Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas

The illustration on the right is a detail from a standing stone found on the Island of Gotland, Sweden. Click here to see the entire picture stone.

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Germanic Geography

The Germanic world. Links to sites describing the history, geography, and culture of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavia, the low countries, and England.

Dolmens in Denmark, a collection of photographs of pre-Christian stone graves and monuments.
Runestones and Picture Stones from Scandinavia: A Selection of Photographs.
The Sigurd Portal. Carved doorposts of the medieval stave church at Hylestad, Setesdal, Norway. Although part of a Christian church, the carvings represent scenes from the heathen story of Sigurd the dragon slayer.
The Sigurd Runestone at Ramsundsberget, Jäder, Södermanland, Sweden. This famous runestone illustrates the story of how Sigurd kills the dragon Fafnir and his treacherous companion Regin.
Stone Monuments, legends about ancient alters, graves, megaliths, menhirs, mounds, pictographs, runestones, picture stones, standing stones, and other such monuments from the past.

Balder's Home Page.
Frey's Home Page. Under construction.
Gefion's Home Page. Gefion (also spelled Gefjon) is the goddess who created the Danish island of Sjælland (Zealand) by plowing out an enormous field from the Kingdom of Sweden.
Odin's Home Page. Under construction.
Ostara's Home Page. The Germanic Goddess of Springtime. Her name lives on in the English and German words for "Easter."
Rígsþula: The Lay of Rig from the Poetic Edda. This account contains all that is known about the enigmatic god named Rig, although Rig may be an alternate name for Heimdall.
Thor's Home Page, a collection of links relating to the Thunder God.
- Thor's Hammer. Photographs of amulets from the Viking age.

Vikings in America. Information about the Norse settlement in Vinland, including photographs of the reconstructed way station at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada.
Viking Ship Home Page. Illustrations, stories, facts, and links concerning the ship culture of the Vikings.
When Vikings Rules the Seas. More about the Vikings, including the opportunity to purchase authentic scale models of their ships.

Finnish Mythology, an excellent introduction. Finland is not a Germanic country, but is included here because of its close association with its fellow Nordic countries in Scandinavia.
Nordic Mythology, a summary essay from Sweden.
The Norse Mythology Web Page, a summary by Nicole Cherry of the California Institute of Technology.
The Viking Home Page, another collection of links about the Vikings, this one from a server in Sweden.
The World of the Vikings, a well-organized collection of links from a server in Great Britain. This is the best starting point for a search of Viking material on the web.

Encyclopedia Mythica, edited by M. F. Lindemans. This is an encyclopedia on mythology, magic, myths, legends, folklore from all over the world and from all times. It currently contains over 4300 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings and legendary creatures and monsters. A minor part of the encyclopedia is related to mysticism and the occult.
Harvard University's Program in Folklore and Mythology: Home Page.
Mythology and Folklore, a comprehensive index maintained by Philip R. "Pib" Burns of the Emerging Technologies Group at Northwestern University.
Myths and legends, a collection of sites, organized by country.
Yahoo index Society and Culture:Mythology and Folklore.

Revised March 17, 2002.

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