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34 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Older history, but still useful....., June 23, 2001
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.
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