1.
Peter Nicolai Arbo
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Peter Nicolai Arbo was a Norwegian historical painter, who specialized in painting motifs from Norwegian history and images from Norse mythology. He is most noted for Asgårdsreien, a motif based on the Wild Hunt legend and Valkyrie. Peter Nicolai Arbo grew up at Gulskogen Manor in Gulskogen, a borough in Drammen and he was the son of headmaster Christian Fredrik Arbo and his wife Marie Christiane von Rosen. His brother Carl Oscar Eugen Arbo was a medical doctor. Arbos childhood home, Gulskogen, was built in 1804 as a residence for his older cousin, lumber dealer. Arbo started his art education with a year at the Art School operated by Frederik Ferdinand Helsted in Copenhagen 1851-1852, after this, he studied at the art academy in Düsseldorf. From 1853 to 1855 he studied under of Karl Ferdinand Sohn, professor of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, at Düsseldorf he was for some time a private student of the history painter C. He had contact with Adolph Tidemand and became a friend of Hans Gude both of whom were professors at the art academy in Düsseldorf. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting, in 1861 Arbo returned to Norway and the following year he went on a study trip together with Gude and Frederik Collett. In 1863 he painted the first version of Horse flock on the high mountains, the version from 1889 is at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo and is considered one of the most important of his works. In 1866 he was appointed a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and he held numerous positions, including as a juror in Stockholm in 1866 and Philadelphia in 1876, and was Commissioner of the Viennese art department exhibition in 1873. He was also a member of the National Gallery Company from 1875, drammens Museum is located in the heart of Drammen, on the southern side of the Drammen River. In earlier years this was an area of elegant country houses on the magnificent landed property known as Marienlyst, exhibits of the museum include items from the historical and cultural background of Norway. Drammen museum consists of five departments including Gulskogen Manor, the childhood home Peder Nicolai Arbo, in the many beautiful rooms of Gulskogen Manor, one will find works by this distinguished history-painter. Paintings by Peter Nicolai Arbo Marit I
2.
Norse mythology
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The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central cosmological tree, Yggdrasil. Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings, various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarök, there the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world. Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century, by way of comparative mythology and historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the modern period, the Romanticist Viking revival re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, the myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Iceland and this occurred primarily in the 13th century. The Prose Edda was composed as a manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Old Norse poetry composed by skalds. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse, kennings, the Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, in comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned. Numerous further texts, such as the sagas, provide further information, the saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories to Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila the Hun. By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology may also lend insight, wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. Of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, the god Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, wolf and raven-flanked, and spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds, Odin has a strong association with death, Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Valhalla, where valkyries carry half of those slain in battle. Odins wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Baldr. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his death, his death is engineered by Loki, and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel. Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess and she is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain, and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr, Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in far away lands
3.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders
4.
Night
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Night or nighttime is the period of time between the sunset and the sunrise when the Sun is below the horizon. Complete darkness or astronomical night is the period of time between astronomical dusk and astronomical dawn when the sun is between 18 and 90 degrees below the horizon and the sky is totally dark, at latitudes between 48.5 and 66. The opposite of night is day, the start and end points of time for a night vary, based on factors such as season, latitude, longitude and timezone. Twilight is the time of night when the sky is illuminated by the sun but the sun is below the horizon. At any given time, one side of the planet Earth is bathed in light from the Sun and this shadow is called the umbra. Natural illumination is provided by a combination of moonlight, planetary light, starlight, diffuse zodiacal light, gegenschein. In some circumstances, bioluminescence, aurorae, and lightning can provide some illumination, the glow provided by artificial illumination is sometimes referred to as light pollution because it can interfere with observational astronomy and ecosystems. Nights are shorter than days on average due to two factors, firstly, the sun is not a point, but has an apparent size of about 32 arc minutes. Secondly, the atmosphere refracts sunlight so that some of it reaches the ground when the sun is below the horizon by about 34 arc minutes. The combination of two factors means that light reaches the ground when the center of the sun is below the horizon by about 50 arc minutes. Without these effects, day and night would be the length at the autumnal and vernal equinoxes. In reality, around the equinoxes the day is almost 14 minutes longer than the night at the equator, the summer and winter solstices mark the shortest and the longest night, respectively. The closer a location is to either the North Pole or the South Pole, in the Northern Hemisphere, Denmark has shorter nights in June than India. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica has longer nights in June than Chile, the phenomenon of day and night is due to the rotation of a celestial body about its axis, creating an illusion of the sun rising and setting. Different bodies spin at different rates, however. Some may spin much faster than Earth, while others spin extremely slowly, leading to long days. The planet Venus rotates once every 224.7 days – by far the slowest rotation period of any of the major planets, in contrast, the gas giant Jupiters sidereal day is only 9 hours and 56 minutes. Mercury has the longest day-night cycle as a result of its 3,2 resonance between its orbital period and rotation period - this resonance gives it a day-night cycle 176 days long
5.
