Ancient norse killed gays

The following statements are made in the framework of “COPE-Code of Conduct and Best Practices Guidelines for Journal Editors”: Author's Note: This article was written for “The Vikings” course that had been taken at Bilkent University. http://sagadb.org /gisla_saga_surssonar.is (Date of access: 10.12.2020). This was the same response that was allowed if someone murdered your relative: it was a serious allegation!

Surprisingly, the god of war, poetry, and death, Odin himself, is accused of being ergi a number of times in Norse mythology.

URL-6: “The Story of Brunt Njal, Icelandic Saga Database”. While queer people have always existed, the way that queerness looked is not static, and we have to be very careful with our language. 175  Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8 (2021) tanlarda "nið” kelimesi bir korkak, cinsel sapık ya da bir eşcinsel olduğunu belirtmek için farklı anlamlarla çeşitli şekillerde kullanılmıştır.

A man’s buttocks were something untouchable and taboo in Scandinavian societies; it was the place that should not be touched in order to preserve masculinity. These references, however, often focus on social status and honor rather than condemning homosexuality outright.

Modern Interpretations and Debates

The limited direct evidence of homosexuality in Viking culture has led to varying interpretations.

In the Eddaic poem, Lokasenna, there is an example of the usage of being lustful or nymphomaniac for females. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.

Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world.

We shared how the show came together, our favorite unscripted moments, what it was like to roleplay Viking-related characters, and the unpredictable dynamics that unfolded when a group of creatives, academics, and chaos gremlins collided in a shared Norse mythos.

If you’ve ever wondered how much of the show was improvised, how we developed our characters, or what we actually thought of each other (spoiler, Bill and Steve are old friends!)—this one’s worth a listen.

Keep an eye out—the episode drops June 6th at the link below:

Book Recommendations

Blurb:

The Viking Age -- from 750 to 1050 -- saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world.

Here, Þorvaldr is accused of having sexual intercourse with the bishop, and they had nine children together. Speculum, 68(2): 363-387. Dr. David E. Thornton who de- serves my deepest gratitude with his assistance and expertise on the Vikings. As it was men- tioned before, as long as one performs the masculine side in same-sex in- tercourse, he was not condemned to be nið, but in the Christian Church, any homosexual activity, whether playing the active or passive role is forbidden.

We know that in other areas of history, societies grappled with same-sex attraction in various ways, and it makes sense that the Vikings would have had to grapple with it as well.

• Níð, Ergi, and Viking Attitudes Toward Homosexuality.

• The Algorithm That Got Away.

• Vikings and Valkyries on Valhalla Conversations.

• This week’s book recommendation.

Viking History

One of the concepts I’ve played with in my novels is homosexuality.

There were clear social expectations on how you should behave, and what retaliation could happen if someone broke laws: think outlawry and revenge killings.

The Viking world had a word in Old Norse that makes it very easy to look for queerness: ergi.

Copenhagen: S. L. Møller.