Trójumanna saga - Skemman Thesis... · 1 Translatio Imperii et Studii and the Trojan War 1.1.The evolution of the theory of the Translatio Imperii et Studii Translatio imperii is
Post on 12-Aug-2020
3 Views
Preview:
Transcript
Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Viking and Medieval Norse Studies
Trójumanna saga
A case of translatio and translation of the Latin culture in Iceland
Beatrice Bedogni
Leiðbeinandi: Jan Alexander Van Nahl September 2019
Háskóli Íslands
Hugvísindasvið
Viking and Medieval Norse Studies
Trójumanna saga
A case of translatio and translation of the Latin culture in
Iceland
Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Viking and Medieval Norse Studies
Beatrice Bedogni
Kt.: 030994-3109
Leiðbeinandi: Jan Alexander Van Nahl
September 2019
1
Útdráttur
Í þessari verður Trójumanna saga greind með tilliti til menningarlegrar aðlögunar milli
latneskar menningar og íslenskra bókmennta. Þessi saga var valin vegna þess að hún
byggir á eldri verkum, þ.e. Daretis Phrygii De Exicidio Troiae Historia. Íslenski textinn
er borinn saman við latneskar heimildir, sem eru textar Dares Phrygius, Virgil, Ovid og
Ilias Latina. Skoðað verður hvernig latnesk menning hefur áhrif á þá íslensku og reynt að
sýna fram á hvernig þessir tveir ólíku heimar mætast og mynda nýja menningu, sem er
mögulegt að sjá í þýðingarferlinu og í þessum textum, sem setja fram Tróju stefið.
Einblínt verður á þýdda textann, hlutverk hans, aðlögun og breytingar frá þeim
upprunalega. Einnig mun saga Tróju stefsins og hugmyndin um translatio imperii et
studii gegna lykilhlutverkum í greiningunni, því þær eru nátengdar og koma fyrir í
mörgum miðalda menningarheimum, ekki einungis á Íslandi. Að auki verður ferli
menningarlegrar aðlögunar og Kristnitöku skoðað í smáatriðum, þar sem kirkjan bar
latneska menningu til landsins.
2
Abstract
This work provides a precise analysis of the Trójumanna saga, which is explored
concerning acculturation's phenomenon between the Latin culture and the Icelandic
literature. This saga has been chosen because it derives from previous sources, that is the
Daretis Phrygii De Excidio Troiae Historia. The Icelandic text is compared with the Latin
sources, which are the texts of Dares Phrygius, Virgil, Ovid and the Ilias Latina. The
essay analyses the influence of the Latin world on the Icelandic culture and it will try to
demonstrate how these two different universes collaborate and create a new culture, and
this is possible to notice in the process of translation and in these texts, which present the
trojan theme. The discussion will focus on the phenomenon of the texts' translation: its
role, the changes and the elaborations of the translated texts. Furthermore, the story of the
trojan theme during the century and the theme of the idea of translatio imperii et studii
hold an essential role in this discussion, because they are strictly linked and they are found
in many other medieval cultures, not only in Iceland. Also, the process of acculturation
and the Christianization of Iceland will be analysed in detail, because the Church was the
vehicle which had transmitted the Latin culture on the island.
3
Formáli
At first, I would like to say thanks to professor Lazzari, who have believed in this project
and my capacity. To professor Salvaterra, who has permitted me to realize this project. I
want to say thanks to professor Jan A. Van Nahl, who helps me in the redaction of this
exciting project.
I want to say thanks to the University of Bologna for the opportunity to come to Iceland,
and to the University of Iceland for the hospitality and the support.
I would like to dedicate this work to my parents who have supported and believed in me
in these years. To my best friends Chiara, Monica, Francesca, Beatrice, Sara and Simo,
who are always giving me good advice and unconditional love, no matter what.
To my friend Camilla, my wings, whose friendship are incredibly precious.
To Marianna, who is fundamental for my mental health in this adventure.
To Victoria, my German-Icelandic sister, my first roommate and my kitty girls.
Thanks to all my old friends.
And last but not least to my puffin-friends, Lillo, Chiara and Enri.
Thank you all for your inestimable support and love!
4
Efnisyfirlit
Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6
1 Translatio Imperii et Studii and the Trojan War ...................................................... 9
1.1. The evolution of the theory of the Translatio Imperii et Studii ....................... 9
1.2. The role of the Trojan theme and the Translatio imperii et studii ................. 14
1.3. The medieval construction of a mythical Trojan past during Middle Ages ... 18
1.4. Translation and translatio ............................................................................... 20
2 The Icelandic Troy: a construction of a prehistory................................................. 22
2.1 The process of Acculturation in Iceland ......................................................... 22
2.2 The construction of the origin: the myth of Troy ........................................... 29
2.2.1 Ari inn Froði Þorgilsson and the Íslendigabók ......................................... 31
2.2.2 Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) ................................................................... 33
2.2.3 The Third Grammatical Treatise .............................................................. 40
3. The Hauksbók’s Trójumanna saga ........................................................................ 43
3.1 Traditions ........................................................................................................ 44
3.2 The Latin Sources ........................................................................................... 46
3.2.1. De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius ........................................ 46
3.2.2. The Ilias Latina ........................................................................................ 49
3.2.3. Aeneid of Virgil ........................................................................................ 49
3.2.4. Metamorphoses and Heroides of Ovid ..................................................... 50
3.3. The Hauksbók and Haukr Erlendsson ............................................................ 51
3.4. The version of the Hauksbók's Trójumanna saga ........................................... 55
3.4.1. “Her hefr Troio manna sogu” ................................................................... 55
3.4.2. "Fra Edelon" ............................................................................................. 66
3.4.3. "Fra Erkules" ............................................................................................ 71
3.4.4. “Er Troo var eflð annan tima” .................................................................. 72
3.4.5. “Fra hefred til Troio” ................................................................................ 75
3.4.6. “Svikin Trója” .......................................................................................... 83
5
Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 87
Heimildaskrá ................................................................................................................... 91
6
Introduction
The Trojan War is a timeless event
floating in a timeless world1
Between the 12th and 14th centuries, in Iceland, the production of many manuscripts of
European translated text became very consistent. One of these cases is the Trójumanna
Saga: that is the re-elaboration in Old Icelandic of the Latin text of the Dares Phrygius’
De Excidio Troiae Historia. This case is fascinating and curious because the two versions
are not only geographically distant, but they are also far away in time. The Latin text was
probably written in the 1st century A.D., while the Icelandic one in the 14th century. It is
peculiar that a text of this genre, which talks about an ancient theme distant from the
Norse culture of Iceland, was translated and used in this context. This attestation is crucial
to demonstrate the vitality of the Trojan theme and the intensive contacts between the
European kingdoms in time and space. This re-use of the Trojan theme during all the
Middle Ages and later is not atypical. In many European kingdoms, it is possible to find
the elaboration of a Trojan mythical past and the consequent diaspora of the citizens after
the city’s fall. The question is, why did they do this? Also, how did they construct this
image? The Icelandic case is more peculiar than the others because Iceland did not have
any direct relationship with the Trojan world or with the Roman’s.
It is essential to analyse this particular case. I have chosen the Trójumanna saga’s version
of the Hauksbók manuscript, because the writer, Haukr, is known, so the context in which
this version was written. Moreover, a comparison between this and its Latin sources is
relevant to understand the Icelandic élite’s “world of view”2 and its acknowledgement.
Because of the comparison, I have found out which sources are known in Iceland and
Scandinavia at that time. I have underlined the changes and the similarity between them.
The most interesting note is the capacity of Haukr to mix the text to make a peculiar
version of the saga, as I describe in chapter 3. This single case could permit to understand
how the Icelanders interpreted the continental literature and culture, and how they used
these sources. Furthermore, the choice of the Trojan theme is linked to the theme of the
idea of Translatio imperii et studii. This theme is prominent in the Middle Ages and
1 Finley, The World of Odysseus, 1978 2 Sverrir 2007
7
before: it is attested in many cultures and in a very different time and kingdoms. Why are
the Trojan matter and the Translatio theme linked together? Because Troy represents the
original land of many European kingdoms and Empire, like the Roman one. Under this
point of view, it is possible to underline the idea of a sort of movement of power
(imperium) and culture (studii) from the Eastern world to the Western one.
The structure of the thesis is finalised to understand the general context of the translatio’s
theme, which is analysed in chapter 1. I explain the theme and its evolution in time, and
how the translatio’s idea is linked to the Trojan theme. A brief mention about the Trojan
war’s story and its heroes from Homer to the Middle Ages is essential to underline how
this story changes in scope and narration, and how this theme was used in different times
and cultures. It is crucial to present these general themes because they are necessary to
understand the evolution of this theme and why it is so prominent in Europe and Iceland.
Even if this last one is not directly linked with the Latin-Roman culture and history, it is
strongly connected to Medieval Europe, because of the voyages of the students, the
erudite ones and the Church. After this general chapter, the second one is more specific,
and it analyses the Icelandic process of acculturation. So, Chapter 2 analyses the role of
the Christianisation of Iceland, which was huge in this process. Because of that, the
Icelandic literature evolved on the island. Because of the theme’s complexity, this chapter
is divided into two great subchapters: the first presents the process of acculturation and
Christianization of Iceland, while the second analyses the construction of the myth of the
Trojan origin in Iceland and its link to the historiographical genre. In particular, I explain
why they chose the Trojan theme as a myth of the origins, and how they re-elaborated it.
To do that, I briefly analyse the texts in which is possible to find the Trojan theme: the
Íslendigabók of Ari Frodi, the Snorra Edda and the Heimskringla of Snorri, and at last
the Third Grammatical treatise. In this way, it is possible to notice how they used the
Trojan theme to include themselves in the world history.
These two chapters are the necessary introduction to the real analysis of the Trójumanna
saga, which is the main topic of Chapter 3. Because the complexity of the theme, this
chapter is divided into four great subchapters. In the first one, I talk about the analysis of
the saga in general and the different versions. The second subchapter presents the analysis
of the saga’s Latin Sources and their fortune and their interpretation in the Middle Ages.
In the third subchapter, the description of the manuscript and the author of the Hauksbók
is explained. All of this explenations is essential to understand the context of the text. The
real core of the thesis is the last subchapter, in which I describe the comparison between
8
the Old Icelandic Trójumanna saga and the Latin Sources (Dare’s text, the
Metamorphoses and the Heroides of Ovid, the Ilias Latina and the Aeneid of Virgil)
chapter by chapter. In this way, it will be possible to see how the author changed the story
and what he decided to translate and what not, what he added or which other sources he
used.
9
1 Translatio Imperii et Studii and the Trojan War
1.1.The evolution of the theory of the Translatio Imperii et Studii
Translatio imperii is an expression of the medieval historiography which refers to the
transmission of the Imperium (the political power) from the East to the West. The pinnacle
of this theorization was achieved in the 12th century, during the war between Frederick I
Barbarossa and the Italian communes. In particular, this necessity is the result of the war
between Swabian Emperors and the Pope over the control of the Empire's power.
Frederick I refuted that the Pope and Rome should be over him because the emperor had
obtained his power from his ancestors, who had conquered the govern over the Empire.
Because of that, the imperial propaganda created the idea of a direct power's movement
from Rome itself to the Swabians, using the image of the Romans as Swabians' ancestors.
Sverre Bagge, when he talks about this ideology's construction, assumes:
“Frederick’s reference to ancient Rome develop further the idea of the restoration
of the Empire as described in Book 1: Fredrick’s effort in this matter is not only
comparable to the situation before the Investiture Contest but also to the ancient
Roman Empire. This Empire has not been destroyed but moved. The Germans are
now the heirs of the ancient Romans, while the people of contemporary Rome are
wrong in believing that they have any connection with ancient Rome. The central
Roman institutions, the consuls, the Senate, the equestrian order, and the
arrangement of the Roman camp, are all to be found in German” 3
The complete construction and apex of this translatio’s ideology are expressed perfectly
by bishop Otto of Freising4, the uncle of the emperor, in fact, he claimed in his Ottonis
Episcopi Frisingensis Chronica, 8:
Et notandum quod omnis humana potentia seu scientia ad Oriente cepit et in
Occidente terminatur, ut per hoc rerum volubilitas ac defectus ostendatur5.
However, Otto of Frisinga was not the first nor the last to write about that. In fact, this is
a very ancient theme, and one of the first evidences of this idea on translatio is found in
the Book of Daniel, which is dated around 168/165 BC. The focus is on the interpretation
3 Bagge, 2002, pp. 368-369. 4 He is a medieval chronicler and historian. He is the uncle of the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. 5 “It should be noted that the human power, or rather the knowledge, takes from the East and end
in the West so that through these things volubility and weakness are made known”
10
of two dreams narrated in the text: the first about Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and the statue
of different materials (Dan. 2.1-45)6; the second one about Daniel himself and the 4 beasts
coming out the sea (Dan, 7.1-28)7. Both these dreams are interpreted as the transmission
of power of the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, from the Babylonians, passing to the
Persians and to the Greek-Macedonians, eventually arriving to the Romans. The Roman
Empire represents the conclusion of this translatio of power (imperium). This
interpretation was the same reading given by Gerolamo and Augustine. Rome and its
Empire seemed endless and without comparison, the strongest and the most important of
all the kingdoms. The imagine offers by Daniel's dreams could seem pessimistic: the
succession of the kingdoms goes from the ancient age of gold to an age of iron, which is
read as the representation of the Roman age. However, Gerolamo lived during the last
part of the Roman Empire, the IV century AD: because of that, the theologist could not
consider that the Empire was a period of decline. To explain Daniel's dreams linking it to
the era in which he lived, Gerolamo assumed that: the "iron age" is represented by the
Roman Empire, but this reign, is not a declined one, but it is the most powerful because
it embraces all the previous8. Because Rome, the Christianism had converted many
people. This was possible because the Empire had assumed the control and the power of
the previous kingdoms.
The idea of politics and philosophic universalism is already present in the roman world
before the advent of the Christianism. Fenzi assumed “all’interno del mondo romano e
6 “there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing
before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest
and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and clay and broke them in
pieces. Then the iron, the clay the bronze, the silver and the gold, were all broken in pieces and
became like the chaff of the summer floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace
of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled
the whole earth”. (Dan. 2,31) 7 “I saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirrings up the great sea, and four great
beasts came up of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’
wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and
made to stand on two feet like a human being; and human mind was given to it. another beast
appeared, a second on that look like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its
mouth among its teeth and was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” after this, as I watched,
another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads;
and dominion was given to it. after this I saw in the vision by night a fourth beast, terrifying and
dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces
and stamping what was left with its teeth. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and
it had ten horns (…)” (Dan. 7,1) 8 See Enrico Fenzi, 2015, p. 173. Furthermore, there is an interesting article of Inglebert in which
he explained the point of view of the Christian author about the reason of the existence of the
Roman Empire (Inglebert January-March 1995)
11
del suo universalismo tanto politico quanto filosofico già vive l’essenziale e per vari
aspetti dirompente novità per cui quel legame tra potere e sapere è in verità strettissimo,
e propriamente di consustanzialità.”9. The “virtus” is the key to the surviving of Rome’s
power10, and many Latin texts say that. Also, the significant role of the mores in Roman
History is strictly linked to the idea of translationes of studii. During the Roman
Republic’s age, in particular after the conquest of Greece, this idea of translatio of power
and culture was really firm and present. Sallust, Virgil and others author11 praised and
created the idea of this great translatio of the knowledge from Greece to Rome, which
remains popular during all the Middle Ages and in the Modern Age too. In fact, in the
Roman culture, the notion of the translatio Studii was literally the transmission of a
culture from a kingdom to another, in particular from the Eastern world to the Western,
as Cicero himself said in Tuscolanae 4,2:
“Hoc autem loco consideranti mihi studia doctrinae multa sane occurrunt, cur ea
quoque arcessita aliunde neque solum expetita, sed etiam conservata et culta
videantur”12
Cicero explains the appropriation of other knowledge from other cultures, but he adds
that it is not enough, because it is necessary to protect them and to make them more
excellent. To explain this idea in De Oratore, 3.131, Cicero claimed that the Greeks had
not been able to protect their own culture, and because of that, the Roman could conquest
them and their culture, making this transmission possible and essential because:
“nati in litteris, ardentes iis studiis, otio vero diffluentes, non modo nihil
adquisierint, sed ne relictum quidem et traditum et suum conservarunt”13
9 Everything within the Roman world and its political as well as philosophical universalism
already lives the essential and, for various disruptive expectations, novelties for which that link
between power and knowledge is indeed very close, and properly of consubstantiality. "(Fenzi,
2015, p. 176) 10 About the key of the survival of the power of Rome in the point of view of the authors of the
Republican period a good reading could be the article of Inglebert, whom I have named in the
previous note. Furthermore, the idea of Polybius about the excellence of the mixed composition
of the government of the Republican Rome is interesting. 11 About the theorisation of the translatio imperii in Virgil, I will say later. Furthermore, about
the other Latin authors, I suggest the essay of Fenzi (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1). 12 “To me who I consider here, many studies of science certainly come to mind, so it seems to me
that they have also been taken from elsewhere and not only sought after but also preserved and
cultivated.” 13 Cicero, De Orator, 3.131 “While those, born in a country rich in culture, full of passion for
these studies, and moreover very free from pledges, not only did not increase the cultural heritage
of their nation, but were not even able to preserve the existing one”
12
The story of this notion continues and evolves after the fall of the Roman Empire. It
changed during the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages because the erudite ones had to
come to terms with the end of the Roman Empire. One example of this is still linked to
the interpretation of the dreams of the book of Daniel. Isidore of Seville presented the
usual interpretation which I have described before, and he still identified the last beast of
Daniel’s dream with the Roman Empire, but this should not the point of arrival.
“Cette représentationd’une humanité une par l’origine, promais éclaté en gentes,
laisse reconnaître l’influence du moment où Isidore écrit, et, plus précisément, on
y retrouve l’écho des conceptions de Grégoire le Grand. Ce dernier est en effet le
témoin privilégié de la faillite de l’universalisme imperial et de la reconaissance
des regna qui trouvent droit de cité dans un nouvel ordre du monde où l’Église se
substitue à l’Empire comme principe d’universalité et d’unité;”14.
So, Isidore created a new ideological reference: he made the Roman Empire the exemplar
model to follow, to ensure greatness to the ruler and freedom and peace to the people.
This idea is identified as the theory of the imitatio imperi, as it possible to read in the
essay of Enrico Fenzi of 2015 on the evolution of the idea of Translatio imperii et studii
in time:
“Isidoro, che produce un’interpretazione originale di Dan. 7. Anch’egli, sulla
traccia di Gerolamo, identifica la quarta bestia con l’impero romano, ma
contemporaneamente fa i conti con la sua avvenuta dissoluzione, ricavandone che
ad esso si deve la civilizzazione universale e che, seppure politicamente scomparso,
resta l’unico supremo modello di riferimento: così, i regni particolari (quello
visigotico sarebbe uno dei dieci corni della bestia di Daniele) sarebbero vincolati
a una sorta di imitatio imperii che dovrebbe garantire la libertà delle genti non più
sottomesse.”15
14 “This representation of a humanity one by the origin,but broken into gentes, lets us recognize
the influence of the moment when Isidore writes, and, more precisely, we find there the echo of
the conceptions of Gregory the Great. The latter is indeed the privileged witness of the
bankruptcy of imperial universalism and the recognition of regna who find their right to the city
in a new world order in which the Church replaces the Empire as a principle of universality and
unity” (Reydellet, 1986, pp. 342) 15 “Isidore, who produces an original interpretation of Dan. 7. Following Jerome, he, too,
identifies the fourth beast with the Roman empire, but at the same time he comes to terms with its
dissolution, deducing that the universal civilization owes to it and that, although politically
disappeared, remains the only supreme reference model: so, the particular kingdoms (the
Visigothic one would be one of the ten horns of Daniel's beast) would be bound to a sort of imitatio
imperii that should guarantee the freedom of people no longer submissive” (Fenzi, 2015, p. 174)
13
After the end of a significant period of changes and wars, the affirmation of the Franks as
the Empire’s heir represents a new step of this evolution16. The evolution of this notion
continued and found new life and strength in the Carolingian Renaissance and in
particular with Alcuin17. The role of the erudite is vital: he inspired the scholastic
organization of the Empire, he was the teacher of two generations of Franks, and he
helped to develop the Carolingian Renaissance. His teaching was based on the study of
the Latin texts. So, the Reign of Charlemagne and the set of the Scolae Palatina represent
an epochal moment:
“ proprio perché siamo dinanzi a un salto epocale e un nuovo regno s’inaugura, è
finalmente possibile porre il tema della translatio, fino a quel momento
inconcepibile perché l’epoca precedente, nella quale gli studi sono stati
dimenticati, non è altro che la lunga appendice di quel crollo: è quel crollo.”18.
In fact, in the introduction of the Gesta Karoli, Aeginard, a Frank chronicler, theorized a
continuation of this translatio, which was found in the coronation of Charlemagne. This
event represented the pinnacle of the rebirth of the culture. Moreover, Alcuin assumed
that the Frankish kingdom was a new Athens,
as it possible to read:
“si, plurimis inclitum vestrae intentionis studium sequentibus, forsan Athenae nova
perficeretur in Francia, immo multo excellentior” (Ep. 170: “Alcuini Epistolae”
279)19.
So, Gilson is right, when he assumes:
16 A good reading about the evolution of the Frankish history and kingdom is the second volume
of the New Cambridge Medieval History (700-900) edited by Rosamond Mckitterick (Mckitterik
2008) 17 About the role and the figure of Alcuin, an interesting reading is the essay of Leonardi, “Alcuino
e la scuola palatina: le ambizioni di una cultura unitaria” (Leonardi 1981). In this essay, the
scholar describes the role of the erudite at the court of Charlemagne. 18 “Precisely because we are faced with an epochal leap and a new kingdom is inaugurated, it is
finally possible to put the theme of the translatio, which until then was inconceivable because the
previous epoch, in which the studies were forgotten, is nothing but the long appendix of that
collapse: it is that collapse.” (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1, 186 19 “If to more following the eminent inclination of your intention, maybe the new Athens could be
done in France, rather more excellent”.
14
“c’est donc que la science grecque, transmise jadis par la Grèce à Rome, a
désormais été transmise par Rome à la France. À mesure que l’importance de Paris
augmente, c’est naturellement Paris qui prend la place d’Athènes”20.
This idea of “Paris as new Athens” would not stop after the end of the Carolingians, but
it became a model for other cultural and power’s centre. Marek Thue Kretschmer in an
article about the notion of Translatio studii21, with particular attention about France as
new Greece, assumes that it is a typical image of the Renaissance of the 12th century.
Furthermore, this idea of new Athens would be recovered by the Universities, as Paris
and Oxford, because Ancient Greece and in particular Athens were considered as the
symbol of the origin of the philosophy and literature.
However, this is not the only reference to this theme during the Middle Ages. Concerning
the Frankish world, during the Merovingian era, a peculiar tradition, which narrated the
trojan origin of the Franks, is attested. This theme is strictly linked to the construction of
the mythological past, which usually was set in Troy.
It is possible to say that the two themes of this essay here meet each other. The Trojan
theme’s presence is found in many cultures and traditions, from Ancient Greece to the
Iceland of the 14th century.
1.2.The role of the Trojan theme and the Translatio imperii et studii
As it is possible to understand, the story of the fall of Troy is a sort of the root of our
literature and our identity: it looks like everything starts with a blind poet in the 12th
century BC in Greece, around three thousand years ago. After this moment, the story of
Troy and its destruction will be famous and popular, and it will have a really long life22.
It is essential to underline that the war between the Greeks and Trojans is the core of the
Trojan cycle. These events happened during the Mycenaean era, around the 12th century
20 “It is therefore that Greek science, transmitted by Greece to Rome, has now been transmitted
by Rome to France. As the importance of Paris increases, Paris naturally takes the place of
Athens” (Gilson, 1955, p. 183) 21 Kretschmer, December 2011. “Le concept de translatio implique un mouvement de savoir qui
passe de l'Antiquité gréco-romaine à la France du Moyen Age, souvent représenté comme un
passage d'Athènes à Rome, puis de Rome à Paris. C'est de là que vient la dénomination habituelle
de Paris comme une nouvelle Athènes.”(p.1106) (The concept of translatio implies a movement
of knowledge that passes from Greco-Roman antiquity to medieval France, often represented as
a passage from Athens to Rome, then from Rome to Paris. This is where the common name of
Paris comes from as a new Athens.) 22 Martin L. West (M. L. West 2001) has written a very peculiar analysis of the traditions of the
Homeric texts.
15
BC. The destruction of the city named Troy, also known as Ilium, happened during the
12th century BC. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann discovered the remains of the
reconstructions of nine cities, on the hills of Hissarlik, in the north of Anatoly. In the 19th
century, the archaeologist Blegen was able to reorder the stratification of these remains:
he identified the Homeric Ilium in the first phase of the VII stratum (VIIa). This stratum
presents the marks of a violent destruction and signs of arsons. Nowadays, the
archaeological research is trying to identify the stratums better, as some do not correspond
perfectly with the legends’ information. It is safe to affirm that what the poems say is the
historical truth. At the same time during this age, the ἀοιδοι23, the poets, composed songs
about this war, as always, and this is how the Trojan tradition started to be narrated. The
scholars believe that these legends and mythical stories were transmitted in oral form for
four centuries before obtaining a writing redaction. The oral poetry is very conservative,
so these legends were transmitted with their technique of composition and performing,
which is based on fixed scenes and on a formulary structure. The complete first redaction
is attributed to Homer24, a mythical poet that lived around the 8th or 7th century BC. He is
the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Only the first poem, the Iliad, directly refers
to the Trojan war. In fact, in this story, we find the Achaeans who set up a camp outside
Troy’s wall. The Iliad was created from a mindful work of synthesis of all trojan material.
Furthermore, this poem has an original structure, which made these poems the most
famous epic poems of all times, and because of that, they are considered the beginning of
European literature. Homer was the first great author, and he made an epochal venture
because he reunited the different mythological traditions about the Trojan cycle, and he
tried to give them unity. These poems are so famous that only after two centuries
Pisistratus tried to commission the first unitary version of them, which is attested by Plato,
in Hipparchus, and Cicero, in De Oratore. Furthermore, all the Greek polis wanted to
have one copy of the Iliad and Odyssey. Moreover, these texts were considered scholarly
since the 5th century BC. The production of written texts was not conventional because
of its high costs. At this time, only the masterpieces, which were considered the most
important ones, were written down. This copying did not happen in order to allow private
23 It is a professional cantor, a poet, and often a composer of epic poems. He sang the poems
playing the zither during feast or banquets. 24 The question about the real existence of Homer as a historical figure is still debated (West
2011). It is not the main topics of the present essay, so I do not enter in this question, but I believe
essential to underline this fact.
