Might be the most informal one of these I’ve done so far as it’s really just an observation rather than a cohesive mini-essay like I’ve been writing on here. So that’s cool.

Anyways, Beowulf has some wacky things going on in regards to religion, as it is a Germanic narrative told in retrospect by the English Christians. So, you end up with some elements that appear to contradict themselves and are flat out unexplained. In the chapter, Heorot Is Attacked, we learn about Grendel, the monster wreaking havoc on Heorot, and the story explains that Grendel is a descendant of Cain, and that various ogres, elves, and evil phantoms are also descended from him. Then, at the end of the chapter, after their people are killed by Grendel, we are told that they worship idols and swear oaths to the “killer of souls”, or, basically, Satan. The narrator says that this is their way, and they simply do not know of God, and are in the time of ignorance before the religion spread to them.

This is completely inconsistent, however, as throughout the story we see the king of the Danes, Hrothgar, mention God a lot, seemingly referring to the singular God and not in reference to “their gods”. What’s neat about this retrospective Christian narrator, however, is this reference to Cain and Abel, which is the only biblical story referenced to in Beowulf, might be especially important in regards to the warrior cultures of the Germanic tribes. In retrospect, the story is saying that the conflict between good and evil, or Abel and Cain, is eternal, and that despite their ways, the people in these tribes are still descendants of Abel, or “God’s people”, who are brothers, and every reference made to warring between different tribes is looked at as a sorry situation, as brother should not be killing brother, but the killing of descendants of Cain, such as Grendel, his mother, and the dragon, is seen as heroic. In fact, the depictions of Cain’s descendants are not even human, even though Cain himself was, they have become monsters.

In addition, all of Beowulf’s triumphs are credited to God, not Beowulf. There’s a couple instances of this, starting with the defeat of Grendel. The story refers to Grendel as “God-cursed” on two occasions before his defeat, and then says that because his descendants and himself had given offense to God, that Grendel’s strength fails him and he is able to be grappled by Beowulf. Then, when Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother, it is said that “holy God decided the victory.” Then lastly, with the fight again the dragon, there is actually no mention of God in Beowulf’s fight by the narrator, it takes until Beowulf is dying of the venom of the dragon for him to be mentioned, as Beowulf thanks the Lord (that they apparently don’t know about yet) for the treasure that his people will be able to take from the dragon’s horde. Speaking of praising the God that they shouldn’t know about yet, this happens a lot, even in the very important speech that Hrothgar gives to Beowulf at the end of Another Celebration at Heorot, where he thanks God that he lived to behold the death of Grendel by Beowulf’s hands alongside his important words of advice referring to getting old and not having the strength you once had, while telling him to choose “eternal rewards”. I feel like this is referring to heaven, but I could be wrong. It would make sense from a Christian perspective, though, to advise someone to pave a path to salvation instead of personal glory and fame.

It’s odd to think about God being there with the Germanic Pagans, but it’s actually accurate biblically speaking. If it were B.C., the Bible says that God had left everywhere except Israel to be ruled by demons, however, with the arrival of Jesus Christ, it’s said that God reclaims his kingdom, and thus it makes sense for God to be exerting his influence around the globe, even if they were ignorant of the religion itself. It’s a little strange for Pagans to be venerated as “God’s people”, still, however, considering all of violence used by the Church in order to convert Pagans to Christianity, but makes perfect sense according to the scripture.

Yeah, it’s all kind of a mess.

Anyway, that’s my spiel on Beowulf and religion, there’s a few glaring contradictions relating to the faith of the Germanic people in the story, but overall, the narrator seems to have a good grasp on the Bible and still has a great respect for the Germanic people, and felt sorry for them, even though they weren’t Christians.

It is uncommon in ancient world literature to see fair depictions of women in relation to the male protagonists. The Thousand and One Nights is not a story that offers a fair depiction of women, however, it does offer the idea that women have a certain influence that men do not. Early on in the tale, we see a lesser king, Shahzaman, being cheated on by his wife with the kitchen boy, who then kills them both and throws their bodies into a trench. Directly after, we see his brother, a greater king named Shahrayar, have not just his wife cheat on him, but his entire concubine with slaves. When Shahzaman sees this from a guest room, he devises a plan with his brother to catch her in the act, as his wife and concubine only have their affair while he is gone. They fake leaving the palace to go hunting, return, catch them in the act, and then both leave to find someone who has it worse than them. They come across a woman who has rings for every man she’s slept with, using the threat of violence from her demon husband to force them into doing so. After sleeping with her, they come back to the palace, and Shahrayar has his entire concubine and wife killed, and then swears to take a new wife every night, sleep with them, and then have them executed in the morning. The common theme for men in the story is physical violence, whether it be the threat of or enacting of it. Shahzaman slays his wife and the man she’s cheating on him with, Shahrayar has his wife and concubine, and begins to marry and slay wives regularly, and the demon’s wife uses her husband’s physical strength to manipulate people into sleeping with her. The men of this story solve all of their problems by displaying their strength, there is no appeal to emotions or appeal to logic, there is a narrow solution.

