history

“De origine et situ Germanorum liber” is the actual title of this first century book. It was written by the Roman Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (±55-120) and as you can see the book got known under a much shorter name. The actual title means ‘book about the origins and location of the Germans’, which covers the text completely. I got this Latin/German book for only E 3,10. The German publisher Reclam always has these small and cheap books, many of them of old texts. The translation is of 1972. This small book has about 110 pages. About half of them are filled with the Latin text (on the left pages) and the German translation (on the right). The rest are notes/explanations and a biography of the writer.

Tacitus has travelled through the Germanic countries extensively and gives a nice overview of the differnt tribes, the Germanic culture, etc. Of course he wrote from his Roman background, so -for example- Germanic gods get Roman names. Also not all information has proven correctly too. Still the text is a very nice overview of the mass of Germanic tribes that were present in the first years of our era. Tacitus gives some history, where the different tribes had their territories, describes habbits and culture, a little bit of mythology. In any case it is good to have a copy of this often-quoted text at home yourself, especially when you also get the original language and even more especially when it is only E 3,10! There are more expensive German translations and all of the English translations are more expensive, but there is a Penguin Classic with the “Agricola” and “Germania” in one book for $ 10,50.

In Germany older books are sometimes rereleased by publishers such as Marix Verlag. The books are printed nicely, they mostly have a hard cover, but most of all, the prices are scandalously low. You can read reviews of other such books in these pages. The books and titles are all in German. I was delighted when in this line of works the history of the Danes (“Gesta Danorum”) of Saxo Grammaticus (ca. 1150 – ca. 1220) was released for a mere E 13,-. It was quite a read and I am still not sure what to think of this version of the book.
This work of Hube is not just a translation of the famous text. He also made lengthy explanations. Actually the explanations are longer than the text of Gramaticus himself. When reading this book I get the idea that Hube has tried to retell it using quotes from Gramaticus in his text. Still the cover says that this is a complete translation. Hube places the things that Gramaticus says in perspective, which is often helpfull. Sometimes the text he adds is superfluous. Further he seems to have made his own titles for chapters and I guess Hube has tried to put some humour in the book… The texts of Hube and Gramaticus are printed through eachother without a different typeface, make-up of anything which isn’t very handy. And inspite of the lengthy explanations there are hundreds and hundres of notes.
The “Gesta Danorum” is a book much like the “Heimskringla” of Snorri Sturluson (reviewed elsewhere). It is a history, in the case of Grammaticus of the kings of Denmark. Like Sturluson, Grammaticus interweaves history and myth, but mostly he tries to give the history of Denmark. Hube mostly aims for this historical side in his comments which doesn’t make the book more interesting. Hube IS helpfull for having descent knowledge of other important texts such as the sagas, the Eddas, other Northern texts (like Beowulf, the Nibelungenlied), etc. so he can give comparisons and illucidations. In a few cases Gramaticus gives other versions of famous myths, such as the death of Balder. Also there are myths in Grammaticus that can’t be found elsewhere, such as the stories of Starkadr. Since the “Gesta Danorum” was written in Latin, the names are sometimes different, but Hube translates them (“Balder” for “Balderus”, “Hodr” for “Hotherus”) which is a pitty.
All in all this book isn’t much of an exiting read, just like the Heimskringla actually. Since there is a good index, I decided to use this book for referential purposes. There are writers who compared Grammaticus’ text with the Eddas, etc. and I now have the possibility to look things back.