16
reading, but rather to preserve it over time. So, if it was decided to create a written
redaction of these texts, it is because they were very significant at that time. Nevertheless,
during the 6th and the 5th centuries BC every polis wanted to have one copy of the two
Homeric poems. It is possible to understand the importance of the work of Homer
because, after him, every author of Ancient Greece took inspiration from his work. One
famous example is the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, who took inspiration from
the material and the style of the epic poem. In particular, during the war between the
Greeks and the Persians, the two Homeric poems became important, probably because
the war between Trojan and Achaean seemed to remember the present conflicts and they
wanted to glorify the noble roots of the Greeks. One example is the historian Herodotus,
who used Homer as a source for the redaction of his Histories25. In facts, he quoted
Helen’s kidnapping as one of the first reason for the war between the Persians and the
Greeks.
In the Hellenic age, some written editions have been discovered for private reading. In
fact, at this time, the complete analysis of these texts and the complete editions are found
and attested. Many grammaticus26 at this time were employed at the great library of
Alexandria of Egypt, where they worked on the edition and studies of many classical
texts: two of these were the Homeric poems. In particular, Zenodotus of Ephesus made
the poem’s division in the twenty-fourth book. He “is described in the Suda as having
been the first ‘corrector’ of Homer”27. Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of
Samothraki also worked on the edition of these texts. Because of their editions, around
150 B.C., all the manuscript of Iliad and Odyssey had the same number of verses, but this
does not allow to define it as a canonical text. Different editions are found with
differences from the original text.
The life of this theme continues during the Roman age, with very particular attention
during the I century A.D. And this is very interesting. The Roman world came in contact
with Greece during the 2nd century B.C. The conquest started in the 146 BC with the
destruction of Corinth, and it ended with the transformation of Greece in a Roman
Province in 27 BC. In this period, many of the aristocratic classes came in contact with
Greek traditions and culture. Also, in these years that the Scipio’s circle was created. This
25 Herodotus is the first historian. He composed the Histories in the 5th century BC. This text talks
about the war between the Persians and the Greeks. 26 Today we can call them philologist 27 M. L. West 2001, 33
17
circle was linked to the Greek culture, and they started to study these traditions. This is
the same period in which Cicero claimed his theory about the conquest of the Greek
culture. However, the most crucial step in the Trojan theme’s story is linked with the
ascension to power of the Gens Claudia. The significant recovery of the Trojan theme
happened because of Vergil ad his Aeneid. In fact, during the government of Octavian
Augustus, the passage from the Repubblica to the Empire started, and in periods of
significant political changes, the leaders felt the necessity to find legitimations to their
power and to create consensus28. This happened at this time: the Maecenas’ circle created
many literary works to glorify the history of Rome and to legitimize the government of
August and his family. One of these masterpieces is the Aeneid of Vergil. In this epic
poem, the story of Rome’s past and the future Empire’s prophecy are narrated, as well as
the celebration of the Octavian’s gens. This is a sort of representation of the idea of the
translation imperii, because the Aeneid narrates how Aeneas ran away from Troy. Aeneas
did it, and he permitted the transmission of the power of Troy to Rome. Furthermore,
another link between the two cities was represented by the Palladium, which was the
statue of the goddess Athena. Servius, in his commentary to the Aeneid29, tells us that: the
Palladium arrived in Rome with Aeneas. This statue was collected in the temple of Vesta
in Rome, as one of the Pignora Imperii, which were guarantees of the perpetual domain
of Rome. So, it is possible to notice the weight of this mythical derivation. Also, it is
essential to underline the idea of the primacy of the Trojan element on the Greek one. In
fact, from this time, when it is necessary to create a mythical past, the focus will be on
the Trojan heritage and not on the Greek one. While Herodotus and the other Greek
authors used the story of the war of Troy to glorify their glorious past during the conflicts
with the Persian, the Roman wanted to find a new origin avoiding the Greeks. In
particular, in the 1st century AD, other relevant texts narrated the myth of Troy, and two
are originally Greek, the Ephimeris of Dyttis Cretesis and the De Excidio Troiae Historia
of Dares Phrygius30. Only the second one, the Dares’ text, had more fortune during the
Middle Ages, because Dares and his text were considered pro-trojans and because the
author was considered a Trojan himself, while Dyttis and his text were considered pro-
28 I refer to the book “The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus” edited by Galinsky
(Galinsky 2005) to have an overview of the period and the figure of August. 29 The Aeneid does not report the episode of the Palladium’s recovery by Aeneas. It was on
Servius in his commentary to the Virgilian opera to refer this. To understand better the question,
I refer to the essay of Lagioia Alessandro (Lagioia 2006). 30 The analysis of this text is in chapter 3.
18
Greeks, because of that he had more fortune in the Byzantine world. However, both texts
were the primary sources on the Trojan war during the Middle Ages, even if Virgil was
the crucial base for the Trojan theme’s permanence in Middle Ages:
“Virgil’s Aeneid, which seamlessly grafts the founding of Rome onto the fall of Troy,
helped establish the cultural capital of the Trojan War for the Latin West, although
the notion of a Trojan foundation for Rome pre-dates Virgil by several centuries.”31
1.3.The medieval construction of a mythical Trojan past during Middle Ages
At this point, the line of the translatio imperii et studi meets the Trojan theme’s line.
“L’idea di translatio corre ora entro i diversi ‘miti di fondazione’ che cercano
nella diaspora troiana le origini dei regni d’Inghilterra e di Francia”32.
During the Merovingian era, three texts narrated the legend of an original derivation from
Troy and Aeneas of the Frankish kingdom: these texts are the Chronicle of Fredegar and
the Liber Historiae Francorum.
“The story, stripped of its variants, tells us that the Franks were once Trojans who
lived for a while near the sea of Azov and then in the lands of the lower Danube
before coming to the Lower Rhine where, through conflict with the Romans, they
forced their way into Gaul”33.
The first text is written during the 7th century, and the author is unknown. The Chronicle
narrated the events of the world from the creation to the 642 AD. In this text, also the
genealogy of the Merovingian kings is narrated, and the author told that they descended
from Troy, in particular from Priam, who was their first king. Furthermore, he said that
after the fall of the city, the Trojans were divided into two groups, the first became
Macedonians, from who Alexander the Great descended. Ulysses’ treachery forced the
other group to travel through many regions, and because of that, they chose Francio as a
king. After many adventures, they arrived and settled between the Rhine, the Danube and
the sea. This episode is the beginning of the Frankish settlement. It also narrated the
conflict between the Romans and the alliance with the Saxons. Moreover, the anonymous
author tells about a third group: the Turks. He also added the derivation of the Roman
from Troy, from the same Family of the Phrygians. The Historia was written around 792
31 Desmond 2016, 251 32 “the idea of translatio now runs within the different "Foundation myths", which seek the origins
of the Trojan diaspora in the kingdom of England and France” (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1, 193) 33 Gerbeding 1987, 13
19
and, as for the Chronicle, we do not know who the author is. In this text, the origins and
the deeds of the Neustrian Franci and their Merovingian kings are narrated. In the first
chapter, the destruction of Troy by Ulysses’ treachery and the escaping of king Aeneas
in Italy are narrated. Priam and Antenor, with the rest of the Trojans, arrived in
Pannonians, and there they built a great city, which is called Sicambria, and there they
lived for many years and grew into a great people. In chapter 2 it is possible to read the
definition of this people as Franks: it is said that the emperor Valentinian called them
Franks, “which means ‘wild’ in the Attic Language because of the hardness and bravery
of their hearts” (Gerberding, 1987, p. 173). I assume that this is a sort of construction of
the origin of the Frankish people. This happens again after the fall of the Carolingian
Empire. One example of that is offered by Goffredo of Viterbo, who celebrated
Charlemagne as a restorer of Rome and claimed him as the point of conjunction of the
two lines of the Trojan bloodline: the western and German line from Priam thanks to his
father Pippin; and the Romans from his mother Berta34. Furthermore Benoît de Sainte-
Maure narrated the legend of the Trojan origins of the Duke of Normandy in his
Chronique des ducs de Normandie around 1175 on request of the king Henry II
Plantagenet (1133-1189), and he was also the author of the Roman de Troie, in which he
retold in poetry the events of the Dares text. These are only a few examples of this
tradition in France but among the most exemplar and essential.
The same link between translatio imperii et studii and Troy is found in the British
literature too, in the Matter of Britain.
“While the Anglo-Saxon elite self-consciously rejected Trojan ancestry and
categorized the matter of Troy as fictional, the ninth-century Latin chronicle
composed in Wales—Nennius’ Historia Britonum—invokes Brutus, son of Ascanius
and grandson of Aeneas, as the founder of Britain.”35
Also, the Historia Regum Britanniae, written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th
century, is a famous example. This text is particularly famous for the story of King Arthur,
but the author wanted to explain the origins of the kingdom, and he did the same as the
other did for the Franks, in fact, “according to the ninth-century anonymous Historia
Brittorum, the eponymous founder of Britain was Brutus, the great-grandson of
34 “Gotifredi Viterbiensis opera:” Speculum regum 1.684–90 e 2.1450–52; Pantheon, Particula
23.11–13; Memoria Seculorum 95 35 Desmond 2016, 252
20
Aeneas”36. Geoffrey took inspiration by this tradition about Brutus, and made a prophecy
for him, as there was one for Aeneas. So, in the first book of the Historia it is possible to
read:
“Brutus, to the west, beyond the kingdom of the Gaul lies an island of the ocean,
surrounded by the sea; an island of the ocean where giants once lived, but now it
is deserted and waiting for your people. Sail to it, it will be your home for ever. It
will furnish your children with a new Troy. from your descendants will arise kings,
who will be masters of the whole world” (HRB book 1; Reeve and Wright 2007,
20).
The story goes on with Brutus’ arrival with the other Trojans in Britain, on the island of
Albion, after a series of adventures. Here, on the bank of the Thames, he built the city of
Trinovatum, “the New Troy”.
This text is significant for Trójumanna saga’s history and the use of the Myth of Troy in
Iceland. After the redaction of the Historia Regum Britanniae, many other writers
translated this story in their language, and one example is the case of the Romain de Brut
written in French by Wace, a Norman cleric of Caen in 1155, while Britain and Normandy
had the same ruler. Furthermore, there is another essential translation of this text: the Old
Icelandic Breta Sögur. This saga tells about Arthur’s kingdom and his ancestors and, in
particular, it tells about the conquest of Iceland by Arthur, as it is also said in the original
Latin text. This text demonstrates the importance of this legend for Iceland’s history and,
under this point of view, it is possible to understand why the Icelanders translated this
text. It is also important to underline this fact: the Breta sögur is strictly linked with the
Trójumanna saga, which is the focus of this essay. These two sagas are usually presented
together, as a sort of duo in which the Trojumanna saga is a sort of prologue about the
reason of the migration of the Trojans, while the Breta sögur tells about the migration37.
1.4.Translation and translatio
Both these two sagas are examples of translatio from Latin to vernacular. This
phenomenon is really fascinating and essential for this field of study.
36 Fulton 2009, 48 37 See Würth 2006
21
“The foreign literature conventions did not replace existing forms, but rather served
as the impetus for the enrichment of the native literary language and of its poetic
and thematic representation” (Sif Rikhardsdottir, 2012, p. 1).
The translation is never neutral, but it could be the base for cultural formation’s process,
and it is useful to understand what developments represent the meeting point of two
different cultures. Copeland38 assumes that the translation not only reshapes a text, but it
is also an appropriation of the literary authorship. Furthermore, she claims that the
translation is strictly linked to the rhetoric and the hermeneutics. As we will see for the
case of the Trójumanna saga, the translation is not made word by word, but the author
made some changes for his audience. “In a manuscript culture to translate means also to
turning of a prior text into something more completely itself, or something more than
what it literally is”39. One reason could be the difficulty to explain a concept written in
Latin in his language; other many reasons, cultural, political, or social also could explain
the changes. I believe that the key to understanding the changes is to analyse the context
and public of the text.
The specific case of Medieval Iceland and its construction of the myth of the origins
followed the same way of the other European lands. In particular, this link is created by
the compelling case of the translations of Latin texts, as is the case of the Dares’ De
Excidio Troiae Historiae and the Old Icelandic Trójumanna saga.
How did the Latin culture and the Icelandic one come to be in touch? Also, how did this
meeting evolve with time? Moreover, how was the theme of the Trojan origin built? These
are the questions I will try to answer in the following chapter.
38 Copeland 1995 39 Burns 1980, 125
22
2 The Icelandic Troy: a construction of a prehistory
2.1 The process of Acculturation in Iceland
During the Middle Ages, the story of Troy and its descendants was strongly vibrant, and
its tradition was huge. We can find this theme in very different literary genres, from the
historical one to the chivalric poems. In many lands, Troy itself represented an originating
land where their ancestors lived, as the case of the Franks and the Liber Francorum or for
the Brits and the Historia Regum Britanniae. Moreover, both these countries were both
in direct contact with the Roman Empire, and in particular, the Frankish Kingdom was
considered the legitimate heir of the Roman Empire with the coronation of Charlemagne
in 800 A.D., December 25th. We could not say the same for Iceland, because it is a very
young settlement and, because of that, this island has no direct contact with the Roman
Empire. The settlers’ arrival on the island is attested around 870, and they came from the
mainland Scandinavia and the previous settlements in the British Isles. However, contacts
between the people of the mainland and the Latin-Roman culture are attested. During the
last part of the Empire, the Romans themselves met the German people, which had the
same culture as the Scandinavians, and Tacitus, in particular, wrote about the Germans in
De Germania. More important and direct encounters with the Roman culture are attested
during the Late Antiquity and the first part of the Middle Ages. For example, by the
bersekers’ presence at the court of the Emperor of Constantinople, or by some Frankish
documents which attested the presence of one legation to the court of Charlemagne; and
last but not least, the acquisition of Normandy by Duke Rollo in 911 AD. In particular,
for the story of Iceland, an important step was the raids on the English territory, from the
first attack to the Lindisfarne’s monastery at 793 and the following settlements on
England. All these facts demonstrate the presence of contacts between the Christian-Latin
world and the Norse population, but, despite this, the first settlers of Iceland were still
linked to the old traditions of the mainland Scandinavia and, in particular, to the old pagan
religion40. The conversion is the key to the process of acculturation, which brings to the
production of the Icelandic literature. Icelanders met the Christian religion, and, as a
40 “The Icelanders must have known something about Christianity since the beginning of their
story. A considerable number of the settlers had been baptized before they came to Iceland, and
had lived among Christians in the British Isles. Their descendant lapsed into paganism, and there
were none but pagans in Iceland for about a hundreds years”. (Turville, 1953, p. 48)
23
consequence, the Latin-Christian culture, since the end of the 10th century and the
beginning of the 11th century41. The official conversion of the country took place during
the Alþing between 999 and 1000, due to the will of king Óláfr Tryggvason, as also
happened in Norway. In Iceland, the acceptance of the new religion was not violent. The
official assumption of the new religion was discussed during the Þing as all the other
dispute: in fact, the lawman, Þorgeirr Þorkelsson, proposed the case, which was accepted,
so all people should become Christians, even if the old laws permitted to make sacrifices
to the ancient gods or to eat the horse’s meat. Only a few years later, these ancient
practices were prohibited with other heathen customs. So, the conversion was not an act
of faith, but a pacific political act, because of that, the process of full acceptance of the
new religion was long. The idea of a long period of conversion is typical of the
Christianism in general. Orri Vésteinsson assumes that the conversion was only a
political decision. The scholar does not believe that long Icelandic acquaints to the
Christianism is real, because “this explanation is contradicted by the archaeological
evidence which suggests that in the tenth century burial practices at least were thoroughly
heathen.”42 Moreover, the settlements nature and its language made the process longer.
At that time, Iceland had a very small population that was dispersed all around the island.
So, it was necessary to have a few selected priests who were able to move around the
country. Also, these priests had to have an education suitable for the diffusion of the
Christian word. So, the Church and the clergy had to accept the fact that the preaching of
the Christianism should be in vernacular and not in Latin because the common people did
not understand it. So, after Christianism’s affirmation, the first step was to educate the
clergy. The same happened in the other Nordic countries. The interest of the Roman
Church for the new part of Christianity was important and attested. During the centuries,
and in particular during the 11th and the 12th century, the relation with the Roman Church
and the Nordic countries were quite important. In 1079 pope Gregory VII asked the king
to send to the Curia the highborn Danish young ones to be educated in the “divine laws”.
While in Iceland, only the Mosfell family was able to understand the importance of the
education of the clergy. From the establishment of the Christianism in Iceland, this family
had a significant role inside the ecclesiastical institution. One of its members, Ísleifr, in
1056 became the first bishop of Iceland (1056-180). Before his consecration, he had
41 On the history of conversion, see GrØnliw 2017, Vésteinsson 2000, Winroth 2012 42 (Vésteinsson 2000, 19)
24
studied at Herford in Saxony and so his son Gizurr, who was also bishop (1082-1118)
after his father. During the bishopric of this last one, the country was divided into two
sees, Skálholt and Hólar, of which the first bishop was Jón Ǫgmundarson, who built the
first cathedral, and also the first cathedral-school. However, he did more: he brought two
foreign tutors as teachers when he came back from his consecration journey. A
contemporary of him was Sæmundr Sigfússon of Oddi, and he was also educated abroad,
in France. These examples demonstrate that the Icelanders needed to be educated about
the Latin and Christian texts and traditions abroad because they did not have the necessary
knowledge and preparation. Thanks to the works of these prominent figures, a clerical
education could also be offered in Iceland. At that time the most important centres of
culture were the episcopal sees of Skálholt and Hólar, but also the farms of Oddi and
Haukadalur. The culture became a sign of power. So, the sons of the chieftains began to
study the Latin texts, which the Icelandic clergy was able to teach. No king ruled over
Iceland, so the power was in the hand of a very powerful aristocracy, which understood
from the beginning the importance of the clergy. Now the aristocrats tried to control not
only the role of chieftains but also the high position of the clergy. Because of that, these
private families financed both the cultural centre and trips to study abroad. Many
chieftains and good men, as Ari himself said, sent their children to these centres of culture,
because they understood the importance of having a good education, and to be linked with
the clergy: to have a kinsman in the clergy was necessary for the political power in
Iceland. During the years, the education of the seculars, in particular chieftains, lawmen,
and also the clergy, became the same, and the centres of culture were no longer only the
episcopal sees or the monasteries, but also the farmer of the chieftains and important men.
Thanks to the works of the Icelandic clergy, the process of textualization could start. The
presence of liturgical works and educational books at the episcopal seats is attested during
the 11th century, but we do not have any of these books, because they are now lost, we
have only the fragments of the liturgical works from the 10th and the 11th centuries.
Probably all these texts were not the work of local people, but they were manuscripts
from abroad, which were imported for the education of the clergy and the aristocracy.
There was a problem: the Latin language is too difficult for a country like Iceland, and
Scandinavia in general. From the middle of the 12th century, the Latin writings were
translated into vernacular to complete the conversion’s process. Sian GrØnlie assumes
that the link between the conversion and the translation is essential to complete this
process, and he underlines that: “It may be relevant that the Norse verb for ‘to convert’ is
25
snúa, which can also mean ‘to translate’; conversion and translation are closely
connected as creative and literary acts.”43 Because of these figures’ work and these texts
presence, the complete knowledge of theology, and so the Latin culture, was achieved
around 1200.
“During this period (1200-1350)44 all the Nordic countries, except Finland, may be
considered part of the western Christendom, not only in the sense that people had
been converted to Christianity, but also in the sense that the ecclesiastical
organization was becoming relatively developed” (Bagge, 1984, p.5)
The new Latin culture and language were introduced within a strong old tradition of
legends. These two different cultures started to influence each other, and in this way, a
process of acculturation could start. The conversion and the work of acculturation
operated by the Christian Church permitted a great goal: the transition from the orality to
the vernacular literature since the 11th century. Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson assumed
that “writing in the vernacular with Latin script began in these countries in the course of
the 11th century, even though there is no reliable documentation before the 1117 to prove
this” (Guðvarður Már, 2005). Actually, before the advent of the Christian Church in
Iceland, the culture, the law and the traditions were only transmitted orally45. Before the
introduction of the Latin alphabet, the Icelanders knew and used the runic alphabet, but it
was suitable only for short sentences, but not for transmission of long texts. Furthermore,
the books’ culture was introduced only with the Christianism, which is known as the
religion of the Book. After the conversion, the Icelanders adopted the new alphabet and,
at the beginning, they tried to translate the Latin texts, and later on to write their sagas,
but they met some difficulties. In the 12th century, it became necessary to write a
grammatical treatise to try to settle the new use: this was the First Grammatical Treaties.
This text is a significant source because not only it presents a precise regulation of the
language and the use of the letters, but also proves that, before the 12th century, there were
attempts of the redaction of texts in vernacular, in particular, the treatise reports what
genre of texts were written:
43 GrØnliw 2017, 125 44 I also want to add the fact that, from this period ,the presence of Nordic students was attested
in all the most prestigious Universities of the Middle Ages, Bologna, Paris and Oxford. All these
students are for the major part from Denmark and Norway, Icelandic students were not attested,
probably there are no documents about them, or they did not stay for the entire period of study.
The source for this is Sverre Bagge, Nordic Students at foreign Universities until 1600, in
Scandinavian Journal of History, 1984. 45 On the process from orality to literacy (Quinn 2000)
26
“laws and genealogies, or interpretations of sacred writings, or also that historical
lore that Ari Þorgilsson has recorded in books with such reasonable
understanding”46.
So, the conversion permitted to achieve the phenomenon of the acculturation of Iceland,
as also Orri Vésteinsson assumes: “the Church is also the most obvious channel through
which ideas were transmitted to Iceland” (Vésteinsson, 2000, p. 1). So, it is possible to
assume that this phenomenon of acculturation could not be neutral, and all the following
redactions of texts and sagas, of all genres, were influenced by this channel. I think it is
important to underline that this is not only typical of Iceland, but all the ancient cultures
and traditions were influenced by the time and by the Christian religion, as happened to
the texts of Vergil and Ovid, and of other authors of the Latinity, as I will explain in
chapter 3. The same happened in Iceland and its sagas. Judy Quinn claims that:
“The effect of the Christian ideology on all aspects of Scandinavian culture was
profound and in relation to writing practise the conversion effected more than a
simple change-over of scripts” (Quinn, 2000).
One of the first influences of the new skills and the conversion was the redaction of the
laws. Before, they had only been repeated orally by the lögsögumaðr, the law-speaker.
After they had written them, the codex of the Gragas of 1117 being one of them, the role
of the law-speaker lost its power. Moreover, if in a dispute, there were some discordances
between the texts, the ecclesiastical copy’s version was the winner and the one to be
followed. This fact demonstrates how the introduction of the clergy changed completely
the structure of society. In the beginning, many law-speakers were not able to read, so the
clergy was the officer of the transcription and the reading of the laws. If the influence of
the Church was active in the redaction of the codes of Law47, for sure, it was really crucial
in the literature too, in particular about the texts which the Christianity had imported,
which means biblical text, commentaries and theological writings48. Some of the first
imported texts were, for example, the Physiolugus, a bestiary, and of course the Bible and
46 “Lög ok áttvísi eða þýðingar helgar eða svá þau hin spaklegu fræði er Ari Þorgilsson hefir á
bækr sett af skynsamlegu viti” cf. The First Grammatical Treatise, 208-209 47 I want to add the fact that the Church influence also the travel: many Icelanders and Nordic
people are attested in “Christian Voyages” as the pilgrimage to Rome or Jerusalem, which are
both narrated in Sagas as the Knytlinga saga. One example is the case of the Danish king Eiríkr,
who made pious progress across Europe and died in Cyprus in 1103 before reaching the Holy
land. Also, some of them took part in the crusades in the Holy land, as the young Norwegian king
Sigurðr, who helped King Baldwin of Jerusalem in the siege of Sidon in 1110. 48 About the religious text, see Óskarsson 2005 and Gunnar 1995
27
other doctrinal writings. Many Icelandic monasteries were Benedictine, and this explains
the presence of the translated version of the rule of Saint Benedict. Moreover, for the
work of conversion, it was essential to explain the theology through sermons and
homilies, because of that they wrote down the Icelandic Homily book, which is a
collection of more than 50 homilies with some additional material, written in the 12th
century. The study of texts as the Physiologus is attested by fragments of sermons, as the
AM237 fol. The redaction of exempla was popular in Iceland, one example of this was
the Dialogues of Gregory the Great or the Vitae Patrum, which was translated into old
Norse probably around 1300. Attestations of the translation of the Old Testament is found
in the Stjorn, which was composed in three parts, of which the second one is the eldest,
and contains only the translation of some parts of the Bible, while the others presented
more comments than translations. We have no clear attestations of translations of biblical
texts in the first part of the conversion, but as I said, during the preaching the priest had
to quote passes of the Sacred Scriptures in vernacular, so that the common people could
understand the meaning of these words. A source for this phenomenon is represented by
the Life of the Saints, in which these preachings are narrated in vernacular. There are also
attested proofs of moral treatises, as the translation of Alcuin’s De Virtutibus et Vitiis in
the Norwegian Homily book before 1300. The education of the people and the literate
men, occurred through the Church’s channel, for example, Ari Froði was educated at the
school of the priest Teiter.
This monopoly of the written culture had influenced the redactions of the sagas. As I said,
the vehicle of writing was the Latin alphabet and, moreover, the Icelanders learned to
write thanks to the Latin texts, and not only the religious ones. The 12th and in particular
the 13th centuries are considered the Renaissance of the literature in the Nordic countries.
The Scandinavian erudite people of this time had absorbed the literature from the south
of Europe, as the Roman tradition, but they did non neglect their native traditions and
used the new alphabet and culture to write about them and their origin, as we could see
in the next subchapter. Theodore Anderson49, for example, assumes that the description
of Brynhild Völsunga saga reminds Virgil’s characterization of Dido in the Aeneid. Saxo
himself used some Virgilian reminiscences and other Roman echoes in the Gesta
Danorum. He also wrote in Latin. From this time on, going to study in Europe or Norway
was quite common, and the Saga of the Bishops attested this practice, despite the reform
49 Andersson 1980, 241
28
movement. So, influences from European culture were stronger than before, in particular
during the Kingdom of Hákon Hákonasor. The courtly style was affirmed on the line of
the chivalric and courtly culture of France and the European continent in general. For
example, this is the period of the redaction of the Riddarasögur50, which is the chivalric
romance. This genre of texts is strictly linked with the theme of the translation. During
this period, different Latin works were translated in Old Icelandic. It is essential to
underline the fact that, these translations of the pseudo-historical texts are not always
precise: quoting Cicero, they were translated “non verbum pro verbo”, but they are a sort
of a personal reworking of the author, in fact sometimes the writer, as we will see in the
analysis of the Trójumanna saga.
