Spring 2007

E 322 • Introduction to Germanic Religion and Myth

Course Description

A survey of the sources and main features of Germanic religion and of the transition from paganism to Christianity in northern Europe and the Germanic territories of western Europe: Anglo-Saxon Great Britain, the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland and Austria--diachronically, from the statements of Caesar and Tacitus about Germanic religion to the last pre-Christian documents in the continental area (Merseburg charms, runic inscriptions, etc.) and in England (Beowulf) as well as the Scandinavian texts of the Eddas and the later information in poetry and saga.

Grading Policy

Three 5-page out-of-class papers; first two can be revised and re-submitted. Revised grade expunges the old grade (in other words, they aren't averaged together)
Two in-class writing sessions, 5-6 pages each
No final

Writing assignments 90%
Class participation: regular attendance, quizzes on readings, and participation in class discussion 10%

Texts

The Poetic Edda, tr. Carolyne Larrington, Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0 19 283946 2
The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, tr. Jean I. Young, University of California Press, 1973, ISBN 0 520 01231 3
The Saga of the Volsungs, tr. Jesse L. Byock, University of California Press, 1990, ISBN 0 520 06904 8
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, by H. R. Ellis Davidson, Penguin, 1964, ISBN 01 401 36274
Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, by H. R. Ellis Davidson, Syracuse University Press, 1988, ISBN 0 8156 2441 7
Roles of the Northern Goddess, by H. R. Ellis Davidson, Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0415136113

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