Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Viking and Medieval Norse Studies

Trójumanna saga

A case of translatio and translation of the Latin culture in Iceland

Beatrice Bedogni

Leiðbeinandi: Jan Alexander Van Nahl September 2019

Háskóli Íslands

Hugvísindasvið

Viking and Medieval Norse Studies

Trójumanna saga

A case of translatio and translation of the Latin culture in

Iceland

Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Viking and Medieval Norse Studies

Beatrice Bedogni

Kt.: 030994-3109

Leiðbeinandi: Jan Alexander Van Nahl

September 2019

1

Útdráttur

Í þessari verður Trójumanna saga greind með tilliti til menningarlegrar aðlögunar milli

latneskar menningar og íslenskra bókmennta. Þessi saga var valin vegna þess að hún

byggir á eldri verkum, þ.e. Daretis Phrygii De Exicidio Troiae Historia. Íslenski textinn

er borinn saman við latneskar heimildir, sem eru textar Dares Phrygius, Virgil, Ovid og

Ilias Latina. Skoðað verður hvernig latnesk menning hefur áhrif á þá íslensku og reynt að

sýna fram á hvernig þessir tveir ólíku heimar mætast og mynda nýja menningu, sem er

mögulegt að sjá í þýðingarferlinu og í þessum textum, sem setja fram Tróju stefið.

Einblínt verður á þýdda textann, hlutverk hans, aðlögun og breytingar frá þeim

upprunalega. Einnig mun saga Tróju stefsins og hugmyndin um translatio imperii et

studii gegna lykilhlutverkum í greiningunni, því þær eru nátengdar og koma fyrir í

mörgum miðalda menningarheimum, ekki einungis á Íslandi. Að auki verður ferli

menningarlegrar aðlögunar og Kristnitöku skoðað í smáatriðum, þar sem kirkjan bar

latneska menningu til landsins.

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Abstract

This work provides a precise analysis of the Trójumanna saga, which is explored

concerning acculturation's phenomenon between the Latin culture and the Icelandic

literature. This saga has been chosen because it derives from previous sources, that is the

Daretis Phrygii De Excidio Troiae Historia. The Icelandic text is compared with the Latin

sources, which are the texts of Dares Phrygius, Virgil, Ovid and the Ilias Latina. The

essay analyses the influence of the Latin world on the Icelandic culture and it will try to

demonstrate how these two different universes collaborate and create a new culture, and

this is possible to notice in the process of translation and in these texts, which present the

trojan theme. The discussion will focus on the phenomenon of the texts' translation: its

role, the changes and the elaborations of the translated texts. Furthermore, the story of the

trojan theme during the century and the theme of the idea of translatio imperii et studii

hold an essential role in this discussion, because they are strictly linked and they are found

in many other medieval cultures, not only in Iceland. Also, the process of acculturation

and the Christianization of Iceland will be analysed in detail, because the Church was the

vehicle which had transmitted the Latin culture on the island.

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Formáli

At first, I would like to say thanks to professor Lazzari, who have believed in this project

and my capacity. To professor Salvaterra, who has permitted me to realize this project. I

want to say thanks to professor Jan A. Van Nahl, who helps me in the redaction of this

exciting project.

I want to say thanks to the University of Bologna for the opportunity to come to Iceland,

and to the University of Iceland for the hospitality and the support.

I would like to dedicate this work to my parents who have supported and believed in me

in these years. To my best friends Chiara, Monica, Francesca, Beatrice, Sara and Simo,

who are always giving me good advice and unconditional love, no matter what.

To my friend Camilla, my wings, whose friendship are incredibly precious.

To Marianna, who is fundamental for my mental health in this adventure.

To Victoria, my German-Icelandic sister, my first roommate and my kitty girls.

Thanks to all my old friends.

And last but not least to my puffin-friends, Lillo, Chiara and Enri.

Thank you all for your inestimable support and love!

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Efnisyfirlit

Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6

1 Translatio Imperii et Studii and the Trojan War ...................................................... 9

1.1. The evolution of the theory of the Translatio Imperii et Studii ....................... 9

1.2. The role of the Trojan theme and the Translatio imperii et studii ................. 14

1.3. The medieval construction of a mythical Trojan past during Middle Ages ... 18

1.4. Translation and translatio ............................................................................... 20

2 The Icelandic Troy: a construction of a prehistory................................................. 22

2.1 The process of Acculturation in Iceland ......................................................... 22

2.2 The construction of the origin: the myth of Troy ........................................... 29

2.2.1 Ari inn Froði Þorgilsson and the Íslendigabók ......................................... 31

2.2.2 Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) ................................................................... 33

2.2.3 The Third Grammatical Treatise .............................................................. 40

3. The Hauksbók’s Trójumanna saga ........................................................................ 43

3.1 Traditions ........................................................................................................ 44

3.2 The Latin Sources ........................................................................................... 46

3.2.1. De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius ........................................ 46

3.2.2. The Ilias Latina ........................................................................................ 49

3.2.3. Aeneid of Virgil ........................................................................................ 49

3.2.4. Metamorphoses and Heroides of Ovid ..................................................... 50

3.3. The Hauksbók and Haukr Erlendsson ............................................................ 51

3.4. The version of the Hauksbók's Trójumanna saga ........................................... 55

3.4.1. “Her hefr Troio manna sogu” ................................................................... 55

3.4.2. "Fra Edelon" ............................................................................................. 66

3.4.3. "Fra Erkules" ............................................................................................ 71

3.4.4. “Er Troo var eflð annan tima” .................................................................. 72

3.4.5. “Fra hefred til Troio” ................................................................................ 75

3.4.6. “Svikin Trója” .......................................................................................... 83

5

Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 87

Heimildaskrá ................................................................................................................... 91

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Introduction

The Trojan War is a timeless event

floating in a timeless world1

Between the 12th and 14th centuries, in Iceland, the production of many manuscripts of

European translated text became very consistent. One of these cases is the Trójumanna

Saga: that is the re-elaboration in Old Icelandic of the Latin text of the Dares Phrygius’

De Excidio Troiae Historia. This case is fascinating and curious because the two versions

are not only geographically distant, but they are also far away in time. The Latin text was

probably written in the 1st century A.D., while the Icelandic one in the 14th century. It is

peculiar that a text of this genre, which talks about an ancient theme distant from the

Norse culture of Iceland, was translated and used in this context. This attestation is crucial

to demonstrate the vitality of the Trojan theme and the intensive contacts between the

European kingdoms in time and space. This re-use of the Trojan theme during all the

Middle Ages and later is not atypical. In many European kingdoms, it is possible to find

the elaboration of a Trojan mythical past and the consequent diaspora of the citizens after

the city’s fall. The question is, why did they do this? Also, how did they construct this

image? The Icelandic case is more peculiar than the others because Iceland did not have

any direct relationship with the Trojan world or with the Roman’s.