This is exemplified later on in The Tale of the Merchant and His Wife, where the merchant’s wife believes that he laughed at her, when he was really laughing at a conversation between the ox and the donkey, because he can understand the speech of animals. However, he cannot tell anyone about his ability because he will die if he does. When the merchant explains the situation to his wife, she refuses to listen to reason, and insists he explain even if he has to die. He makes preparations for his death, and she still doesn’t budge, but he eventually overhears a conversation between a rooster and a dog, where the rooster suggests he simply beat her. He listens to the rooster’s suggestion, and it miraculously solves all of his problems. The story depicts women as completely unreasonable and violence as the solution to put them back in line. Shahrayar’s vizier is threatening to do the same to his daughter, Shahrazad, in an attempt to put her back in line. It is with Shahrazad that the message of The Thousand and One Nights becomes confused, as it is Shahrazad who perseveres through all warnings, all “reason”, to marry Shahrayar to stop him from taking more wives and slaying them to save the kingdom.

Shahrazad is a well-read woman, knowledgeable in literature, poetry, philosophy, and medicine. She knows her strengths as a woman, she knows the influence that her tales will hold over Shahrayar, her ability to emotionally move him being her most important asset. This exists in complete contrast to the “male solution” in The Thousand and One Nights, which would be to kill Shahrayar. Shahrazad decides to enrapture him, and with her tales, also turn him into a better leader. The Thousand and One Nights seems to suggest that the strengths of men and women, men with their physical strength and women with their emotional strength, are double-edged swords. The gift of strength can be used for good, such as defending your kingdom or but also evil, like slaying the women of your kingdom. The gift of emotional manipulation can be used for good, as Shahrazad pacifies Shahrayar, but also by the wives of Shahrayar and his brother and Shahrayar’s concubine to lure men into loving them. This is without getting into the hypocrisy of concubines themselves, but because the work portrays this as fair, it is not important to what we can take away from the tale. While I personally don’t believe that gender roles are set in stone, we can still see this dichotomy of gender in our every day lives, with the motherly and fatherly roles, along with the roles of a wife and husband to one another, with the societal view still being physical strength in men and emotional power in women. The story paints a decent picture of the good and harm we can do with the societal sway of our genders, despite its hypocrisies, and is still relevant to this day for that reason. 

History has been riddled with war. In fact, for almost a century, we’ve been in an era of peace, with the lowest in-combat deaths in history. When you’re in the age where war is all around you, however, you have to make sense of it, find purpose in battle and conflict. It was important to find brotherhood with those you fought alongside with, they were all you had, and on the field, the higher cause no longer mattered, you were fighting for your brothers. In Gilgamesh and The Iliad we see the concepts of brotherhood and honor in different ways, but with one commonality: death. Gilgamesh with the death of his comrade, Enkidu, and Achilles with his closest friend, Patroclus. Both die in different circumstances, and they reconcile with them differently, but they were the deaths of those they fought alongside, overcame adversity and triumphed with, but were stripped away from them due to horrible circumstances. 

We start with the death of Enkidu, King Gilgamesh’s equal, who was created by the gods to be part beast, and was tamed by Gilgamesh’s consort, Shamhat. When Enkidu is brought into the city, he hears from Shamhat that Gilgamesh courts women before they get married, and Enkidu thinks of it as an abuse of power. Enkidu confronts him, and they wrestle, ending in a tie, making Enkidu the first being that the two-thirds divine Gilgamesh could be challenged by. After this bout, they become brothers, impressed with each other’s strength. Together, they battle with the fierce giant, Humbaba, and slay the Bull of Heaven, sent by Ishtar to ruin the city of Uruk as vengeance for Gilgamesh’s refusal to marry her. Through this, Enkidu is both a physical and emotional support for King Gilgamesh, interpreting his dreams in ways that give him confidence on the journey to fight Humbaba, and supporting his decision to fight even Gods. This support of Gilgamesh makes Enkidu the target of the gods’ true revenge, as they strike him down with an illness that takes twelve days to kill him. Gilgamesh then falls into a depression, leaving his throne for the wilderness, wearing only animal pelts, seeking eternal life, scared of death after it took his closest friend. Gilgamesh laments about the death of his equal often, his most powerful words being, “Enkidu, whom I so loved, who went with me through every hardship, the fate of mankind has overtaken him. Six days and seven nights I wept for him, I would not give him up for burial, until a worm fell out of his nose.” (79)  Gilgamesh loves Enkidu so much that he is not willing to give him up until he notices the body’s decay. On his journey for eternal life, Gilgamesh faces many struggles, but fails in his quest, and has to reconcile with the fact that he, like everybody else, will die. Enkidu ultimately makes King Gilgamesh a better ruler with his death, showing that he is not his only equal, but is on equal footing with all other men. 

