| Popis: |
The intention of present study is to investigate the information about the pre-Christian cult of a dead king presented in Óláfs þáttr Geirstaðaálfs from the perspective of history of religions. It is argued that even though the narrative about King Óláfr Guðrøðarson contained in this þáttr cannot be regarded as a historical source in a general sense (since it is partly affected by anachronistic Christian ideas, and includes other aspects which must be considered as rather fantastic), it nonetheless contains memories of ancient customs and rituals related to the old ruler ideology (which seems to contain a sort of hero cult), which were passed on to the medieval scribes of the þáttr by means of living oral tradition. Information from other types of sources, such as skaldic poetry, ecclesiastic narratives, archaeological materials, medieval laws and mythic traditions, support such assumption. |