It is essential to analyse this particular case. I have chosen the Trójumanna saga’s version

of the Hauksbók manuscript, because the writer, Haukr, is known, so the context in which

this version was written. Moreover, a comparison between this and its Latin sources is

relevant to understand the Icelandic élite’s “world of view”2 and its acknowledgement.

Because of the comparison, I have found out which sources are known in Iceland and

Scandinavia at that time. I have underlined the changes and the similarity between them.

The most interesting note is the capacity of Haukr to mix the text to make a peculiar

version of the saga, as I describe in chapter 3. This single case could permit to understand

how the Icelanders interpreted the continental literature and culture, and how they used

these sources. Furthermore, the choice of the Trojan theme is linked to the theme of the

idea of Translatio imperii et studii. This theme is prominent in the Middle Ages and

1 Finley, The World of Odysseus, 1978 2 Sverrir 2007

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before: it is attested in many cultures and in a very different time and kingdoms. Why are

the Trojan matter and the Translatio theme linked together? Because Troy represents the

original land of many European kingdoms and Empire, like the Roman one. Under this

point of view, it is possible to underline the idea of a sort of movement of power

(imperium) and culture (studii) from the Eastern world to the Western one.

The structure of the thesis is finalised to understand the general context of the translatio’s

theme, which is analysed in chapter 1. I explain the theme and its evolution in time, and

how the translatio’s idea is linked to the Trojan theme. A brief mention about the Trojan

war’s story and its heroes from Homer to the Middle Ages is essential to underline how

this story changes in scope and narration, and how this theme was used in different times

and cultures. It is crucial to present these general themes because they are necessary to

understand the evolution of this theme and why it is so prominent in Europe and Iceland.

Even if this last one is not directly linked with the Latin-Roman culture and history, it is

strongly connected to Medieval Europe, because of the voyages of the students, the

erudite ones and the Church. After this general chapter, the second one is more specific,

and it analyses the Icelandic process of acculturation. So, Chapter 2 analyses the role of

the Christianisation of Iceland, which was huge in this process. Because of that, the

Icelandic literature evolved on the island. Because of the theme’s complexity, this chapter

is divided into two great subchapters: the first presents the process of acculturation and

Christianization of Iceland, while the second analyses the construction of the myth of the

Trojan origin in Iceland and its link to the historiographical genre. In particular, I explain

why they chose the Trojan theme as a myth of the origins, and how they re-elaborated it.

To do that, I briefly analyse the texts in which is possible to find the Trojan theme: the

Íslendigabók of Ari Frodi, the Snorra Edda and the Heimskringla of Snorri, and at last

the Third Grammatical treatise. In this way, it is possible to notice how they used the

Trojan theme to include themselves in the world history.

These two chapters are the necessary introduction to the real analysis of the Trójumanna

saga, which is the main topic of Chapter 3. Because the complexity of the theme, this

chapter is divided into four great subchapters. In the first one, I talk about the analysis of

the saga in general and the different versions. The second subchapter presents the analysis

of the saga’s Latin Sources and their fortune and their interpretation in the Middle Ages.

In the third subchapter, the description of the manuscript and the author of the Hauksbók

is explained. All of this explenations is essential to understand the context of the text. The

real core of the thesis is the last subchapter, in which I describe the comparison between

8

the Old Icelandic Trójumanna saga and the Latin Sources (Dare’s text, the

Metamorphoses and the Heroides of Ovid, the Ilias Latina and the Aeneid of Virgil)

chapter by chapter. In this way, it will be possible to see how the author changed the story

and what he decided to translate and what not, what he added or which other sources he

used.

9

1 Translatio Imperii et Studii and the Trojan War

1.1.The evolution of the theory of the Translatio Imperii et Studii

Translatio imperii is an expression of the medieval historiography which refers to the

transmission of the Imperium (the political power) from the East to the West. The pinnacle

of this theorization was achieved in the 12th century, during the war between Frederick I

Barbarossa and the Italian communes. In particular, this necessity is the result of the war

between Swabian Emperors and the Pope over the control of the Empire's power.

Frederick I refuted that the Pope and Rome should be over him because the emperor had

obtained his power from his ancestors, who had conquered the govern over the Empire.

Because of that, the imperial propaganda created the idea of a direct power's movement

from Rome itself to the Swabians, using the image of the Romans as Swabians' ancestors.

Sverre Bagge, when he talks about this ideology's construction, assumes:

“Frederick’s reference to ancient Rome develop further the idea of the restoration

of the Empire as described in Book 1: Fredrick’s effort in this matter is not only

comparable to the situation before the Investiture Contest but also to the ancient

Roman Empire. This Empire has not been destroyed but moved. The Germans are

now the heirs of the ancient Romans, while the people of contemporary Rome are

wrong in believing that they have any connection with ancient Rome. The central

Roman institutions, the consuls, the Senate, the equestrian order, and the

arrangement of the Roman camp, are all to be found in German” 3

The complete construction and apex of this translatio’s ideology are expressed perfectly

by bishop Otto of Freising4, the uncle of the emperor, in fact, he claimed in his Ottonis

Episcopi Frisingensis Chronica, 8:

Et notandum quod omnis humana potentia seu scientia ad Oriente cepit et in

Occidente terminatur, ut per hoc rerum volubilitas ac defectus ostendatur5.

However, Otto of Frisinga was not the first nor the last to write about that. In fact, this is

a very ancient theme, and one of the first evidences of this idea on translatio is found in

the Book of Daniel, which is dated around 168/165 BC. The focus is on the interpretation

3 Bagge, 2002, pp. 368-369. 4 He is a medieval chronicler and historian. He is the uncle of the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. 5 “It should be noted that the human power, or rather the knowledge, takes from the East and end

in the West so that through these things volubility and weakness are made known”

10

of two dreams narrated in the text: the first about Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and the statue

of different materials (Dan. 2.1-45)6; the second one about Daniel himself and the 4 beasts

coming out the sea (Dan, 7.1-28)7. Both these dreams are interpreted as the transmission

of power of the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, from the Babylonians, passing to the

Persians and to the Greek-Macedonians, eventually arriving to the Romans. The Roman

Empire represents the conclusion of this translatio of power (imperium). This

interpretation was the same reading given by Gerolamo and Augustine. Rome and its

Empire seemed endless and without comparison, the strongest and the most important of

all the kingdoms. The imagine offers by Daniel's dreams could seem pessimistic: the

succession of the kingdoms goes from the ancient age of gold to an age of iron, which is

read as the representation of the Roman age. However, Gerolamo lived during the last

part of the Roman Empire, the IV century AD: because of that, the theologist could not

consider that the Empire was a period of decline. To explain Daniel's dreams linking it to

the era in which he lived, Gerolamo assumed that: the "iron age" is represented by the

Roman Empire, but this reign, is not a declined one, but it is the most powerful because

it embraces all the previous8. Because Rome, the Christianism had converted many

people. This was possible because the Empire had assumed the control and the power of

the previous kingdoms.