Thor
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In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing and fertility. The cognate deity in wider Germanic mythology and paganism was known in Old English as Þunor and in Old High German as Donar, into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in rural folklore throughout Germanic regions. Thor is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday bears his name, in Norse mythology, largely recorded in Iceland from traditional material stemming from Scandinavia, numerous tales and information about Thor are provided. With Sif, Thor fathered the goddess Þrúðr, with Járnsaxa, he fathered Magni, with a mother whose name is not recorded, he fathered Móði, and he is the stepfather of the god Ullr. The same sources list Thor as the son of the god Odin and the earth, Jörð. Thor has two servants, Þjálfi and Röskva, rides in a cart or chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, and is ascribed three dwellings. Thor wields the mountain-crushing hammer, Mjölnir, wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves Járngreipr, Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor is revived in the period in Heathenry. The name of the god is the origin of the weekday name Thursday, by employing a practice known as interpretatio germanica during the Roman Empire period, the Germanic peoples adopted the Roman weekly calendar, and replaced the names of Roman gods with their own. Latin dies Iovis was converted into Proto-Germanic *Þonares dagaz, from which stems modern English Thursday, beginning in the Viking Age, personal names containing the theonym Thórr are recorded with great frequency. Prior to the Viking Age, no examples are recorded, thórr-based names may have flourished during the Viking Age as a defiant response to attempts at Christianization, similar to the wide scale Viking Age practice of wearing Thors hammer pendants. They regard it as a duty to offer to him, on fixed days. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind, in this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as Mercury, Thor as Hercules, and the god Týr as Mars, and the identity of the Isis of the Suebi has been debated. In Thors case, the identification with the god Hercules is likely at least in part due to similarities between Thors hammer and Hercules club. In his Annals, Tacitus again refers to the veneration of Hercules by the Germanic peoples, Donar, the southern Germanic form of the gods name. According to an account, the Christian missionary Saint Boniface felled an oak tree dedicated to Jove in the 8th century. Around the second half of the 8th century, Old English mentions of a figure named Thunor are recorded, gabriel Turville-Petre saw this as an invented origin for the placename demonstrating loss of memory that Thunor had been a gods name. Adam details that Thor, they reckon, rules the sky, he governs thunder and lightning, winds and storms, fine weather and fertility and that Thor, with his mace, looks like Jupiter
6.
Poetic Edda
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Poetic Edda is the modern attribution for an unnamed collection of Old Norse anonymous poems, which is different from the Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all consisting primarily of text from the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript known as the Codex Regius, poets who have acknowledged their debt to the Codex Regius include Vilhelm Ekelund, August Strindberg, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ezra Pound, Jorge Luis Borges, and Karin Boye, Codex Regius was written in the 13th century, but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643, when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then Bishop of Skálholt. At the time, versions of the Edda were known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that once was another Edda, an Elder Edda. Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest and that attribution is rejected by modern scholars, but the name Sæmundar Edda is still sometimes associated with both the Codex Regius and versions of Poetic Edda using it as a source. Bishop Brynjólfur sent Codex Regius as a present to the Danish king, for centuries, it was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen but in 1971, it was returned to Iceland. The Eddic poems are composed in alliterative verse, most are in fornyrðislag, while málaháttr is a common variation. The rest, about a quarter, are composed in ljóðaháttr, the language of the poems is usually clear and relatively unadorned. Kennings are often employed, though they do not arise as frequently, nor are they as complex, like most early poetry, the Eddic poems were minstrel poems, passing orally from singer to singer and from poet to poet for centuries. None of the poems are attributed to an author, though many of them show strong individual characteristics and are likely to have been the work of individual poets. Scholars sometimes speculate on hypothetical authors, but firm and accepted conclusions have never been reached, the dating of the poems has been a source of lively scholarly argument for a long time, and firm conclusions are hard to reach. Lines from the Eddic poems sometimes appear in poems by known poets, for example, Eyvindr skáldaspillir composed in the latter half of the 10th century, and he uses a couple of lines in his Hákonarmál which are also found in Hávamál. It is possible that he was quoting a poem, but it is also possible that Hávamál. The few demonstrably historical characters mentioned in the poems, such as Attila, the dating of the manuscripts themselves provides a more useful terminus ante quem. Individual poems have individual clues to their age, for example, Atlamál hin groenlenzku is claimed by its title to have been composed in Greenland, and seems so by some internal evidence. If so, it can be no earlier than about 985, in some cases, old poems may have been interpolated with younger verses or merged with other poems. For example, stanzas 9-16 of Völuspá, the Dvergatal or Roster of Dwarfs, is considered by scholars to be an interpolation. The problem of dating the poems is linked with the problem of finding out where they were composed, Iceland was not settled until about 870, so anything composed before that time would necessarily have been elsewhere, most likely in Scandinavia
7.
Prose Edda
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The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorris Edda or, historically, simply as Edda, is an Old Norse work of literature written in Iceland in the early 13th century. The work is assumed to have been written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar. It begins with a euhemerized Prologue, a section on the Norse cosmogony, pantheon and this is followed by three distinct books, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal. Seven manuscripts, dating from around 1300 to around 1600, have independent textual value, Sturluson planned the collection as a textbook. It was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse, at that time, versions of the Edda were well known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was an Elder Edda which contained the poems which Snorri quotes in his Edda. The etymology of Edda remains uncertain, there are many hypotheses, and little agreement. Some argue that the word derives from the name of Oddi, Edda could therefore mean book of Oddi. However, this assumption is generally rejected, Faulkes in his English translation of the Prose Edda commented that this is unlikely, both in terms of linguistics and history since Snorri was no longer living at Oddi when he composed his work. Another connection was made with the word óðr, which means poetry or inspiration in Old Norse, Edda also means great-parent, a word used by Snorri himself in the Skáldskaparmál. That is, with the meaning, the name of a character in the Rigsthula. A final hypothesis is derived from the Latin edo, meaning I write and it relies on the fact that the word kredda is certified and comes from the Latin credo, I believe. It seems likely Snorri would have been able to invent the word, Edda in this case could be translated as Poetic Art. This is the meaning that the word was given in the Middle Ages. The name Sæmundar Edda was given by the Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson to the collection of poems contained in the Codex Regius, many of which are quoted by Snorri. Brynjólfur, along many others of his time incorrectly believed that they were collected by Sæmundr fróði. Seven manuscripts of the Edda have survived, six compositions of the Middle Ages, no one manuscript is complete, and each has variations. In addition to three fragments, the four manuscripts are Codex Regius, Codex Wormianus, Codex Trajectinus. Codex Upsaliensis, was composed in the first quarter of the century and is the oldest manuscript preserved of the Edda of Snorri
8.
