Note to Rloð Lv 9VIII (Ragn 26)
[All]: The notion of Ragnarr’s death in a snake-pit seems to have been influenced by traditions of the hero Gunnarr’s death in the same circumstances, reflected in Akv 31 and Vǫls ch. 39 (Ragn 1906-8, 101) and elsewhere in Norse tradition, as well as in Þiðr (Þiðr 1905-11, II, 314), which is based predominantly on German sources (Finch 1993b). As applied to Gunnarr the snake-pit motif seems to be of German origin, though it is likely to have had its ultimate origin in the Orient or North Africa (Krappe 1940-1; cf. Dronke 1969, 65-7). According to de Vries (1923a, 252-3), it was the similarity of the names Ælle (Ella) and Atli that attracted the motif to the biography of Ragnarr; according to Krappe (1940-1, 24), it was the fact that Ragnarr was known to have slain a serpent (cf. Ragn 1, above).
References
- Bibliography
- Dronke, Ursula, ed. and trans. 1969. The Poetic Edda. I: Heroic Poems. Oxford: Clarendon.
- Þiðr 1905-11 = Bertelsen, Henrik, ed. 1905-11. Þiðriks saga af Bern. SUGNL 34. Copenhagen: Møller.
- Vǫls = Vǫlsunga saga.
- Þiðr = Þiðreks saga af Bern.
- Ragn 1906-8 = Olsen 1906-8, 111-222.
- Finch, R. G. 1993b. ‘Þiðreks saga af Bern’. In MedS, 662-3.
- Krappe, Alexander Haggerty. 1940-1. ‘The Snake Tower’. SS 16, 22-33.
- Vries, Jan de. 1923. ‘Die historischen Grundlagen der Ragnarssaga Loðbrókar’. ANF 39, 244-74.
- Internal references
- Not published: do not cite ()
- Rory McTurk (ed.) 2017, ‘Ragnars saga loðbrókar 1 (Ragnarr loðbrók, Lausavísur 1)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 626.