The idea of politics and philosophic universalism is already present in the roman world

before the advent of the Christianism. Fenzi assumed “all’interno del mondo romano e

6 “there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing

before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest

and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and clay and broke them in

pieces. Then the iron, the clay the bronze, the silver and the gold, were all broken in pieces and

became like the chaff of the summer floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace

of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled

the whole earth”. (Dan. 2,31) 7 “I saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirrings up the great sea, and four great

beasts came up of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagles’

wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and

made to stand on two feet like a human being; and human mind was given to it. another beast

appeared, a second on that look like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its

mouth among its teeth and was told, “Arise, devour many bodies!” after this, as I watched,

another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads;

and dominion was given to it. after this I saw in the vision by night a fourth beast, terrifying and

dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces

and stamping what was left with its teeth. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and

it had ten horns (…)” (Dan. 7,1) 8 See Enrico Fenzi, 2015, p. 173. Furthermore, there is an interesting article of Inglebert in which

he explained the point of view of the Christian author about the reason of the existence of the

Roman Empire (Inglebert January-March 1995)

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del suo universalismo tanto politico quanto filosofico già vive l’essenziale e per vari

aspetti dirompente novità per cui quel legame tra potere e sapere è in verità strettissimo,

e propriamente di consustanzialità.”9. The “virtus” is the key to the surviving of Rome’s

power10, and many Latin texts say that. Also, the significant role of the mores in Roman

History is strictly linked to the idea of translationes of studii. During the Roman

Republic’s age, in particular after the conquest of Greece, this idea of translatio of power

and culture was really firm and present. Sallust, Virgil and others author11 praised and

created the idea of this great translatio of the knowledge from Greece to Rome, which

remains popular during all the Middle Ages and in the Modern Age too. In fact, in the

Roman culture, the notion of the translatio Studii was literally the transmission of a

culture from a kingdom to another, in particular from the Eastern world to the Western,

as Cicero himself said in Tuscolanae 4,2:

“Hoc autem loco consideranti mihi studia doctrinae multa sane occurrunt, cur ea

quoque arcessita aliunde neque solum expetita, sed etiam conservata et culta

videantur”12

Cicero explains the appropriation of other knowledge from other cultures, but he adds

that it is not enough, because it is necessary to protect them and to make them more

excellent. To explain this idea in De Oratore, 3.131, Cicero claimed that the Greeks had

not been able to protect their own culture, and because of that, the Roman could conquest

them and their culture, making this transmission possible and essential because:

“nati in litteris, ardentes iis studiis, otio vero diffluentes, non modo nihil

adquisierint, sed ne relictum quidem et traditum et suum conservarunt”13

9 Everything within the Roman world and its political as well as philosophical universalism

already lives the essential and, for various disruptive expectations, novelties for which that link

between power and knowledge is indeed very close, and properly of consubstantiality. "(Fenzi,

2015, p. 176) 10 About the key of the survival of the power of Rome in the point of view of the authors of the

Republican period a good reading could be the article of Inglebert, whom I have named in the

previous note. Furthermore, the idea of Polybius about the excellence of the mixed composition

of the government of the Republican Rome is interesting. 11 About the theorisation of the translatio imperii in Virgil, I will say later. Furthermore, about

the other Latin authors, I suggest the essay of Fenzi (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1). 12 “To me who I consider here, many studies of science certainly come to mind, so it seems to me

that they have also been taken from elsewhere and not only sought after but also preserved and

cultivated.” 13 Cicero, De Orator, 3.131 “While those, born in a country rich in culture, full of passion for

these studies, and moreover very free from pledges, not only did not increase the cultural heritage

of their nation, but were not even able to preserve the existing one”

12

The story of this notion continues and evolves after the fall of the Roman Empire. It

changed during the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages because the erudite ones had to

come to terms with the end of the Roman Empire. One example of this is still linked to

the interpretation of the dreams of the book of Daniel. Isidore of Seville presented the

usual interpretation which I have described before, and he still identified the last beast of

Daniel’s dream with the Roman Empire, but this should not the point of arrival.

“Cette représentationd’une humanité une par l’origine, promais éclaté en gentes,

laisse reconnaître l’influence du moment où Isidore écrit, et, plus précisément, on

y retrouve l’écho des conceptions de Grégoire le Grand. Ce dernier est en effet le

témoin privilégié de la faillite de l’universalisme imperial et de la reconaissance

des regna qui trouvent droit de cité dans un nouvel ordre du monde où l’Église se

substitue à l’Empire comme principe d’universalité et d’unité;”14.

So, Isidore created a new ideological reference: he made the Roman Empire the exemplar

model to follow, to ensure greatness to the ruler and freedom and peace to the people.

This idea is identified as the theory of the imitatio imperi, as it possible to read in the

essay of Enrico Fenzi of 2015 on the evolution of the idea of Translatio imperii et studii

in time:

“Isidoro, che produce un’interpretazione originale di Dan. 7. Anch’egli, sulla

traccia di Gerolamo, identifica la quarta bestia con l’impero romano, ma

contemporaneamente fa i conti con la sua avvenuta dissoluzione, ricavandone che

ad esso si deve la civilizzazione universale e che, seppure politicamente scomparso,

resta l’unico supremo modello di riferimento: così, i regni particolari (quello

visigotico sarebbe uno dei dieci corni della bestia di Daniele) sarebbero vincolati

a una sorta di imitatio imperii che dovrebbe garantire la libertà delle genti non più

sottomesse.”15

14 “This representation of a humanity one by the origin,but broken into gentes, lets us recognize

the influence of the moment when Isidore writes, and, more precisely, we find there the echo of

the conceptions of Gregory the Great. The latter is indeed the privileged witness of the

bankruptcy of imperial universalism and the recognition of regna who find their right to the city

in a new world order in which the Church replaces the Empire as a principle of universality and

unity” (Reydellet, 1986, pp. 342) 15 “Isidore, who produces an original interpretation of Dan. 7. Following Jerome, he, too,

identifies the fourth beast with the Roman empire, but at the same time he comes to terms with its

dissolution, deducing that the universal civilization owes to it and that, although politically

disappeared, remains the only supreme reference model: so, the particular kingdoms (the