The Ancient Sagas 51are another example of the translated text. Stephanie Würth
considers this type of saga as pseudo-histories52. These sagas are five, and they are about
the Matter of Rome, which is strictly linked with the Trojan one. The scope of this saga
was to give information about the past. One of the first examples is the Rómverja saga,
which was translated around 1180. It is a combination of three different texts: two of
Sallust, the Bellum Iugurthinum and the Coniuratio Catilinae, and one of Lucan, the
Pharsalia or the Bellum civile. The first two talk about the Roman republican period,
while the last one is about the early phase of the Empire of Rome. During the Middle
Ages, the interest for the Roman Republic was not so popular, but the Icelanders probably
appreciated the image of a land without a king, because during this first phase they were
independent, and they did not have one, at least until 1263, when Iceland became part of
the Kingdom of Norway. In fact, between 930 and 1262, the historians talk about the
period of the Free State or the Commonwealth period. In this view, it is possible to
understand the interest in texts as the Sallust’s ones or Lucan’s.
Another example is the Gyðinga saga, which is about Jewish history from the death of
Alexander the Great until the death of Pontius Pilate, in particular between 333 BC and
50 AD. The sources of this saga are the first of the two Apocryphal Books of the
Maccabees for the first part, supplemented by the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor,
which is the primary source for the second part. This saga is not so popular as the other
ancient one, only a few attestations of it are known. Moreover, the Alexanders saga was
50 About the romance and the Riddarasögur, see Glauser 2005 and Barnes 2000 51 About the Veraldar saga, see (S. Würth, Der "Antikenroman" in der Islandischen Literatur des
Mittlalters 1998) (Würth, Historiography and Pseudo-History 2005) 52 Würth, Der "Antikenroman" in der Islandischen Literatur des Mittlalters 1998.
29
written in this period, and it narrates about the story of Alexander the Great, in particular,
represents the translation of the Latin text of Walter of Châtillon’s Alexandreis written in
1180. This saga is a free reinterpretation of the Latin verses translated into Old Norse
prose, because it was addressed to an audience which was interested in history and
political facts, and did not have a strong knowledge of the classical history. Two other
examples of the translation of the Latin Texts are the Trójumanna saga and the Breta
Sögur53. Like the other ones, these are not simple translations. Moreover, they are
somewhat different. They could be enumerated with the Fornaldarsögur, namely the
sagas of the pre-history of Iceland because, in a certain way, they were a sort of narration
of the pre-history of the Icelandic settlers.
2.2 The construction of the origin: the myth of Troy
With the introduction of the Latin alphabet, the Icelanders started to write sagas and
reported their ancient traditions. Furthermore, the Norse literature and the Icelandic one,
in particular, have an extraordinary place inside the Medieval European literature,
because they were varied, extensive and original, as Margaret Clunies Ross reported
(Clunies Ross, 2000). In particular, it is interesting to find such a significant number of
productions of manuscripts and texts in Iceland, if we think about how the society was
composed mostly of a small farming population on an island which is far from the
continent’s town and centres of culture. From the beginning, the Icelanders were
considered as great historians, because of their excellent knowledge of the past and the
past of their Norwegian ancestors. “Indeed, the Icelanders have cultivated their own
history with a vigour out of proportion to their resources and population size”54. One of
the most important sources for the historiographical works in the Middle Ages
Scandinavia was the skaldic poetry, which was often quoted in order to give a sort of
historical value to their stories. In particular, “they wrote about their own history in the
past and the present, and equally readily about Norwegian kings, the hero of prehistory
and the history of foreign countries” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 11). The fame of great
historians was known and recognised by the others and in particular at the court of the
Norwegian kings, where the Icelanders found a proper place as poets, historians and good
storytellers. When King Sverrir of Norway wanted to write his biography, he asked the
53 About the Trójumanna saga, see chapter 3. About the Breta sögur, see chapters 1 and 3. 54 Whaley 2000, 161
30
Icelandic abbot Karl Jónsson, from the monastery of Þingeyrar, to write the first part of
the text. Also, King Magnus Lawmender asked Sturla Þórðarson to write a saga about his
kingdom and the ruling of his father, Hákon Hákonarson. Because of this, it is possible
to assume, as Clunies Ross does, that “Icelanders were professionals, a kind of literary
Swiss Guard, which was called upon when it became necessary to relate history in poetry
or in writing” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 13). However, why were they so interested in
historical literature?
Their patrimony of oral traditions was great, and they also received strong influences
from the European culture. Furthermore, they firmly believed that the literature could
give immortality to the deeds and the protagonists. This is the reason why they developed
the idea of a “useful past” (Whaley, 2000). The historical texts had two main scopes:
prodesse et delecatare, namely to teach and to enjoy the narration of the past. In
particular, since the ancient times, there was the idea “To later generations the lives
commemorated are source of moral or political education, furnishing examples of the
good deeds of good men to emulate, and the bad to avoid” (Whaley, 2000, p. 176), which
is similar to the idea of Cicero of “Historia magistra vitae” (Cicero, De Oratore 2, 9).
However, this strong attention to history and to traditions is very peculiar. They had a
problem because they knew that the settlement on the island represented a great cesura in
their history. They felt the necessity to understand what was their past and their role inside
the European history. They found an answer in the Ancient sagas and in particular in the
Trojan matter. This influence came from England and in particular from the tradition of
migration of the people from Troy. Faulkes55 claims that the construction of genealogies
of this type and in particular linked to the Gods are typical of the Anglo-Saxon literature.
On the base of this influence, the Icelandic author created their mythological past. This
construction from Asia was already found in France and Britain, and it had origin in
Rome56. Furthermore, it is essential also to report this fact: the Scandinavians, and in
particular the Norwegians, believed that their kings were in a certain way linked to the
British kings, because one of their first kings, Hákon son of Haraldr Finehair, had been
fostered at the court of the English king Æthelstan. Moreover, the Icelanders considered
themselves heirs of the Norwegian kings. So, if they were the heirs of the English kings,
who were descendants of the Trojans, then also the ancestors of the Icelanders came from
55 (Faulkes 1978-79) 56 See chapter 1
31
Troy. This story is also perfect for them because it is a tale of migration, as their past was
the migration from Scandinavia to Iceland. This elaborate creation of genealogical
inheritance and the migration of Aeneas and his fellows was perfect for the construction
of the pre-history of the Icelanders, which could give the possibility to introduce them
inside the world History, and to make this past their own. Furthermore, this creation is
comprehensible in a world strongly influenced by the Latin and Christian world view.
Because of that, they created genealogies, which presented this derivation from the Asia
of their Gods, the Æsir. Snorri himself used the similarity between the names to create a
connection and a source. Furthermore, they adopted the theory of the translatio studii,
when they claimed their language and poetic arts were brought there by Oðin from Asia57.
To demonstrate this, I consider important to illustrate some texts which presented this
idea. Ari Frodi in his Íslendigabók quoted it, but also Snorri in the Edda and the
Heimskringla, and The Third Grammatical Treatise report this idea of derivation from
East (Troy).
2.2.1 Ari inn Froði Þorgilsson and the Íslendigabók
Ari is one of the most prominent authors of the Norse Literature. It is possible to assume
that he was the first historian of the Icelandic literature because he was the only one
mentioned by name in the First Grammatical Treaties. In this text, he is described as inn
froði, which means the Knowledgeable. This was a nickname of great honour, and it was
a sign of great respect, in particular, this “title” was used for the erudite people of that
time.
“Many of the greatest intellectuals of the Icelandic þjóðveldi (‘commonwealth’)
were distinguished by the honorific nickname inn fróði, ‘the wise, learned’ or the
near-synonymous inn vitri, and people referred to as (sann-)fróðir, vitrir, ecc.”
(Whaley, 2000, p. 162).
He lived during the 11th century, and his masterpiece was the Íslendigabók, which is one
of the most essential works of the historical tradition of the Icelandic and Norse culture.
Clunies Ross assumes:
“Íslendigabók is a pioneering work in which Ari marks out the main lines of a
history that were never subsequently altered, selects the most important events, and
establishes a chronology” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 15).
57 Whaley 2000, 178-179
32
He probably wrote other texts as well, but only the Íslendigabók survived. We know that
in the past there was for sure another version because, in the prologue of the Hemskringla,
Snorri quoted part of Ari’s work, which is not found in the text we have today. Snorri had
probably read the first version of the text, in which the history of the kings of Norway,
Denmark and England are narrated, but we do not know.
Ari is considered a historian because of his style and his purpose to write only about real
historical events, using a very incisive style and without the additions of the
ornamentations. He lived during the 11th century, during the first part of his life he lived
at Haukadal with his cousin - the famous priest, and future bishop - Teitir, son of the
bishop Ísleir. With him, Ari studied and learned to write and to read the Latin language
and the vernacular, the Old Icelandic. He was the first historian to write an entire text in
his vernacular using the Latin alphabet. He wrote the text between 1123 and 1133, and
his primary source was the oral tradition, in particular, the narration of his grandfather
and his cousin, the priest Teitir. Because of his education, two bishops asked him to write
the Íslendigabók, Thorlakr and Ketill, and they checked his final work with the help of
the priest Sæmundr, as it is said in the prologue of the text. This book was created inside
the clerical world and due to the desire of two prominent figures of the society of that
time. In particular, they were interested in the narration of the settlement and the
conversion of Iceland. So Ari did it: at the beginning of the text, he wrote about the first
settlers, about the first legislation, the institution of the Alþing, about the dating of the
years, the division of the lands in districts, the colonization of Greenland, the advent of
Christianity in Iceland, the conversion of the foreign bishops and, in the end, he wrote
about the life of the bishop Ísleir and the bishop Gizurr.
So, Ari gave the Icelanders an identity and a history, but he did more. In fact, after the
narration of these events, in a sort of appendix, the Íslendigabók presents two genealogies:
one is about the bloodlines of the Icelandic bishops, while the second is about the
ancestors of the Ynglingar and of the inhabitants of Breidafjord. In this second one, it is
possible to read that: the first ancestor is “Yngvi Tyrkia konungr” (Halldór, 1930, 72),
which means “Yngvi the king of the Turks”, so it is possible to notice that Ari believe
that one of the first ancestors of the Icelanders came and lived in Turkey so, this way, the
theory of the offspring of the kings of Sweden, of Norway and in the end of the Icelanders,
from the Turks is demonstrated. In fact, after the name of Yngvi, it is possible to read “II
Njörðr Svía konungr” (Halldór, 1930, 72), namely Njordr king of Sweden. The third of
the genealogy is Freyr, which is the same name of the God, and at number 32 it is possible
33
to read: “XXXII Óleifr feilan, sá er fyrstr bygði þeira á Íslandi” (Halldór, 1930, 72), which
means Oleif Feilan who was the first who settled in Iceland. Ari presented the Icelanders
as the descendants of the Kings of Norway and Sweden but in particular as the Turks’
descendants.
The first ancestor was Yngvi, the king of the Turks, and it is possible to assume that it
was based on the influence of the medieval legend of Troy. Faulkes assumes that:
“he may also have chosen the Turks because in pseudo-Fredegar both Franks and
Turks are said to have been descended from survivors of Troy, and the Turks to
have settled near the Danube in the Thracian area.”58
This supposition links the oriental origin’s idea with the Franks’ one59. Furthermore, in
this appendix, a second Yngvi was quoted, as number 14, while Frey is the 3rd. In the old
tradition, this idea of an original Yngvi king of the Turks is not found: only the fusion of
Frey and him can be found, as they are only one person. This is an unicum of Ari. So, It
is crucial to consider this appendix, because:
“There is no accompanying narrative that survives but evidently Ari had in mind
some idea of a migration of euhemerised gods from the Black Sea area to
Scandinavia, perhaps in imitation of other European legends of the foundation of
nations by survivors of the Trojan war, though it is impossible to know exactly what
Ari meant to imply by the word Tyrkir.”60
2.2.2 Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)
The attestation of this offspring from Asia did not end with Ari. It is possible to find it
attested in two of Snorri’s texts, the Snorra Edda and the Heimskringla.
Snorri was one of the most important figures of medieval Iceland, and he belonged to a
potent family of Icelandic chieftains. His foster-father John Loftson educated him at
Odda, an important centre of culture. He was the son of Saemund the Wise, who was a
famous learned priest with a remarkable knowledge of the history of Iceland and Norway.
Here Snorri was educated, and he learned to write and read, he studied Latin, poetry and
law. During his life he also lived in Norway, at the court of King Hákon, so he could get
in touch and know all the new influences from Europe. Because of that, he became a
famous historian. Two of his works are crucial for this essay: the Snorra Edda and the
58 Faulkes 1978-79, 114 59 Remember the Fredegard’s Chronicle, see chapter 1. 60 Faulkes 1978-79, 98
34
Hemskringla, the Lives of the Norse King, in particular, the first saga of these the Ynglinga
Saga
The Prose Edda, or Snorra Edda, is one of the most famous works of the Norse literature
and the most extensive source for the Norse mythology. It is a sort of handbook, a manual,
in which it is possible to find the narration of the creation of the Universe, the descriptions
of the Gods, and many myths, like the prophecy of the Ragnarök and the legends of brave
warriors. All of them are “stories which incorporate shards of ancient memory” (Byock,
2005, p. IV). In this text, Snorri has incorporated - in many ways - both the Eddic and the
skaldic verses, and he had transformed them into prose, creating a unique masterpiece.
The Edda was written during the 13th century, on the base of the oral tradition of the
ancient mythology and legends about the Viking era (800-1100). This work is not only
for erudite people, but Snorri wrote this text thinking about the possibility of reading it
aloud for an audience of both literate and not. When this text was written, the conversion
to the new religion was complete. The Icelanders often wrote about their past, and these
legends and myths were an essential part of it because they were considered a cultural
heritage and not a creed. This explains why, during this century, it is possible to find texts
like this one and the Poetic Edda. Snorri aimed to write a sort of handbook for all those
who wanted to become skalds. He did not want to recreate the rituals or bring back to life
the old beliefs: he only wanted to preserve and to pass on ancient legends and poetry. In
particular, he seemed to fight against the influence of the new poetic genre coming from
Europe and Scandinavia, even if these influences are present in the text, as we will see.
The Edda is composed of three parts: the Prologue, the Gylfafinning and the
Skaldskaparmal. The second part is the real core of the text, and it is the story of the
delusion of Gylfi. The illusional meeting between the Swedish king Gylfi and the Æsir is
here narrated, when Odin told the king the story and the legends of the old beliefs. The
third and last part of the Edda is the real manual for the skalds.
The most interesting part is the Prologue because it is quite different from the other parts,
because of the construction of the sentences and the narration. In this part of the text, the
influences of the Greco-Roman tradition and the idea of a derivation from the East are
strong61. He aims to “to elevate the status of Edda by equating Norse stories with those
from the Greco-Roman tradition” (Byock, 2005, p.XIV), but also to report the traditional
idea of this original derivation of the Æsir from Troy. The first chapter is full of
61 Faulkes, The sources of Skáldskaparmál : Snorri's intellectual background 1993
35
reminiscences from the biblical texts, as the creation of Adam and Eve, the Universal
Flood and Noah’s flood. He also talked about the nature of the word and the division of
the people. In the second chapter, the world’s division in three parts is described: one of
these is Europe, which “is also called Enea”62, as the name of the protagonist of the
Aeneid, the Trojan hero Aeneas, the ancestor of all the great Empires, like Rome.
Furthermore, it is said that
“this is the north region, it begins in the west and continues northward towards the
sea. Also, its northern regions are so cold that no grass grows and no one can
subsist there”63 (Byock, 2005, p. 5).
Asia, which includes the eastern continent to the south, it was described as really beautiful
and stately, and full of gold and gemstones. In that region “the people there are most
endowed with blessings: wisdom and strength, beauty, and every kind of skills”64. The
description of Asia is peculiar because it is described as the most beautiful region and
also with the loveliest people. The explanation of this choice lays in chapter 3, where
Snorri said that in this region there was a magnificent and big city, Troy, and it is found
in the region called Turkey. This place was terrific, and there were 12 kingdoms, and in
each one, there were 12 chieftains, who were superior to the others chieftains all over the
world. The detail of the number 12 is linked to the historical presence of 12 local things
in Iceland (later 16), or it could be linked to the number of the apostles. If the first theory
is correct, in this way, Snorri inserted an Icelandic custom in the story of their ancestors
to prove the first offspring from Asia. Regarding the text, Tror, whom they called Thor,
was born here: he was the grandson of the King Priam. His father was Munon or Mennon
and his mother Troan, the daughter of the great king. Here it is possible to notice and
underline - as Snorri reported it - the idea of the offspring of the Norse in Troy. The
chapter continues with the story of the movement of Thor in Thracia, with the duke
Loricus. When he was 12 years old, he received the weapons of his father, and he acquired
his full strength. Then, he killed Loricus and his wife and became the king of the Thracia,
which is called by the Norse Thrudheim. After his coronation, he travelled a lot, meeting
dragons, giants and dwarves, and in the end, he met the prophetess Sibyl, who is called
Sif by the Icelanders. He married Sibyl, as the God Thor married the Goddess Sif. After
62 “Er sá kallaðr Európá eða Énéá”. (p.4) 63 “inn nyrði hluti er þar svá kaldr, at eigi vex gras áok eigi má byggja” (p.4) 64 “ok mannfólkit þar mest tígnat af öllum giptunum, spekinni ok aflinu, fegrðinni ok alls konar
kunnustu” (p.4)
36
this part, follows a long list of their descendants, and the last one of them is Voden, who
is Odin “an excellent man because his wisdom and because he had every kind of
accomplishment. His wife, named Figida, we call Frigg”65 (Byock, 2005, p. 6). Odin is
not destined to stay in Thracia: in chapter 4 the prophecy about the fact that “his name
would become renowned in the northern part of the world and honoured more than other
kings”66 (Byock, 2005, p. 6) is narrated. He then moved from Turkey, and a multitude of
people followed him. Wherever they went, beautiful stories were told, “making them seem
more like gods than men”67 (Byock, p. 6). They travelled without stopping until their
arrival in Saxland, where Odin settled down for a long time. He had three sons, and each
of them guarded a different land: Vitrgils had the East Saxland; Beldegg, Baldr for the
Icelanders, ruled over the Westphalia; in the end, Brand and his descendants ruled over
France, and from them came the family of the Volsung. In the 5th and last chapter of the
prologue, Snorri talked about Odin’s next journey towards North and the settlement of
the Æsir here. First, he arrived in Jutland, and there he settled as a ruler his son Skjold.
Then, he went to Sweden, and there they stayed here for a long time. The common people
thought that the prosperity of this time was possible because of the Æsir, so they
considered themselves different from the others. Odin chose a town, Sigtun, and here he
appointed leaders as it was the custom of Troy, so he chose 12 men to administer the law
on the land: here we can notice the return of this ancient custom. Then he continued his
journey to the north, and he and his people arrived in Norway. As he had done before, he
gave his son - Saeming - the power to rule: he was the king of Norway and from him
descended all the kings of Norway and the jarls. His son Yngvi became the king of
Sweden, and his descendants are called Ynglings. The chapter and the prologue end with
a statement on the derivation of the language from the eastern lands
“and people think they can deduce from the records of the names of their ancestors
that those names belonged to this language, and that the Æsir brought the language
not to this part of the world, to Norway and to Sweden, to Denmark and to Saxony
65 “hann átti þann son, er nefndr er Vóden, þann köllum vér Óðin; hann var ágætr maðr af speki
ok allri atgervi. Kona hans hét Frígíðá, er vér köllum Frigg” (p.6) 66 “Óðinn hafði spádóm ok svá kona hans, ok af þeim vísendum fann hann þat, at nafn hans myndi
uppi vera haft í norðrhálfu heims ok tignat um fram alla konunga” (p.6) 67 “svá at þeir þóttu líkari goðum en mönnum” (p.6)
37
and in England there are ancient names for regions and place which one can tell
come from a different language from this one”68 (Faulkes, 1995, p. 5).
In this text of Snorri, it is possible to find the presence of the theory of translatio studii
from Troy to the north.
“In the so-called epilogue in Skáldskaparmál there is a longer passage (also
lacking in the Uppsala manuscript), again stating that Norse myths are allegories
of events in the Troy story.138 Here more knowledge of the story is shown: the
killing of Hector by Achilles, of Achilles by Alexander, and of Priam by Pyrrhus,
and the burning of Troy are all mentioned. This information could all have come
from Trójumanna saga.”69
In the Skaldskaparmal, at chapters 8 and 9, Snorri decided to narrate the episode of the
war of Troy in a very particular way. In this part, he was explaining what the young poets
had to know. He said that the deeds, which he has narrated in the Gylfaginning, were only
ancient beliefs of the heathens because the Christians do not believe in that. He did not
claim only this, as it possible to read:
“Yet Christian people must not believe in heathens gods, nor in the truth of this
account in any other way than that in which it is presented at the beginning of this
book, where it is told what happened when mankind went astray of Asia, known as
Æsir, distorted the accounts of the events that took place in Troy so that the people
of the country would believe that they were gods”70 (Faulkes, 1995, 65)
Snorri himself said what the heathens believed to be gods, but in reality, they were only
human beings, who had distorted the events. To demonstrate this, Snorri used the episode
of the war of Troy as an example, which the heathens believe to be the Ragnarök. In the
text, it is possible to notice that Hector was described as Thor when he tried to kill the
giant serpent Miðgarðsormr. He was killing the great heroes Volucrontes, but Achilles
saved the hero, so Hector, like Thor, could not kill him. Snorri described other facts of
68 “ok þat þykkjask menn skynja mega af því, at rituð eru langfeðganönf þeira, at þau nöfn hafa
fylgt þessi tungu ok þeir æsir hafa haft tunguna norðr hingat í heim, í Nóreg ok í Svíþjóð, í
Danmörk ok í Saxland. Ok í Englandi eru forn landsheiti eða staðaheiti, þau er skilja má, at af
annarri tungu eru gefin en þessi” (Magnús Finnbogason, p. 8) 69 (Faulkes 1978-79, 122) 70 “en eigi skulo kristnir menn trua aheiþin goð ok eigin asannundi þesa sagna anna veg en sva
sem her finnz iuþafi bokar. Er sagt er fra atburþum þeim er mannfolkit viltiz fra retti tru. Ok þa
næst fra Tyrkjum hvernig Asia menn þeir er æsir eru kallaþir faulsuþu frasagnir þær fra þeim
tiþin dum er gerþuz i Troio til þes at landfolkit skyldi trua þa guð vera” (Finnur Jónsson, 1930,
86)
38
the war, and in the end, he talked about the killing of Hector by the hand of Achilles. To
this, he added that the Æsir did not want to narrate their hero’s death by the hand of one
man, so they invented the story of the serpent. After the death of the great hero Hector,
also Achilles was destined to die on the same battlefield. He was killed by Helenus, a
Trojan brother of Hector, and Snorri said that he was called Ali by the Æsir. He would be
the only one who survived the death of all the gods, as Helenus did after the end of the
destruction of Troy. Snorri continued the narration with the event of the murder of Priam
by the Pyrrhus’ hand, who is described by the pagans as the wolf Fenrir. In the narration
of the Ragnarök, we find that Odin, which is the heathens’ version of Priam, was killed
by the wolf. It is possible to assume that this construction and this point of view of Snorri,
is really fascinating and peculiar because he narrated the beliefs of his ancestors
dissociating himself from them. Furthermore, it is possible to notice how he transformed
the event of the Trojan war in something which is a part of the Norse culture. This
example demonstrates how this story became part of the culture of the Icelanders and
Scandinavians.
The Heimskringla is another important source to demonstrate the strong presence of the
idea of translation imperii et studii from the East. In this text, the lives of the Norse kings
are narrated, precisely from the mythical origin until the kingdom of Magnus Erlingson
(1156-1184). The primary source was the Íslendigabók of Ari, as I said, in the prologue
of the opera, Snorri quoted him. The main focus of this analysis will be on the first saga,
the Ynglinga saga, which could be considered as the saga of the origin of the Norse kings.
This text is crucial for this theme because it talks about the journey of the Æsir from Troy
to the north. The first ten chapters are about Odin’s journey to the north, and the deeds of
his descendant. In chapter 10, the end of the kingdom of Freyr, a descendant of the king
of the Æsir, is narrated. He also had another name, Yngvi, and after him, all his kinsmen
would be defined as Ynglings, as we will see. It is essential to analyse this first ten
chapters in depth.
Chapter 1, the Edda talks about the division of the world in three regions, together with
their description. The most important aspect to be underlined is the fact that also here,
Europe is defined as Enea, “Európá, en sumir Énéa” (Finnur, 1966, p. 4). Because of
this, it is possible to assume that Snorri, and so the other erudite, knew the story about
Aeneas and his descendants. It is possible to assume that: in this time Europe is identified
as the land of Aeneas and his offspring by the Icelanders.
39
However, one of the most important chapters is the 2nd: it is fundamental in the
explanation of the eastern origin of the Aesir. Snorri said that: “The land in Asia to the
east of Tanakvisl was called Asaland or Asaheim and the chief town in the land was called
Asagarth (or Asagard)”71. The name of Troy is not reported, while it was in the Edda. In
this saga, it seems that Snorri only wanted to underline the eastern offspring of the Æsir,
and thus, the origin of the Norse Kings, without any particular indication of geographical
and historical places. In fact, he referred to this region with the name of the Nordic
tradition, Asagard or Asaland, which was the name of the land of the Æsir in the old
belief: it seems that he wanted to play with names to demonstrate this heritage, Asaland
and Æsir are really similar to Asia, as a sort of philological derivation. As Margaret
Clunies Ross assumes:
“In his Edda and Heimskringla, Snorri Sturluson supplements this idea with an
etymology, which links the term áss for the Scandinavian gods with the world Ásia,
‘Asia’.” (Clunies Ross, 2000, 17).
In this case, Troy was never nominated, even if the saga’s structure and the theme are
similar to the prologue of the Edda. In the text, it is reported that the chieftain of this city
is Odin and that he was a great warrior, and that following the custom of the place, 12
priests were elected to judge and to worship the temple. The reference to a division of
power between 12 figures is also found in the prologue of the Edda, and it could be linked
to the presence of 12 local things of Iceland, or it could be linked to the number of the
apostles. The chapters and the saga continue with the descriptions of the deeds of Odin.
In particular, Snorri made a complete description of the abilities of the chief, and in his
opinion, because Odin won every battle, all the men started to believe he was invincible,
and if they asked his blessing, or fight with or for him, they will be the winner as well.