This is an often-quoted 11th century book on the pre-Christian beliefs of (Northern) Europe. -Like Saxo Grammaticus- this is one of these books that belong in your personal library. This English translation is a nice publication. The translation is very readable (Adam must already have had a nice writing-style) and the translator not only searched for Adams sources, but added tons of notes (there are even notes within notes!). Like the title suggests, the book gives a history of the archbishops of the enormous bishophric of Hamburg-Bremen (Germany) which extented all the way up to Norway and Iceland. Most of the text consists of not too interesting and rather detailed discriptions of the early churchfathers, missionaries and bishops. Interwoven is information about the lands where these people travelled to in order to bring the ‘true faith’. You can also read about the struggles that the conversions costed sometimes, pagan kings who become Christian and pagan again, the Viking raids, etc. Here and there are descriptions of the pagan’s (Slavic and Germanic) practices, with of course as most famous, the description of the great temple of Uppsala in Sweden and the rituals around the feast that is held there every nine years. Adam used many texts that were compiled before him (by for example Beda and Vergil). I must note that Adam got all of his informations second-hand, the named sources, but mostly the stories of his contemporaries. Adam is often quoted as a reliable source, but the reason I am not too sure about this is the famous passage about the temple of Uppsala. On page 206 of my book (paragraph “XXV (25)” of book four) Adam describes the east of Sweden “where there is an immense wasteland, the deepest snows, and where hordes of human monsters prevent access to what lies beyond. There are Amazons, and Cyclops who have but one eye on their foreheads; there are those Solinus calls Himantopodes, who hop on one foot, and those who delight in human flesh as food”. The next three paragraphs are about the temple of Uppsala and the nine-year-feast during which men and a great many animals are killed and hung in trees as offerings to the gods… Indeed, most of the times Adam seems reliable, but such passages about monsters does not add to that idea!
But like I said, the book reads easily and since it is so often quoted, it is good to have a copy in your possession. This version is printed well, has many notes, a large bibliography and a descent index. Read it, and form your own opinion.

Irritating that the name of a famous man like Snorri Sturluson is written differently. This affordable version of the Heimskringla is harder to find at Amazon this way. Anyway, here we have a 1990 rework by Albert Hugh Smith of the 1932 transtion of Monsen of Sturluson’s famous work. Of course Sturluson is even more famous for his ‘prose Edda’, but here we have his magnum-opus, a gigantic work, especially compared to his Edda. As the title of this translation suggests, this work is more historical than mythological, but in the old North writing and talling worked differently from today. Of course the main part is history, but in between (the lines) you will find Norse mythology and information about customs and folklore which makes the Heimskringla a must-read for people interested in Norse mythology. The book is a 780 pages paperback with 145 illustrations and 5 maps and a massive index for a more than reasonable price.

Almost exactly a year ago I was in the USA where I bought too many books. I also had this book in my hand. Almost 800 pages for a mere $ 20,-. I paged though it and paged through it again and eventually decided not to buy it. I knew hardly any of the sagas, I already spent way too much money on books and my suitcase was starting to become pretty damn heavy. Back home for many months with much reading about our pre-Christian ancestors and their religion and mythology I wished that I could read some of their sagas, so I remembered the book in that small occult bookshop in Seattle. Amazon now has it for only $ 14,28, but to have it shipped here would cost me too, so I used antiqbook.com to locate a copy nearer-by. To my surprise I found a copy of a different printing (when you go to Amazon, you will see another cover) in a second hand bookshop in the Netherlands, so I immediately ordered it and received it within a week.

When starting to read it, I soon noticed that this is not my kind of literature. I can’t read fiction or novels and the same goes for 700-year-old stories it seems. A collection was made out of the 49 “complete sagas of the Icelanders” (also for sale) resulting in nine sagas and six tales. Each story is introduced at length with maps, drawing and a summery. At the end there is a very interesting part with extra information.

The sages are long stories (sometimes a few hundred pages), the tales are the same kinds of stories but shorter. The texts are mostly about a man, who was the son of… who was the son of… who was the son of… The man is married to …, a daughter of… a son of… You will get the idea. After such an introduction you will often read about Viking settlers, their raids, but very often social/family-affairs and there and there some warfare. This is told in narritive form with every now and then a poem, because all the great heroes were also poems. Reading the stories you will learn a lot of how the Viking stood in life, the moralilty, etc. There are a few parts with mythological references and here and there you can read about someone performing magic or some information about a ‘Thing’. Quite often you can also read about Vikings going Christian and/or the clash between the old faith and the new one. All this is quite docile, but I found myself having a hard time reading the actual stories which are mostly stuffed with uninteresting details and conversations. Still I am happy that I read the whole book and have a nice thick book on the shelf for referential purposes. Also I am sure there are many people who really like to read old texts like these. They come in very good translations by a number of people, but still in the same style. There is plenty of extra information so I can only highly recommand this book to anyone interested in old literature and/or the Vikings (and meanwhile learning about our own ancestors). Tip: you can see the contents-pages at Amazon.com so you will know which sagas and tales are in the book.