Gold Foil Figures and Norse Mythology: Fact and Fiction?
Margrethe Watt, Olof Sundqvist
Chapter from the book: Wikström af Edholm, K et al. 2019. Myth, Materiality and Lived Religion: In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Wikström af Edholm, K et al. 2019. Myth, Materiality and Lived Religion: In Merovingian and Viking Scandinavia.
The iconography of numerous tiny gold foil figures found in Scandinavia provide a unique glimpse into mostly 6th and 7th century society and cult. The article discusses possibilities as well as the pitfalls and complexity of understanding the figures. Some “concepts” of interpretation are given as examples: “Warlord/king among the gods”, “the seer/seeress” and “the legally binding marriage”.
A response to the chapter has been submitted by Olof Sundqvist.
Watt M. & Sundqvist O. 2019. Gold Foil Figures and Norse Mythology: Fact and Fiction?. In: Wikström af Edholm, K et al (eds.), Myth, Materiality and Lived Religion. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/bay.h
This is an Open Access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (unless stated otherwise), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright is retained by the author(s).
This book has been peer reviewed. See our Peer Review Policies for more information.
Published on June 3, 2019