This way, Snorri could explain why, in the past, the Æsir and Odin himself were described
as Gods to be worshipped. In chapter 3, the war between the Vanes and the Æsir is
narrated, but it is described as a war between two people and not between two divine
bloodlines. The Vanes are also described as a population of Russia. All the “divine
bloodlines” of the old religion are represented as a population of the eastern part of the
world. This will also happen in the Trójumanna saga. Another significant detail is found
in chapter 5, where Snorri dated the events, saying that, these deeds happened when in
71 “Fyrir austan Tanakvísl í Ásíá var kallat Ásaland eða Ásaheimr, en hǫfuðborgin, er var í
landinu, kǫlluðu þeir Ásgarð”
40
Europe there was the Roman Empire. Furthermore, from this chapter on, the Odin’s long
journey to the north began. As in the prologue of the Edda, thanks to a prophecy, he found
out that he and his offspring would have fame and power in the north, so he started his
long journey. From here, until chapter 10, the Odin’s deeds and the settlement in Sweden
are described, followed by the kingdom of his sons. In this narration, Thor is one of his
sons and not his father, as it is said in the prologue of the Edda. In the end, in chapter 10,
Snorri said that Frey became the king of Sweden and he was the grandson of Odin, but
he was also called with another name, Yngvi. Because of this, all his kin, the Swedish
kings and later, with Ingjald, the Norwegian kings, were part of the Ynglings bloodline.
The source of both texts is Ari: on the genealogy of the Ynglings of the Íslendigabók’s
appendix, the line of the offspring of the kings of Sweden, Norway and, in the end, of the
Icelanders, came from Asia. However, Snorri changed some details, since the first
ancestor is not Yngvi, as in Ari, but in Edda is Priam, while in the Ynglinga saga is Odin
himself. This demonstrates that Snorri, in the Ynglinga saga, had omitted Troy, and he
only talks about Asia in general. Ari did not mention the Gods, the only one is Frey, which
is found as the 3rd king, as in the saga of Snorri, but while this last one said he was also
called Yngvi, Ari did not, because for him Yngvi was the 14th in the genealogy. The
original myth is reported in quite a similar way by both authors. This demonstrates the
popularity of this idea and the historical value of the myth.
2.2.3 The Third Grammatical Treatise
As the name suggests, this text is a treatise concerning some questions of the language. It
has particular attention on rhetoric and to those aspects that make a language beautiful.
This text was composed during the 13th century by Óláfr Þórðarson Hvítaskáld, the
nephew of Snorri Sturluson himself. He is known to be a priesthood’s teacher, and he
has probably written this text as a sort of manual for his students. The text is found in the
Codex Wormianus, which is deeply linked to the European influences and standards, as
the Treatise itself. In fact, Óláfr used two Latin grammar texts as primary sources: for the
first part, he used Priscianus, where he talks about the fundamental parts of the speech;
while for the second part, which is called Málskrúsfrœði (literally “the art of linguistic
ornamentation”), he used Donatus as a source, and there he talks about the linguistic faults
and the linguistic devices that enhance the beauty of ideas and their presentation.
Moreover, the author usually used the Latin rhetorical and the linguistic terms, and
sometimes he used the vernacular terms, but all the examples are made with Icelandic
41
references. Furthermore, he explains all the rhetorical devices in Icelandic, because he
wants “to put the Latin scholarly tradition within the reach of Icelanders and to show
them how it could be used to explain, categorize and appreciate Icelandic poetry” (Þórir,
2005, p. 357). The idea is peculiar, and he explains his theory about the derivation of the
language and the poetry at the beginning of the second section of the text:
“in this book it may be clearly understood that everything is the one art: the poetry
which Roman orators learnt in Ancient Greece and then turned into Latin
language; and the song-metre or poetry which Óðinn and other men of Asia brought
north into the northern half of the world, and taught men this kind of art in their
own language, just they had arranged and learnt it in Asia itself, where beauty and
power and knowledge were the greatest in all the world.” (Wills, p. 280)72
The idea that the Æsir and the culture came from Asia can also be found here. In fact, as
Snorri and Ari before, the author reports this belief about the first offspring from Asia.
According to the writer, this can also be seen in language and poetry. Furthermore, he
also underlines the fact that there was also a transmission of the knowledge from Athens
to Rome, and the same thing happens in the Norse countries when Odin and his fellows
came to the north and brought the knowledge of Asia with them, which was considered
the most beautiful and powerful land.
The two main sources of the treatise are Priscianus and Donatus, but Wills assumes there
are also Latin references in this text, as Sedulius and the Aeneid of Vergil. Wills makes a
fascinating analysis of this aspect. In particular, in his essay73, he has identified almost 28
examples, which show a correspondence with the Aeneid, as Óláfr quotes. Furthermore,
he finds other 37 quotations which have a correspondence with the Latin poem in the
Latin source, as Sedulius and Donatus, who referred many times to the Aeneid in their
work. Then, Wills underlines the fact that many examples of the Norse literature have a
correspondence with the Latin poem. So, he can demonstrate a similarity of the content
between the Norse literature and the Virgilian text, which, as we will see, was widespread
and studied during all the Middle Ages in all of Europe.
72 “Í þessi bók (Donatus, Ars Maior I) má gerla skilja, at ôll er ein istin skáldskapr sá, er
rómverskir námu í Athenisborg á Griklandi ok sneru síðan í látínu-mal, ok sá ljóða-háttr eða
skáldskapr, er Óðinn ok aðrir Ásia-menn fluttu norðr higat í norðrhálfu heimsins ok kendu
mônnun á sína tungu þess konar list, svá sem þeir hôfðu skipat ok numit í sjálfu Ásíalandi, þar
sem mest var fegrð ok ríkdómr ok fróðleikr veraldarinnar” (Wills, p. 280) 73 Tarrin Wills, 2017
42
This text it is worthwhile and useful for this essay, in fact, in it is possible to find not only
the theory of derivation of the Scandinavian people and culture from Troy, but it is also
possible to notice the strong influence from Europe and the popularity that a text as the
Aeneid could have had in this world and at this time in all Europe.
43
3. The Hauksbók’s Trójumanna saga
The highest representation of the Trojan theme in Icelandic literature is offered by the
Trójumanna saga, which literally means the saga of the Troy-men. This saga "is the
retelling of the Matter of Troy, that is the legends of the Trojan War that pervade medieval
literature in many vernaculars" (Eldevik, 1993, p. 658). The saga's focus is the story of
Troy and its citizens, with a particular focus on the disputes between them and the Greeks.
Indeed, the core is the great war of twelve years, the final victory of the Achaeans and the
consequent destruction of the city. However, the saga starts with a prologue on the
background of the great war, which is Jason's journey with the Argonauts to find the
Golden-Fleece. In the story, Jason and his men stopped in Troy during the ruling of
Laomedon, father of Priam. Laomedon was afraid of a possible attack from the forces of
the Argonauts. Therefore, he asked them to leave his land, which they did and continued
their journey to gain the Golden-Fleece. After successfully concluding their expedition,
Jason came back to his homeland, but Hercules, one of the Argonauts, did not. Unlike his
companions, he decided to come back to Troy to avenge the previous insult. During this
attack, Telamon, one of Hercules expedition's, kidnapped Hesione, the daughter of
Laomedon and Priam's sister. This episode is the actual explanation of what led to causes
the feud, together with the fact that the first ones refused to return the Trojan princess.
The saga continues with the narration of the kidnapping of Helen and the war.
It is important to underline how this saga ends: the story closes with the account of
Aeneas' journey out of Troy with his father and son. This passage represents the key of
the future and the construction of the ideology of the translatio imperii, since a prophecy
said that His descendant would build empires and kingdoms, and one of these would be
Brutus, the first king of Britain, as it is said in the Breta sögur, which usually follows the
Trójumanna saga in many manuscripts. “All the extant manuscripts of this version (β)
date from the fourteenth century, and in all these manuscripts Trójumanna saga is
combined with Breta sögur, the Icelandic translation of Geoffrey of Monmouths’s Historia
Regum Britannie.”74
74 Würth 2006, 297
44
3.1 Traditions
Regarding the tradition of this saga, it is essential to notice that the story is not an original
Icelandic creation, but it was written following the Latin text of Dares Phrygius, De
Excidio Trojae Historia. In particular, Eldevik and Louis-Jensen75assert that, initially,
there was a lost archetype, which was written possibly at the beginning of the 13th century,
and which could be the real translation of the Dares’ text in Old Icelandic. Today, this
text can only be found in three vellum manuscripts, the AM573 4to, the Hauksbók and in
the Orms Bók Snorrasonar, which is now lost. Furthermore, it is possible to find the saga
in two vellum fragments, the AM 598 4to II α and β. Jonna Louis-Jensen identifies two
different descendant lines of this text from the original archetype: the Alpha and the Beta.
Eldevik adds another one to these two, the Hauksbók version76, while Louis-Jensen and
Würth77 place it under the β. All these versions hold many similarities. Besides, they share
the same title at the beginning, namely Trójumanna saga. Stephanie Würth assumes that:
“Version α is closer to the original translation from the beginning of the thirteenth
century, but it preserved only in post-medieval manuscripts. Version β is a younger,
revised and interpolated version of Trójumanna saga”78.
Regarding the different lines79, it is possible to assert that the Alpha redaction can be
dated around the 13th century, close to the dating of the original archetype, and can be
found in the vellum fragment AM 598 4toα (and in a later paper manuscript AM 176a
fol., AM 176b fol., IB 184 4to). This redaction is the most faithful to the Dares' text
because it starts and ends at the same points of the Latin source, and only a few references
to other Latin text were added, for instance, the Aeneid of Virgil and Ovid’s texts. There
is another difference between them, the dramatic speeches of various characters and the
descriptions of the fights. These are more similar to the classic Icelandic literary tradition.
75 Eldevik 1993. Louis-Jensen is the only one who had made an edition of both the version α and
β of the saga (Louis-Jensen 1963; Louis-Jensen 1981). I did not use this edition to make the
comparison and the analysis, but the edition of the Hauksbók of Finnur Jónsson (Hauksbók: udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371 1892-1896) 76 Eldevik 1993 77 Louis-Jensen 1963 and Würth 1998 78 Würth 2006, 297 79 This information is possible to find in the two editions of Louis-Jensen (1963 and 1981) of the
text and also in the Medieval Scandinavia: an Encyclopaedia of Philip Pulsiano (Eldevik 1993). Another relevant text is the book of Stephanie Würth (Würth 1998). The scholar analyses the
Ancient roman’s saga, as the Rómverja saga, Alexander saga, Trójumanna saga, Breta sögur and
Gydinga saga.
45
Furthermore, these seem to be unique of the Icelandic context. Moreover, this version
“represents a more verbose redaction of the TMS than the other MSS" (Louis-Jensen
1963). Because all of these characteristics, the α tradition of the text is considered the
most "original"; furthermore, the title is very indicative of this since it is the "Dares
Phrygius version” of Trójumanna saga.
On the other hand, the Beta redaction is datable to the second part of the 14th century, and
it can be taken as a terminus ad quem 1350. Indeed, this version can be found in the
middle of the 14th-century vellum manuscript AM 573 4to and in the vellum fragment
AM598 4to IIβ and the Swedish paper copy of the Orms Bók Snorrasonar, which is dated
around the 14th century too. The redaction of the Hauksbók is dated at the beginning of
the 14th century. The style is less creative than the Alpha tradition, but these texts present
a freer and more varied use of the different Latin sources80. They represent a support to
the Dares' version: it is possible to notice an intensive use of other Latin sources, which
are: the Aeneid of Virgil, the Ilias Latina, the Heroides and the Metamorphoses of Ovid.
One of the most particular cases is the Hauksbók's version, because the author uniquely
wrote this saga, as it is possible to notice in the analysis in the next subchapter. In the
Beta tradition another end was added: in the classic conclusion of the Dares' ending, the
story of Troy's wooden horse was not narrated, while this episode is found in the second
book of the Aeneid. Furthermore, there is a sort of sequel which tells about the reconquest
of Troy by the sons of Hector. This part cannot be found in any classical text, so it could
probably come from the French tradition of the Roman de Troye81.
80 “Version β of Trójumanna saga differs from version α mainly by using additional Latin sources.
But additions and interpolations as well as verbal correspondences and omissions common to
both versions prove that they are based on the same translation of Dares’ text” Würth 2006, 302 81 I have only analysed the Latin sources, and I made a comparison only between them and the
saga, the Roman de Troye is not studied in this present essay.
46
3.2 The Latin Sources
A description of the classical sources in the European Middle Ages is necessary to
understand the context in which Haukr wrote. In particular, the attention is on their
fortune and the interpretation given about them in the Medieval time
3.2.1. De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius
The primary source of the saga is the Latin text De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares
Phrygius. The text is short narrative prose about the war of Troy. It is a problematic text,
and we can only find one edition of it, made by Ferdinand Meister in 1873. He has omitted
many manuscripts from his analysis, because of that, the study of the text is still difficult.
While Meister has used only ten manuscripts for his edition, in 2006 Louis Faiver d'Arcier
has written a catalogue of around two hundred of them which contains this text, and he
says that this catalogue must be considered "provisoire et susceptible d’accroissement”
(Faiver d'Arcier 2006, 19)82This situation represents a problem, because, for example,
Louis-Jensen affirms that, the version Alpha of the Trójumanna saga could be written
under the influence of an English manuscript of the 13th century of Dares' text, but this
particular manuscript was not included in the Meister's edition. So, it is not easy to make
a comparison between them. Furthermore, the nature of the text itself is problematic and
challenging to define, because this is an extraordinary version of the story of the war of
Troy. Indeed, this Historia does not narrate only the war, but he adds a sort of prologue,
an Archaelogia, about what happened before the war: Jason's expedition for the Golden-
Fleece and the kidnapping of Hesione by Telamon. Moreover, the divine elements and
the miraculous event are entirely omitted, and only the human deeds are narrated. The
author wants to write a work of historiography and not a poem or a fiction. In the last
chapter, the author himself defines his work as an acta diurna83, which is a sort of
documentation and not a diary or a chronicle, as Nicoletta Canzio assumes in his analysis
of the text84, because of that, the author probably wanted to eliminate details that were
not human, not really. Furthermore, Lentano assumes that the desire of writing a work of
historiography is demonstrated by choice of the "noble fathers", Cornelius Nepos and
82 "temporary and susceptible of increase." 83 (Canali e Canzio 2014, 68) 84 Ibid. 134
47
Sallust.85 This is entirely different from the Iliad of Homer, which is full of supernatural
happenings86. In the past the erudite defined Dares as an Anti-Homer, especially because
Dares was felt a historical figure: Homer himself mentioned the Phrygian in the Iliad, at
the beginning of the book V, as a priest of Hephaestus. He and his sons fought for the
Trojan side. In the past, this detail brought many erudite to think that this is the first text
about Troy's war, and moreover many thought that it could be a source of Homer himself:
for example, Claudius Eliano mentions an Iliad written by Dares Phrygius before Homer.
Modern scholars do not entirely agree with this theory. Lentano, in his essay about the
Latin text, assumes that the Historia is a brief Latin version, an epitome, of an original
Greek text87. Even if the dating is still tricky: Luca Canali88, in the introduction of the
translation of the text, talks about this difficulty. He arrives to assumes different options
on the base of the nature of the text and the sources. The complete absence of divine
elements brings many of them to date the original Greek text, not before Homer's Iliad,
but later during the Alexandrine period, in particular during the I century B.C., but any
original Greek text of Dares is not found. It is safe enough to think that it existed, but we
are not sure about that. In the beginning, the text, which we can read today, presents a
letter of Cornelius Nepos to his "friend" Sallust, "Cornelius Nepos Sallustio Crispo suo
salutem”89. In this letter, Cornelius narrates how, in Athens, he has found the text of Dares
"ipsius manu scriptam ut titulus indicat”90. After the discovery, he decided to translate it
in Latin and to send it to his friend. Canali considers this letter as a literary expedient,
because the genre of the text, and because there is no attestation of a historical relationship
between Sallust and Cornelius Nepos. About the dating of the Latin text, if the letter is
85 Lentano 2016, 16: “Chi ha scritto il testo, sia nella sua versione originale che in quella voltata
in latino, ha inteso dare al suo lavoro i tratti della storiografia: a cominciare dai “padri nobili”
sotto la cui egida viene posto il Darete a noi noto, Sallustio e Cornelio Nepote” 86 (Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014) Lentano does not
entirely agree with this definition, because the Gods are present in the text, but they are
worshipped, or they are present in the prophecy and in the dreams, but they do not take part to the
event. (Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014) 87 Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014, 3: “Personalmente,
avrei pochi dubbi sul fatto che l’Historia abbia alle proprie spalle un originale greco, ad onta
delle ritornanti prese di posizione in senso contrario: il poligrafo di età antonina Claudio Eliano
menziona espressamente una Iliade composta «prima di Omero» da un Darete Frigio che solo
immetodicamente può essere distinto dall’autore del testo di cui la Historia rappresenta la
(abbreviata) versione latina”. 88 Canali; Canzio 2014 89 Canali; Canzio 2014, 41: “Cornelius Nepos sends greetings to his Sallustius Crispus” 90 Ibid. 41: “As its title indicates, written by his own hands."
48
authentic, probably the text was written during the I century A.D., but if we analyse the
style, it is possible to date the text around the V/VI century A.D.
This text availed a vast fortune during the Middle ages because the Historia of Dares
represented a significant source of the History of the Trojan war. It was so crucial that
even Isidore of Seville wrote about Dares and his text91. Indeed, he collocated the
Phrygian as one of the most distinguished historians of the past, whit Moses and
Herodotus. In fact, in a section of his Etymologiae, the book I, chapter 42, entitled “De
primis auctoribus Historiam” Isidore speaks about these three authors in that way:
historiam autem apud nos primus Moyses de initio mundi conscripsit. Apud gentiles
uero pimus Dare Phyrgius de Graecis et Troianis historiam edidit, quam in foliis
palmarum ab eo conscriptam esse ferunt. Post Daretem autem in Graecia
Herodutus Historiam primus habitus est92.
This fact demonstrates that Dares was a significant figure in the Middle ages because he
was considered as one of the founders of the Historiography genre in the Judeo-Christian
tradition. Furthermore, the significant number of manuscripts which contain the Dares'
Historia attested the popularity of this text during all the Middle Ages. Marco Scafai,
while he is talking about the manuscript tradition of the Ilias Latina93, assumes that before
1000 the poem was copied together with the Dares' text because they have in common
the Trojan theme. Later these two texts followed two different ways: the Ilias was written
down in the Libri Catoniani, while the Historia in the Libri Manuales. This fact explains
why many authors used Dares as a source for the creation of tales on the Trojan matter,
an essential example of that being the Roman de Troye, written in 1160 by Benoit de Saint
Maure.
91 Lentano makes an exact analysis of the text of Isidore (Lentano, Note critiche ed esegetiche al
De Excidio Troiae di Darete Frigio 2016, 1013-1016) 92 “Among us Christians Moses was the first to write a history, on creation. However, among the
pagans, Dares the Phrygian was first to publish a history, on the Greeks and Trojans, which they
say he wrote on palm leaves. After Dares, Herodotus is held as the first to write History in
Greece." (Isidore of Seville, I, 42) 93 Scafai 1997, 31-32
49
3.2.2. The Ilias Latina94
Another relevant text is the Ilias Latina, which accidentally, during the first part of the
Middle Ages, was written in a manuscript together with the text of Dares. This text is
peculiar because it is an epitome of the Homeric Iliad. It is the example of a text created
in a scholastic culture, without the desire to be handed down to the posterity; indeed,
during the Middle Ages and later, the life of this text was possible thanks to its small
dimension and the Virgilian influence. It is essential to underline that, during the Late
Antiquity, the Greek text was mute, so the Ilias Latina represented the only source of the
original Homeric text for a public who did not know the language. Würth, talking about
the sources of the Trójumanna saga, assumes that: “(Ilias Latina) in the Middle Ages was
considered a text of classical antiquity and belonged to the canon school literature”95.
During the IX century, the first manuscript with Ilias' text appeared, and it was written
together with the text of Dares. After some time, when the diffusion of both texts became
more critical, the Ilias took different way instead of the Phrygian text. Later the Latin
Ilias appeared in the Libri Catoniani, which are a miscellany of poetic text of lectures,
used by non-expert classic poets. Around the X century, the text was written with the
auctores maiores as Virgil, and they were joined with religious text in the Libri Auctorum
octo moralium. So, in the 975 Gualterio of Spires taught the Latin Homerus, Virgil and
Horace to his students at the cathedral-school of Spires. All of that could explain the long
life and the importance of this text during the Middle Ages.
3.2.3. Aeneid of Virgil96
Another source is the Aeneid of Virgil. Publius Vergilius Maro is a Latin poet of the I
century B.C. (Mantua, 70 - Brindisi 19 BC.). He wrote at the court of Gaius Cilnius
Maecenas and Octavian Augustus. The literary result of this relationship was the epic
poem Aeneid, in which the vicissitudes of Aeneas are narrated. This text is not a simple
literary work, but it is the basis for the creation of an ideological story to support the new
political system, introduced by Augustus. As Paolo Chiesa assumes97, he is the most
94 For the analysis of the opera and the comparison with the Icelandic text in the next subchapter,
I have referred to the edition of Marco Scafai (Scafai 1997) 95 Würth 2006, 302 96 About the medieval interpretation and fortune of Virgil: (Ziolkowski e Putnam 2008); (Ottaviano 2009); (Conte 2016) 97 Chiesa 2019
50
famous and vital classical author, and his tradition is pervasive. Over a hundred
manuscripts of his text are recorded between the Late Antiquity and the humanistic age98.
The work of Virgil had a formative function during the centuries. In particular, during the
Middle ages, his texts dominated the culture of the Western World. In the Carolingian
era, there were many copies of the Aeneid and in the same places at the same time: it was
not typical for that period. The poet was a central figure of the literary studies during all
the Middle Ages and after. Indeed, the Aeneid was not only the greatest poem of the
Latinity, but it was also accepted by the Christian culture, thanks to the 4th Bucolic, where
Virgil prophesized the advent of an era of peace and the advent of a puer who would bring
peace. That brought up to think that he was a sort of prophet of the advent of Christ –
even the puer was in Virgil's mind Octavian August. Because of that, the essential
intermediary of Virgil's masterpieces was the teaching and the scholastic environment,
which consecrated the pedagogical and the educational value of the Virgilian poem. This
fact allowed the copying and the distribution of Virgil's whole poems during the Middle
Ages. On the other hand, the same historical personality of the poet assumed mystical and
magical values, so it is possible to find in the Middle Ages an image of Virgil as poet and
prophet, as wise and magician, and this image was created in the religious culture. This
idea of the author brought to create the fictional and encyclopaedic literature (as the Image
du monde, Roman des sept Sages, Cleomadis, Renart le Contrefait, Virgilio Mantovano,
and others) and in the same cultural climate the Roman d'Eneas, written in the 11th
century, which proposed once more the myth into chivalrous and courteous forms. In this
way, Virgil satisfied the new taste of the nascent Romance art. So, during the Middle
Ages, he represented one of the main threads of the culture and the spirituality of the
Western World.
3.2.4. Metamorphoses and Heroides of Ovid99
The last two sources for the edition of the Trójumanna saga are the Metamorphoses and
the Heroides of Ovid. He was a Latin poet, who lived in the I century B.C. He was the
author of very famous masterpieces. One of them is the Metamorphoses. This work is the
poet's most famous and beloved of all. It is a great epic poem of 15 books, in which Ovid
recounts an enormous number of myths about transformations (Metamorphosis) which
98 Ibid. p. 117 99 About the medieval interpretation and fortune of Ovid: Dimmick 2002; Fyler 2013; Hexter
2002
51
together constitute an incredibly original story of the Universe, which goes from the
creation of the world to the time of Augustus. "Ovid became the central classical influence
on literature and, later, the visual arts"100. There are many medieval manuscripts of his
texts, and he and Virgil were the two most read and imitated authors from the Carolingian
era, not surprisingly, it is possible to find them associated. Indeed, as I have already said,
in Ovid's texts, as in the Viriglians, it was possible to find premonitions of Christian
values. For examples in the Metamorphoses, it is possible to identify the
acknowledgement of the only one creator God, which is said in the first book.
Consequently, this last version had particular attention, because it was read as the genesis
of a pagan bible, as it is said by the Spanish king Alfonso X the Wise himself. In
particular, from the 12th century, Ovid became the primary classical influence in the
medieval western literature and the arts too. In this period, many comments of his works
started to appear, and the most important is the Vulgata. During this period, the focus
was on love and transformations, well represented by the Heroides and the
Metamorphoses. The first text is a collection of fifteen epistolary poems presented as
though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology in
the address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated, neglected, or
abandoned them. In the Middle Ages, this text represented a sort of book about the
psychology of women. His most important text is the Metamorphoses, and so, it is
possible to understand the significant role played by Ovid and his works during the
Middle Ages.
As it is possible to understand, all of these sources were famous and read during the
Middle Ages, and they represented the core of the classical literary culture of the Western
world. So, it is not strange that the Icelandic scribes knew and used these sources.
3.3. The Hauksbók and Haukr Erlendsson
I decided to concentrate my research on Hauksbók’s version because it is peculiar and
unique. The Trójumanna saga version, contained in the Hauksbók’s M.S., is different
from classical translations of the Latin text; indeed, it represents a sort of personal re-
elaboration of the Dares' Historia made by Haukr Erlendsson. The manuscript itself takes
100 Fyler 2013, 411
52
the name after its author, Haukr himself, who was an Icelandic lögmaðr101, a lawman,
who worked and found fortune at the Norwegian royal court of Hákon Magnússon (1299-
1319). He was Icelandic by the origin and worked in Iceland at the beginning of his career.
This is possible to say because he appeared for the first time in 1294 as a lawman in
Iceland, in the same year his father was made knight by the Norwegian king Erik
Magnússon, the older brother of Hákon Magnússon. After a few years, he moved to
Norway, where he lived all his life, except for the years between 1302 and 1310, when he
was sent to Iceland. Firstly, he worked as a magistrate in Oslo, and later in the region of
Gulaþing, near Bergen, in the western coast of Norway.
The Hauksbók is a great vellum manuscript, and it was written between 1265 and 1334.
Today it is dived in three parts, the AM 371 4to, the AM 544 4to102 and the AM 675 4to.
The first one is in Iceland at the Árni Magnússon Institute, while the last two are in
Copenhagen at the Arnamagnaean Institute. Two hundred ten leaves have initially
composed the Hauksbók, now only 141 folia are survived, we have lost a significant part
of the AM 371 4to, one of these was the page with the name of Haukr, which was lost
during the XVII century. Furthermore, for the identification of one of the hands of this
manuscript, in particular, the hand of Haukr, we have letters from 28 January 1302 and
14 October 1310 written by Haukr Erlendsson himself103. Indeed, the script in the letters
is similar to the first hand in Hauksbók. The 15 hands, which wrote the manuscript, have
been identified, and the Hand 7 is identified as the Haukr's one. This fact is not common
in the Icelandic manuscripts. Elizabeth Asham Rowe assumes that this manuscript "is an
unusual book for three reasons", and the first one is that the "writer is known with
certainty”104 Indeed, this is the oldest Icelandic medieval manuscript of which we knew
the author. He is one of the scribes and the mind of this book, but he is not the only scribes
of the manuscript. It is possible to identify more hands which have worked on it. For sure,
the AM 371 4to was composed by him; instead, the other two are alternated with the
hands of other scribes, probably people at his service. Concerning the dating of the work,
for sure the AM 371 4to and the AM 544 4to (fol. 22-59 and 60-107) were written between
the 1306 and 1308, when Haukr was on a mission in Iceland for the Norwegian crown.
