known and what is, unfortunately, unknown, and points out what might have been.

Can you tell that I'm a fan? Did I mention that it's superbly written? This is it; this is the desert-island-book of Norse Mythology. Read it. Unless I grossly overestimate your fascination with Norse mythology, you won't be disappointed.

This book provides a fine introduction to the myths of Northern Europe. The book examines the few remnants we have in the forms of epic poems and prose, written by Christian writers after the fact - the Eddas, Beowulf, and the Viking sagas. From these sources, especially the Edda, the author reconstructs the myths and stories relating to the Norse gods and their subsequent twilight in Ragnarok. Then, the author seeks to answer various questions about this myth and determine whatever relation it may have had to the original religion of the Northern European peoples. The figures of Odin, Thor, Loki, Balder, and the rest of the Norse gods play an important part in our European cultural heritage and it is nice to see them presented in an introduction as here. Whatever underlying mental constructs are behind such accounts as that of Ragnarok (the Twilight of the Gods) they certainly appear to be universal to the human race, as revealed in all forms of apocalyptic literature. Ultimately these beliefs died a rather easy death at the hands of the Christian worldview. Whatever your personal opinion about the replacement of the pagan beliefs by Christianity and whether or not the pagan beliefs should be resurrected or remain buried, you will certainly profit from reading this book and it will help you to better understand Northern Europe in pre-Christian times. Finally, it must be noted that in many ways, at least in my opinion, the society of the Vikings was superior to our own. I admire the strong sense of individualism that the Vikings expressed and enjoy greatly reading about their heroic feats.

Davidson's work is important for the reason that she provides a interdisciplenary approach to the study of Norse mythology and prehistoric religion. Her work is characterized by good use of both primary and secondary sources and a willingness to take some risks in comparison or conclusion (but truth is found more quickly through error than by lack of trying!).

Although there are a few points in the book where I think she errs either in methodology or conclusion, the work is always well researched, thought provoking, and challenging. I would highly recommend this work to anyone interested in Norse mythology.