Visigothic one would be one of the ten horns of Daniel's beast) would be bound to a sort of imitatio

imperii that should guarantee the freedom of people no longer submissive” (Fenzi, 2015, p. 174)

13

After the end of a significant period of changes and wars, the affirmation of the Franks as

the Empire’s heir represents a new step of this evolution16. The evolution of this notion

continued and found new life and strength in the Carolingian Renaissance and in

particular with Alcuin17. The role of the erudite is vital: he inspired the scholastic

organization of the Empire, he was the teacher of two generations of Franks, and he

helped to develop the Carolingian Renaissance. His teaching was based on the study of

the Latin texts. So, the Reign of Charlemagne and the set of the Scolae Palatina represent

an epochal moment:

“ proprio perché siamo dinanzi a un salto epocale e un nuovo regno s’inaugura, è

finalmente possibile porre il tema della translatio, fino a quel momento

inconcepibile perché l’epoca precedente, nella quale gli studi sono stati

dimenticati, non è altro che la lunga appendice di quel crollo: è quel crollo.”18.

In fact, in the introduction of the Gesta Karoli, Aeginard, a Frank chronicler, theorized a

continuation of this translatio, which was found in the coronation of Charlemagne. This

event represented the pinnacle of the rebirth of the culture. Moreover, Alcuin assumed

that the Frankish kingdom was a new Athens,

as it possible to read:

“si, plurimis inclitum vestrae intentionis studium sequentibus, forsan Athenae nova

perficeretur in Francia, immo multo excellentior” (Ep. 170: “Alcuini Epistolae”

279)19.

So, Gilson is right, when he assumes:

16 A good reading about the evolution of the Frankish history and kingdom is the second volume

of the New Cambridge Medieval History (700-900) edited by Rosamond Mckitterick (Mckitterik

2008) 17 About the role and the figure of Alcuin, an interesting reading is the essay of Leonardi, “Alcuino

e la scuola palatina: le ambizioni di una cultura unitaria” (Leonardi 1981). In this essay, the

scholar describes the role of the erudite at the court of Charlemagne. 18 “Precisely because we are faced with an epochal leap and a new kingdom is inaugurated, it is

finally possible to put the theme of the translatio, which until then was inconceivable because the

previous epoch, in which the studies were forgotten, is nothing but the long appendix of that

collapse: it is that collapse.” (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1, 186 19 “If to more following the eminent inclination of your intention, maybe the new Athens could be

done in France, rather more excellent”.

14

“c’est donc que la science grecque, transmise jadis par la Grèce à Rome, a

désormais été transmise par Rome à la France. À mesure que l’importance de Paris

augmente, c’est naturellement Paris qui prend la place d’Athènes”20.

This idea of “Paris as new Athens” would not stop after the end of the Carolingians, but

it became a model for other cultural and power’s centre. Marek Thue Kretschmer in an

article about the notion of Translatio studii21, with particular attention about France as

new Greece, assumes that it is a typical image of the Renaissance of the 12th century.

Furthermore, this idea of new Athens would be recovered by the Universities, as Paris

and Oxford, because Ancient Greece and in particular Athens were considered as the

symbol of the origin of the philosophy and literature.

However, this is not the only reference to this theme during the Middle Ages. Concerning

the Frankish world, during the Merovingian era, a peculiar tradition, which narrated the

trojan origin of the Franks, is attested. This theme is strictly linked to the construction of

the mythological past, which usually was set in Troy.

It is possible to say that the two themes of this essay here meet each other. The Trojan

theme’s presence is found in many cultures and traditions, from Ancient Greece to the

Iceland of the 14th century.

1.2.The role of the Trojan theme and the Translatio imperii et studii

As it is possible to understand, the story of the fall of Troy is a sort of the root of our

literature and our identity: it looks like everything starts with a blind poet in the 12th

century BC in Greece, around three thousand years ago. After this moment, the story of

Troy and its destruction will be famous and popular, and it will have a really long life22.

It is essential to underline that the war between the Greeks and Trojans is the core of the

Trojan cycle. These events happened during the Mycenaean era, around the 12th century

20 “It is therefore that Greek science, transmitted by Greece to Rome, has now been transmitted

by Rome to France. As the importance of Paris increases, Paris naturally takes the place of

Athens” (Gilson, 1955, p. 183) 21 Kretschmer, December 2011. “Le concept de translatio implique un mouvement de savoir qui

passe de l'Antiquité gréco-romaine à la France du Moyen Age, souvent représenté comme un

passage d'Athènes à Rome, puis de Rome à Paris. C'est de là que vient la dénomination habituelle

de Paris comme une nouvelle Athènes.”(p.1106) (The concept of translatio implies a movement

of knowledge that passes from Greco-Roman antiquity to medieval France, often represented as

a passage from Athens to Rome, then from Rome to Paris. This is where the common name of

Paris comes from as a new Athens.) 22 Martin L. West (M. L. West 2001) has written a very peculiar analysis of the traditions of the

Homeric texts.

15

BC. The destruction of the city named Troy, also known as Ilium, happened during the

12th century BC. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann discovered the remains of the

reconstructions of nine cities, on the hills of Hissarlik, in the north of Anatoly. In the 19th

century, the archaeologist Blegen was able to reorder the stratification of these remains:

he identified the Homeric Ilium in the first phase of the VII stratum (VIIa). This stratum

presents the marks of a violent destruction and signs of arsons. Nowadays, the

archaeological research is trying to identify the stratums better, as some do not correspond

perfectly with the legends’ information. It is safe to affirm that what the poems say is the

historical truth. At the same time during this age, the ἀοιδοι23, the poets, composed songs

about this war, as always, and this is how the Trojan tradition started to be narrated. The

scholars believe that these legends and mythical stories were transmitted in oral form for

four centuries before obtaining a writing redaction. The oral poetry is very conservative,

so these legends were transmitted with their technique of composition and performing,

which is based on fixed scenes and on a formulary structure. The complete first redaction

is attributed to Homer24, a mythical poet that lived around the 8th or 7th century BC. He is

the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Only the first poem, the Iliad, directly refers

to the Trojan war. In fact, in this story, we find the Achaeans who set up a camp outside

Troy’s wall. The Iliad was created from a mindful work of synthesis of all trojan material.