101 For a precise biography of Haukr Erlendsson: Gunnar, Littérature et Spiritualité en
Scandinavie Médiévale - La Traduction Norroise du de Arrha Animae de Hugues de Saint-Victor
1995 102 handrit.is 2009-2019 103 (handrit.is 2009-2019) 104 (Ashman Rowe 2008, 51)
53
Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson present this manuscript's dare in their definition
of the Hauksbók in the Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopaedia (Gunnar e Stefan 1993,
271), and this is accepted by Asham Rowe, who reported the information (Ashman Rowe
2008, 59). The manuscript presents a different type of texts. Indeed, it contains Historical
and semi-historical texts, as the Trójumanna saga is, but there are also mathematical
treatises and philosophical and theological dialogues, a collection of tracts and excerpts
on geographical, chronological and theological subjects. It also contains a map of
Jerusalem, the Vǫluspá and the Elucidarius105.
The nature of the manuscript is unique because of its heterogeneity of texts. The scholars
have argued about the model which he could have taken inspiration. They have tried to
define the nature of this book. Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson (1993) defined the
Hauksbok "from its inception… an entire private library” 106. However, others do not
agree with them because it can be a simple library, and they prefer to underline the non-
Icelandic aspect of the text. The nature and the content of the text are not completely
Icelandic, because of that, two years later, Gunnar Harðarson107 (1995) underlined the
fact that Haukr was a magistrate at the court of Bergen in Norway. Following this idea,
Helgi Þorláksson108 (2004) emphasises the political aspect of the manuscript: he thinks
that Haukr has written this book in this way to demonstrate not only to have a complete
knowledge of the Icelandic questions but also to demonstrate to have knowledge on the
North Atlantic Area in general, which means Norway, Greenland and Vinland, to the king
and the court. Another possibility could be that he wanted to present his lineage to prove
his elitist origin. His belonging to the élite is not to so difficult to demonstrate. If we only
look at the content of the text and not to the author, the text could be a work of an
ecclesiastic or a powerful man. Haukr was a man of law, and his father was a knight. In
Iceland it was quite reasonable that the men of power, clerical or chieftain, had a similar
education, because they did not have a single centre of culture, but the education, the
authorial work and the copying of text were done in different places, as the farmhouse of
the chieftains, the monasteries and the episcopal centre109. So, the nature of the
105 For a complete list and analysis of the Hauksbók’s text read the article of Ashman Rowe
(Ashman Rowe 2008, 52-63) 106 Gunnar and Stefan, Hauksbók 1993, 271 107 Gunnar, Littérature et Spiritualité en Scandinavie Médiévale - La Traduction Norroise du de
Arrha Animae de Hugues de Saint-Victor 1995 108 Helgi, Why did Haukr Redact the Book of Settlements? 2004 109 About the education and the Icelandic cultural centre see chapter 2 of the present thesis.
54
manuscript is quite problematic. Stephanie Würth110 defines the Hauksbók as a sort of an
encyclopaedic work or as a sort of schoolbook. The Encyclopaedic literature
“presented the arts and the sciences that the Greeks considered essential to liberal
education in a form acceptable to the Christian Church. It was not arranged
alphabetically as modern encyclopaedias are, to act as a repertory of information
on all branches of knowledge, but concentrate on presenting a digest of all the
artes”111 .
As it is possible to see, the definition described the case of the Hauksbók perfectly. “Taken
together, the texts of the Hauksbók constitute an encyclopaedia focusing on history. all
four parts of an encyclopedia are represented: the cosmos, history, science and ethics.”112
During the XII century, the two most crucial encyclopaedists were Isidore of Seville and
Bede. Indeed, many parts of the Etymologiae of Isidore were in the manuscript.
Furthermore, the encyclopaedic literature could be found in very different contexts, and
it had links with very different types of knowledge, from the lapidary to the biblical
comments. Many texts of this genre could be found in Iceland, and they were a model for
many authors113. Sverrir Jakobsson assumes the Hauksbók represents a world view of the
élite society of Iceland between the 1100 and 1400, and I believe he is right. Indeed, I
think the Icelandic encyclopaedic literature and the Hauksbók itself could be seen as a
“collective product of Icelandic culture dispersed in space and time”114. Also, I believe
that this encyclopaedic manuscript could be seen as a library, in which is found the
knowledge and the “scholastic” texts of this élite, as Würth assumes: “the character of an
encyclopaedia is reflected in the conception of the Hauksbók as a substitute for a library:
it combines the contents of many books containing a large spectrum of knowledge”115.
One does not exclude the other: a library is the base of the culture of a person, and it could
be the representation of the knowledge of a society. If we only think about Virgil, or
Isidore of Seville, or the biblical comments, they were texts which all the erudite knew
110 Würth 2006 111 Clunies Ross and Simek 1993, 164 112 Würth 2006, 303 113 The scholars discuss the model of the manuscript. Sverrir Jakobsson (Sverrir, Við og veröldin:
Heimsmynd Íslendinga 1100-1400, 2005) proposed the Memebrana Reseniana 6 as a possible
model, while Rudolf Simek (Simek 1990) assumes that the Liber Floridus could be the model of
the Hauksbók. To know more about the debate is useful to read the article of Ashman Rowe,
2008, 66-71. 114 Sverrir 2007, 24 115 Würth 2006, 303
55
and used in their works, and this represents a sort of wold view, a culture of all the
medieval Europe, and this culture is based on the study of texts which are present in a
library. The Hauksbók itself and its History's idea are deeply linked with the necessity to
demonstrate the common origin of the Norse people with the rest of the European country,
and in particular to demonstrate their role in the world history. One of the first steps of
this common History is the text of the Trójumanna saga itself.
3.4. The version of the Hauksbók's Trójumanna saga
The text of the saga is located in the AM 544 4to, from fol. 23r to fol. 33v. The scribe of
this part was identified as the Hand of Haukr Erlendsson himself, and it is defined as
Hand 7. The script is the Gothic book. For all these reasons, Stefán Karlsson (Stefán 1964)
dated the redaction of the saga between 1302 and 1310, when Haukr was in Iceland in a
mission for the Norwegian court.
3.4.1. “Her hefr Troio manna sogu”
The text opens by the Rubric "Her hefr Troio manna sogu" (Finnur Jónson, 1892-1896,
p.193)116, which means "here you have the saga of the Troy-men". This is a common
characteristic of all the Icelandic Trojan sagas, so this is not a particularity of this text.
However, the uniqueness of this version is that: despite having this title, the text does not
start with Troy's story and its citizens, but Haukr elaborates a very original prologue about
Crete's story many years before the war of Troy.
The first chapter starts during "a dogum Iosue er hofdingi var Iorsala landi yfir Gyþinga
lyð eftir Moyises" (p. 193), which means during the kingdom of Joshua, who ruled in the
kingdom of Jordan after Moses. Joshua was a Jew warrior and a conqueror, and, according
to the biblical text, he led the conquest of Palestine around the 13th century BC. The
choice of a biblical figure for the dating is standard in the Middle Ages: starting from the
Constantinian era, the scholars and the writers tried to draw a universal chronology, which
had to contemplate the historical biblical tradition together with the Greek and the Roman
ones. However, I find the choice of this dating interesting, and I believe that it is not
accidental. As I have already said, Moses himself was considered one of the first essential
116 Finnur Jónsson makes the only one edition of this text of 1892-96 (Hauksbók: udgiven efter
de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371 1892-1896), so I use his edition for the present
comparison and the references. I have translated the quotation in English.
56
historians in the Middle Ages and, of course, a historical figure. So, it is possible to justify
the choice of the scribe, regarding the dating during the kingdom of Joshua, as follow:
first, Joshua was perceived as a remote and distant historical figure, as a figure of the Old
Testament could be, and because of that his kingdom is perfect to collocate these ancient
events. Second, in my opinion, he chose Joshua because he was the king after Moses,
who was considered as a historian during the Middle Ages. So, if Moses did not talk about
these events, it is because they happened after him and, probably, they thought Dares
lived after Moses.
The set of the first part of the saga is Crete and the protagonists are the ancient pagan
gods, which now have lost their divine nature, and are presented as historical human
beings, in particular as kings of the island and of the other pagan kingdoms, except the
Jewish kingdom, which is not contemplated as a part of it.
So, the saga begins at the time of the kingdom of Joshua in Crete. Indeed, it is possible to
read "i ey þeiri i Iorsala hafi er Krit heitir", which means "in that island of the Jerusalem's
sea, which is called Crete". Geographically the scribe collocated the island of Crete in
the sea of Jerusalem, but it is not close to Jerusalem, in fact, it is located in the south-east
of the Peloponnesus, and it is a Greek island. In the 14th century, the island was a
Venetian dominion, and before the 4th crusade (1204) the island was a part of the
Emperor of Constantinople. It is difficult to understand why the scribe located the island
in the sea of Jerusalem and not simply in the Mediterranean. I suppose because it was felt
as a dominion of the Holy Land and crusades' wold, or the scribe had confused Cyprus
with Crete. The first island is more geographically close to the city of Jerusalem and its
sea, but this is only a supposition. One of the protagonists of the first chapter is Saturnus,
which is also "ver kollum Frey", meaning the Icelanders identified him with their god
Frey. In this way it is possible to notice how the Roman-Greeks culture is elaborated to
be understood and to be interiorized by the Icelanders, and in the same way, the scribe
tries to demonstrate they are a part of this world culture, because they believed in the
same "pagan gods", and the only difference is the names they used to identify them. Frey
is one of the most important Gods of the Norse pantheon, he is a bearer of peace and as
Snorri says he is the noblest of all.117 This transformation of the Roman gods in German
117 "Freyr er hinn ágætasti af ásum. Hann ræðr fyrir regni ok skini sólar, ok þar með ávexti jarðar,
ok á hann er gott at heita til árs ok friðar. Hann ræðr ok fésælu manna." (Snorri, Gylfaginnin,
XXIV) (Frey is the most splendid of the gods. He controls the rain and the shining of the sun, and
57
gods is typical of the Icelandic literature. Saturnus is an ancient Latin God, later identified
with the Greek Cronus. He represents the Golden Age of humanity. He is one of the most
ancient deities of the pagan world. Under this light, it is possible to notice similarities
between them. The source for this part of the chapter is Virgil, who said about Saturnus
in the Aeneid:
"haec nemora indigenae Fauni Nymphaeque tenebant/ gensque virum truncis et
duro robore nata,/ quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros/ aut
componere opes Morant aut parcere parto,/ sed rami atque asper victu venatus
alebat./ primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo/ arma Iovis fugiens et regnis
exsul ademptis./ is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis/ composuit legesque
dedit, Latiumque vocari/ maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutus in oris./ aurea quae
perhibent illo sub rege fuere/ saecula: sic placida populos in pace regebat,/ deterior
donec paulatim ac decolor aetas/ et belli rabies et amor successit habendi."
(Aeneid, VIII, vv. 314-327)118
Also, Ovid in the Metamorphoses said that Saturnus is the god of the Golden Age, during
which there were no laws and violence, no judges and no armies, men ate the food which
nature gave them spontaneously, but this era is destined to end when Jupiter sent away
Saturnus. In the saga, the scribe wrote this story, but it is not as a simple translation of
these texts; indeed, he made some changes. The era of Saturnus is presented exactly like
the Golden Age described by the Latin authors. In the beginning, he was not rich nor
powerful, but Saturnus was a clever man, and he finds the way to learn how to work gold.
He found out that Jews have good in this skill and every day they worked gold in the
Tabernacle of God. So, he decided to steal this skill and to bring it back to his kingdom.
In this way, he became a mighty man, many cities were built in his land, and he became
the king of the kingdoms. The beginning of the Golden Age is represented by "hann let
gullpening ganga un eyna" (p.193), that is that “he let circulate a Golden-Coins”
though them the bounty of the earth. It is good to invoke him for peace and abundance. (Byock,
2005, p.35)) 118 "These woodland places/ once were home of local fauns and nymphs/ together with a race of
men that came/from tree trunks, from hard oak: they had no way/ of settled life, no arts of life, no
skill/ at yoking oxen, gathering provisions,/ practising husbandry, but got their food/ from oaken
boughs and wild game hunted down./ In that first time, out of Olympian heaven, Saturn came
here in flight from Jove in arms,/ an exile from a kingdom lost; he brought/ these unschooled men
together from the hills/ where they were scattered, gave them laws, and chose/ the name of
Latium, from his latency/ or safe concealment in this countryside./ In his reign were the golden
centuries/ men tell of still, so peacefully he ruled, / till gradually a meaner, tarnished age/ came
on with fever of war and lust of gain." (Fitzgerald, 1983)
58
(gullpening). Because of that, "kolludu heiðnir men þat gullheim, er hann reð fyri"
(p.193), meaning that the pagans called it the golden kingdom. Furthermore, the text says
he was great, and there is no notice about kin before him, so the heathens called him
creator (upphaf) and god (guð). As I said before, the Metamorphoses were felt as the
prophecy of the advent of God, because Ovid at the beginning of his opera talks about
one creator God who have created everything, this god here is associated with Saturnus,
because before him there was no one. In this way it is possible to assume that Haukr read
the Metamorphoses and the Aeneid, and on the basis of them, he decided to make this
story real; indeed, it looks like he was talking about a real event, because he has
completely omitted the divine elements, and he explained the supernatural parts as pagan
beliefs. Furthermore, he adds the story of the stealing of the Jewish skills about the gold,
as he wants to set the story during the biblical time, while the Latin sources do not talk
about the Jews. The story goes on saying that Saturnus has three sons, Jupiter, Neptune
and Pluto, but the favourite one is Jupiter. From now, the scribe starts to strongly
underline the theme of the Trinity and the number 3. Indeed, in the classical mythology,
Saturnus had many children, Juno, the wife of Jupiter, for example, was a daughter of
Saturnus too, but here he remembered only three of them, and, furthermore, they are
represented as the trinity of the sky, himna þrenníng (p.194). After Saturnus became a
powerful king and obtained the control of the Heaven and the Hell, heyrt hafði hann ok
getið halvitisi ok eignadði hann þat ok sva himin (p.194), his sons asked him to have one
of these kingdoms for each. He really loved his sons, so he decided to divide the power
in this way: Jupiter obtained the Heaven and the power of the fire, the thunderbolt, and
he always sent them three for time as the sign of the Trinity, as it is possible to read "lat
fara iamnan sva at þat megi allir sia marking þrenningar rikir þins" (p.194); Neptune
obtained the control over the drying land, þersum heimi (p.194), and Saturnus gave him
a Trident as the mark of the Trinity as a gift; in the end, Pluto obtained the ruling of Hell
and as a gift and a sign of the trinity he received a watch-dog, varðhund (p.194), which
had three heads and is called Cerberus. As it is possible to see, the recurrence of the
number 3 and the theme of the Trinity is very strong. I suppose that he wanted to put all
the story under a Christian perspective, with a creator god and the trinity of the sons. It is
possible to notice that: in both the Latin sources, Jupiter is defined as the most powerful
god, the king of the Gods, and his weapon is the thunderbolt. Neptune is identified as his
brother, and he has control over the sea and waves. Indeed, in the Aeneid, he is presented
as a powerful god, and he had the power over the sea, in many times he tried to save
59
Aeneas and, from the beginning of the Book I, Neptune is presented with his trident (levat
ipse tridenti”119 Book I, v.145). Last, there was Pluto, who is the Latin god of the
Underworld, he was represented as the king of Hell, and he possessed a watchdog
("ingens ianitor… latrans"120, Aenid, VI, v. 400), Cerberus121, which had three heads
("tria Cerberus extulit ora"122; Metamorphoses IV, v. 450). In none of these sources, the
division of the kingdoms is explicated. One reference to this division can be found before
the tales of the rape of Proserpine, in the Metamorphoses: Aphrodite asked his son Cupid
to use his weapon, the arrow of love, to demonstrate their power over all the three great
worlds; indeed, it is said:
"illa, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Cupido,/ inque dei pectus celeres molire
sagittas,/ cui triplicis cessit fortuna novissima regni./ tu superos ipsumque Iovem,
tu numina ponti/ victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti:/ Tartara quid
cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque/ imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi,/
et tamen in caelo, quae iam patientia nostra est,/ spernimur, ac mecum vires
minuuntur Amoris."123 (Metamorphoses, V, vv. 366-374).
I suppose that the scribe takes inspiration for the division of the kingdoms from these
passages of Virgil and Ovid, as it is possible to underline this is a personal re-elaboration
of the story by the scribe himself. This fact demonstrates that this Old Icelandic version
is not a simple translation, because there is not a complete correspondence between the
Latin texts and the saga version. Some changes or ways to make the text new are very
peculiar as we can see. Another one, fascinating, is the description of the passages from
the Golden Age of Saturnus to the Silver Age of Jupiter. The story of the fight against the
119 "he raises his trident" 120 "the huge guardian … dog" 121 Another description of the watch-dog is in Aeneid, VI, vv. 416- 423: "Cerberus haec ingens
latratu regna trifauci/ personat aduerso recubans immanis in antro./ cui uates horrere uidens iam
colla colubris/ melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam/ obicit. ille fame rabida tria guttura
pandens/ corripit obiectam, atque immania terga resoluit/ fusus humi totoque ingens extenditur
antro." ("Cerberus barking with his triple throat/ makes all that the shoreline ring, as he lies huge/
in a fencing cave. Seeing his neck begin/ to come alive with snakes, the prophetess/ tossed him a
lump of honey and drugged meal/ to make him drowse./ Three ravenous gullets gaped/, and he
snapped up the stop. Then his great bulk/ subsided and lay down through all the cave.") 122 "Cerberus lifted the three mouths" 123"My son, you who are arms and hands to me, and all my power, take those all-conquering darts,
my Cupid, and shoot your swift arrows into the heart of the god to whose lot fell the last of the
three kingdoms. You have conquered the divinities of the upper air, including Jupiter himself, and
hold them in subjection; yes, and the gods of the sea, also not excepting their overlord. Why is
Tartarus left alone? Why not extend your mother's domain, and your own? A third part of the
world is at stake, while we display such tolerance that we are being scorned in heaven."
60
father can be found in the Latin sources too, as I said when I had introduced the Era of
Saturnus, so the saga tells that Jupiter wanted the power of his father, and he and his
brothers decided to attack him. They were close to winning, and so they proposed two
choices, to go away or to fight. Saturnus, who was good, accepted to set his sons free and
went away on exile. This is said in both the Latin sources, but in the Aeneid, it is specified
that Jupiter sent away Saturnus and he went to Italy, like in the saga, "Saturnus segir
ofsialfreða sunu sina verit hafa ok ofmikit len þeim gefit. Stockr hann undan hingat i
Italiam" (p.194). This let the era of the war begin. Indeed, the first act sees the three sons
of Saturnus fighting the father with the weapons. Also, here it is possible to find the very
fascinating detail which is the symbol of this change: the shift of the material of the coins.
Indeed, Jupiter withdrew the golden coins, and he let a silver coin circulate, "hann tekr af
gullþenning (golden coin) en lætr ganga silfr þenning (silver coin)" (p. 194). Now the
only king is Jupiter, the most powerful of them all. From this moment, the saga talks only
about Jupiter, while Neptune and Pluto disappear from the story. After Jupiter became
king, he had to fight against the sons of Titan, the brother of Saturnus. They had great
power, and they went harrying and making evil things. They were so strong that they had
built a great stronghold, “þeir fa sva mikinn styrk at þeir gera ser eina sterka borg”
(p.194), where the sons of Titan lived and from there, they went to bring destruction.
Jupiter decided to banish them, so he collected his troops, and he moved the war to them,
“konungr samnar her i moti” (p.194). They surrendered him, and Jupiter let them free,
and they set themselves on the Mount Etna where they were left to die starving by him,
as it is possible to read: “Iupiter soekir at ok lettir eigi not fyr en þeir gefa sig upp. Hann
lætr þa handtaka ok setia i fiallit Etna ok let þa þar svellta til heliar” (p.195). The fight
between Jupiter and the sons of the Titans are narrated both in Ovid and in Virgil. In the
beginning of Metamorphoses’ first book it is possible to read:
"Neve foret terris securior arduus aether,/ adfectasse ferunt regnum caeleste
gigantas/ altaque congestos struxisse ad sideera montis./ tum pater omnipotens
misso perfregit Olympum/ fulmine et excussit subiecto Pelion Ossae./ obruta mole
sua cum corpora dira iacerent,/ perfusam multo natorum sanguine Terram/
immaduisse ferunt calidumque animasse cruorem/ et, ne nulla suae stirpis
61
monimenta manerent,/ in faciem vertisse hominum. "124(Metamorphoses, I, vv. 151-
160)
Ovid talks about giants and not about the descendant of the Titans. However, it is possible
to find the reference in Virgil when he writes about Aeneas' journey in the Underworld,
in the Tartarus. ("tum Tartarus ipse/ (…) hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes,/
fulmine deiecti fundo voluuntur in imo."125 Aeneid, VI, vv. 577-581). The Tartarus is one
of the places of the underworld of the pagan mythology. During the Middle Ages, the
Tartarus was seen as Hell, and Pluto sometimes as the representation of the devil. When
Aeneas went down in the Underworld, he was in Italy, in Cuma. I do not know why the
scribe says the descendants of Titan went to the Mount Etna, he only says that they went
there and because the nature of the Mount, which is a volcano, the heathens considered
and called that place Hell, “ok þvi truðu heiðnir men at hann sendi þa til helvitis þvi ar
iarðelldr er i fialli þvi” (p.195). Probably the scribe associates the Tartarus and Hell, and
in particular, he believes that hell is constituted by fire, so, he thinks it could be like a
volcano, and because of that he believes that the pagans considered the Etna and the
Tartarus as the same thing.
After the war with the Titan's descendant, Jupiter decided to build an excellent ship for
himself, and, on the prow, he put the head of a bull. With this ship, he does every military
expedition, and because of that the pagan thinks he should move as bull's body above the
vast sea, “þvi trudu heiðnir men at hann foeri i griðungs liki yfir stor hof “(p.195). Jupiter
was also useful in witchcraft and, so, he could change his aspect in the bull's one, “enda
hafði hann ok fiolkyngi til at hann matti griðungr synaz” (p.195). This identification of
Jupiter with the bull is unusual; also, the identification as the place of his kingdom in
Crete is quite peculiar. Because of that, I suspect that Haukr has decided to unite god's
figure with the figure of the mythological king Minos. Indeed, Crete is Minos' kingdom,
and he is famous for the minotaur, which is the mythological beast with the body of a
man and the head of a bull. The similarity with the description of the ship of Jupiter and
the pagan beliefs of this figure is noticeable. Furthermore, in Metamorphose VIII, vv. 99-
124 "And the ether was not safer than the lands. They say that the Giants sought a kingdom in
heaven. Also, they built mountains piled up to the high stars. Then the all-powerful father broke
through Olympus with a cast-down. Lightning bolt and shook Pelion out from under Ossa. Just
as the frightful bodies of the Giants were laying hidden by the large rock. They say that the Earth,
covered with the blood of her sons, was soaked, so she brought the warm blood to life. Also, so
that she would not lack any reminders of her lineage, she changed the blood into the face of men." 125 "then the Tartarus itself (…) here is Earth's ancient race, the brood of Titans, Hurled by the
lightning down to roll forever in the abyss"
62
100, Minos himself said about Crete and his kingdom as "Iovis incunabula, Creten,/ qui
meus est orbis", which means literally "the cradle of Jupiter, Crete, which is mine
kingdom". Moreover, in the book VIII, it is also said that Minos usually offers one
hundred bulls to Jupiter as a sacrifice. So, I think it is possible to assume this hypothesis
about the fusion of these two figures, and furthermore, this explains also why the scribe
chooses Crete as the kingdom of Jupiter.
The text continues with the description of Mercury as the son of Jupiter and his concubine
Maia, and it is said that he was great in the sports and he is wise, "hann atti sun er
Merkurius het. Hans modðir het Maia, hon var frilla hans. Merkurius var mikill i þrotta
maðr ok vitr" (p. 195). In Metamorphoses II, vv.685-686, it is said about Mercury, that
he "videt has Atlantide Maia/ natus et arte sua silvis occultat abactas"126, so he was
identified as the son of Maia, and he is good in the art of the thieves, he is fast and smart.
Chapter 2 talks about the story of Io and Jupiter. She was the daughter of a powerful man
in Greece, Inachus. She was famous for her beauty. Also, when the news of her beauty
came to Jupiter, he wanted to see her, so he left his kingdom and went to Inachus' land.
Here he saw the beauty of Io, so, he fell in love with her, and he wanted to have her.
Inachus called him to a meeting, and during that meeting, they discussed the honour of
Jupiter and about his request to obtain Io as a wife. Inachus did not want to give him his
daughter, so Jupiter affirmed that he could obtain her against his will and so he left. Jupiter
came back with a little ship so that no one could see his arrival. After that he arrived in a
wood, where he met some slaves and poor people, he asked them where the king was and
about the news in the land. They answered the king was upset because Crete-Thor127 has
come in his land for his daughter. He asked them to bring him Io in the wood, and in
exchange, he would give them the silver. They accepted, so they kidnapped Io and
brought her to Jupiter. After that, he went back to his kingdom with the girl, in Crete.
Here, she met the wrath of the wife of Jupiter, Juno, who did not like this girl, and because
of that, she transformed the princess into a young heifer. She was put under the control
of Argus, who was a servant with a hundred eyes: because of that, he could control her
day and night. To save her, Jupiter sends his son Mercury, who lulled to sleep Argus, and
after that, Mercury killed him. Io was now liberated, and after that, she gave birth to
126 "the son of Maia Atlantean espied them, and by his cunning drove them off and hid them in
the woods 127 It is interesting the use of the name Crete-Thor, this is typical of the Icelandic literature:
sometimes the deities assume a name made by their name and an object, land or an adjective.
