Classical Deities in Medieval Northern European Contexts
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Polytheism-Oriented Medievalists of North America (P-OMoNA); Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Organizer Name
Phillip A. Bernhardt-House
Organizer Affiliation
Skagit Valley College-Whidbey Island
Presider Name
Daniel Attrell
Presider Affiliation
Univ. of Waterloo
Paper Title 1
Ravens in the Meadhall: Pre-Christian Influences in the Hêliand
Presenter 1 Name
Galina Krasskova
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Fordham Univ.
Paper Title 2
Dionysos in the Northlands: The Cult of Dionysos in Early Medieval Europe
Presenter 2 Name
H. Jeremiah Lewis
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Paper Title 3
P.-O.M.o.N.A.: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going? (A Response)
Presenter 3 Name
Phillip A. Bernhardt-House
Start Date
10-5-2019 1:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1120
Description
After the suppression of polytheistic religious activities in the fourth century CE, some sites and images — and certainly citations in literature — of the classical Greek and Roman (and occasionally other Mediterranean) deities had a "second life" in such places as Italy, Spain, Greece, and North Africa. However, even if imported and syncretistic cultus to these deities existed in more northern climes (including the former Roman provinces of Germania, Gaul, and Britain, the various Latin and vernacular literatures of the Germanic, French, British, and Irish peoples of medieval and later periods gave some of these deities a "third life", and often one rich in interpretative possibilities for the learned authors who discussed them.
Whether the authors derived their knowledge of these deities from various classical, biblical, or patristic sources, the influence specifically of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, or their own reinterpretation of originally local practices, this tendency gave rise to many intriguing re-uses of the classical material.
Papers in this session will explore these themes and thereby work to contextualize these reinterpretations historically, politically, and theologically, as well as via other vectors of analysis. They also seek to catalogue and increase the visibility of these phenomena. Mildred Budny
Classical Deities in Medieval Northern European Contexts
Schneider 1120
After the suppression of polytheistic religious activities in the fourth century CE, some sites and images — and certainly citations in literature — of the classical Greek and Roman (and occasionally other Mediterranean) deities had a "second life" in such places as Italy, Spain, Greece, and North Africa. However, even if imported and syncretistic cultus to these deities existed in more northern climes (including the former Roman provinces of Germania, Gaul, and Britain, the various Latin and vernacular literatures of the Germanic, French, British, and Irish peoples of medieval and later periods gave some of these deities a "third life", and often one rich in interpretative possibilities for the learned authors who discussed them.
Whether the authors derived their knowledge of these deities from various classical, biblical, or patristic sources, the influence specifically of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae, or their own reinterpretation of originally local practices, this tendency gave rise to many intriguing re-uses of the classical material.
Papers in this session will explore these themes and thereby work to contextualize these reinterpretations historically, politically, and theologically, as well as via other vectors of analysis. They also seek to catalogue and increase the visibility of these phenomena. Mildred Budny