Myth to History in Saxo

Abstract

Saxo Grammaticus composed his Gesta Danorum as a written monument to the ancient greatness of the Danes. To write his rather tedious work he used a varied mass of materials, including sagas and chronicles as well as mythological tales, which he historicizes. Georges Dumézil in Du mythe au roman demonstrated in his study of Saxo’s tale of Haddingus how the elements of the story could be related in detail to the story of Njord as recounted by Snorri Sturluson, Saxo’s younger Icelandic contemporary. This is only one of such instances. In my chapter I treat the visit to Geirrod and the sacrifice of King Vikar in order to demonstrate how Saxo used and historicized these materials of which he is sometimes our oldest source.