Snorri Sturluson
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Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing and he was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egils saga, as a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the hypothesis that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults. As people call upon the war leader as they go to battle, or the dead king as they face tribal hardship. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god and he also proposed that as tribes defeat others, they explain their victory by proposing that their own gods were in battle with the gods of the others. Snorri Sturluson was born in Hvammur into the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar family of the Icelandic Commonwealth and his parents were Sturla Þórðarson the elder of Hvammur and his second wife, Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two brothers, Þórðr Sturluson and Sighvatr Sturluson, two sisters and nine half-siblings. By a quirk of circumstance Snorri was raised from the age of three by Jón Loftsson, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in Oddi, Iceland. The resulting settlement would have beggared Páll, but Jón Loftsson intervened in the Althing to mitigate the judgment and, to compensate Sturla, offered to raise, Snorri therefore received an excellent education and made connections that he might not otherwise have made. He attended the school of Sæmundr fróði, grandfather of Jón Loftsson, at Oddi and his father died in 1183 and his mother as guardian soon wasted Snorris share of the inheritance. The two families arranged an marriage in 1199 between Snorri and Herdís, the daughter of Bersi Vermundarson. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg and a chieftainship and he soon acquired more property and chieftainships. Snorri and Herdís were together for four years at Borg and they had at least two children, Hallbera and Jón. The marriage succumbed to Snorris philandering, and in 1206, he settled in Reykholt as manager of an estate there and he made significant improvements to the estate, including a hot outdoor bath. The bath and the buildings have preserved to some extent. During the initial years at Reykholt he fathered five children by three different women, Guðrún Hreinsdóttir, Oddný, and Þuríður Hallsdóttir, Snorri quickly became known as a poet, but was also a successful lawyer. In 1215, he became lawspeaker of the Althing, the public office of the Icelandic commonwealth. In the summer of 1218, he left the position and sailed to Norway
9.
Dellingr
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In Norse mythology, Dellingr is a god. Dellingr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from traditional sources. In both sources, Dellingr is described as the father of Dagr, the personified day, the Prose Edda adds that, depending on manuscript variation, he is either the third husband of Nótt, the personified night, or the husband of Jörð, the personified earth. Dellingr is also attested in the legendary saga Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, scholars have proposed that Dellingr is the personified dawn, and his name may appear both in an English surname and place name as well as German surnames. Dellingr is referenced in the Poetic Edda poems Vafþrúðnismál and Hávamál, in stanza 24 of Vafþrúðnismá, the god Odin asks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir from where the day comes, and the night and its tides. In stanza 25, Vafþrúðnir responds, Delling hight he who the father is, but night was of Nörvi born. In Hávamál, the dwarf Þjóðrœrir is stated as having recited a spell before Dellings doors. Strength he sang to the Æsir, and to the Alfar prosperity, in the poem Fjölsvinnsmál, Svipdagr asks What one of the gods has made so great the hall I behold within. Fjölsviðr responds with a list of names, including Dellingr, in a stanza of the poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins, the appearance of Dagr, horse, and chariot are described, and Dagr himself is referred to as the son of Delling. In chapter 10 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the figure of High states that Dellingr is a god. The couple have Dagr, who carries the features of his fathers people, Odin placed both Dellingrs son, Dagr, and Dellingrs wife, Nótt, in the sky, so that they may ride across it with their horses and chariots every 24 hours. However, scholar Haukur Thorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts of Gylfaginning vary in their descriptions of the relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr, the results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition. Five riddles found in the poem Heiðreks gátur contained in the legendary saga Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks employ the phrase Dellings doors once each and this riddle ponder, O prince Heidrek. Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, said the king, I have guessed it and it is the leek, its head is fast in the ground, but it forks as it grows up. Jacob Grimm states that Dellingr is the form of Deglingr. Benjamin Thorpe says that Dellingr may be dawn personified, similarly to his son Dagr, regarding the references to Dellings door as used in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, Christopher Tolkien says that, What this phrase meant to the maker of these riddles is impossible to say. As regarding dǫglings for Dellings in H, and Dǫglingar were the descendants of Dagr, john Lindow says that some confusion exists about the reference to Dellingr in Hávamál
10.
Dagr
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In Norse mythology, Dagr is day personified. This personification appears in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from traditional sources. In both sources, Dagr is stated to be the son of the god Dellingr and is associated with the bright-maned horse Skinfaxi, who draw day to mankind. Depending on manuscript variation, the Prose Edda adds that Dagr is either Dellingrs son by Nótt, the night, or Jörð. Otherwise, Dagr appears as a common noun simply meaning day throughout Old Norse works, connections have been proposed between Dagr and other similarly named figures in Germanic mythology. Dagr is mentioned in stanzas 12 and 25 of the poem Vafþrúðnismál, in stanza 24, the god Odin asks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir from where the day comes, and the night and its tides. In stanza 25, Vafþrúðnir responds, Delling hight he who the father is, but night was of Nörvi born. In stanza 12, the horse Skinfaxi, his mane gleaming, is stated by Vafþrúðnir as drawing day to mankind, the first verse of this prayer features a reference to the sons of Dagr and the female relative of Nótt. In the poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins, the appearance of Dagr and his horse and chariot are described, over Mannheim shines the horses mane, the steed Dvalins deluder dew in his chariot. In the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Dagr is again personified, in chapter 10, the enthroned figure of High states that Dagr is the son of the couple of Dellingr of the Æsir and his wife Nótt. Dagr is described as as bright and beautiful as his fathers people, Dagr is again personified in chapter 24 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, where he is stated as a brother of Jörð. As a common noun, Dagr appears in chapter 58, where Skinfaxi or Glad is stated as pulling forth the day, and chapter 64, where Dagr is stated as one of various words for time. However, scholar Haukur Thorgeirsson points out that the four manuscripts of Gylfaginning vary in their descriptions of the relations between Nótt, Jörð, Dagr, and Dellingr. In other words, depending on the manuscript, either Jörð or Nótt is the mother of Dagr, the results of this accident made their way into the Icelandic poetic tradition. Otto Höfler theorized that Dagr may be related to the hero Svipdagr who is attested in various texts, dagaz, the d rune Dag the Wise
11.
