The Nebra Disc (front cover) informs archaeologists that the Bronze Age people of Northern Europe were more sophisticated than once thought. In an area traditionally seen as primitive and barbaric, it would seem a complex religion had flourished more than 3,600 years ago.

"We have been dramatically underestimating the prehistoric peoples," says Harald Meller, Head Archaeologist at the Museum of Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, where the Nebra disc was discovered.

Scientists have long known that most Europeans languages stem from an older Proto-Indo-European root, perhaps originating in the Russian Steppes c. 4000-6000 BC. Many have speculated about the culture and the religion of its speakers, but few in as great detail as Viktor Rydberg. Here he illuminates Proto-Indo-European beliefs through a comparative analysis of its earliest religious texts, among them, the Rigveda, the Zend-Avesta, and the Icelandic Poetic and Prose Eddas, concluding with his own thoughts on mythological method. This, the second volume of Rydberg's two-volume "Undersokningar i Germanisk Mythologi," is the sequel to his "Teutonic Mythology."

Insightful research from the dawn of comparative mythological studies, these controversial essays remain as relevant today, as they were when they were published over a century ago.

This is the first part of a two-part set.

An epic introduction to Norse mythology for students of all ages. Based on the research of the 19th century Swedish poet and scholar, Viktor Rydberg, Our Fathers' Godsaga retells the mythology of Northern Europe in chronological order from Creation to Ragnaro k. These are tales told by Vikings, epic tales of gods and giants, elves and dwarves, and of how their interaction and wars affect the first generations of human beings in the North. Based on a comprehensive examination of the source material, including the Icelandic Eddas and Sagas, this is likely the way Germanic mythology looked at the end of the heathen era. Many will recognize themes found here in J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion, particularly the tale of the elf-smith Vo lund and his quest for revenge against the Aesir, first detailed by Rydberg in his comprehensive Investigations into Germanic Mythology, 1886. This is an original translation of Viktor Rydberg's Fa dernas Gudasaga, his own retelling of the complete Norse mythic epic, first published in 1887, and many times since. The text includes a complete catalog of mythic names & the original artwork, from the 1911 German translation, by renowned children's artist John Bauer (1882-1918). This classic Swedish text appears in English now for the first time."

No one knows when he came to the farm, no one has ever seen him, but everyone knows it is the troll Tomten who walks about the lonely old farmhouse on a winter's night, talking to all the animals and reminding them of the promise of Spring.

Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895) aterberattar har sagorna om vara fornnordiska gudar med Oden och Tor i spetsen. Om varldens skapelse, varldstradet Yggrasil, de forsta manniskorna, Midgard och Valhall och de andra varldarna, och om Ragnarok. Las de svindlande aventyren som satt outplanliga spar i var kulturhistoria och omgivning. Narmare en svensk "bibel" an sa har gar det inte att komma.

1891. One of the great Swedish romanticists, Rydberg started Teutonic Mythology as an attempt to save the Old Norse Eddaic myths from allegations of Christian and Classical influence. Soon he became absorbed by the idea that they were not only very ancient but also fragments of a vast and coherent mythical epic. To the dismay of his friends, he spent nearly a decade trying to reconstruct and prove this epic. The results were largely dismissed by other scholars as poetical imaginations.