Furthermore, this poem has an original structure, which made these poems the most

famous epic poems of all times, and because of that, they are considered the beginning of

European literature. Homer was the first great author, and he made an epochal venture

because he reunited the different mythological traditions about the Trojan cycle, and he

tried to give them unity. These poems are so famous that only after two centuries

Pisistratus tried to commission the first unitary version of them, which is attested by Plato,

in Hipparchus, and Cicero, in De Oratore. Furthermore, all the Greek polis wanted to

have one copy of the Iliad and Odyssey. Moreover, these texts were considered scholarly

since the 5th century BC. The production of written texts was not conventional because

of its high costs. At this time, only the masterpieces, which were considered the most

important ones, were written down. This copying did not happen in order to allow private

23 It is a professional cantor, a poet, and often a composer of epic poems. He sang the poems

playing the zither during feast or banquets. 24 The question about the real existence of Homer as a historical figure is still debated (West

2011). It is not the main topics of the present essay, so I do not enter in this question, but I believe

essential to underline this fact.

16

reading, but rather to preserve it over time. So, if it was decided to create a written

redaction of these texts, it is because they were very significant at that time. Nevertheless,

during the 6th and the 5th centuries BC every polis wanted to have one copy of the two

Homeric poems. It is possible to understand the importance of the work of Homer

because, after him, every author of Ancient Greece took inspiration from his work. One

famous example is the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, who took inspiration from

the material and the style of the epic poem. In particular, during the war between the

Greeks and the Persians, the two Homeric poems became important, probably because

the war between Trojan and Achaean seemed to remember the present conflicts and they

wanted to glorify the noble roots of the Greeks. One example is the historian Herodotus,

who used Homer as a source for the redaction of his Histories25. In facts, he quoted

Helen’s kidnapping as one of the first reason for the war between the Persians and the

Greeks.

In the Hellenic age, some written editions have been discovered for private reading. In

fact, at this time, the complete analysis of these texts and the complete editions are found

and attested. Many grammaticus26 at this time were employed at the great library of

Alexandria of Egypt, where they worked on the edition and studies of many classical

texts: two of these were the Homeric poems. In particular, Zenodotus of Ephesus made

the poem’s division in the twenty-fourth book. He “is described in the Suda as having

been the first ‘corrector’ of Homer”27. Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of

Samothraki also worked on the edition of these texts. Because of their editions, around

150 B.C., all the manuscript of Iliad and Odyssey had the same number of verses, but this

does not allow to define it as a canonical text. Different editions are found with

differences from the original text.

The life of this theme continues during the Roman age, with very particular attention

during the I century A.D. And this is very interesting. The Roman world came in contact

with Greece during the 2nd century B.C. The conquest started in the 146 BC with the

destruction of Corinth, and it ended with the transformation of Greece in a Roman

Province in 27 BC. In this period, many of the aristocratic classes came in contact with

Greek traditions and culture. Also, in these years that the Scipio’s circle was created. This

25 Herodotus is the first historian. He composed the Histories in the 5th century BC. This text talks

about the war between the Persians and the Greeks. 26 Today we can call them philologist 27 M. L. West 2001, 33

17

circle was linked to the Greek culture, and they started to study these traditions. This is

the same period in which Cicero claimed his theory about the conquest of the Greek

culture. However, the most crucial step in the Trojan theme’s story is linked with the

ascension to power of the Gens Claudia. The significant recovery of the Trojan theme

happened because of Vergil ad his Aeneid. In fact, during the government of Octavian

Augustus, the passage from the Repubblica to the Empire started, and in periods of

significant political changes, the leaders felt the necessity to find legitimations to their

power and to create consensus28. This happened at this time: the Maecenas’ circle created

many literary works to glorify the history of Rome and to legitimize the government of

August and his family. One of these masterpieces is the Aeneid of Vergil. In this epic

poem, the story of Rome’s past and the future Empire’s prophecy are narrated, as well as

the celebration of the Octavian’s gens. This is a sort of representation of the idea of the

translation imperii, because the Aeneid narrates how Aeneas ran away from Troy. Aeneas

did it, and he permitted the transmission of the power of Troy to Rome. Furthermore,

another link between the two cities was represented by the Palladium, which was the

statue of the goddess Athena. Servius, in his commentary to the Aeneid29, tells us that: the

Palladium arrived in Rome with Aeneas. This statue was collected in the temple of Vesta

in Rome, as one of the Pignora Imperii, which were guarantees of the perpetual domain

of Rome. So, it is possible to notice the weight of this mythical derivation. Also, it is

essential to underline the idea of the primacy of the Trojan element on the Greek one. In

fact, from this time, when it is necessary to create a mythical past, the focus will be on

the Trojan heritage and not on the Greek one. While Herodotus and the other Greek

authors used the story of the war of Troy to glorify their glorious past during the conflicts

with the Persian, the Roman wanted to find a new origin avoiding the Greeks. In

particular, in the 1st century AD, other relevant texts narrated the myth of Troy, and two

are originally Greek, the Ephimeris of Dyttis Cretesis and the De Excidio Troiae Historia

of Dares Phrygius30. Only the second one, the Dares’ text, had more fortune during the

Middle Ages, because Dares and his text were considered pro-trojans and because the

author was considered a Trojan himself, while Dyttis and his text were considered pro-

28 I refer to the book “The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus” edited by Galinsky

(Galinsky 2005) to have an overview of the period and the figure of August. 29 The Aeneid does not report the episode of the Palladium’s recovery by Aeneas. It was on

Servius in his commentary to the Virgilian opera to refer this. To understand better the question,

I refer to the essay of Lagioia Alessandro (Lagioia 2006). 30 The analysis of this text is in chapter 3.

18

Greeks, because of that he had more fortune in the Byzantine world. However, both texts

were the primary sources on the Trojan war during the Middle Ages, even if Virgil was

the crucial base for the Trojan theme’s permanence in Middle Ages:

“Virgil’s Aeneid, which seamlessly grafts the founding of Rome onto the fall of Troy,

helped establish the cultural capital of the Trojan War for the Latin West, although

the notion of a Trojan foundation for Rome pre-dates Virgil by several centuries.”31

1.3.The medieval construction of a mythical Trojan past during Middle Ages

At this point, the line of the translatio imperii et studi meets the Trojan theme’s line.