Odin
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In Germanic mythology, Odin is a widely revered god. In the modern period, Odin continued to be acknowledged in the folklore of Germanic Europe. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland and these texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology. In Old Norse texts, Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir, and wearing a cloak, Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the god Baldr with Frigg, and is known by hundreds of names. Odin has an association with Yule, and mankinds knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to him. In Old Norse texts, Odin is given primacy over female beings associated with the battlefield—the valkyries—and oversees Valhalla, where he receives half of those who die in battle, the other half are chosen by the goddess Freyja for her afterlife location, Fólkvangr. In later folklore, Odin appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt and he has also been associated with charms and other forms of magic, particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts. Odin has been a frequent subject of study in Germanic studies, in the modern period, Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other forms of media. He is venerated in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry, together with other gods venerated by the ancient Germanic peoples, some branches focus particularly on him. The Old Norse theonym Óðinn and its cognates, including Old English Wōden, Old Saxon Wōden, the masculine noun *wōđanaz developed from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōđaz, related to Latin vātēs and Old Irish fáith, both meaning seer, prophet. Adjectives stemming from *wōđaz include Gothic woþs possessed, Old Norse óðr, mad, frantic, furious, additionally the Old Norse noun æði rage, fury and Old High German wuotī madness derive from the feminine noun *wōđīn, from *wōđaz. Over 170 names are recorded for the god Odin and these names are variously descriptive of attributes of the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to religious practices associated with the god. This multitude of names makes Odin the god with the most names known among the Germanic peoples, the weekday name Wednesday derives from Old English wōdnesdæg. Cognate terms are found in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German wōdensdach, all of these terms derive from Proto-Germanic *Wodensdag, itself a Germanic interpretation of Latin Dies Mercurii. However, in Old High German, the derived from Odins was replaced by a translation of Church Latin media hebdomas. The earliest records of the Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans and they regard it as a religious duty to offer to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind, in this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as Mercury, Thor as Hercules, and Týr as Mars, and the identity of the Isis of the Suebi has been debated. But their rankings in their respective religious spheres may have very different
12.
Elf
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An elf is a type of supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Reconstructing the early concept of an elf depends almost entirely on texts in Old English or relating to Norse mythology, later evidence for elves appears in diverse sources such as medical texts, prayers, ballads, and folktales. Legends of álfar may have been changing and were perhaps always heterogeneous so it might be argued that any particular source will only reflect the state of affairs at one given time. However, the character of beliefs in elves across the Germanic-speaking world has varied considerably across time, space. In Old Norse mythological texts, elves seem at least at times to be counted among the gods, in medieval German texts they seem more consistently monstrous. Elves are prominently associated with sexual threats, seducing people and causing them harm, for example, a number of early modern ballads in the British Isles and Scandinavia, originating in the medieval period, describe human encounters with elves. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, German Romanticist writers were influenced by this notion of the elf, and reimported the English word elf in that context into the German language. In Scandinavia, probably through a process of euphemism, elves often came to be conflated with the called the huldra or huldufólk. Meanwhile, German folklore has tended to see the conflation of elves with dwarfs, the Christmas elves of contemporary popular culture are of relatively recent tradition, popularized during the late nineteenth-century in the United States. Elves entered the high fantasy genre in the wake of works published by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, for which. The English word elf is from the Old English word most often attested as ælf, although this word took a variety of forms in different Old English dialects, these converged on the form elf during the Middle English period. During the Old English period, separate forms were used for female elves, the main medieval Germanic cognates of elf are Old Norse alfr, plural alfar, and Old High German alp, plural alpî, elpî. These words must come from Common Germanic, the ancestor-language of English, German, and the Scandinavian languages, Germanic *ɑlβi-z~*ɑlβɑ-z is generally agreed to be cognate with the Latin albus, Old Irish ailbhín, Albanian elb, and Germanic words for ‘swan’ such as Modern Icelandic álpt. These all come from an Indo-European base *albh-, and seem to be connected by whiteness, the Germanic word presumably originally meant white person, perhaps as a euphemism. Jakob Grimm thought that whiteness implied positive moral connotations, and, noting Snorri Sturlusons ljósálfar and this is not necessarily the case, however. Compare descriptions such as ‘swan white’ to describe the beauty of fair complexion, Norse cultural values view masculinity as an ideal of beauty, which the Alfr personifies. For example, the Norse Eddas similarly celebrate the beauty of Baldr. Icelandic Sagas celebrate the beauty of the giants, and certain warrior kings that descend from them
13.