63
Hercules. Juno hated this boy and wanted to kill him, so she sent him two snakes, but he
was already powerful, so he killed the snakes. This is the synopsis of the chapter. I think
it is interesting to underline only a few things. First of all the name of the Gods are not
presented only with the Latin version: at the beginning Jupiter is called with his name,
but when he is in the forest with the slaves, they talk about him calling him Crete-Thor,
as it is possible to read at page 195, "þeira segia konung sitia i goðum friði en ecki er her
tiðara at tala en um Krita-Þór hversu sneypilega hann for". Furthermore, the name Thor
appears a few sentences again later, when the scribe says that Thor sent Mercury to save
her ("Þór sendi til Merkurium", p.196). Jupiter is not the only one to change the name;
also his wife, in the beginning, is called with her roman name, Juno, but during the tale,
she is called Sif, as the Nordic Goddess wife of Thor ("sva er sagt at Sif kona Þors",
p.196). It is the same thing which happens in chapter 1 about Saturnus-Frey. Jupiter is the
god of thunder, so the scribe identified him with Thor, and in consequence of that, Juno
became Sif, the wife of Thor. Another important difference is that the story narrated in
the Metamorphoses, which is the source of this tale, is quite different. Inachus is not a
king, he is a demi-god, and he cries because he has lost his daughter Io, who is not a
princess but a nymph. Probably following the influence of Snorri and the others author,
the writer transforms the characters in human being to make the story real, but, as it is
possible to notice, the magical deeds, as the transformation of Io in a heifer, or the figure
of Argus, spoil the intention. The Latin source continues with that Jupiter sees the great
beauty of the girl, but he does not ask her as a wife. He meets her in the wood, and he
promises her to protect her, but she runs away afraid. He follows her and the Latin text
reports that Jupiter rapes her. After that, Juno wants to find his unfaithful husband, and
he sees him in the Argolis. Jupiter, knowing his wife, decides to transform the young Io
in a heifer to protect her from his wife. On Juno's request, he gives her the heifer as a gift,
and then she gives the heifer to Argus because she does not trust her husband and she is
worried about the possibility that he could try to steal the heifer. Argus is described in the
same way as in the saga; indeed, he has hundred eyes which only two at time rest. To
save the girl, Jupiter sends Mercury. He runs to her, and he makes Argus sleep with a tale,
and he kills him. Juno is not happy, but Jupiter asks her to forgive the girl and let her free,
promising that it will never happen again. So, the girl is free. The third different detail of
the story is that the scribe omitted the meeting with her father when the girl is still a heifer,
probably because he does not consider this detail important. The last big difference is that
at the end of the story, Ovid tells the girl gives birth to a son, but he is not Hercules. As
64
for Minos-Jupiter, here we can see another fusion of two mythological figures. Io gives
birth to Epaphus, and he is a demigod as Hercules and as Io, his mother. However, unlike
Hercules, Epaphus did not kill the two snakes when he was still a child. Probably this is
another simplification of the story.
Chapter 3 is dedicated to the story of Lycaon. In this case, it is possible to notice the
complete adherence to the Latin text of the Metamorphoses. As before, this is not a pure
translation, but it is a resume of the tale of Lycaon. It is narrated the trick, which he wants
to play Jupiter and the consequent transformation into a wolf. Indeed, Jupiter has heard
about the tyrant Lycaon, and he wants to go to him to see the truth. In the Icelandic
version, it is said that Lycaon is a cannibal or a troll, and Jupiter wants to know if it is
true. He came to his house and because of that Lycaon wanted to do the trick to Jupiter,
serving him the flesh of a human for dinner ("ok hit fysta kvelld ser hann at þar var
mannaslatr i katli ok nu grunar bondan hverr gastrin man vera ok vill nu svikia hann",
p.196). In the Icelandic version, Jupiter sent men to his house to kill him, while in the
Latin text Jupiter made the house fall down and while Lycaon is running away, he is
transformed into a wolf. So, it is possible to say that the scribe tells the story as a historical
event and the transformation is defined as a belief of the pagan, as in the other cases, with
the classical form: "þvi truðu heiðnir menn at"128. Last note to this chapter: in the
Metamorphoses, this episode is collocated after Titians' war, while in the saga it is
postponed.
In chapter 4, the story of Europa and her brother Cadmus is narrated. The story is similar
to the Inachus' one; indeed Agenor, a great rich king, was afraid that the same could
happen to him. Indeed, he had two children, a daughter who is called Europa and a son
who is called Cadmus. Europa was magnificent, and Agenor was worried about the
possibility that Jupiter tried to kidnap her, so he asked Cadmus to protect her, or he would
never receive the kingdom after his death. Cadmus is described as a great wise man, so
great that he has invented the Greek alphabet. As in the other case, Jupiter learned about
her, and he decided to have her. So, he left the city and swam to the seashore where the
daughter of the king was walking. He turned himself into a bull and waited for her. When
she saw him, she went to him and started to pet him. After that, he, like a bull, sprang up
and brought the girl to his kingdom. King Agenor was sad because of that, and he exiled
his son until he should find his sister and bring her back. So, Cadmus went to Jupiter for
128 "because of that the heathens believed…"
65
a meeting, and they discussed the situation. In the end, they came to term: Jupiter married
Europa and Cadmus obtained the third part of the kingdom. From this union, Apollo was
born; he was the God of the sun. Jupiter changed the name again and became Thor, and
he found out that Apollo is good in witchcraft and in to create monsters, so he sent his
men to grants him the dawn ("gerir at hann ellding", p.197). The story about the
kidnapping of Europa is quite the same to the Metamorphoses' text: the episode of the
bull is notably similar, except for the description, of which the Icelandic one is more
detailed than the Latin one. Furthermore, in the Ovidian script the name of the girl does
not appear at the beginning of the story, neither the name of the brother Cadmus, who
appears only in the following book, the third one. Cadmus is sent away from his father
after the rape of Europa. After the exile, he finds another kingdom for himself, but he
never meets his sister, neither he comes to term with Jupiter, Cadmus finds a new
kingdom, Thebe. Another difference in the Trójumanna saga is the fact that Europa gives
birth to Apollo, while in the Latin tradition the mother of Apollo is Leto. In the Latin
tradition, and in particular in Ovid's text, Europa marries the king of Crete Asterius, and
he adopts her children, one of these being Minos, king of Crete. I believe it possible that
Haukr decides to make a fusion between the king Asterius and Jupiter because in the
Trójumanna saga it is said that she marries the king of Crete and this also happens in the
Latin text, but they are two different figures. Apollo appears at the end of the tale in the
Metamorphoses, but only as a god who helps Cadmus to find the new kingdom, which
will be the city of Thebe. So, it is possible to notice the revision, what Haukr does about
every tales of the Metamorphoses and the Aeneid is real and peculiar.
Chapter 5 is the last chapter of this extended prologue, and it is about the fight between
Salomon and Jupiter. I suppose it represents the defeat of Jupiter-Thor against Salomon
and Christianity. Indeed, this first prologue ends with the death of Jupiter by the hand of
Salomon's troops; indeed, the text says: "ok þar af þa dó hann ok mikill luti folks hans ok
syndiz Þor hanum þat maklig script" (p.197). This part cannot be found in any of the
classical sources, neither Ovid nor Virgil. Probably it is a construction of Haukr himself
to explain the end of the kingdom of Jupiter and the end of the heathen time. There is one
text in the Old English tradition about a dialogue between Salomon and Saturnus129,
probably he took inspiration by this text, but for the moment I am not sure about this.
129 Lendinara 1994
66
With chapter 5 this first prologue about the kingdom of Jupiter-Thor.
3.4.2. "Fra Edelon"
After this first section, a new one begins, which has the following title, "Fra Edelon"
(p.197). For the moment I do not know what the translation of this term, Edelon, can be,
because it does not appear in any of the Latin sources.
Chapter 6 talks about another transformation of Jupiter, the last one of the saga, even if
in the previous chapter, he is dead. The feminine protagonist is Alkonia Amphitrion,
daughter of Edelon. As always, Jupiter wanted her, so he went to her, and when she sat
on her lady's bower, then a golden rain (gulldropum) started to fall over her knees, so she
went out, and she finished under a great shower of rain, which is in reality Jupiter. He
grabbed her and brought her to his ship. Unlike the other time, her father did not send
anyone to find her because Edelon knew who took her. The scribe of the saga, here, makes
a big mistake probably because he did not understand the text of Ovid, or because the
manuscript he has read130. Indeed, the episode of the golden rain happens to Danae and
not to Alkonia Amphitiorn, who probably is Alcmena wife of Amphitrion. Indeed, in
Metamorphoses Book VI, vv. 112-114, it is possible to read:
Amphitryon fuerit, cum te, Tirynthia, cepit,/ aureus ut Danaen.131
I think the nearness of the name Amphitrion and aures is probably the reason for this
misunderstanding.
From chapter 7 the Trójumanna Saga begins, because from now on the scribe writes the
saga following Dares' text. Indeed, in the "prologue" the scribe had only used the Aeneid
and the Metamorphoses as sources, but from now on, he starts referring to the De Excidio
Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius in particular. So, from chapter 7, the two texts start to
follow the same timeline, and they both talk about the journey of Jason to find the Golden-
Fleece. As always, the Old Icelandic version presents some differences with the source.
Furthermore, details from the other Latin texts, from the Metamorphoses and, in
particular, from the Heroides of Ovid can be found. Chapter 7 starts with the presentation
of the king of the Peloponnese Pelias as an excellent and rich man. He had a brother,
Aeson, who had a son, Jason. He was very popular in the kingdom, more than his uncle,
130 I could not see the manuscripts used and read by Haukr, and for now I do not know what they
could be. 131 "assumed the likeness of Amphitrion when he embraced the lady of Tiryns: how he tricked
Danae by changing into a shower of gold."
67
who was very jealous of him and was worried about a possible usurpation by his nephew,
so he plotted a plan to eliminate him. Indeed, Pelias knew about the pride of Jason so he
proposed him to find the Golden Fleece, which represented a great trial, hoping Jason
could die during this travel because it was known that no one had ever returned from it.
The story is the same, but there are several differences between the original version of
Dares and the Hauksbók's one, as the description of the characters, which can be found
only in the Icelandic text. The Latin text is shorter than the Icelandic version, mainly
because it does not present the dialogues between Jason and his uncle Pelias, it says only:
"Pelias rex ut vidit Iasonem tam acceptum esse omni homini, veritus est, ne sibi
iniuras faceret et se regno eiceret. Dicit Iasoni Colchis pellem inauratam arietis
esse Dignam eius virtute: ut eam inde auferret omnia se ei daturum pollicerut."132
(chapter I),
Instead of a long speech, which is found in the Icelandic version. This is ascribable to the
different nature of the two versions: Dares presents a very short report of the story,
because he wrote an acta diurna, as he said in the last chapter of his text, so a documentary
text, instead, the purpose of the Trójumanna saga is "prodesse et delectare", which means
to teach and to amuse, because it is a saga, which means a tale, a story was written to be
read by a public. Another exciting thing is the different use of words to define the Golden
Fleece, indeed in the Latin text Dares prefers to use the term "Colchis pellem inauratam
arietis" which means the fleece of a ram overlaid with gold, while the Old Icelandic
version presents the world gullspunni, which is its precise translation. Probably the scribe
prefers to refer to the more classic terms of the myth than to the technical terms of Dares,
who choose to use this form because he wanted to eliminate the magical parts from his
narration, to make the story more real. Indeed, he decided to write about the expedition
of Jason only because he wanted to write a sort of "Archaelogia" of the events of the
Trojan War, and he had to write about this expedition for what will follow, but he
eliminated every magical part from the narration. Haukr does not do this, and he mixes
all the versions to create the complete text of the story. Indeed, he presents the list of the
Argonauts,
132 "When king Pelias saw that Jason was popular with everyone, he feared that he might do some
harm or drive him off the kingdom. Accordingly, he told Jason there was something worthy of
his prowess at Colchis: the golden fleece of a ram. If Jason brought it back, he would give him
complete control of the kingdom."
68
"þessir menn rèðust til ferðar með Jason: hinn mikli Erkúles, sun Þórs; Kastor ok
Pollox af Sparta, brœðr Eline, er venst var allra kvenna í Girklandi, hana átti
Menelaus, ok Klitemestre. Er átti Agamemnon; með honum fór ok Nestor hinn spaki
or Piló, ok Telamon af Salómína ok Peleus af Figía; eigi eru fleiri menn nefndir"133
(p. 198)
Also, he started to introduce other characters as Helen and Menelaus, Clytemnestra and
Agamemnon, while Dares does not, he says that: “Demostrare eos qui cum Iasone
profecti sunt non videtur nostrum esse: sed qui volunt eos cognoscere, Argonautas
legant”134 (chapter 1). Indeed, Haukr recreates the list thanks to chapter III of the Dares'
text, which narrates the punitive expedition of some of them against Laomedon king, as
we can see later. The story continues with the arrival of the Argonauts to the land of
Laomedon king, father of Priam. In the Icelandic version, when Laomedon is presented
as a king, the scribe reports the list of the family of Priam, Laomedon's son,
fyri því ríki rèð þá Lamedon, hans sun var Príamus, en dóttir Hesíóna; kona Príamí
hèt Hekúba, þeirra synir voru þeir, hinn ágæti Ektor ok hinn fagri Alexandr, er
Paris hèt öðru nafni, Deiphebus, Helenus ok Tróilus; dœtr þeirra þær Kasandra ok
Pólixena ok Tróan; átti Príamus ok laungetna sunu.135 (pp. 198-199)
basing on chapter IV of Dares
Hoc ubi Priam nuntiatum est patrem occisum … Ilium petit cum uxore Hecuba et
liberis Hectore Alexandro Deiphobo Heleno Troilo Andromacha Cassandra
Polyxena, nam errant ei etiam alii filii ex concubunis nati.136
The scribe probably considers essential to report the name of the main characters at the
beginning of the story, in particular, the Trojans. After the presentation of the family of
Priam, the chapter deviates from the Historia; indeed, the scribe decides to put two myths
133 "Those men were settled for the journey with Jason, the great Hercules, son of Thor, Castor
and Pollux from Sparta, brothers of Elena, who was the most beautiful of all the women in Greece,
Menelaus married her, and Agamemnon married Clytemnestra. With him also went Nestor the
wise from Pylos and Telamon of Salamis and Peleus of Pythia. Not more men are named." 134 "It is not our business to tell about those who set forth with Jason. If anyone wishes to know
about them, he should read the Argonautica". 135 "Laomedon ruled on this kingdom. His son was Priam and his daughter Hesione. The wife of
Priam was called Hecuba. Their sons were they, the excellent Hector and the fair (beautiful)
Alexander, whom Paris is called in another name, Deiphobus, Helenus and Troilus, and their
daughters were Cassandra and Polyxena and Troan. 136 "Here this is said to Priam that his father was killed … he returned to Troy, along with his
wife, Hecuba, and his children, Hector, Alexander, Deiphobus, Helenus Troilus, Andromache,
Cassandra and Polyxena. Actually, with him came also other children who were born from
concubines".
69
in the story, which are not found in Dares' version, probably because of the presence of
numerous supernatural events. These two myths are: the dream of Hecuba about the
destiny of Paris as the cause of the destruction of Troy; and the myth of the marriage of
Thetis and Peleus. Both the tales come from Ovid, the first is narrated in Heroides XVI,
which is the letter sent by Paris to Helen; while the second is from the Metamorphoses,
even if, I think he makes a mistake about this episode, because it is Peleus the husband of
Thetis, instead of Paris, while Haukr writes the contrary. My opinion is that: he takes
inspiration the Heroides, even if also in the Metamorphoses the episode is narrated. Würth
affirms the same, when she talks about the episode of the Judgement137. In particular, he
takes inspiration from the letter V, which the nymph Eson sent to Paris after he left her
for Helen. This letter narrates about their marriage and their love before he met the
beautiful Helen. Here, the episode of the golden apple and the quarrel-beauty is narrated:
both the episode are linked traditionally to the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. The chapter
ends with a race between the bulls and the coronation of Paris by Thor.
Chapter 8 is not found in the Dares' text; indeed, in this chapter Judgement of Paris is
narrated on the line of the letter XVI of the Ovid's Heroides. The story is entirely the
same, the three goddesses were conducted, in this case by Saturnus and not by Mercury,
to Paris on the mount Ida. Here, after the recognition of his father (Heroides V), the prince
judged the goddess, who, respectively, promised him a gift: Minerva the wisdom, Juno
the power and the strength, and Venus promised him the love of the most beautiful Greek
woman, Helen. He chose Venus, because of that Sif will be an enemy of the Trojans. The
only significant difference between the two texts is the name of the goddess: the scribe
uses the name of Nordic goddesses, Sif (Juno), Freya (Venus) and Frigg (Minerva).
Chapter 9 starts with the arrival of the Argonauts to Laomedon's land. The king, worried
about a possible attack, asked them to go away. This fact made Hercules angry, and he
planned to take revenge one day. So, the journey of the Argonauts went on, so they arrived
in Colchis, and they met the king, who is called Medius in the Icelandic saga, while in the
Classical tradition he is called Eeta. This part of the story is entirely omitted by Dares,
who did not want to talk about the supernatural events, so he only says that: "Colchos
profecti sunt, pellem abstulerunt, domum reverse sunt"138(De Excidio Troiae, II), a sort
of veni, vidi, vici, indeed he says that they arrived in Colchis, they obtained the Fleece
137“This passage (the competition among Sif, Freya, and Frigg) in Hauksbók is tied not to Dares’
text, but to Ovid’s Heroides and other, unknown sources” (Würth 2006, 306) 138 And set out for Colchis, and stole the fleece, and returned to their homeland".
70
and then they came back home. Indeed, chapter 9 and chapter 10 of the Trójumanna saga
tell the story of the deeds of Jason to obtain the Golden-Fleece, thanks to the help of
Medea. The tales of this fact entirely inspire the story in the Metamorphoses of Ovid,
book VII. Indeed, the narration is quite the same, there are only a few differences,
probably because of the re-arrangement of the text operated by Haukr, for example as I
said, the name of the king is different. Furthermore, the king himself describes the
attempts of Jason to dissuade him from trying, while in the Metamorphose is Medea who
talks about that, when she discovered that she is in love with the hero. She asked his sister
to call the Greek hero for a meeting, and they met in the wood, and they fell in love, while
in the classic version Medea fell in love with him from the beginning, and she decided to
help him because of that, even if she had to betray his father and people. The attempts are
quite the same, but the sequence of them is different: in the Icelandic version, he made
sleep the bulls and the dragon at the beginning, and not at the end, as in the Latin text.
Furthermore, in the Metamorphoses' version, all the attempts are public, while in the Old
Icelandic one, Medea and Jason exceeded the challenge without no one seeing them. The
result is the same: Jason wins and takes the Golden-Fleece, and after the victory, he and
his men destroyed the city, while Medea took the gold and the treasure of his father. After
this, all of them left the Colchis and started their journey back home. One night they
stopped on an island, and they spent there the night, but the day after all the men left the
island, abandoning Medea. When she woke up, she found out that all left, so she cursed
Jason. Chapter 10 ends with Jason returning home, who will become a great king after
Pelias.
Chapter 11 of the Trójumanna saga is similar to the chapter III of the De Excidio Troiae,
in fact, the story and the events are the same, the only difference is how the Icelandic
scribe writes the story, because it is an elaboration and not a translation of the Latin text,
but in both it is narrated how Hercules reunites his friends and troops, and they take
revenge against Laomedon for the úvirðíng (p.202), when they came for the first time to
his kingdom during the Golden-Fleece's expedition. The chapter ended with the city's
destruction and Laomedon's killing and the kidnapping of Hesione by Telamon. This fact
is represented as one of the causes of the war of Troy. This is the first part of the prologue
of the Trojan war. As it is possible to notice, the timeline of the two versions, the Latin
and the Icelandic ones, is the same, but the author of the saga decides to add more details,
and he takes inspiration by the other sources, as the Ovid's text. Moreover, this adding of
71
stories and details is more evident in the following subchapter, where Haukr adds a new
part to the Dares' story, and he narrates the deeds of Hercules.
3.4.3. "Fra Erkules"
As I said, in this part, Haukr deviates from the text of Dares, and he adds a new part about
Hercules ("Fra Erkules", p.203): in chapters 12 and 13 he narrates the deeds of the hero.
The primary source, in this case, is the Heroides, IX, which is the letter of Deianira to
Hercules after he left her for another woman. In chapter 12, the text says that, after the
defeat of Laomedon and the return to his homeland, Hercules left his home to do great
deeds. After that, the scribe resumes the most important part, as the killing of the lion of
Nemea, even if the text talks only about a great lion killed by his hand ("hann drap með
höndum sèr einn mikinn leo", p.203). In the list are also found: the killing of the Idra
("ormr með mörgum höfðum, ok ef eitt var af honum höggvit, þá komu ij í staðinn",
p.203); the theft of the golden apples; the killing of Geryon. The chapter tells about the
time when Atlas sustained the Vault of the Sky while he shored up the Earth ("ok gerði
þar mikla stólpa til marks víðförli sinnar", p.203). Furthermore, it talks about his journey
to the Strait of Gibraltar and he names it with the Icelandic name, Norvasund. He
mentions the killing of Cacus and the killing of the Centaurus and the Harpies ("hann
drap ok þar þá fugla, er ágætastir hafa verit, er Arpíne hètu" p.203). At the end of chapter
12, it is said that the heathens believed that he is born in Heaven and he becomes a star.
This is a clear reference to Hercules'Ascension in the Book IX of the Metamorphoses:
here is described how the hero ascends to the sky after his death. He became a part of the
sky itself, so he becomes a star.
In chapter 13, the episode of the betray of Deianira is presented. She was the first wife of
Hercules, and he left her for another woman, so she plotted a plan to kill him. In this
chapter, there is a long speech of Deianira herself. She explained the reason for her
sorrow, and it is possible to find another list of the deeds of Hercules. In reality, this
speech is a sort of letter she sends to Hercules with a tunic soaked with her blood, which
will be the weapon which kills the hero. She committed suicide. These two chapters, 12
and 13, represent a sort of arrangement of the Ovidian texts, in particular, the Book IX of
the Metamorphoses and the Letter IX of the Heroides, in particular, the speech of Deianira
in the Trójumanna saga. Indeed, in this text, it is possible to find many references to the
text of the Heroides.
72
3.4.4. “Er Troo var eflð annan tima”
After this part, the text follows the same timeline of Dares' text. Indeed, a new part of the
story begins, and it is possible to understand this by the title “Er Troo var eflð annan
tima” (p.204), it means “when Troy was reinforced another time”.
Chapter 14 starts after the destruction of the city made by Hercules and Telamon. During
this fight, he was not in the city, but he was away so that he could save himself. When he
learned about the destruction of the city, he went there with all his family and property.
This part corresponds to the chapter IV of the Historia, and it is quite similar, the only
significant difference is the fact that here Dares made the list of the relatives of Priam,
while Haukr had anticipated this list in chapter 7, as I have already said. Furthermore, in
this chapter, it is told about the reconstruction of the city of Troy, which is made stronger
and more prominent, so in case of war, they could defend themselves inside the walls.
This part is also found in Dares' text, but he also describes the name of the city's doors
and the construction of a Temple dedicated to Jupiter. In the Old Icelandic version, the
description of the city is quite different. First of all, the names of city's doors are omitted:
the text talks only about the protection of Apollo and Neptune, which is linked to the text
of the Metamorphoses, Book XI, vv. 194-204, where Ovid narrated
Ultus abit Tmolo liquidumque per aera Vectus/ angustum citra pontum Nepheleidos
Helles/ Laomedonteis Latoius adstitit arvis./ dextera Sigei, Rhoetei laeva profundi/
ara Panomphaeo vetus est sacrata Tonanti:/ inde novae primum moliri moenia
Troiae/ Laomedonta videt susceptaque magna labore/ crescere difficili nec opes
exposcere parvas/ cumque tridentigero tumidi genitore profundi/ mortalem induitur
formam Phrygiaeque tyranno/ aedificat muros pactus pro moenibus aurum.139
So, the scribe of the Trójumanna saga changes the story, in fact, in the Ovidian text the
construction of the high walls is collocated during the kingdom of Laomedon and not
during the kingdom of Priam. In the Icelandic version we can read this: en eigi varð hon
139 “Apollo, when he had taken his revenge, left Tmolus and journeyed through the clear air, but
stopped short of the narrow strait of Helle, Nephele's daughter, and alighted on the plains of
Troy. There, on the right of the Sigean promontory, and to the left of the Rhotean, an ancient
altar, sacred to the Thunderer of Panomphe, stood. From there, the god saw Laomedon,
beginning to raise the walls of his new city, Troy. He saw, too, that the great task the king had
undertaken demanded no small resources, and that it was proceeding with much toil and
difficulty. So, along with the god who bears the trident, the father of the swelling seas, Apollo
disguised himself as a mortal and, on receiving a promise of gold in return for the city's defences,
built the walls of Troy for the Phrygian tyrant.”
73
fyrr allger, svâ sem þeir vildu, fyrr en Neptúnus ok Apolló sólarguð gerðu hana (p.204)140.
Furthermore, the castle is collocated above all city'sdistricts, and it was built as a temple,
dedicated to Thor. From now the names of the gods will always be in the Norse version,
as the scribe wants to say that, the Trojans now are the ancestors of the Icelandic and
Norse people, and this is understandable if we think to the texts of Snorri, or Ari or the
Third Grammatical Treatise, which I have analysed in chapter 2141. In this chapter, it is
told that, after the city's construction, Priam sent a messenger to the Greeks, who were
guilty of the previous attack, to ask the return of his sister Hesione. This is found in both
texts, but the Trójumanna saga omits Antenor's name, which appears only after the
answer of the Greeks. Furthermore, only one speech with Telamon is reported, while in
Dares' text, Antenor went to all of the Greeks guilty of the destruction of the city.
Furthermore, the scribe seems confused, because at the beginning Antenor met Peleus,
but the answer was given by Telamon, who said he was not guilty and he never gave back
what now is his own without fighting, but we know he was the king who has taken
Hesione home with him. By Dares and Haukr, this is presented as one of the first causes
of the Trojan War. Antenor after the answer came back to Priam and referred to the
answers and the mocking:
Hann fór þegar brott, ok lètti eigi fyrr en hann kom heim til Príamó ok sagði honum
alla sína ferð, ok sagðist fundit hafa alla þá menn, er honum áttu sakir at bœta, ok
sagði fyri sakbœtr koma spott ok heitun.(p.205)142
In the first part of chapter 15, chapters VI, VII, VIII and IX of the De Excidio Troiae of
Dares are resumed. It is said that, after the return of Agenor, Priam decided to call all his
sons in assembly to decide to move war against the Greeks. Here the debate between the
sons of Priam about the decision to go on war started. Hector, the eldest son, agrees about
the war, but he tries to explain that they do not have enough strength to move war because
they do not have so many ships and the enemies in Greece are many. Later on, Alexander
spoke and, as in Dares, he agreed on the war and he wanted to be the leader of this
expedition because the events on the Mount Ida, which are represented by the judgement
140 “He set already the material to the city and the city grew stronger than before, and Neptune
and Apollo, god of sun, granted her.” 141 I believe essential to underline the connection with the Icelandic texts which I have analysed
in chapter 2, Ari, Snorri and the Third Grammatical Treatise. The Trojans are considered
Scandinavians' ancestors, because of that, they built a temple to worhipThor and not Jupiter. 142 “He went immediately away, and he left, not before he came home to Priam, and he told him
the whole journey, and he declared to have met all that men who had to repair to him for the sake,
and he said to come about, mocked and mot for damages."
