The Norse Mythology

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Dear Student,
As you know, I am limited by my role in Brainmass to prepare only a guide for you - I cannot do this assignment for you. However, the solution below and the attached folder contain pretty much what you will need to complete this assignment as a PowerPoint presentation. I have divided the sections below into 7 parts - each part should correspond to the themes presented above and more. Now, each PowerPoint slide should contain the text and a corresponding image from the file folder. These are just suggestions however - you are free to expand and present it with your take, narrative and additional discussion to add more colour and depth to your presentation. Note that the premise here is this - the Norse were not one homogenous massive tribes, instead they were manifold and were located all over Northern Germany and present day Scandinavia. Despite this and the differences they had with each other, they were able to forge a shared identity, a culture historians now refer to as Nordic Traditions. When you present, each section should be discussed accordingly - it is not just a case of reading the text on the slide. Understand the text given and provide a small 'talk' regarding the topic. This is where the references listed come in handy - please make sure to visit/read them so that you can be open to questions and answers from your teacher and your classmates. Finally, you can print out the main points of your presentation as a 'guide' for discussion. They should not be lengthy, just the title of each topic will do as a point of reference in your discussion. A sample guide sheet is attached. Good luck with your presentation.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Slide One

Title - The Norse
Text:
The Norsemen were not one homogenous group - they were a spectrum of varied tribes and clans, speaking different languages hailing from the North of Europe. They were seen as a 'Germanic People' by the Roman Empire and hailed as savages and vandals with great mastery of sailing and shipbuilding. The Vikings, a tribe of Norsemen were masters of oared seafaring vessels capable of covering great leagues and raiding coastal towns and cities with brutal ferocity. They were feared and hated all over the European coast from Ireland to Britain to Gaul. Despite their differences, the Norsemen were able to come together via trade and treaties. Most of the Norse-Vikings were Norwegian and Danish and at times they banded together against their enemies. It is easy enough to develop social relations between the Scandinavian Norsemen as their languages came from one single family. Their family, communal and social structures were vastly similar and so were their ideas of the divine. As their languages shared similarities, the names of their deities only varied mildly and soon the Norse Pantheon that came to be known as the 'formal' delineation of their gods and deities became accepted truth all over Norse territories with stories and qualities of certain deities varying depending on the origin of the story. Even then, their belief in Odin and the impending doom of Ragnarok is shared throughout all the Norse tribes with some versions lessening or worsening the outcome of the End of the World. The Norse, as seafarers migrated and where they did, they also assimilated into the local populace. However, they always saw themselves as a people apart and kept to the more important aspects of their culture linguistically and theologically. They saw the order of life according to their mythology and lived accordingly. Those who migrated to Brittania and Gaul despite their adaption of Christianity still practiced certain Nordic traditions as elements of their theology found Christian interpretation. Those who migrated to Iceland however, since Iceland was uniquely barren managed to keep all the old traditions intact and preserved from language to social organization. It is amazing to note that such a people separated by language, land and water managed to forge and share in a culture where the heart is a shared belief in a Pantheon of Gods.

Suggested Image - Use a picture of the Map of Scandinavia and a picture/image of a Norseman

Slide 2

Title - The Creation Myth of the Norse
Text:
Myths, legends, folklore, tales - they are products of oral & written social traditions that trace back the history and experience of a people as they make sense of the world and their realities through the ages. In every tall story filled with magic and extra ordinary characters, there is always a grain of truth, an explanation and a glimpse of the world that was back then at the time of the conception of the myth and the legend. Myths are stories passed down through oral, written or ...