Valkyrie
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In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle, the valkyries bring their chosen to the hall of the slain, Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar, when the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. They appear throughout the poetry of skalds, in a 14th-century charm, scholarly theories have been proposed about the relation between the valkyries, the norns, and the dísir, all of which are supernatural figures associated with fate. Archaeological excavations throughout Scandinavia have uncovered amulets theorized as depicting valkyries, in modern culture, valkyries have been the subject of works of art, musical works, video games and poetry. The word valkyrie derives from Old Norse valkyrja, which is composed of two words, the noun valr and the verb kjósa, together, they mean chooser of the slain. The Old Norse valkyrja is cognate to Old English wælcyrge, from the Old English and Old Norse forms, philologist Vladimir Orel reconstructs a Proto-Germanic form, *wala-kuzjōn. However, the term may have been borrowed into Old English from Old Norse, other terms for valkyries in Old Norse sources include óskmey, appearing in the poem Oddrúnargrátr and Óðins meyjar, appearing in the Nafnaþulur. Óskmey may be related to the Odinic name Óski, referring to the fact that Odin receives slain warriors in Valhalla, valkyries are mentioned or appear in the Poetic Edda poems Völuspá, Grímnismál, Völundarkviða, Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, Helgakviða Hundingsbana II and Sigrdrífumál. In stanza 30 of the poem Völuspá, a völva tells Odin that she saw valkyries coming from far away who are ready to ride to the realm of the gods. The völva follows this with a list of six valkyries, Skuld who bore a shield, Skögul, Gunnr, Hildr, afterwards, the völva tells him she has listed the ladies of the War Lord, ready to ride, valkyries, over the earth. A prose introduction in the poem Völundarkviða relates that the brothers Slagfiðr, Egil, there, early one morning, the brothers find three women spinning linen on the shore of the lake Úlfsjár, and near them were their swans garments, they were valkyries. Two, daughters of King Hlödvér, are named Hlaðguðr svanhvít and Hervör alvitr, the brothers take the three women back to their hall with them—Egil takes Ölrún, Slagfiðr takes Hlaðguðr svanhvít and Völund takes Hervör alvitr. They live together for seven winters, until the women fly off to go to a battle, Egil goes off in snow-shoes to look for Ölrún, Slagfiðr goes searching for Hlaðguðr svanhvít and Völund sits in Úlfdalir. He finds one particularly striking, this valkyrie is detailed later in a narrative as Sváva, king Eylimis daughter. The valkyrie speaks to the man, and gives him the name Helgi. The valkyrie tells him she knows of a hoard of swords in Sigarsholm, and that one of them is of particular importance, further into the poem, Atli flytes with the female jötunn Hrímgerðr. After Hrímgerðr is turned to stone by the daylight, a prose narrative continues that Helgi, Helgi and Sváva are betrothed and love one another dearly
14.
Sigurd
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Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving. As Siegfried, he is one of the heroes in the German Nibelungenlied, as Sivard Snarensven he was the hero of several medieval Scandinavian ballads. The name Sigurðr is not the name as the German Siegfried. The Old Norse form of Siegfried would have been Sigfroðr, Sivard is a variant form of Sigurðr. These name forms all share the first element Sig-, which means victory, in the Völsunga saga, Sigurd is supposedly the posthumous son of Sigmund and his second wife, Hiordis. Sigmund dies in battle when he attacks Odin, and Odin shatters Sigmunds sword, dying, Sigmund tells Hiordis of her pregnancy and bequeaths the fragments of his sword to his unborn son. Hiordis marries King Alf, and then Alf decides to send Sigurd to Regin as a foster, Regin tempts Sigurd to greed and violence by first asking Sigurd if he has control over Sigmunds gold. When Sigurd says that Alf and his control the gold and will give him anything he desires. Sigurd replies that he is treated as an equal by the kings, then Regin asks Sigurd why he acts as stableboy to the kings and has no horse of his own. Sigurd then goes to get a horse, an old man advises Sigurd on choice of horse. In this way Sigurd acquires Grani, a directly descended from Odins own horse. Finally, Regin tries to tempt Sigurd by telling him the story of the Otters Gold, Regin explains to Sigurd that his father is Hreidmar, a powerful magician, and that his two brothers are Ótr and Fafnir. Regin explains that he is a master at smithing and he also describes how his brother, Ótr possesses many magical talents. Regin tells a story of how Ótr enjoys taking the form of an otter and swimming at a waterfall, Andvari often assumes the form of a pike and swims in the same pool as well. One day, the Æsir see Ótr in the form of an otter carrying a fish in his mouth on the banks, loki kills him for his pelt. They take the pelt to the home of Hreidmar to display their catch. Hreidmar, Fafnir, and Regin promptly seize the Æsir and demand compensation for the death of Ótr, loki acquires a net from the sea giantess, Rán
15.
