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Old Norse literature abounds with descriptions of magic acts that
allow ritual specialists of various kinds to manipulate the world
around them, see into the future or the distant past, change
weather conditions, influence the outcomes of battles, and more.
While magic practitioners are known under myriad terms, the most
iconic of them is the völva. As the central figure of the famous
mythological poem Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Völva), the
völva commands both respect and fear. In non-mythological texts
similar women are portrayed as crucial albeit somewhat peculiar
members of society. Always veiled in mystery, the völur and their
kind have captured the academic and popular imagination for
centuries. Bringing together scholars from various disciplinary
backgrounds, this volume provides new insights into the reality of
magic and its agents in the Viking world, beyond the pages of
medieval texts. It explores new trajectories for the study of past
mentalities, beliefs, and rituals as well as the tools employed in
these practices and the individuals who wielded them. In doing so,
the volume engages with several topical issues of Viking Age
research, including the complex entanglements of mind and
materiality, the cultural attitudes to animals and the natural
world, and the cultural constructions of gender and sexuality. By
addressing these complex themes, it offers a nuanced image of the
völva and related magic workers in their cultural context. It will
appeal to a broad, diverse, and international audience, including
experts in the field of Viking and Old Norse studies but also
various non-professional history enthusiasts. The Norse Sorceress:
Mind and Materiality in the Viking World is a key output of the
project Tanken bag Tingene (Thoughts behind Things) conducted at
the National Museum of Denmark from 2020 to 2023 and funded by the
Krogager Foundation.
In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Vikings created a cultural
network that spanned four continents: from the Caspian Sea to the
North Atlantic and from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean. The
Viking Age was a period of major change as a result of the Vikings
impact on neighboring areas and the introduction of external
influences into Scandinavia. This book explores Viking culture from
a global perspective, examining the influences of their varied
contacts from around the world and how Viking Scandinavia drew from
both Christian Europe and the Islamic world.
The book focuses on the core period of the Viking Age, from the
late eighth to the early eleventh centuries. New discoveries by
archaeologists and metal detectorists highlight the interconnected
nature of the cultures of Europe, Byzantium, and the Middle
East.
Vikings accompanies a major exhibition developed jointly by the
British Museum, the National Museum of Denmark, and the Museum for
Prehistory and Early History in Berlin. Edited by the exhibition
curators Gareth Williams, Peter Pentz, and Matthias Wemhoff and
with contributions from a number of key experts, the book, with its
strong, flowing narrative and integrated illustrations, draws on a
wealth of Viking objects to provide a rich and vivid account of the
impact of Viking expansion throughout the world."
This is the last volume in a series of reports from the Danish
excavations on the ancient Tall of the Syrian site and town of
Hama.;It presents the medieval architecture of the mound from the
Arab conquest in 636 to 1401 when the citadel of Hama was destroyed
by Timur Lenk. The excavations revealed that the early Islamic town
was not as insignificant as previously believed. The periods of
Hama's greatest strength were, however, the 12th and 13th centuries
when many different structures were built on the mound such as a
bath, mills and other industrial structures (among these a workshop
for the production of grenades). Its fortifications mainly dated
from the 12th century, although an older - Byzantine wall was also
found. On the whole the citadel of Hama must have resembled that of
its neighbour to the north, Allepo. The medieval ceramics and other
minor finds have been published in previous volumes.
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