Snorri wrote down the Norse myths in order to preserve a specific form of poetry that required that mythology, he had no interest in ”Christianising” it or altering it in any way.
Snorri wrote down the Norse myths in order to preserve a specific form of poetry that required that mythology, he had no interest in ”Christianising” it or altering it in any way.
You got some context/source? It sounds interesting
S0mecallme on
How do you know he didn’t? Historians like primary sources, and Snorri is the only one for a lot of myths that have a certain Christian flare
Like the whole thing about how after ragnorok a new cooler light god would restore the world, or how he literally described the Asgardians as Trojan kings who somehow got all the way to Scandinavia
CommanderCody5501 on
I mean he made it rather obvious which parts to ignore about the story since it starts with him going on about how the gods are totally Trojans. 😉 then gets into all the pagan stuff
People dump on Snorri and have absolute crash outs when you ask them for their sources on why he’s not reliable. Or, god forbid you hit them with some of your own sources, challenging, dispelling and disproving historical misinformation/disinformation/misconceptions.
—
###Here are just *some* popular misconceptions about Snorri
> ##*”He was a Christian monk!”*
No, he wasn’t. Snorri Sturluson was a historian, poet, and politician. I.e. an incredibly influential and well respected figure, whose major goal was to preserve Skaldic poetry. There was a fear at the time that their style of poetry (and the context needed to understand it) would be lost to time, and so he set out to preserve that style for future generations.
By extension, the notion that he set out to intentionally *change* anything is nonsense. The Eddas were written down in order to preserve a very specific form of poetry that required those mythological tales in order for the poetry to work. “Filtering” and/or modifying those poems/myths would go against the very purpose of why they are written down in the first place.
—
> ##*”The Eddas were influenced and changed (by a Christian) to be more Christian!”*
Yes, the man was Christian, as everyone around him was (and had been for over a century by that point) but he wasn’t a monk, or a religious figure. Christianity dominated life at the time, but we have no reason to believe he went in with a “Christian agenda. ”
The majority of the text of the Eddas are very accurately dated (largely to the 900s) to the pre-Christian pagan era in medieval Scandinavia. They are absolutely pagan.
The beginning of the *Prose Edda* is weird. Basically, Snorri’s weird introduction is a euhemeristic text that attempts to explain the origin of the Norse gods from a Christian perspective. In that introduction he asserts that the Æsir were an Asian tribe from Troy, who migrated to Scandinavia. Óðinn becomes king and he and his family become confused with their power, into thinking they’re gods.
But, it’s that part that stands out from the rest of the writings (and there is even debate as to whether or not the beginning of the *Prose Edda* was written by Snorri). Most of the Poetic Edda can be linguistically dated back to pre-Christian times. The parts that are undoubtedly “Christianized” are the euhemeristic prologue, which does not really try to hide or obscure anything.
—
> ##*”Snorri translated the Eddas!”*
No, [he didn’t “translate” anything.](https://www.reddit.com/r/norsemythology/comments/1mgmfxz/snorri_did_not_translate_the_eddas/) Although he was born nearly 200 years after Iceland’s official conversion to Christianity, his native language was still just a flavor of Old Norse, the same language that was spoken in the Viking Age. What Snorri did was basically just write them down.
**TLDR;** the sources are mostly original, dated to the pagan era, and would have had to have had enormous changes made to them to actually be “Christian influenced,” so to speak.
Odd_Affect_7082 on
As a bit of an odd question regarding this: what’s the general consensus these days on Lif and Lifthrasir?
5 Comments
You got some context/source? It sounds interesting
How do you know he didn’t? Historians like primary sources, and Snorri is the only one for a lot of myths that have a certain Christian flare
Like the whole thing about how after ragnorok a new cooler light god would restore the world, or how he literally described the Asgardians as Trojan kings who somehow got all the way to Scandinavia
I mean he made it rather obvious which parts to ignore about the story since it starts with him going on about how the gods are totally Trojans. 😉 then gets into all the pagan stuff
I’m not calling anyone (specific) out, but it’s very interesting that people ask for sources in this post (as you should). However, I didn’t see that happening much in the [other ~~slop~~ post](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/1p11iju/we_dont_even_have_one_primary_source_for_irish/) (*when will it be* ***my*** *turn to repost that meme, mommy?*).
People dump on Snorri and have absolute crash outs when you ask them for their sources on why he’s not reliable. Or, god forbid you hit them with some of your own sources, challenging, dispelling and disproving historical misinformation/disinformation/misconceptions.
—
###Here are just *some* popular misconceptions about Snorri
> ##*”He was a Christian monk!”*
No, he wasn’t. Snorri Sturluson was a historian, poet, and politician. I.e. an incredibly influential and well respected figure, whose major goal was to preserve Skaldic poetry. There was a fear at the time that their style of poetry (and the context needed to understand it) would be lost to time, and so he set out to preserve that style for future generations.
By extension, the notion that he set out to intentionally *change* anything is nonsense. The Eddas were written down in order to preserve a very specific form of poetry that required those mythological tales in order for the poetry to work. “Filtering” and/or modifying those poems/myths would go against the very purpose of why they are written down in the first place.
—
> ##*”The Eddas were influenced and changed (by a Christian) to be more Christian!”*
Yes, the man was Christian, as everyone around him was (and had been for over a century by that point) but he wasn’t a monk, or a religious figure. Christianity dominated life at the time, but we have no reason to believe he went in with a “Christian agenda. ”
The majority of the text of the Eddas are very accurately dated (largely to the 900s) to the pre-Christian pagan era in medieval Scandinavia. They are absolutely pagan.
The beginning of the *Prose Edda* is weird. Basically, Snorri’s weird introduction is a euhemeristic text that attempts to explain the origin of the Norse gods from a Christian perspective. In that introduction he asserts that the Æsir were an Asian tribe from Troy, who migrated to Scandinavia. Óðinn becomes king and he and his family become confused with their power, into thinking they’re gods.
But, it’s that part that stands out from the rest of the writings (and there is even debate as to whether or not the beginning of the *Prose Edda* was written by Snorri). Most of the Poetic Edda can be linguistically dated back to pre-Christian times. The parts that are undoubtedly “Christianized” are the euhemeristic prologue, which does not really try to hide or obscure anything.
—
> ##*”Snorri translated the Eddas!”*
No, [he didn’t “translate” anything.](https://www.reddit.com/r/norsemythology/comments/1mgmfxz/snorri_did_not_translate_the_eddas/) Although he was born nearly 200 years after Iceland’s official conversion to Christianity, his native language was still just a flavor of Old Norse, the same language that was spoken in the Viking Age. What Snorri did was basically just write them down.
—
I highly recommend this long form essay on Snorri here: [Why You Should (Mostly) Trust the *Prose Edda*](https://norsemythology.substack.com/p/why-you-should-mostly-trust-the-prose?r=3362pi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true). It covers a lot of these subjects, and is perfectly well sourced and cited.
**TLDR;** the sources are mostly original, dated to the pagan era, and would have had to have had enormous changes made to them to actually be “Christian influenced,” so to speak.
As a bit of an odd question regarding this: what’s the general consensus these days on Lif and Lifthrasir?