Drinking horn
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A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns remain an important accessory in the culture of ritual toasting in Georgia in particular, Drinking vessels made from glass, wood, ceramics or metal styled in the shape of drinking horns are also known from antiquity. The ancient Greek term for a horn was simply keras. To be distinguished from the drinking-horn proper is the rhyton, a made in the shape of a horn with an outlet at the pointed end. Both in the Greek and the Scythian sphere, vessels of clay or metal shaped like horns were used alongside actual horns from an early time, a Late Archaic Attic red-figure vase shows Dionysus and a satyr each holding a drinking horn. During Classical Antiquity, the Thracians and Scythians in particular were known for their custom of drinking from horns, xenophons account of his dealings with the Thracian leader Seuthes suggests that drinking horns were integral part of the drinking kata ton Thrakion nomon. The Scythian elite also used horn-shaped rhyta made entirely from precious metal, a notable example is the 5th century BC gold-and-silver rhython in the shape of a Pegasus which was found in 1982 in Ulyap, Adygea, now at the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow. This typology became standard in Soviet-era archaeology, there are a few artistic representation of Scythans actually drinking from horns from the rim. After these early specimens, there is a gap with only sparse evidence of Scythian drinking horns during the 6th century, Drinking horns re-appear in the context of Pontic burials in the 5th century BC, these are the specimens classified as Scythian drinking horns by Maksimova. The 5th-century BC practice of depositing drinking horns with precious metal fittings as grave goods for deceased warriors appears to originate in the Kuban region, in the 4th century BC, the practice spreads throughout the Pontic Steppe. Rhyta, mostly of Achaemenid or Thracian import, continue to be found in Scythian burials, around the midpoint of the 4th century BC, a new type of solid silver drinking horn with strong curvature appears. While the slightly curving horn type is found throughout the Pontic Steppe, the custom of depositing drinking horns as grave goods begins to subside towards the end of the 4th century BC. In the Crimean peninsula, such depictions appear somewhat later, from the 5th century BC, Scythian drinking horns have been found almost exclusively in warrior burials. This has been taken as suggesting an association of the drinking horn with the Scythian cult of kingship. In the influential interpretation due to M. I, rostovtzeff, the Scythian ruler received the drinking horn from a deity as a symbol of his investiture. This interpretation is based on a number of depictions of a Scythian warrior drinking from a standing or kneeling next to a seated woman. Rolle interpreted the woman not as a goddess but as a high-ranking Scythian woman performing a ritual office, the Scythian drinking horns are clearly associated with the consumption of wine. The drinking horn reached Central Europe with the Iron Age, in the context of Thraco-Cimmerian cultural transmission
16.
Mead
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Mead is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 8% ABV to more than 20%, the defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverages fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or naturally sparkling, dry, semi-sweet, Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Mead has played an important role in the beliefs and mythology of some peoples, one such example is the Mead of Poetry, a mead of Norse mythology crafted from the blood of the wise being Kvasir which turns the drinker into a poet or scholar. The terms mead and honey-wine often are used synonymously, some cultures, though, differentiate honey-wine from mead. For example, Hungarians hold that while mead is made of honey, water and beer-yeast, pottery vessels dating from 6500–7000 BC discovered in northern China have shown chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, rice, and organic compounds associated with fermentation. In Europe, it is first attested in residual samples found in the ceramics of the Bell Beaker Culture. The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the books of the historical Vedic religion. During the Golden Age of Ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink, the Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about 60 AD. Take rainwater kept for years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey, the whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no water, then boil spring water. There is a poem attributed to the Brythonic-speaking bard Taliesin, who lived around 550 AD, in the Old English epic poem Beowulf, the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic cultures mead was the primary heroic drink in poetry, later, taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a more obscure beverage until recently. The English word mead derives from the Old English meodu, from Proto-Germanic meduz, slavic med / miod, which means both honey and mead, and Baltic medus honey/midus mead, also derive from the same Proto-Indo-European root. In Finland, a mead called sima is still an essential seasonal fermented product connected with the Finnish Vappu festival. It is usually spiced by adding both the pulp and rind of a lemon, however, the sugar used in modern practice is typically brown sugar, not honey. Ethiopian mead is called tej and is usually home-made and it is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of gesho, a hop-like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn
17.
Prayer
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Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. Prayer can be a form of practice, may be either individual or communal. It may involve the use of words, song or complete silence, when language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. There are different forms of such as petitionary prayer, prayers of supplication, thanksgiving. Thus, people pray for many such as personal benefit, asking for divine grace, spiritual connection. Some anthropologists believe that the earliest intelligent modern humans practiced a form of prayer, scientific studies regarding the use of prayer have mostly concentrated on its effect on the healing of sick or injured people. Meta-studies of the studies in this field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a small effect. Some studies have indicated increased medical complications in groups receiving prayer over those without, the efficacy of petition in prayer for physical healing to a deity has been evaluated in numerous other studies, with contradictory results. There has been criticism of the way the studies were conducted. The act of prayer is attested in sources as early as 5000 years ago. Some anthropologists, such as Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Sir James George Frazer, various spiritual traditions offer a wide variety of devotional acts. There are morning and evening prayers, graces said over meals, some Christians bow their heads and fold their hands. Some Native Americans regard dancing as a form of prayer, Jewish prayer may involve swaying back and forth and bowing. Muslims practice salat in their prayers, some pray according to standardized rituals and liturgies, while others prefer extemporaneous prayers. Friedrich Heiler is often cited in Christian circles for his systematic Typology of Prayer which lists six types of prayer, primitive, ritual, Greek cultural, philosophical, mystical, some forms of prayer require a prior ritualistic form of cleansing or purification such as in ghusl and wudhu. Prayer may be privately and individually, or it may be done corporately in the presence of fellow believers. Prayer can be incorporated into a daily life, in which one is in constant communication with a god. Some people pray throughout all that is happening during the day and this is actually regarded as a requirement in several Christian denominations, although enforcement is not possible nor desirable
18.
Gylfaginning
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Gylfaginning, is the first part of Snorri Sturlusons Prose Edda after Prologue. The Gylfaginning deals with the creation and destruction of the world of the Norse gods, the second part of the Prose Edda is called the Skáldskaparmál and the third Háttatal. This is why he journeys to Asgard, but on the way he is tricked by the gods and arrives in some other place, inside the palace he encounters a man who asks Gylfis name and so king Gylfi introduces himself as Gangleri. Gangleri then is taken to the king of the palace and comes upon three men, High, Just-As-High, and Third, Gangleri is then challenged to show his wisdom by asking questions, as is the custom in many Norse sagas. Each question made to High, Just-As-High, and Third is about an aspect of the Norse mythology or its gods, in the end all the palace and its people just vanish and Gylfi is left standing on empty ground. It is then implied that as Gylfi returns to his nation and it can be argued that Snorri used this narrative device as a means of being able to safely document a vanishing and largely oral tradition within a Christian context. Gylfaginning in Old Norse at heimskringla. no Text of all original manuscripts The text with modern Icelandic spelling English translation
19.
