Hear the deep sound from the North

Baldur's fold in childhood's day;

The war-trumpet, Heimdall's horn,

 At Bragi's silver-harps play!

 Hear the lullaby that Norns

 Once sang for the nation's ear

 And a Nordic youth's spirit

 Still delights to hear!"

 —Quoted in 'Our Fathers' Godsaga'
Mythology Studies   

 1881
Sibyllinerna och Völuspa
 Astrologien och Merlin

  The Famous Debate with

A.C. Bang and Sophus Bugge concerning the authenticity of Völuspá

 
The 1st Epic
1882-1883
Published in 1993
 Sagan om Svårdet
 -or-
 The Saga of the Sword
 A New Translation
by William P. Reaves
 Foreword / Chapters 1-9
 In Progress 

The 2nd Epic

1884

The First Published Version

Segerssvårdet

-or-

The Sword of Victory

 A New Translation with Introduction
by William P. Reaves
© 2013

  

1886

Undersökningar i

Germanisk Mytologi

första delen

 -or- 

Investigations into
Germanic Mythology
Vol. 1
A New Annotated Translation
by William P. Reaves

 

1889

Teutonic Mythology

The first English translation of Vol. 1 by Rasmus B. Anderson

   Republished as

Teutonic Mythology:

Gods and Goddesses

of the Northland

1905-08

[Volume 1][Volume 2][Volume 3]


1887
The 3rd and Final Epic
 Fädernas Gudasaga
-or-
 Our Fathers’ Godsaga
Translated by William P. Reaves

 Also Available for Purchase

 

1889

Undersökningar i

Germanisk Mytologi

andre delen

-or-

Investigations into
Germanic Mythology
 Volume 2
An Annotated Translation
by William P. Reaves

   Also Available for Purchase

Part 1/ Part 2

 

 Rune Studies
1873

Till Tolkningen af Nordens

äldsta runinskrifter

-or-

'Towards the interpretation of the North's oldest runic inscriptions'

in Svenska Fornminnesföreningens
Tidskrift 2, pp. 234-246.

 

1874

Om Tanumstenen

-or-

'On the Tanum Runestone'

 

1891

Hjältesagan om Rökstenen

-or-

The Heroic Saga on the Rök Stone  
Translated by William P. Reaves
with an introduction by OIa Ostin

 

Viktor Rydberg's Investigations into Germanic Mythology
Undersökningar i Germanisk Mytologi

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Heimdall the Culture-Bringer

Opened in 1907, the assembly hall of the University of Götesborg is adorned with a monumental fresco by Nils Asplund (1874-1958). In it, the god Heimdall blesses man with the tools of culture and agriculture. Above his throne, engraved with Eddic verse, the ash Yggdrasill rises.  The scene is derived from the mythological works of Swedish poet and polymath Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895). To view a short film of the interior of the hall containing this amazing fresco, click here.
 

Viktor's Site: His Life, His Books, His Face
by Tore Lund

Viktor Rydberg"I feel a certain tranquility when I now see that the results of these investigations worked on over many years were not for nothing, but are condensed into a book that on library shelves will be accessible to future researchers in the field. As far as my Scandinavian contemporaries are concerned, being that they are the 'professionals' in the field, I expect no recognition from them. If I get any recognition at all, it shall make me happier still. But of prime importance is that my work be published in one of these three languages: English, German, or French."

Mats Wendt's Eddan

The Viktor Rydberg Society
Over a Century of Scholarship
about Viktor Rydberg and his work

Dispelling Disinformation
about Viktor Rydberg and his work
Rydberg's Reconstruction of Old Norse Cosmology
derived from the Poetic Edda 

What makes Viktor Rydberg's  interpretation of
Germanic mythology unique is twofold:

1. Using passages from the Eddic poems, Rydberg shows that the genuine heathen conception of the cosmos places  Yggdrasill's three roots in the underworld, and its branches in the heavens. The underworld consists of a warm green land called Hel in the south, and a cold dismal realm called Niflhel in the north. The Bifröst bridge connects the underworld with Asgard, passing outside of the rim of the Midgard plane, as in the map above.

2. He demonstrates that the events spoken of in the Icelandic mythological poems are linked together in an epic chain of events arranged in chronological order from the creation of the world through to Ragnarok. The mythology is in effect, a history of the gods and their interactions with man. This ancient epic originated in Proto Indo-European times and afterwards developed independently in the Germanic region until the conversion to Christianity.

Rydberg seeks to understand the mythological poems as they were composed within a living system of religion. He was also acknowledged as a pioneer in Indo-European comparative mythology.

 

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