Vikings 101
This language was spoken by Scandinavians during the Viking Age.
What is Old Norse?
These beings were the primary focus of Scandinavian interaction with the thought world.
Alfar (Elves, Huldufólk)
This bridge connected Asgard to Midgard and enabled the gods to traverse the Nine Realms.
Bitfrost
This script constitutes the earliest form of alphabetic writing in Scandinavia.
What is the Elder Futhark?
This body of prose literature (12th-14th) century was composed by Icelandic authors and recounts the deeds of famous Icelanders during the Viking Age.
What are the Sagas?
This is the English translation of the Old Norse term, Viking.
What is "to go raiding"?
This goddess received half of the Einherjar (the honored dead).
Who is Freya?
This substance is the source of human inspiration, creativity, and poetic ability.
The Mead of Poetry
This half of the gender binary was seen as more rigid and deeply connected to conceptions of honor.
This 13th-century Icelandic politician and author is responsible for much of our knowledge of the Norse Thought world.
Snorri Sturluson
This term is used to describe the influence of climate change and natural disasters on religious beliefs and storytelling.
What is geomythology?
This female spirit was believed to attach itself to the lineage of a household and guard the family.
Disir
This object was considered too insignificant to swear in support of Baldr and was eventually used to kill him.
Mistletoe
This Anglo-Saxon ship burial reveals deep cultural connections between the early English kingdoms and Scandinavia during the Vendel Period.
Sutton-Hoo
This non-Norse author is an important eye witness for Pagan Norse funerals.
Who is Ibn Fadlan?
This non-Norse culture is native to the northern areas of Scandinavia.
Who are the Sámi?
This malevolent creature originated from Utgarðr and particularly menacing to humans.
Troll
This ship, made from the fingernails of the dead, would rise from the depths and be piloted by Loki at Ragnarok.
Naglfar
The "Slippery One" refers to which companion to a Norse God?
Sleipnir
These constitute the only original Norse writings that survive from the Viking Age itself. They are mostly commemorative in subject matter.
Runestones.
This region was the home of the giants in the Norse cosmology.
What is Jötunheim?
This Vanir deity is associated with fertility and is depicted with an erect phallus.
Who is Freyr?
This hall is the home to Freya and her Einherjar.
Fólkvangr
This motif is characteristic of art in the Viking Age.
What is the gripping beast motif?
This late 11th-century Stave Church is an important source for the final period of Norse Art.
Urnes Church