Bit (horse)
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It rests on the bars of the mouth in an interdental region where there are no teeth. It is held on a head by means of a bridle and has reins attached for use by a rider. Although there are hundreds of variations, the basic families of bits are defined by the way in which they use or do not use leverage. They include, Direct pressure bits without leverage, Snaffle bit, Uses a bit ring at the bit mouthpiece to apply pressure on the bars, tongue. Leverage bits, Curb bit, A bit that uses a type of lever called a shank that puts pressure not only on the mouth, pelham bit, A single curb bit with two sets of reins attached to rings at the mouthpiece and end of the shank. Partly combines snaffle and curb pressure, kimblewick or Kimberwicke, A hybrid design that uses a slight amount of mild curb leverage on a bit ring by use of set rein placement on the ring. The port or straight piece goes inside the mouth, and the circular part lies under the jaw, the bit is attached to separate head piece or the head collar and the lead is clipped onto the bit and headcollar to limit the severity. Types of headgear for horses that exert control with a rather than a bit are usually called hackamores. The riders of early domesticated horses probably used some type of bitless headgear made of sinew, leather, components of the earliest headgear may be difficult to determine, as the materials would not have held up over time. For this reason, no one can say with certainty which came first, there is evidence of the use of bits, located in two sites of the Botai in ancient Kazakhstan, dated about 3500-3000 BC. Nose rings appear on the equids portrayed on the Standard of Ur, to date, the earliest known artistic evidence of use of some form of bitless bridle comes in illustrations of Synian horseman, dated approximately 1400 BC. The first bits were made of rope, bone, horn, metal bits came into use between 1300 and 1200 BC, originally made of bronze. In modern times, nickel was a favored material until about 1940, copper, aurigan and sweet iron are incorporated into some bits to encourage salivation in the mouth of the horse, which encourages a softer mouth and more relaxed jaw. Bits also can be made of materials such as rubber or plastic. A bit consists of two components, the bit mouthpiece that goes inside the horses mouth, and the bit rings of a snaffle bit or shanks of a curb bit, to which the bridle. Particular mouthpieces do not define the type of bit, the mouthpiece of a horses bit is the first factor most people think of when assessing the severity and action of the bit. Therefore, it is considered when choosing a bit for a horse. Many mouthpieces are not allowed in certain competitions, Bit mouthpieces may be single jointed, double-jointed, mullen, or have an arched port in the center of varying height, with or without joints
20.
Penguin Classics
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Penguin Classics is an imprint published by Penguin Books, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House. They are published in varying editions throughout the world including in Australia, Canada, China, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The first Penguin Classic was E. V. Rieus translation of The Odyssey, published in 1946, Penguin Books has paid particular attention to the design of its books since recruiting German typographer Jan Tschichold in 1947. The early minimalist designs were modernised by Italian art director Germano Facetti, the new classics were known as Black Classics for their black covers, which also featured artwork appropriate to the topic and period of the work. This design was revised in 1985 to have pale yellow covers with a spine, colour-coded with a small mark to indicate language. In 2002, Penguin announced it was redesigning its entire catalogue, the redesign restored the black cover, adding a white stripe and orange lettering. The in-house text design department still exists, albeit smaller than formerly, and is managed by text designers Claire Mason and Lisa Simmonds. Recent design work includes the Penguin Little Black Classic series, Penguin Classics collaborated with Bill Amberg in 2008 in the design of six books. These books are bound in leather which was worked in a way that as the book is handled, the books also include their own leather bookmark, which is bound with the book title and author. It has been reported widely that the purpose for this approach by Penguin Classics is to target readers/collectors who would like a high-end book, within the broader category of Classics, Penguin has issued specialised series with their own designs. Some titles come with critical apparatus, Penguin 20th Century Classics, issued in the 1990s. They were folded into the Modern Classics imprint, presumably in 2000, 20th Century Classics feature full-page front cover art, with a light blue-and-white rear cover. These addenda were originally found in the Penguin Shakespeare editions of the 1930s, Popular Classics issued in the 1990s came with full cover art and a cream back, not unlike the Classics. Most Popular Classics reprinted in the 21st century have a plain and they were a response to Wordsworth Classics, a series of very cheap reprints which imitated Penguin in using black as its signature colour. The series echoes the style of the original Penguin Books, with smaller A-format size, the first 20 books were released in May 2016, and described by publishing director Simon Winder as a mix of the famous and the unjustly overlooked. In 2005, a collection of books in the series was sold on Amazon. com as The Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection. In 2005, the collection consisted of 1,082 different books, the collection weighed about 750 pounds and took about 77 linear feet of shelf space, laid end-to-end the books would reach about 630 feet. In 2008, Penguin Books published a complete annotated listing of all Penguin Classics titles in a paperback volume in the style of its Penguin Classics books
21.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
22.