74
and the promise of Venus-Freyja to give him the most beautiful woman (Eftir þat sagði
Alexandr draum sinn, þann er hann hafði dreymt í Íða skógi, p. 205), but in this chapter
it is not represents as an actual fact, but as a dream, as in Dares' text. In the Historia, Paris'
Judgement is presented as a dream because the author wants to eliminate all the
supernatural details. However, in the Trójumanna saga, this is weird because, in chapter
8, the judgement is presented as a real fact. Deiphobus supported the idea of the
expedition. Later on, Helenus spoke, and he did not wholly agree with the expedition,
because he feared its consequences. In Dares, he is not only the youngest, but he is famous
as a prophet and, during the assembly, he said it is dangerous for the city and the family
if they bring back a woman from the Greeks, because they would come to fight. At last,
Troilus, the youngest spoke, and he agreed on the war. After that, Priam announced that
he would levy the troops and go, and he stated that Alexander would be the leader of this
expedition. After this one man, Pandus, son of Eyporbus, opposed himself to the
expedition and he asked his father to say that, if Alexander should bring back a woman
from Greece, so death and destruction would come to them (ef Alexandr næmi konu af
Girklandi, at þar af mundu vèr fá údæmi ok aldrtila, p. 205), so it is better to live
inactively than to die (ok kallaði hann ner sínu skapi vera at lifa í atferðarleysi en deyja
hæðilega í forsjóleysi ok heimsku með ofkappi, pp. 205-206). These are the same word of
the Latin version; so, it is possible to read:
dicere coepit si Alexander uxorem de Graecia adduxisset, Troianis extremum
exitium futurum, sed pulchrius esse in otio vitam degere, quam in tumulto
libertatem amittere et in periculu inire143. (chapter 8)
Then, Priam insulted this man and defined him as a woman. Also, Cassandra, Priam's
daughter, advised them about the following of this expedition, but no one listened to his
prophecy, so the expedition started. In Dares there is also a description of how they
prepare the ships for the journey, using wood from the mount Ida, but not in the Icelandic
version, there they only start the journey. After that, Alexander finally arrives in Greece:
before he met Menelaus, and, after their meeting, he moved to Cythera, where Helen was.
She was famous for her beauty, and Alexander and his companions were curious to see
her. The original version is not so different, the only difference is the fact that Dares wants
to underline Helen's loneliness, so it could be easier to kidnap her.
143 “If Alexander brought home a wife from Greece, Troy would utterly fall. It was much better,
he said, to spend one’s life in peace than to risk the loss of liberty in war.”
75
In chapter 16, the kidnapping of Helen is described. The two versions are quite different,
even if the story is the same. In Dares' text it is narrated in chapter X: Alexander and
Helen see each other only one time before the kidnapping, and they fall in love during
this only one meeting, they do not talk, she feels sad and guilty for this love, Alexander
becomes mad, and he decides to kidnap her and to bring her to Troy with him, so he orders
his men to be ready with the ship. During the night, he goes to Helen and takes her with
other women to his ship. There is a fight with the men of Menelaus, who do not want to
let go of their queen, but Alexander wins and leaves Cythera. Before the arrival in Troy,
he stops on the island of Tenedon, and there he and Helen consume their love. After that,
the report of this event comes to Menelaus, who asks to help his brother Agamemnon.
The Icelandic version is quite different, because Helen and Paris meet in the temple and
they have the possibility to talk and promise love to each other, in particular, thanks to a
trick Paris makes Helen swear she will be her woman, so, while they are in the temple,
he gives her a golden apple, where these words are carved: ek sver þess við goðin, at ek
skal Alexandr giftast, ok vera hans drottníng hèðan af (p. 206), which means she is
swearing to be his queen. He does this because he knows that every oath made in front of
the gods are holy, and no one can go against them. Because of that, Helen is worried.
Probably this is a creation of the author himself because I could not find any reference in
the classic texts. After this episode, he leaves the temple and comes back to his ships.
During the night he kidnaps Helen and other women. There is a fight between the citizens
of Cythera and Alexander's men, but the victory is Paris', so he can come back to Troy
with Helen. Priam is happy for that because he hopes the Greeks will now send back
Hesione. So, he organises the wedding between Alexander and Helen, everybody is
happy, except for Cassandra, who knows the danger of this act, so when she meets Helen,
she tells her that Helen will bring them all the plagues. Priam becomes angry with his
daughter and asks her to close her mouth. This last part of chapter 16 corresponds to the
beginning of chapter XI of the De Excidio Troiae. Also, in this way, the prologue ends,
and the war could start.
3.4.5. “Fra hefred til Troio”
Here the war of Troy starts, as it is said by the subtitle “Fra hefred til Troio" (p.207),
which means "about the military expedition to Troy". The extended prologue to the great
war ends with the arrival of Helen in Troy. Now, the chapter directly starts the war, from
the preparation to the end of the Trojans.
76
Chapter 17 opens the war of Troy, and it corresponds to the chapters from XI to XVI of
the Dares' text. It is a resume about the preparation of the war of the two sides. Menelaus
begged his brother for help. They met together and decided to reunite all the Greeks for
a war expedition against Troy. As Dares writes, both Greeks and Trojans send men to
Delphi, to enquiry the future. The first sent were Achilles and Patroclus, to them Apollo
prophesied the victory of their side, but he also said that the duration of the war would be
ten years, while, to Calchans, who was sent by the Trojans, it is said that he had to ally
with the Greeks. Also, this happened, Calchans came back with Achilles and Patroclus to
the Greeks side, and he fought alongside them. In this way, no response came back to
Priam, the king. Furthermore, it is said that the Greeks started their expedition from the
harbour of Athens and their fleet was composed by 1310 ships (höfðu þeir iij skip hins xj
tigar hins xij hundraðs, p.207), while in Dares they are about 1070 plus 30, furthermore
in the Latin text the list is complete, which means the author reports a complete list of the
number of the ships offered by the commanders. Their arrival on the land of Tenedon
and the action which they do there (robbery and killing, ok ræntu þar fè ok drápu men
p.207) is then narrated. The chapter ends with a shortlist of the most famous Greek
characters,
Agamemnon var konúngr yfir her Girkja, en þessir voru ágætastir menn með
honum: Menelaus, bróðir hans, Akilles ok Patroklus, fóstbróðir hans; Palamídes,
Díómedes, Ajax, Telepus; Úlixes ok Nestor voru spekíngar mestir í her þeirra.144
(p.207)
and with the denial of Priam to give back Helen. The structure and the narration are the
same of the Dares' text, the only difference is the length of the Old Icelandic version:
Haukr resumes all these events in one chapter, while Dares uses 5 chapters, and he also
offers a description of the protagonists of the war, the complete list of the Greek
participants and the first attacks made by Achilles to the allies of Troy. As it is possible
to understand, a list of ships could be considered boring for a saga, and furthermore, the
scribe presents a resume of the text of Dares, as he did in other parts.
In chapter 18, the narration is not based on the previous sources, Ovid, Virgil or Dares,
but in this case, the scribe reports an episode of the Ilias Latina. He talks about the episode
of Criseus, a priest of Apollo, and his daughter. The king Agamemnon has taken
144 “Agamemnon was the king over the Greeks troops, and these men with him were excellent,
Menelaus, his brother, Achille, Patroclus, his stepbrother, Palamedes, Diomedes, Ajax Telephus.
Ulysses and Nestor were the wisest in their army.”
77
Criseides, the priest's daughter, because of that he was sorrowful and asked the god to
help him and to punish his enemy. Because of that, Apollo sent a plague against them and
many of the Greeks died ("ok því kom drepsótt í lið Girkja ok yfir allar þeirra herbúðir,
ok varð svâ mikit mannfall af þessu drepi, at iij mílur voru þat á alla vega, er eldar einir
voru, þeir er menn brendu líkami dauðra manna, sem þá var siðr.” p.208)145. After that,
they enquired the god, and they understood what they had to do. So, Agamemnon sent
her back to her father. As I said, this episode is not found in Dares, probably because he
does not report supernatural events. After that, the war could begin: in fact, the declaration
of war by Priam is here described, when he says no to the offer of the Greeks to give back
Helen and the treasure. Agamemnon asked his men to be ready to attack the city. In Dares,
in chapter XVIII the Trojan forces are described, this detail, as for the list of the Greeks
troops, is omitted in the Icelandic text. After this, the battle is described, and it seems that
the scribe has translated into Old Icelandic the Dares text because the words are quite the
same when he narrates this: Protesilaus fought very hard, and many of the Trojans ran
away or die. After that Hector came to fight against Protesilaus and he killed him. Then
the help from the Greeks troops came, so Hector ran back in the city, even if the battle
continued when Achilles and his men arrived, and they made many trojans run away.
After this, "ok sleit þá nótt bariodagann", which means the night falls on the battle, which
is the Icelandic translation of the Latin "nox proelium dirimit”. This sentence is used in
both texts to conclude every battle.
In chapter 19, the Greeks camp's construction in front of the wall of Troy is presented.
Because of that, the Achaeans could understand the difficulties to conquer the city. This
part is found in Dares, who says "Agamemnon exercitum totum in terram educit, castra
facit”146, however, he does not say anything about the wall and the type of camp, as it is
said in the Icelandic text, "Eftir um morgininn kom Agamemnon konúngr með allan
herinn, ok setti herbúðir sínar á völlunum hjá borginni, ok lèt gera virki um ok grafa díki
um; sá þeir þá at Trója var svâ sterk, at engi von var at hon mundi unnin verða”147 (p.
208). The following part is very similar in both versions, both talk about the arrival of
145 “and because of that, a plague-strike fell on the Greeks and over their entire camp. Also, from
this pestilence, a so great loss of life happened, that was 3 miles of the entire road, that they were
one single fire, in which they burned the body of the dead men, as their custom was.” 146 “Agamemnon led forth all of his armies onto the land and set up camp”. 147 “After during the morning, king Agamemnon came with all the army and set his camp on the
ground near the city, and he placed to do the work about, and he set to dig dyke around. They
saw then that Troy was so strong that there was no hope that the city would be won."
78
both sides, and the fight between Memnon and Hector, but in the Icelandic text, the death
of Patroclus is wholly omitted, which will be narrated in chapter 23 of the Trójumanna
saga. The death of Protesilaus is also omitted, because, I think, he is not one of the most
important characters and the scribe does not consider relevant to write about him. Another
difference is the description of Hector, while he is going to war, so in the Icelandic
version it is possible to read: “Hektor gekk fram rösklega ok drap menn á báðar hendr"
(p.208), which means that he appears gallantly while he goes to the battle and he kills his
enemy by both hands. This description is not found in the Latin text of Dares, and I think
this is typical of the romance or the saga literature. The chapter ends with the meeting in
battle of Hector and Ajax: while they were fighting, they found out that they were
kinsmen, so they stopped to fight and recognized their friendship ("ok gáfust þeir frændr
gjöfum ok mæltu til vináttu” p. 208148). After this, there are two years of peace: its
duration is the same in the Latin and the Icelandic text, but Dares uses "proelium post
biennium”, instead Haukr uses the winters to date, “griða um ij vetr” (p. 208).
Chapter 20 is the translation of the Historia and corresponds to chapters XX and XXI. It
is said about the discussion for the power between Agamemnon and Palamedes, but the
first one remains the leader of the Greeks force. Another hard battle follows, and the text
could be defined as a precise translation of the Latin text in Old Icelandic. After this battle,
there was the assembly of the Greeks troops in which Agamemnon incited the men to
fight harder and to try to kill Hector, the very protector of the city. During this assembly,
Menelaus declared that he wanted to fight in a single battle with Paris to decide the result
of the war. The assembly accepted this idea, but Paris refused this duel because Helen
dissuaded him. This part, about Menelaus' proposal, cannot be found in Dares, probably
because it is a construction of Haukr himself, because it is also not found in the Ilias
Latina. After more days of battle and death follow, with long periods of peace.
From chapter 21, which corresponds in part to chapter XXIII of Dares, Haukr starts
introducing a variation of the Dares Text, and as we have seen, this is not new. The first
part of the chapter is quite similar to the Latin one: both talk about other periods of fights
and peace, and Haukr makes a resume of Dares' chapter, while in the previous one he
makes a proper translation of the Latin text. After this, in the Icelandic text, an
extraordinary battle is presented: this time Menelaus and Paris met each other in the
battlefield. The Achaean challenged to fight the Trojan, who is persuaded by his brother
148 “And they provided good friendship with gifts and said to friendship.”
79
Hector to accept it. The single combat started, and it is predictable, the victory seemed to
be gained by Menelaus, but the Goddess Freya saved Paris and brought him to Helen.
After that, Pandarus shot Menelaus, who was brought to his camp to heal his wounds,
while the battle resumed more vehemently. This part is not found in the Historia, the
scribe uses as source the Ilias Latina: if we take the verses from 252 to 358, it is possible
to notice that two texts are entirely the same, he omitted only the part about the pact,
which establishes that the war will be won with this fight between the two men and no
other man could act against them this duel.
Chapter 22 represents a sort of prologue to the death of Patroclus. Also, this chapter is
absent in the Dares' text, which presents the death of the hero as a common consequence
of the war and not as the most important event to bring back to war Achilles. This chapter
is open by the image of Achilles, who was playing his stringed instrument to the men.
This image is entirely taken by the Ilias Latin, in particular from verse 585 and 586. While
he is in his camp, the battle raged harder between the two sides. Because there are a lot
of dead ones, in an assembly the Trojans decided to give back Helen and all the booty
stolen from Paris to Menelaus to conclude the war, but this offer received a high no from
Menelaus himself, who said that he would fight until the destruction of the city. This also
is not found in Dares. I suppose it is a resume of the verses from 636 to 640 of the Ilias.
After another battle, the Greek commanders tried to persuade Achilles to come back to
fight, because they were losing the war, in exchange for his return, they would give back
Briseidam and many treasures. Before this meeting, Agamemnon had taken this girl from
him, after the renounce of the daughter of Criseus: properly the taking of Briseidam was
the reason why Achilles retired from battle. His honour was compromised because of that,
and he refused this offer. This narration can not be found in the text of Dares; in fact, the
scribe takes inspiration for this part from the Ilias, verses 688-695. The Icelandic story
continues with another great battle, in which Hector was hit by a rock, cast by Ajax, son
of Telamon and Hesione. This image, so peculiar, is taken from the verses 779-781, which
says: Hector ubique ferus violento pectore saevit, quem saxo ingenti percussum maximus
Aiax depulit et toto prostratum corpore fudit149 (p.159). The war continued until
Agamemnon went back to his ship with his troops (ad classe Agamemnon alae, v.795 the
army of Agamemnon to the ships). With the conclusion, the chapter ends.
149 “Wherever Hector ferociously rages with a violent heart, but Ajax hits him with a big stone,
and he shot him down with all his body”
80
In chapter 23, one of the most famous episodes of the Iliadic tradition is narrated: the
death of Patroclus and the consequent wrath of Achilles. The episode is entirely absent in
the Historia, in fact, Dares dedicates only one line to the death of Patroclus in chapter
XIX, when he says "Hector Patroclum occidit et spoliare parat”150. while in the
Trójumanna saga, the death of the young hero has an epic tone, which is typical of the
world of the Ilias and the saga too. It is possible to notice that the scribe has adapted these
verses from 805 to 838 in Old Icelandic, from the moment in which Patroclus declared
war, to Ajax, who saved his armour and body. After the death of the young Greek, the
news arrived to Achilles, and he fell crying and he lied down in a mound and tears off his
clothes and kissed the dead body, saying that he would go to take revenge against Hector,
as it possible to read, "þú hinn mikli ok hinn máttugi Ektor, er vegr ok prýði er alls
Frigíalands! svâ sem nú erttu glaðr af sigrinum ok lofaðr af öllum Tyrkjum, þá skalttu
skjótt fá þess nekkíng!”151 (pp. 212-213). This speech corresponds to the verses “non
impune mei laetabere caede sodalis/ Hector – ait – magnoque meo, violente, dolori/
persolves poenas atque istis victor in armis,/ in quibus exsultas, fuso morire cruore”152
(vv. 850-853). After that, Haukr presents a sort of resume of the following Illias' verses,
omitting the part about the weapons procured by Thetis, the mother of Achilles. In fact,
after the speech, the hero went to the battle and started fighting against Aeneas. He could
save himself because he was under the protection of the gods, "ef Eneas hefði eigi undan
snúit", so from him Empires will be built, "þá hefði eigi tróversk ætt upp hafizt, ok eigi
sjálfir keisararnir sínar ættir átt til hans at telja”. This part is present in the Ilias too,
even if it is explicated how he got help: it is represented by the action of the god Neptune,
who saves him properly because he will be the ancestor of great leaders, in particular,
Octavian Augustus, "quem nisi servasset magnarum rector aquatum, ut profugus laetis
Troia repararet in arvis Augustumque genus Claris sunmitteret astris, non clarae gentis
nobis manisset origo" (vv. 899-902). After this, all the Trojans ran back to the city, and
the battle ended.
With chapter 24, the scribe returns to the Dares' text, and he does more because he cites
the name of the Latin writer, "Svâ segir meistari Dares” (p. 213). So, it is possible to
150 “Hector slew Patroclus and he was trying to strip off his armour” 151 “you the great and the mighty Hector, who only also is the adornment and the valour of all the
Phrygia, so as now you are glad of victory and praised of all the Trojans, then shall you quickly
grasp this” 152 “not with impunity you will bring joy to yourself, Hector, but you, violent, will pay the price
for my great grief and, shed your blood, you will die in this armour of your victory”
81
understand that the primary source is properly the De Excidio Troiae Historia. This
chapter is the complete translation and re-elaboration of chapter XXIV of the Phrygian's
text. The text tells about the dream of Andromache, which is a prophecy of Hector's death,
and the consequent absence of Hector at the beginning of the battle. This part is very
similar to the Latin text. Both present the narration of the dream, the concern of
Andromache, the attempt of Priam to Hector from going to the battle. There are only a
few differences: for example, in the Icelandic text the episode in which Andromache asks
Hector to not go to the battle showing him their son Astyanax is not mentioned, or the
understandable anger of the hero, in the Icelandic text he accepted the order of Priam.
The battle started again, and the Greeks were winning, but when Hector heard the sounds
of the battle and found out that many Trojans were dying, he took his weapon and went
fighting, here he met his destiny, whose name was Achilles. The description of the duel
between Achilles and Hector is taken from the Ilias and not from Dares, who only says
“Hector Achillis femur sauciavit. Achilles dolore accepto magis eum persequi copit nec
destitit, nisi eum occideret.”153 (chapter XXIV), while the Icelandic text presents a
description of a very long fight between them, as it is mentioned in the Ilias, in the verses
from 935 to 1003. After a long battle Achilles won and injured the body of the Trojan
prince tying the body to his carriage and dragging him three times around the city. In
Dares, as it is possible to notice, this part is absent.
Even chapter 25 is not found in the Latin text, because Dares wholly omitted the fact that
Achilles does not give back the body of Hector after the battle, but he kept it; meanwhile,
the Icelandic text does. The chapter talks about Priam's arrival to Achilles' tent to beg the
body of his son back. The speech is very intense, as it is possible to read in the Ilias too,
“nunc sis mittisimus oro et patris afflicti genibus miserere precantis donaque quae porto
miseri pro corpore nati accipias, si nec precibus nec flecteris auro, in senis extremis tua
dextera saeviat annis: salre saeva pater comitabor funera nati!”154 (vv. 1031-1036)
which correspond to the Old Icelandic “En ef þú vilt eigi mýkja reiði þína fyri bœn mína,
ok eigi fyri fègjafar, þá herð þína hœgri hönd ok lát mik fylgja hinum ágæta Ektori syni
153 “Hector wounded Achilles’ leg. Buy Achilles, though pained, pressed on all the harder and
kept pressing on until he had won” 154 “Now, I pray you to be most merciful and to have mercy of a father praying on his knee, and
you accept the gift, which I bring for the dead body of my unfortunate son. If prays and the gold
does not move you, so your right hand hit me on my ultimate old age: at last, I, father, will
accompany my son in the obsequies."
82
mínum til helvíta”155 (p.215). I will never be tired to repeat that, the scribe makes a
personal re-elaboration of the story, as we can see in every chapter.
In chapter 26, the Dares' text and the Icelandic one share again the same timeline. This
chapter corresponds to the XXV, XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII of the Historia. In both,
more episodes of the war are narrated and, in particular, the change of the leader. At the
beginning of the chapter, Palamedes obtained the title of the leader of the troops, even if
Achilles disliked it, but he had to accept it. This chapter is also important because it tells
about the love of the hero for Polyxena, the daughter of Priam. He was so in love with
her that he could not leave the bed, so he sent a messenger to Hecuba, the wife of Priam,
to obtain the hand of the princess, promising that he and his men would leave the war if
he can have the girl. The queen delivered the message to Priam, who refused: he would
give him his daughter only if all the Greeks left his land. When Achilles heard this, he
asked the commanders to leave the land and to finish this long war. He said that it was
insane to fight for the sake of a woman, but the commanders denied, and after that,
Palamedes conducted the men to battle, while Achilles refused to fight. During the battle
many men felt down, one of this was Palamedes himself, killed by Alexander. So, the
Greeks ran back to their camp and to their ships, and then ok sleit þá nótt bardagann
(p.216), the night felt down on the battle. As I said, this chapter is the same as the Latin
text, sometimes, there is not a complete adherence between them, because Haukr does
not do a translation, but a resume of the Historia.
At the beginning of chapter 27, the beginning of the chapter XXIX of Dares is resumed.
This chapter tells how Agamemnon becomes the chieftain of the Greek troops again. The
following part is the resume of chapter XXIX, XXX and XXXI of the Historia, in fact,
it narrated about the battles and the same period of peace, and the return of Achilles in
war after the killing of his men, the Myrmidons, by Troilus is reported, “Tróilus gekk fast
á hendr Girkjum, ok öngum meirr en riddurum Akilles, er Mirmídóne voru kallaðir […]
ok er Akilles sá úför sinna manna, þá ljóp hann upp ok þreif vâpn sín, ok fór til bardaga
með mikilli eggjan.”156 (p. 217) After that, Achilles kills Troilus. The chapter ends with
the death of Memnon by the hand of Achilles after days of fighting. The chapter is similar
155 “and if you want not to smooth your anger in front my petition and not for gifts, then clench
your right hand and let me accompany the excellent Hector, my son, to the hell” 156 “Troilus went fast to the Greeks hands and straited more than Achilles' horsemen who is called
Mirmidons, (…) Also, when Achilles saw the defeat of his men, then he jumped up and touched
his weapon and went to the battle with a great goading.”
83
to the Latin text, and the only variation is the meeting between Achilles and Agamemnon,
who in the Icelandic version is with Nestor, while in the Latin one only the king goes to
talk with the hero.
Chapter 28, as the previous one, is a resume of chapter XXXIV, XXXV and XXXVI of
the Historia. The events described are the same; the only difference is the fact that Haukr
resumes these passages. As I said, this is the shorter version of the Icelandic saga, even
if, in the beginning, he presents a unique prologue, which is not part of the original
Trójumanna saga. In this chapter, the death of Achilles by the hand of Paris is narrated.
Hecuba was sad for the death of her two sons by the hands of the Greek hero, so she
decided to kill him organizing a fraud. She and her son Paris sent a message to Achilles,
promising he will marry Polyxena at the temple of Apollo, but after that, he and his men
should leave the land. The temple was outside the city, and there Paris and his men waited
for Achilles while hiding themselves. The Greek hero accepted to go, very happy, and
Antelocus, son of Nestor, came with him. Here they were both killed and the bodies,
thanks to the intercession of Helenus, Paris' brother, were sent back to the Greek camp.
The description of the two Greeks heroes' arrival and their deaths are similar in both the
version, as Haukr has translated from the original one. After the death of Achilles,
Agamemnon sent messengers to Neoptolemus Pyrrhus, son of the dead hero, asking to
come here and to revenge his father. At the end of the chapter, the death of Alexander and
Ajax are narrated: they killed each other. The chapter ends with the crying of Helen on
the body of her lover and the moving of the Greek troops under the city's walls, "Annan
dag gekk Agamemnon konúngr með Girkja her allt at borginni, ok eggjaði þá útgöngu til
orrostu, en engi maðr gekk út, ok bjoggust þeir þá enn við í borginni eftir föngum”157
(p.218). the end of the war is near.
3.4.6. “Svikin Trója”
Here the end of Troy begins, and the scribe indicates this moment with the subtitle “Svikin
Trója”, which means the fraud of Troy, in fact, the war is won thanks to trick and not in
a battle, as we will read. Another important thing is the fact that the author reports two
versions of the defeat of Troy.
157 “Another day Agamemnon went with the entire Greek army to the city, and they made
themselves ready about the city after the fight.”
84
Chapters 29 and 30 narrate the final fights and the fraud of some Trojans, Aeneas,
Antenor, Polydamos Delon, who let the Greeks into the city. Chapter 29 starts with the
arrival of Penthesilea to help king Priam against the Greeks. She is the queen of the
Amazons and a great warrior. After that, the battle could start: for many days they fought.
In the end, the queen of the Amazons was killed by Neoptolemus. After that, the Trojans
had an assembly: they discussed if it is wiser to surrender themselves to the Greeks or to
continue to fight. Aeneas and the others thought it was better to give up and to give back
Helen and the treasures because Paris was dead, but Priam had not agreed, so he decided
to continue the war. Knowing that a few men would agree with the capitulation,
concerned the king, who thought it would be a possible betrayal by the hand of these, so,
he talked about this with his son Amphimacus. His fears were real: of course, Aeneas,
Antenor, Polydamos Delon and other commander planned to give the victory to the
Greeks, opening the door of the city during the night. So, they sent a messenger to
Agamemnon king, who accepted their offer to help in exchange for the immunity of them
and their kin. The Greek king sent Sinon to come to terms with the Trojans and to receive
the plan. So, that happened: during the night the doors were opened. The Greeks entered
into the city, killing and destroying. Neoptolemus killed King Priam in front of the altar
of Frigg, while Aeneas hid Polyxena following the order of the queen Hecuba. This is the
end of Troy. This two chapters, 29 and 30, are similar to the Latin version and they are a
resume of the chapters XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL and XLI.