“L’idea di translatio corre ora entro i diversi ‘miti di fondazione’ che cercano

nella diaspora troiana le origini dei regni d’Inghilterra e di Francia”32.

During the Merovingian era, three texts narrated the legend of an original derivation from

Troy and Aeneas of the Frankish kingdom: these texts are the Chronicle of Fredegar and

the Liber Historiae Francorum.

“The story, stripped of its variants, tells us that the Franks were once Trojans who

lived for a while near the sea of Azov and then in the lands of the lower Danube

before coming to the Lower Rhine where, through conflict with the Romans, they

forced their way into Gaul”33.

The first text is written during the 7th century, and the author is unknown. The Chronicle

narrated the events of the world from the creation to the 642 AD. In this text, also the

genealogy of the Merovingian kings is narrated, and the author told that they descended

from Troy, in particular from Priam, who was their first king. Furthermore, he said that

after the fall of the city, the Trojans were divided into two groups, the first became

Macedonians, from who Alexander the Great descended. Ulysses’ treachery forced the

other group to travel through many regions, and because of that, they chose Francio as a

king. After many adventures, they arrived and settled between the Rhine, the Danube and

the sea. This episode is the beginning of the Frankish settlement. It also narrated the

conflict between the Romans and the alliance with the Saxons. Moreover, the anonymous

author tells about a third group: the Turks. He also added the derivation of the Roman

from Troy, from the same Family of the Phrygians. The Historia was written around 792

31 Desmond 2016, 251 32 “the idea of translatio now runs within the different "Foundation myths", which seek the origins

of the Trojan diaspora in the kingdom of England and France” (Fenzi 01 July 2015, Issue 1, 193) 33 Gerbeding 1987, 13

19

and, as for the Chronicle, we do not know who the author is. In this text, the origins and

the deeds of the Neustrian Franci and their Merovingian kings are narrated. In the first

chapter, the destruction of Troy by Ulysses’ treachery and the escaping of king Aeneas

in Italy are narrated. Priam and Antenor, with the rest of the Trojans, arrived in

Pannonians, and there they built a great city, which is called Sicambria, and there they

lived for many years and grew into a great people. In chapter 2 it is possible to read the

definition of this people as Franks: it is said that the emperor Valentinian called them

Franks, “which means ‘wild’ in the Attic Language because of the hardness and bravery

of their hearts” (Gerberding, 1987, p. 173). I assume that this is a sort of construction of

the origin of the Frankish people. This happens again after the fall of the Carolingian

Empire. One example of that is offered by Goffredo of Viterbo, who celebrated

Charlemagne as a restorer of Rome and claimed him as the point of conjunction of the

two lines of the Trojan bloodline: the western and German line from Priam thanks to his

father Pippin; and the Romans from his mother Berta34. Furthermore Benoît de Sainte-

Maure narrated the legend of the Trojan origins of the Duke of Normandy in his

Chronique des ducs de Normandie around 1175 on request of the king Henry II

Plantagenet (1133-1189), and he was also the author of the Roman de Troie, in which he

retold in poetry the events of the Dares text. These are only a few examples of this

tradition in France but among the most exemplar and essential.

The same link between translatio imperii et studii and Troy is found in the British

literature too, in the Matter of Britain.

“While the Anglo-Saxon elite self-consciously rejected Trojan ancestry and

categorized the matter of Troy as fictional, the ninth-century Latin chronicle

composed in Wales—Nennius’ Historia Britonum—invokes Brutus, son of Ascanius

and grandson of Aeneas, as the founder of Britain.”35

Also, the Historia Regum Britanniae, written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th

century, is a famous example. This text is particularly famous for the story of King Arthur,

but the author wanted to explain the origins of the kingdom, and he did the same as the

other did for the Franks, in fact, “according to the ninth-century anonymous Historia

Brittorum, the eponymous founder of Britain was Brutus, the great-grandson of

34 “Gotifredi Viterbiensis opera:” Speculum regum 1.684–90 e 2.1450–52; Pantheon, Particula

23.11–13; Memoria Seculorum 95 35 Desmond 2016, 252

20

Aeneas”36. Geoffrey took inspiration by this tradition about Brutus, and made a prophecy

for him, as there was one for Aeneas. So, in the first book of the Historia it is possible to

read:

“Brutus, to the west, beyond the kingdom of the Gaul lies an island of the ocean,

surrounded by the sea; an island of the ocean where giants once lived, but now it

is deserted and waiting for your people. Sail to it, it will be your home for ever. It

will furnish your children with a new Troy. from your descendants will arise kings,

who will be masters of the whole world” (HRB book 1; Reeve and Wright 2007,

20).

The story goes on with Brutus’ arrival with the other Trojans in Britain, on the island of

Albion, after a series of adventures. Here, on the bank of the Thames, he built the city of

Trinovatum, “the New Troy”.

This text is significant for Trójumanna saga’s history and the use of the Myth of Troy in

Iceland. After the redaction of the Historia Regum Britanniae, many other writers

translated this story in their language, and one example is the case of the Romain de Brut

written in French by Wace, a Norman cleric of Caen in 1155, while Britain and Normandy

had the same ruler. Furthermore, there is another essential translation of this text: the Old

Icelandic Breta Sögur. This saga tells about Arthur’s kingdom and his ancestors and, in

particular, it tells about the conquest of Iceland by Arthur, as it is also said in the original

Latin text. This text demonstrates the importance of this legend for Iceland’s history and,

under this point of view, it is possible to understand why the Icelanders translated this

text. It is also important to underline this fact: the Breta sögur is strictly linked with the

Trójumanna saga, which is the focus of this essay. These two sagas are usually presented

together, as a sort of duo in which the Trojumanna saga is a sort of prologue about the

reason of the migration of the Trojans, while the Breta sögur tells about the migration37.

1.4.Translation and translatio

Both these two sagas are examples of translatio from Latin to vernacular. This

phenomenon is really fascinating and essential for this field of study.

36 Fulton 2009, 48 37 See Würth 2006

21

“The foreign literature conventions did not replace existing forms, but rather served

as the impetus for the enrichment of the native literary language and of its poetic

and thematic representation” (Sif Rikhardsdottir, 2012, p. 1).