Everyman's Library
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Everymans Library is a series of reprinted classic literature currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent, J. M. Dent and Company began to publish the series in 1906. Dent followed the principles and to a certain extent the style established by William Morris in his Kelmscott Press. This was later replaced in 1935 by Eric Raviliouss designs, Everymans Library books were pocket-sized hardcovers that sold initially for what was then the remarkably low price of a shilling apiece. The original U. S. distribution rights were granted to New York City publishers, in 1910,500 books had been published under the Everyman trademark, and in 1956 the thousandth volume was published, with Aristotles Metaphysics selected for the honour. By 1975, Dents vision had been surpassed, as Everymans Library consisted of 994 titles published in 1,239 volumes. The appropriate genre was printed inside and used to organize lists of the series issued from time to time, Knopf in the United States—a move which was praised by many notable authors. Control of Everymans Library passed to US-based Random House in 2002, the current membership of the Honorary Editorial Committee includes Harold Bloom, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Toni Morrison, Cynthia Ozick and Simon Schama. J. M. Dent & Sons was acquired by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1988, itself acquired by the Orion Publishing Group in 1991, now both part of Hachette Livre. Not to be confused with Everymans Library, Orion continues to publish Everyman Classics in paperback under the J. M. Dent imprint in the UK and through Charles E. Tuttle Co. in the US. The name of the series was suggested by poet and editor Ernest Rhys, who was named head editor of the series initially. This quotation appears on the page of all Everymans Library. A notable addition to the library was an encyclopedia, which was added to the range in 1913. Individual volumes could be purchased separately, enabling the set to be budgeted over time, the fifth edition was published in 1967, by which time it consisted of 12 volumes, containing 7763 pages. The page size was 9 by 5 inches, but as the printing was 8 point, as a volume only weighed about 1¼ kg, it was considered a better size for use by children. Dictionary catalogue of the first 505 volumes of Everymans Library, london, J. M. Dent, New York, E. P. Annotated catalog of first 505 titles, buying and Selling Everymans Library, A Primer Complete Everymans Library Catalog, author list, dust jacket images, and other useful Everymans Library information
23.
Oxford World's Classics
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Oxford Worlds Classics is an imprint of Oxford University Press. First established in 1901 by Grant Richards and purchased by the Oxford University Press in 1906, this imprint publishes primarily dramatic and classic literature for students and its competitors include Penguin Classics, Everymans Library and the Modern Library. Most titles include critical apparatus - usually, an introduction, bibliography, chronology, the Worlds Classics imprint was created by London publisher Grant Richards in 1901. Richards had a publishing programme, and this ambition led to the liquidation of Grant Richards in 1905. Henry Frowde, manager of the Oxford University Press, purchased the series in October 1905, Worlds Classics were first published as pocket-sized hardbacks. Currently, they are published in paperback, with selected titles in hardback, the Worlds Classics series was relaunched in 1998 as Oxford Worlds Classics. A decade later, a second followed with a new design for all titles. Compiled by J. Godsey, Geoffrey Milburn and Nicholas Murray, lise Jaillant, ‘Introductions by Eminent Writers’, T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf in the Oxford World’s Classics Series. The Book World, Selling and Distributing Literature, 1900-1940, ed. Nicola Wilson, pp. 52-80
24.
Orion Publishing Group
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Orion Publishing Group Ltd. is a UK-based book publisher. It is owned by Hachette Livre, the groups imprints include, Allen & Unwin Cassell Military Paperbacks Cassells National Library J. M. Books distributed through Littlehampton book services, list of largest UK book publishers UK childrens book publishers Orionbooks. co. uk
25.
Norse cosmology
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The cosmology of Norse mythology has nine homeworlds or nine realms, unified by the world tree Yggdrasil. Mapping the nine worlds escapes precision because the Poetic Edda often alludes vaguely, the Norse creation myth tells how everything came into existence in the gap between fire and ice, and how the gods shaped the homeworld of humans. A cosmic ash tree, Yggdrasil, lies at the center of the Norse cosmos. Three roots drink the waters of the homeworlds, one in the homeworld of the gods, the Æsir, Asgard, one in the homeworld of the humans, Midgard, and one in the homeworld of the dead, Helheim. Beneath the root in the world of the frost giants is the spring of Mímir, whose waters contain wisdom, the root in the Æsir homeworld taps the sacred wellspring of fate, the Well of Urðr. The tree is tended by the Norns, who live near it, each day, they water it with pure water and whiten it with clay from the spring to preserve it. The water falls down to the earth as dew, animals continually feed on the tree, threatening it, but its vitality persists evergreen as it heals and nourishes the vibrant aggression of life. On the topmost branch of the tree sits an eagle, the beating of its wings cause the winds in the world of men. At the root of the tree lies a great dragon, Niðhǫggr, gnawing at it continuously, the squirrel Ratatoskr carries insults from one to the other. Harts and goats devour the branches and tender shoots, in the beginning, there were two regions, Muspelheim in the south, full of fire, light and heat, and Niflheim in the north, full of arctic waters, mists, and cold. Between them stretched the yawning emptiness of Ginnungagap, and into it poured sparks and smoke from the south and layers of rime, as heat and cold met in Ginnungagap, a living jǫtunn, Ymir, appeared in the melting ice. From his left armpit, the first man and woman were born, from his legs, the frost jötnar were born, making Ymir the progenitor of the jǫtnar. Most sources identify Ymirs oldest son as Þrúðgelmir, who bore Ymirs grandson, the other jǫtnar are usually unnamed. Ymir fed on the milk of the cow Auðumbla and she licked the blocks of salty ice, releasing Búri. Búris son Borr had three sons, the gods Odin, Vili and Vé, the three slew Ymir, and all of the jötnar except for Bergelmir and his wife, who were drowned in the blood of the others. From Ymirs body, they made the world of humans, his blood the seas and lakes, his flesh the earth, his bones the mountains and his teeth the rocks. From his skull they made the dome of the sky, setting a dwarf at each of the four corners to hold it high above the earth and they protected it from the jötnar with a wall made from Ymirs eyebrows. Next they caused time to exist, and placed the orbs of the sun, Odin, passing through the world of the jötnar, found two beautiful young giants named Sól and Máni, sun and moon