Chapter 31 of the saga narrates the day after the battle. Agamemnon thanked the gods and
the troops for the victory. Then peace was given to the kin of Priam, who were Helenus,
Cassandra and Andromache and Hecuba. The Greeks divided the booty, and they were
ready to go when Neoptolemus remembers about Polyxena, and he wanted to find her and
to kill her. No one could find her because Aeneas had hidden her very well. Agamemnon
asked Antenor for help, so he went to Aeneas, but he refused to help. In the end, they
found Polyxena, and they gave her to Pyrrhus, who cut her head on the tomb of his father
Achilles because he believed she was the cause of the death of the hero. Agamemnon was
angry with Aeneas because the hiding of the girl, so he sent him on an exile. Menelaus
obtained his wife back and all the treasure stolen by Paris. Antenor stayed with 2 thousand
and five hundred men, while Helenus, Hecuba, Cassandra and Andromache went to the
Cheronese with thousand men and 200. This is the end of the war of Troy, written by
Dares. In fact, in the following chapter 32, the scribe reports the fighters' count and the
count of the dead men. The chapter begins with the information about the duration of the
85
war, "the Greeks stayed in Troy 10 winters, six months and 12 days, as is said by the
scholar Dares” (svâ segir meistari Dares, at Girkir sæti um Tróju x vetr ok vj mánuði ok
xij daga, p.221). Furthermore the number of the dead ones for both parts is reported: 886
thousand Greeks (Af Girkjum fèllu DCCC þúsunda ok átte tigir þúsunda, ok vj þúsundir,
p.221) and 676 thousand Trojans without the number of the dead in the city, because they
are too many (en af Trójumönnum fèllu, áðr en borg væri unnin, DC þúsunda, ok vij tigir
þúsunda, ok vj þúsundir, en þat veit engi töl á, hvat Girkir drápu um nóttina, þá er þeir
unnu borgina ,p.221). The number corresponds to the Latin source. All the numerical
information is the same in both versions. The only difference is the list of the dead heroes
made by Haukr and the corresponding killer. The chapter ends with the prophecy about
the Aeneas’ descendant, who will be emperors and chief all over the world (keisararnir,
er höfuðsmenn eru allrar veraldarinnar158P.222).
Chapters 33, 34 and 35, are based on another source and present a different version of the
end of the saga, which is not present in Dares' text. This fact is interesting, because the
author of the saga, in this case, acts as a real historian because he reports two different
versions of the same event quoting the sources. In this case, the source is the Aeneid of
Virgil, called here the saga Rumeria (p. 222), the saga of the Romans. The story comes
back to the murder of Achilles. After that, Agamemnon brought together the leaders of
the Greeks, and they discussed the war because now it seemed hard to gain the victory.
No one wanted to give up, and Ulysses, after a few days of thinking, found out a plan:
they had to build a giant wooden horse, and they had to hide inside parts of the troops,
while the other part of the army pretended to leave the land and to come back home. So
they did it. Ulysses and part of the army were hidden inside the wooden horse outside the
wall of the city, while the other went to a neighbouring island, waiting for the night. When
the Trojans saw the empty camp of the Greeks, they rejoiced, but they were surprised
when they saw the horse. After that, one man arrived running from the beach: he was
Sinon, a Greek warrior fastened and marked as he was ready to be sacrificed. They
interrogated him, and he said that the Greeks had left the land to come back home because
they were tired for the long years of war. They left here a wooden horse to pray the Gods
for a safe return and as a gift for them. He was left there because he did not agree with
Ulysses and with the plan to leave the war. So, he was chosen for sacrifice; this is the
reason why he is fastened and marked. The Greeks and Ulysses were sure the Trojans
158 “emperor which are chief all over the world.”
86
would kill him, but this did not happen. They believed in his version, despite the words
of Cassandra and of a heathen priest, whose name is not reported, but in the classical
tradition, he is Laocoon, the priest of Neptune. He was against the idea to bring the horse
inside of the city, but two snakes came out from the sea and killed him and his two sons.
This was read as a sign: the Trojans decided to bring in the city the horse and their
destruction. The horse was too big to pass under the door, so they had to destroy part of
the walls. When the night came, and all of them were sleeping, the Greeks arrived in the
city and killed many citizens. Priam himself was killed in front of the altar of Thor. Only
Aeneas could save himself, his father and his son, running away from the city following
the prophecy to go to Italy. All these events are narrated in the Book II of the Aeneid
when Aeneas tells the story of Troy's fall to queen Dido. At the end of chapter 34, the
author tells us that the story, after the destruction, is the same as the Dares' one.
The last two chapters of the Trójumanna saga, 35 and 36, are dedicated to the events
following the war. Pyrrhus came back to Epirus with Andromache and Helenus, where
he married the Trojan, but after a few years, he wanted to leave the woman to marry
Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen, but they refused to give her to him
because she was promised to Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Orestes killed Neoptolemus,
so Helenus married Andromache and together ruled over Epirus, and there they built a
great city in honour of Troy. The last chapter continues the story with the gesta of the son
of Andromache and Hector, who came back to Troy to rebuild the city. This part is not
found in any Latin source, because of that Eldevik159 reports that this addition may be
inspired by the French source, as the Roman de Troye of Benoit de Saint Maure.
The saga ends with the declaration of the end of the story, and here Haukr anticipates that
after this saga, the saga about Aeneas and his descendants who have settled England will
follow, which means the Breta sögur:
Ok er nú yfir farit þá sögu er ágætust hefir verit í veröldunni í heiðni, at allra manna
virðíngu, þeirra er vitrir eru, ok flestar frásagnir eru kunnar, en hèr eftir hefr sögu
frá Enea, ok þeim er Bretland bygðu160. (p. 226)
159 Eldevik 1993 160 “So now the story is gone above then, which the glory has been in the world in the Heathen
country, that the reputation of all their wise men and most the act of relating are known, and
hereafter, you have the saga about Aeneas and them, who settled England”.
87
Conclusions
The present thesis demonstrates the prominence and the vitality of the Trojan matter
during the centuries. This theme's permanence is fascinating, and it reveals that the
cultural heritage of Europe is the same, and it has the same root. Faulkes himself161
underline this fact: all these European Trojan texts are linked, and they influence each
other. For example, the Chronicle of Fredegar influenced Ari’s Íslendigabók. Moreover,
this Frankish chronicle influences Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Historia Regum
Britanniae. Desdemond162 assumes that there is a sort of genealogy of this theme, which
starts from Virgil and arrives in medieval England. So, Virgil’s Aeneid is the starting
point. Isidore of Seville163 theorizes the idea of „imitatio imperi“, which means that all
the rulers have to take inspiration from the Roman Empire to become powerful and
wealthy. I assume that the medieval Kingdoms had taken this advice seriously. So, when
they had to create propaganda, they referred to Rome and its culture. This model includes
Troy and the idea of the transaltio imperii et studii. This last definition theorizes a
power‘s movement of the centre from the Eastern world to the Western. If this transfert
is real, this explains enterly the research of the first offspring in Troy, an eastern city. I
want to underline the link between the power and the culture. All these new kingdoms
used the Trojan origin in the construction of propaganda: to have an origin in Troy is the
symbol of nobility. These kingdoms, like Iceland and Scandinavia, did not know what
their root was. They have the same necessity to find a first offspring, a place where their
ancestors lived. Rome and Virgil gave them the answer. If the Roman Empire, the model
of all them all, had its origin in Troy, they had to have the same root. So, in the
Merovingian era, two chronicles, the Fredegar’s one and the Historia Liber Francorum,
narrated about Francio and his Trojan ancestors, who ran away from the city’s destruction.
Goffredo da Viterbo claimed that Charlemagne was the meeting point of the Roman
heritage and the Trojan one. The English kings did the same: they find their origin in
Troy, in particular in Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas164. This necessity to emulate the
Franks started when England and Normandy had the same ruler. So, when the English
king was a king but also a subject of the King of France. In this way, the English
propaganda used the same weapon of the Franks, the idea of transaltio imperii from Troy.
161 (Faulkes, Descent from the Gods, 1978-79) 162 (Desmond, 2016) 163 See page 12 164 About these texts see the subchapter 1.3
88
This background is essential to understand the context of the Trójumanna specific case.
Because the process of Christianisation and acculturation, Iceland came in touch with the
Latin culture and with this theory of translatio imperii et studii. This is attested by text as
the Ari’s Íslendigabók or the Snorra Edda. Iceland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and
it is a young settlement. In front of the others, Icelanders felt more the necessity to be part
of world history. They created a “useful past”165, and they took inspiration by the matter
of Troy because they noticed the popularity of this theme and its crucial political role.
“By asserting Trojan descent, Icelanders joined not only the ancient Roman but also
Normans, Britons and Saxons and Franks in staking a claim to a place at the heart of the
world, not its margins”166.
The Trójumanna saga is the product of this necessity. This saga is not an original creation
but is the re-elaboration of a Latin text, the De excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius.
However, the analysis of the Haukbók‘s version has demonstrated that Haukr had taken
inspiration by other Latin sources: the Metamorphoses and the Heroides of Ovid, the Ilias
Latina, and the Aeneid of Virgil. The text is peculiar and demonstrates Haukr‘s
knowledge of the Latin text. The author creates a sort of „patchwork“: the core is Dares‘
text, but Haukr adds different episodes, descriptions and a completely new prologue.
Moreover, the writer changes the Latin sources: he never translates „verbum pro verbo“
but he adds information.
In the prologue, Haukr narrates of Saturnus‘ kingdom and its golden age, the advent of
Jupiter and the silver era. This last period is characterized by war. Moreover, in the
prologue he narrates the Jupiter-Thor deeds, using as sources the Ovidian texts,
Metamorphoses and Heorides, and the Aeneid. This free use of the Latin sources
demonstrates that Haukr has a perfect knowledge of the interpretaions of Ovid and Virgil,
and he has read these texts. The author makes many changes to the original version. The
Haukr‘s public and the context are the reason for these changes and additions. For
example, he sets the event during the kingdom of Joshua, who rules over the Jews after
Moses. He uses this information to date the events because he wants to wirte a historical
text to teach something. So, he uses biblical information to date. Another significant
change is that: the name of the „ancient gods“ (Saturnus, Jupiter, Juno) turn in the Norse
one (Frey, Thor, Sif) after a few chapters. This is not weird in the Icelandic literature.
165 (Whaley, 2000) 166 (Whaley, 2000, p. 178)
89
Snorri himself changes the name of the Trojan heroes with the Norse gods‘ name.
Furthemore, in the prologue, Haukr precises that all these gods are in real human being,
even if the heathens belives that they are gods. These few notes demonstrate the intention
of Haukr to write a historical saga about the deeds of the Scandinavian ancestors.
Furthemore, when he starts to narrate the reconstruction of the city and when he narrates
the death of Priam, he talks only about temple and altar dedicated to the Norse gods. The
changes of the name, the explanation of the heathens‘ beliefs, and the Trojan worship of
the Norse Gods are the complete demonstration of this intent: he is talking about the Norse
ancestors‘ past. Also, in the end, he does not only narrates the Dares‘ version of the city‘s
fall, but he reports the wooden horse‘s episode. As a historian, he wants to precise that
there are two versions about the Acheans‘ victory: the Dares‘ version which tells the
Aeneas‘ betray and the Aeneid‘s version of the wooden horse. Another demonstration of
this „historical“ intent is that: Haukr reports the dead‘s number of both sides, like Dares.
He uses the Phrygian text to do that. All this annotation demonstrate the intent to create
a Historia, and not only a text of plesure. Even if Haukr wants to write a historical text
for an encyclopedic codex, the Hauksbók, it is possible te fact that the Trojan hero could
seem nobler than the Greeks. For example, Hector is described as a chivalric character
when „gallantly“ he goes to fight (Hektor gekk fram rösklega chapter 19). The choice of
this adverb is also linked to the chivalric literature, which is popular in that period.
Furthermore, the Greeks could win because of treachery: in Dares’ version some Trojan
betray the city and let enter the enemies; in the Aeneid, Ulysses invents the trick of the
wooden horse. On this point of view, I assume that this text is strictly linked to the idea
of translatio because, in the end, Hauk says that the Breta Sögur, which is the saga of the
descendant of Troy, follows. So, the Trójumanna saga is the prologue of the real story of
the translatio of the Norse ancestor from Troy to Iceland. This conclusive affirmation
permits to collocate this text under the great tradition of the Translatio imperii et studii.
In conclusion, I assume that this text is crucial to understand how the process of
acculturation works. Haukr could be used as a model of this process because the
elaboration of this saga has inside aspects of both the culture, the chivalric theme, the use
of a foreign tradition to create a new mythological past. Also, the study of this saga has
permit to underline the “world of view”167 of the Scandinavian and its élite. The references
to these classical sources and the biblical passages demonstrate the education and the
167 (Sverrir, Hauksbók and the Construction of an Icelandic World view, 2007)
90
knowledge of this élite. At last, this thesis has demonstrated the unique heritage of the
European culture and the idea of an oriental origin.
In the end, it is fascinating and exciting to think that we are all the descendants of Troy.
91
Heimildaskrá
A.H. Smith, E. M. (2017). Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse Kings.
New York: Dover Pubblications, INC.
Andersson, T. M. (1980). The Legend of Brynhild. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Ashman Rowe, E. (2008 XIX). Literary, Codicologgical, and Political Perspectives on
Hauksbók. Gripla , 51-76.
Bagge, S. (1984). Nordic Students at Foreign Universities until 1600. Scandinavia
Journal of History; Vol. 9; No. 1, 1-29.
Bagge, S. (2002). Kings, Politcs, and the right order of the world in German
Historiography c.950-1150. Leiden: Brill.
Barnes, G. (2000). Romance in Iceland. In M. Clunies Ross, Old Icelandic Literature and
Society (p. 266-286). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barnes, G. (2009). Scandinavian Versions of Arthurian Romance. In H. Fulton, A
Companion to Arthurian Literature (p. 189-202). Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell.
Bettali, M. (2001). Introduzione alla Storiografia Greca. Roma: Carrocci.
Burns, G. L. (1980). The Originality of Texts in a Manuscript Culture. Comparative
Literature 32, 113-129.
Byock, J. (2001). Viking Age Iceland. London: Penguin.
Byock, J. L. (2005). Snorri Sturluson - The Prose Edda. London: Penguin Book.
Canale, A. V. (2004). Isidoro di Siviglia, Etimologie o Origini. Torino: UTET.
Canali, L., & Canzio, N. (2014). Darete Frigio - Storia della Distruzione di Troia. Roma:
Castelvecchi.
Ciclamini, M. (1975, 8). Ynglinga Saga: Its function and its appeal. Medieval
Scandinavia, 86-99.
Clunies Ross, M. (2000). Introduction. In M. C. Ross, Old Icelandic Literature and
Society (p. 1-7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clunies Ross, M., & Simek, R. (1993). Encyclopedic Literature. In P. Pulsiano, Medieval
Scandinavia : an encyclopedia (p. 164-166). London: Garland.
Conte, G. B. (2016). On the Text of Aeneid: An Editor's Experience. Hunter, 54-67.
Copeland, R. (1995). Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages -
Academic traditions and vernacular texts. Cambridge: CAmbridge University
Press.
92
Cormack, M. (2005). Christian Biography. In R. McTurk, A Companion to Old Norse-
Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 27-43). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Desmond, M. (2016). Trojan Itineraries and the Matter of Troy. In R. Copeland, The
Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature vol. 1 (800-1558) (p.
251-268). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eldevik, R. (1993). Trójumanna saga. In P. Pulsiano, Medieval Scandinavia : an
encyclopedia (p. 658-659). London: Garland.
Eldevik, R. (2004). What's Hecuba to Them? Medieval Scandinavia Encounters with
Calssical Antiquity. In J. Adams, & K. Holman, Scandinavia and Europe 800-
1350 (p. 345-354). Turnhout: Brepols.
Eldevik, R. C. (1989 ). The Dares Phrygius version of Trojumanna saga : a case study in
the cross-cultural mutation of narrative. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.
Erling Monsen, A. S. (2017). Heimskringla or the Lives of the Norse King. New York:
Dover Publications, INC.
Faiver d'Arcier, L. (2006). Histoire et géographie d’un mythe. La circulation des
manuscrits du De excidio Troiae de Darès le Phrygien (VIII - XV siecles). Paris:
école des Chartes .
Faulkes, A. (1978-79). Descent from the Gods. Medieval Scandinavia, 11, 92-124.
Faulkes, A. (1993). The sources of Skáldskaparmál : Snorri's intellectual background. In
A. Wolf, Snorri Sturluson : Kolloquium anläßlich der 750. Wiederkehr seines
Todestages (p. 59-76). Tübingen: Narr.
Faulkes, A. (1995). Snorri Sturluson Edda. Cambridge: Everyman.
Fenzi, E. (01 July 2015, Issue 1). 'Translatio studii' e 'translatio imperii.' Appunti per un
percorso. A Journal of Medieval European Literatures, 170-208.
Finnur, J. (1930). Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Copenaghen.
Finnur, J. (1930). Snorri Sturluson Heimskringla. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
Fitzgerald, R. (1993). Virgil The Aeneid. London: Harper Collins.
Fulton, H. (2009). History and Myth: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum
Britanniae. In H. Fulton, A Companion to Arthurian Literature (p. 44-58).
Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell.
Fulton, H. (2009). Introduction. In F. Helen, A Companion to Arthurian Literature (p. 1-
13). Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell.
Fyler, J. M. (2013). The Medieval Ovid. In P. E. Knox, A companion to Ovid (p. 411-
422). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
93
Gabriella Agrati, M. L. (1989). Storia dei re di Britannia / Goffredo di Monmouth. Parma:
U. Guanda.
Galinsky, K. (2005). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gangemi, A. E. (2011 ). Íslendingabók : il libro degli Islandesi / Ari Thorgilsson. Catania
: C.U.E.C.M.
Gerbeding, R. A. (1987). The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae
Francorum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Giscom, M. A. (1929). The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
London: Longmans, Green and Co. .
Gísli, S. (2000). Óláfr Þórðarson hvítaskáld and oral poetry in the west of Iceland c.1250:
the evidence of references to poetry in The Third Grammatical Treatise. In M.
Clunies Ross, Old Icelandic Literature and Society (p. 96-115). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Glauser, J. (2005). Romance (translated Riddarasögur). In R. McTurk, A Companion to
Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 372-387). Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
Grillo, A. (1988). Tra Filologia e Narratologia. Roma: Edizioni dell'Ateneo.
Grimbert, J. T. (2009). The "Matter of Britain" on the Continent and the Legend of Tristan
and Iseult in France, Italy and Spain. In H. Fulton, A Companion to Arthurian
Literature (p. 145-160). Chichester : Wiley- Blackwell.
GrØnliw, S. (2017). Conversion Narrative and Christian Identity: "How Christianity
came to Iceland". Medium Ævum, VOL. LXXXVI, No. 1, 123-146.
Guðvarður Már, G. (2005). The origin and development of Icelandic script.
Gunnar, H. (1995). Littérature et Spiritualité en Scandinavie Médiévale - La Traduction
Norroise du de Arrha Animae de Hugues de Saint-Victor. Paris: Brepols.
Gunnar, H., & Stefan, K. (1993). Hauksbók. In P. Pulsiano, Medieval Scandinavia : an
encyclopedia (p. 271-272). London: Garland.
Gurevich, A. Y. (1971, 4). Saga and History. The "historicla conception" of SNorri
Sturluson. Medieval Scandinavia, 42-53.
Halldór, H. (1930). The Book of the Icelanders Ari Thorgilsson. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Hauksbók : udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 5. o. (1892-1896).
Hauksbók : udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675,
94
4 ̊samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter af Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
Copenaghen: Kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
Hélène Tétrel, G. V. (2015). L'Historia regum Britannie et les "Bruts" en Europe . Paris:
Classiques Garnier.
Helgi, Þ. (2004). Why did Haukr Redact the Book of Settlements? Session 225:
Multidisciplinary perspectives on Hauksboók. International Medieval Congress.
Leeds.
Helgi, Þ. (2005). Historica Background: Iceland 870-1400. In R. McTurk, A Companion
to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 136-154). Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
Hexter, R. (2002). Ovid in the Middle Ages: exile, mythographer,lover. In B. Boyd, Brill's
Companion to Ovid (p. 413-442). Leiden: Brill.
Higham, N. J. (2009). Early Latin Sources: Fragments of Pseudo-Historical Arthur. In H.
Fulton, A Companion to Arthurian Literature (p. 30-44). Chichester: Wiley-
Blackwell.
Inglebert, H. (January-March 1995). Les causes de l'existence de l'Empire romain selon
les auteurs chrétiens des III e - V e siècles. Latomus, 18-50.
Innes, M. M. (1995). The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Jesch, J. (2005). Geography and Travel. In R. McTurk, A Companion to Old Norse-
Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 119-136). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Jesh, J. (1991). Women in the viking age. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press.
Jr, R. M. (1966). The Trojan War - the Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the
Phrygian. Bloomington: Indiananiversity Press.
Kalinke, M. (2015, Spring). Arthur, King of Iceland. Scandinavian Studies, p. Volume
87, Number 1, pp. 8-32.
Kretschmer, M. T. (December 2011). Bourgueil, la nouvelle Athènes (ou Troie), et
Reims, la nouvelle Rome: La notion de translatio studii chez Baudri de Bourgueil.
Latomus, 1102-1116.
Lagioia, A. (4.2006). Diomede e il Palladio: il mito repubblicano, la revisione augustea e
l’esegesi tardoantica. Auctores Nostri, 39-67.
Lendinara, P. (1994). La battaglia contro il diavolo nel Salomone e Saturno I. Annali -
Sez. Germanica, Nuova Serie IV 1-2, 23-32.
Lentano, M. (2014). Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano.
Atlantide 2, 1-19.
95
Lentano, M. (2016). Note critiche ed esegetiche al De Excidio Troiae di Darete Frigio.
Latomus, 75, 1013-1026.
Leonardi, C. (1981). Alcuino e la scuola palatina: le ambizioni di una cultura unitaria.
Nascita dell'Europa e Europa Carolingia: un equazione da verificare. Settimane
di Studio del Centro italiano Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 27 (p. 459-96). Spoleto:
Cisam.
Longoni, V. (2006). L'immaginario epico tra culture e linguaggi. Milano: La Nuova
Italia.
Lönnroth, L. (1965). European Sources of Icelandic Saga-Writing: an essay based on
previous studies. Stockholm: Útgefanda ekki getið.
Louis-Jensen, J. (1981). Trojumanna Saga: The Dares Phrygius Version. Copenhagen:
Copenhagen : Reitzles, 198.
Luois-Jensen, J. (1981). Trójumanna saga The Dares Phrygius Version. Copenaghen: C.
A. Reitzels Boghandel A/S.
M.Andersson, T. (2008). From Tradition to Literature in the Sagas. In E. M. Wellendorf,
Oral art forms and their passage into writing (p. 7-17). Copenhagen: Museum
Tusculanum.
Marvin, J. (2009). The English Brut in Tradition. In H. Fulton, A Companion to Arthurian
Literature (p. 221-235). Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell.
Mckitterik, R. (2008). The New Cambridge Medieval History - Volume II c. 700 - c. 900.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Meister, F. (1873). Daretis Phrygii de excidio Troiae historia. Lipsia: Teubneri.
Meister, K. (1992). La storiografia greca. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Metzger, B. M., & Murphy, R. E. (1989). The New Oxford Annotated Bibble with the
Apocrypha. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mortensen, A. A. (2012). Medieval Narratives between History and Fiction. From the
centre to the Periphery of Europe, c. 1100-1400. Copenhagen: Museum
Tusculanum Press.
Murphy, B. M. (1989). The New Oxford Annotated Bible, with the
Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. New York: Oxford University Press.
Onesti, R. C. (2014). Omero. Iliade. Torino: Einaudi.
Óskarsson, Þ. (2005). Prose of Christian Instruction. In R. M.-a.-I. Culture, A Companion
to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 338-353). Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
96
Ottaviano, S. (2009). Il Reg. lat. 1669: un'Edizione di VIrgilio di età carolingia.
Miscellanea della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 16, 259-323.
Quinn, J. (2000). From Orality to Literacy in Medieval Iceland. In C. Ross, & Margaret,
Old Icelandic Literature and Society (p. 30-60). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Rikhardsdottir, S. (2012). Medieval Transaltions and Cultural Discourse. Cambridge: D.
S. Brewer.
Scafai, M. (1997). Ilias Latini - Bebii Italici. Bologna: Pàtron.
Sebastian Evans, C. W. (1958). Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain.
London: Everyman's Library.
Sorensen, P. M. (2000). Social Insitutions and Beliefs system of Medieval Iceland (c.800-
1400) and their relations to literary production. In M. Clunies Ross, Old Icelandic
Literature and Society (p. 8-29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spiegel, G. M. (January 1990). History, Historicism, and the social Logic on the Text in
the Middle Ages. Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies, 59-86.
Stefán, K. (1964). Aldur Hauksbókar. Tórshavn.
Sverrir, J. (2005). Við og veröldin: Heimsmynd Íslendinga 1100-1400. Reykjavík:
Háskólaútgáfan.
Sverrir, J. (2007). Hauksbók and the Construction of an Icelandic World view. Saga-
Book; 31, 22-38.
Tarrant, R. J. (2004). P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoses. Oxford: Oxford Classical text.
Tétrel, H. (2010). Trojan origins and the use of the Æneid and related sources in the Old
Icelandic Brut . The Journal of English and Germanic philology., 490-514.
Tulinius, T. H. (2005). Sagas of Icelandic Prehistory (fornaldasögur). In R. McTurk, A
Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 447-461). Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Turville-Petre, G. (1953). Origins of Icelandic Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Prees.
Vésteinsson, O. (2000). The Christianisation of Iceland - Priest, Power, and Social
Change 1000-1300. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
West, M. (2011). The Homeric Question Today. Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society, 155, 4, 383-393.
West, M. L. (2001). Studies in Text and Transmission of the Iliad. Leipzig: K. G. Saur.
97
Whaley, D. (2000). A useful past: Historicla writing in medieval Iceland. In M. Clunies
Ross, Old Icelandic Literature and Society (p. 161-202). Cambridge: Cambridge
university Press.
Wills, T. (2017). The Third Grammatical Treatise and the Aeneid. In M. Camparini, M.
R. Digilio, & F. Ferrari, La letteratura di istruzione nel Medioevo Germanico -
Studi in onore di Fabrizio D. Raschellà (p. 277-301). Roma: Fédération
Internationale des Instituts d'études Médiévales.
Winroth, A. (2012). The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and
Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe. New Heaven: Yale University
Press.
Würth, S. (1998). Der "Antikenroman" in der Islandischen Literatur des Mittlalters.
Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn.
Würth, S. (2005). Historiography and Pseudo-History. In R. M.-a.-I. Culture, Rory
McTurk - a Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (p. 155-
172). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Würth, S. (2006). The common transmission of Trójumanna saga and Breta sögur. In A.
N. Wolf, Beatus vir : studies in early English and Norse manuscripts in memory
of Phillip Pulsiano (p. 297-328 ). Tempe: ACMRS.
Ziolkowski, J., & Putnam, M. (2008). The Virgilian Tradition: the First FIfteen Hundreed
Years. New Heaven: Yale Universities Press.
top related