The translation is never neutral, but it could be the base for cultural formation’s process,

and it is useful to understand what developments represent the meeting point of two

different cultures. Copeland38 assumes that the translation not only reshapes a text, but it

is also an appropriation of the literary authorship. Furthermore, she claims that the

translation is strictly linked to the rhetoric and the hermeneutics. As we will see for the

case of the Trójumanna saga, the translation is not made word by word, but the author

made some changes for his audience. “In a manuscript culture to translate means also to

turning of a prior text into something more completely itself, or something more than

what it literally is”39. One reason could be the difficulty to explain a concept written in

Latin in his language; other many reasons, cultural, political, or social also could explain

the changes. I believe that the key to understanding the changes is to analyse the context

and public of the text.

The specific case of Medieval Iceland and its construction of the myth of the origins

followed the same way of the other European lands. In particular, this link is created by

the compelling case of the translations of Latin texts, as is the case of the Dares’ De

Excidio Troiae Historiae and the Old Icelandic Trójumanna saga.

How did the Latin culture and the Icelandic one come to be in touch? Also, how did this

meeting evolve with time? Moreover, how was the theme of the Trojan origin built? These

are the questions I will try to answer in the following chapter.

38 Copeland 1995 39 Burns 1980, 125

22

2 The Icelandic Troy: a construction of a prehistory

2.1 The process of Acculturation in Iceland

During the Middle Ages, the story of Troy and its descendants was strongly vibrant, and

its tradition was huge. We can find this theme in very different literary genres, from the

historical one to the chivalric poems. In many lands, Troy itself represented an originating

land where their ancestors lived, as the case of the Franks and the Liber Francorum or for

the Brits and the Historia Regum Britanniae. Moreover, both these countries were both

in direct contact with the Roman Empire, and in particular, the Frankish Kingdom was

considered the legitimate heir of the Roman Empire with the coronation of Charlemagne

in 800 A.D., December 25th. We could not say the same for Iceland, because it is a very

young settlement and, because of that, this island has no direct contact with the Roman

Empire. The settlers’ arrival on the island is attested around 870, and they came from the

mainland Scandinavia and the previous settlements in the British Isles. However, contacts

between the people of the mainland and the Latin-Roman culture are attested. During the

last part of the Empire, the Romans themselves met the German people, which had the

same culture as the Scandinavians, and Tacitus, in particular, wrote about the Germans in

De Germania. More important and direct encounters with the Roman culture are attested

during the Late Antiquity and the first part of the Middle Ages. For example, by the

bersekers’ presence at the court of the Emperor of Constantinople, or by some Frankish

documents which attested the presence of one legation to the court of Charlemagne; and

last but not least, the acquisition of Normandy by Duke Rollo in 911 AD. In particular,

for the story of Iceland, an important step was the raids on the English territory, from the

first attack to the Lindisfarne’s monastery at 793 and the following settlements on

England. All these facts demonstrate the presence of contacts between the Christian-Latin

world and the Norse population, but, despite this, the first settlers of Iceland were still

linked to the old traditions of the mainland Scandinavia and, in particular, to the old pagan

religion40. The conversion is the key to the process of acculturation, which brings to the

production of the Icelandic literature. Icelanders met the Christian religion, and, as a

40 “The Icelanders must have known something about Christianity since the beginning of their

story. A considerable number of the settlers had been baptized before they came to Iceland, and

had lived among Christians in the British Isles. Their descendant lapsed into paganism, and there

were none but pagans in Iceland for about a hundreds years”. (Turville, 1953, p. 48)

23

consequence, the Latin-Christian culture, since the end of the 10th century and the

beginning of the 11th century41. The official conversion of the country took place during

the Alþing between 999 and 1000, due to the will of king Óláfr Tryggvason, as also

happened in Norway. In Iceland, the acceptance of the new religion was not violent. The

official assumption of the new religion was discussed during the Þing as all the other

dispute: in fact, the lawman, Þorgeirr Þorkelsson, proposed the case, which was accepted,

so all people should become Christians, even if the old laws permitted to make sacrifices

to the ancient gods or to eat the horse’s meat. Only a few years later, these ancient

practices were prohibited with other heathen customs. So, the conversion was not an act

of faith, but a pacific political act, because of that, the process of full acceptance of the

new religion was long. The idea of a long period of conversion is typical of the

Christianism in general. Orri Vésteinsson assumes that the conversion was only a

political decision. The scholar does not believe that long Icelandic acquaints to the

Christianism is real, because “this explanation is contradicted by the archaeological

evidence which suggests that in the tenth century burial practices at least were thoroughly

heathen.”42 Moreover, the settlements nature and its language made the process longer.

At that time, Iceland had a very small population that was dispersed all around the island.

So, it was necessary to have a few selected priests who were able to move around the

country. Also, these priests had to have an education suitable for the diffusion of the

Christian word. So, the Church and the clergy had to accept the fact that the preaching of

the Christianism should be in vernacular and not in Latin because the common people did

not understand it. So, after Christianism’s affirmation, the first step was to educate the

clergy. The same happened in the other Nordic countries. The interest of the Roman

Church for the new part of Christianity was important and attested. During the centuries,

and in particular during the 11th and the 12th century, the relation with the Roman Church

and the Nordic countries were quite important. In 1079 pope Gregory VII asked the king

to send to the Curia the highborn Danish young ones to be educated in the “divine laws”.

While in Iceland, only the Mosfell family was able to understand the importance of the

education of the clergy. From the establishment of the Christianism in Iceland, this family

had a significant role inside the ecclesiastical institution. One of its members, Ísleifr, in

1056 became the first bishop of Iceland (1056-180). Before his consecration, he had

41 On the history of conversion, see GrØnliw 2017, Vésteinsson 2000, Winroth 2012 42 (Vésteinsson 2000, 19)

24

studied at Herford in Saxony and so his son Gizurr, who was also bishop (1082-1118)

after his father. During the bishopric of this last one, the country was divided into two

sees, Skálholt and Hólar, of which the first bishop was Jón Ǫgmundarson, who built the

first cathedral, and also the first cathedral-school. However, he did more: he brought two

foreign tutors as teachers when he came back from his consecration journey. A

contemporary of him was Sæmundr Sigfússon of Oddi, and he was also educated abroad,

in France. These examples demonstrate that the Icelanders needed to be educated about

the Latin and Christian texts and traditions abroad because they did not have the necessary

knowledge and preparation. Thanks to the works of these prominent figures, a clerical

education could also be offered in Iceland. At that time the most important centres of

culture were the episcopal sees of Skálholt and Hólar, but also the farms of Oddi and

Haukadalur. The culture became a sign of power. So, the sons of the chieftains began to

study the Latin texts, which the Icelandic clergy was able to teach. No king ruled over

Iceland, so the power was in the hand of a very powerful aristocracy, which understood

from the beginning the importance of the clergy. Now the aristocrats tried to control not

only the role of chieftains but also the high position of the clergy. Because of that, these

private families financed both the cultural centre and trips to study abroad. Many

chieftains and good men, as Ari himself said, sent their children to these centres of culture,

because they understood the importance of having a good education, and to be linked with

the clergy: to have a kinsman in the clergy was necessary for the political power in

Iceland. During the years, the education of the seculars, in particular chieftains, lawmen,

and also the clergy, became the same, and the centres of culture were no longer only the

episcopal sees or the monasteries, but also the farmer of the chieftains and important men.