The Iliad has another story of loss between men who have fought together, but the history is not as rich. The most we know about Achilles and Patroclus is that they have fought in wars before together, side by side, with endless amounts of mutual respect. This is a more grounded telling of the death of a comrade, as Patroclus dies in battle to the son of the King of Troy, Hector. This fuels Achilles’ rage, and because he is also a part divine being like Gilgamesh, Achilles is able to take on onslaught after onslaught of Trojan soldiers, slaying them with the goal of seeking vengeance. Achilles’ conquests lead him to the walls of the city of Troy, and seeing Hector, chases him down, forcing him into a corner where they must battle, with some help from the Gods, and they fight. Achilles is victorious, striking Hector down and taking his body, and in his rage tries to defile it by dragging it around Troy at first, and then his own encampment, every day when he wakes. The stronger similarity between Achilles and Gilgamesh, however, is their common reconciliation with death due to the death of their brother. Achilles does not feel fulfilled after his act of revenge, and continues to weep over his friend. It is the King of Troy, Priam, who comes to confront Achilles in his own encampment by himself (with some help from the Gods),  and is willing to pay ransom for his son’s body. Achilles finally recognizes the value of the life of a soldier when Priam puts it in perspective, telling him how Achilles’ own father would feel if the same happened to his son. This makes Achilles weep, thinking of both his father and Patroclus, and Priam weeps with him over his son. Achilles accepts the ransom and declares an armistice for Troy to hold Hector’s funeral. Through these trials, our flawed Achilles has realized the value of life, and that behind every man is family and friends, that he is not the only one affected by such tragedies. 

The Prose Edda is an anthology of myths shared and believed in by the Nordic people. The Prose Edda was compiled in Iceland during the Middle Ages, awhile after the Nordic people were Christianized through force. However, their myths lived on through oral tradition, and survived long enough to be adapted into literature. The Prose Edda is our most important resource for understanding the Nordic culture of war, and their waste not, want not society. Included in this is their creation story, which has many stages, and is not simply brought into being by a god. The struggles of the Aesir, the gods of Norse mythology, must go through in order to bring the world into being, define the culture and set it apart from all other creation myths. For an element of the world to exist, there must be a conflict to set it in motion.

For example, before there was the earth there was a world where Frost Giants roamed, inhabitable due being in between Niflheim, a cold, frosty realm, and Muspell, a land of fire. Ymir is the primordial frost giant, from which all other frost giants were born. The frost giants also had a cow that fed them with its milk, sustaining itself by licking salty blocks of ice, soon thawing out the first non-giant creatures, not quite men, but something greater. It is the man and woman that are thawed from the ice that have children, and those children have children of their own. It is three men in this family, Odin, Vili, and Vé, who slay Ymir and build the world from his body, including mankind from the trees that they had created before. While other myths, such as the Babylonian creation epic, requires a sacrifice to create mankind, this is different, as war, conflict, and death is all necessary to create the entirety of the world. It is these Aesir who slay Ymir, and then forge the land from his body, using blood, sweat, and tears, and speaks to the Nordic work ethic.

Another major example of necessary conflict for creation in the myth is the legend of the Sun and Moon, and why they cycle. The sun and the moon are both Aesir on chariots who ride them around the earth, however, they only do so because they are being chased down by two wolves, Skoll and Hati. This all connects to Ragnarok, the greatest war of all, which will include Skoll and Hati catching the sun and moon and consuming them. It is Asgard where Odin, Thor, and the other Aesir,  alongside all ascended men, train to battle in Ragnarok against the forces of Muspell, that will burn the earth to cinder with a being named Surt commanding the Muspell forces. It is said that in Ragnarok all of the Aesir will die to Surt’s forces, however, the sons of the Aesir will take charge and the world will be reborn under their reign.

The Nordic people’s waste not, want not culture is also represented within their mythology. All material in the world is recycled, just like the body of Ymir itself. The ship known as Naglfar, for instance, is made out of the fingernails of the dead, and during Ragnarok sails the hordes that will do battle with the gods. Víðarr is Odin’s son, and associated with vengeance, and his shoes are composed of the leather strips that cobblers cut from the shoes they craft at the toe and heel. During Ragnarok, when his father Odin falls to the wolf, Fenrir, he avenges him by stabbing Fenrir through the heart. Víðarr is in the pantheon of gods mentioned before that survive Ragnarok unharmed, and go on to create the world anew. This is representative of their culture because even if you weren’t in battle, you were still contributing to war, whether it be crafting swords, armor, clothing, shoes, it was all necessary for the warriors to strive and conquer. Thus, their contribution is even recognized in the ultimate war: Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is the true symbol of Nordic culture, a culture which revolved around their warriors boating around Europe, conquering anywhere they landed for resources. Meanwhile, with their friends and families back home in a frozen land, scraping by on what they could muster, working to support the efforts of their society’s warriors. All efforts were in support of war, as opposed to other cultures where peace was seen as the ideal, the Nordic people were never at rest. Even when they ascend, it is their purpose to battle, and in their eyes, it is conflict that not only drives them, but drives the universe.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton