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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Bragi Frag 4III

[All]: The original context of the stanza of which this couplet presumably formed part is unknown. The reference to a place where men see a representation of Óðinn’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir may indicate that the stanza was part of an ekphrasis; alternatively there may have been a constellation of stars thought to represent Sleipnir. Depictions of a figure presumed to be Óðinn, carrying a spear and sometimes accompanied by birds (probably his ravens) astride an apparently eight-legged horse appear on several Gotland picture stones, though this interpretation has been questioned (cf. Simek 1993, 124, 293-4).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.

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