Thanks to the works of the Icelandic clergy, the process of textualization could start. The

presence of liturgical works and educational books at the episcopal seats is attested during

the 11th century, but we do not have any of these books, because they are now lost, we

have only the fragments of the liturgical works from the 10th and the 11th centuries.

Probably all these texts were not the work of local people, but they were manuscripts

from abroad, which were imported for the education of the clergy and the aristocracy.

There was a problem: the Latin language is too difficult for a country like Iceland, and

Scandinavia in general. From the middle of the 12th century, the Latin writings were

translated into vernacular to complete the conversion’s process. Sian GrØnlie assumes

that the link between the conversion and the translation is essential to complete this

process, and he underlines that: “It may be relevant that the Norse verb for ‘to convert’ is

25

snúa, which can also mean ‘to translate’; conversion and translation are closely

connected as creative and literary acts.”43 Because of these figures’ work and these texts

presence, the complete knowledge of theology, and so the Latin culture, was achieved

around 1200.

“During this period (1200-1350)44 all the Nordic countries, except Finland, may be

considered part of the western Christendom, not only in the sense that people had

been converted to Christianity, but also in the sense that the ecclesiastical

organization was becoming relatively developed” (Bagge, 1984, p.5)

The new Latin culture and language were introduced within a strong old tradition of

legends. These two different cultures started to influence each other, and in this way, a

process of acculturation could start. The conversion and the work of acculturation

operated by the Christian Church permitted a great goal: the transition from the orality to

the vernacular literature since the 11th century. Guðvarður Már Gunnlaugsson assumed

that “writing in the vernacular with Latin script began in these countries in the course of

the 11th century, even though there is no reliable documentation before the 1117 to prove

this” (Guðvarður Már, 2005). Actually, before the advent of the Christian Church in

Iceland, the culture, the law and the traditions were only transmitted orally45. Before the

introduction of the Latin alphabet, the Icelanders knew and used the runic alphabet, but it

was suitable only for short sentences, but not for transmission of long texts. Furthermore,

the books’ culture was introduced only with the Christianism, which is known as the

religion of the Book. After the conversion, the Icelanders adopted the new alphabet and,

at the beginning, they tried to translate the Latin texts, and later on to write their sagas,

but they met some difficulties. In the 12th century, it became necessary to write a

grammatical treatise to try to settle the new use: this was the First Grammatical Treaties.

This text is a significant source because not only it presents a precise regulation of the

language and the use of the letters, but also proves that, before the 12th century, there were

attempts of the redaction of texts in vernacular, in particular, the treatise reports what

genre of texts were written:

43 GrØnliw 2017, 125 44 I also want to add the fact that, from this period ,the presence of Nordic students was attested

in all the most prestigious Universities of the Middle Ages, Bologna, Paris and Oxford. All these

students are for the major part from Denmark and Norway, Icelandic students were not attested,

probably there are no documents about them, or they did not stay for the entire period of study.

The source for this is Sverre Bagge, Nordic Students at foreign Universities until 1600, in

Scandinavian Journal of History, 1984. 45 On the process from orality to literacy (Quinn 2000)

26

“laws and genealogies, or interpretations of sacred writings, or also that historical

lore that Ari Þorgilsson has recorded in books with such reasonable

understanding”46.

So, the conversion permitted to achieve the phenomenon of the acculturation of Iceland,

as also Orri Vésteinsson assumes: “the Church is also the most obvious channel through

which ideas were transmitted to Iceland” (Vésteinsson, 2000, p. 1). So, it is possible to

assume that this phenomenon of acculturation could not be neutral, and all the following

redactions of texts and sagas, of all genres, were influenced by this channel. I think it is

important to underline that this is not only typical of Iceland, but all the ancient cultures

and traditions were influenced by the time and by the Christian religion, as happened to

the texts of Vergil and Ovid, and of other authors of the Latinity, as I will explain in

chapter 3. The same happened in Iceland and its sagas. Judy Quinn claims that:

“The effect of the Christian ideology on all aspects of Scandinavian culture was

profound and in relation to writing practise the conversion effected more than a

simple change-over of scripts” (Quinn, 2000).

One of the first influences of the new skills and the conversion was the redaction of the

laws. Before, they had only been repeated orally by the lögsögumaðr, the law-speaker.

After they had written them, the codex of the Gragas of 1117 being one of them, the role

of the law-speaker lost its power. Moreover, if in a dispute, there were some discordances

between the texts, the ecclesiastical copy’s version was the winner and the one to be

followed. This fact demonstrates how the introduction of the clergy changed completely

the structure of society. In the beginning, many law-speakers were not able to read, so the

clergy was the officer of the transcription and the reading of the laws. If the influence of

the Church was active in the redaction of the codes of Law47, for sure, it was really crucial

in the literature too, in particular about the texts which the Christianity had imported,

which means biblical text, commentaries and theological writings48. Some of the first

imported texts were, for example, the Physiolugus, a bestiary, and of course the Bible and

46 “Lög ok áttvísi eða þýðingar helgar eða svá þau hin spaklegu fræði er Ari Þorgilsson hefir á

bækr sett af skynsamlegu viti” cf. The First Grammatical Treatise, 208-209 47 I want to add the fact that the Church influence also the travel: many Icelanders and Nordic

people are attested in “Christian Voyages” as the pilgrimage to Rome or Jerusalem, which are

both narrated in Sagas as the Knytlinga saga. One example is the case of the Danish king Eiríkr,

who made pious progress across Europe and died in Cyprus in 1103 before reaching the Holy

land. Also, some of them took part in the crusades in the Holy land, as the young Norwegian king

Sigurðr, who helped King Baldwin of Jerusalem in the siege of Sidon in 1110. 48 About the religious text, see Óskarsson 2005 and Gunnar 1995

27

other doctrinal writings. Many Icelandic monasteries were Benedictine, and this explains

the presence of the translated version of the rule of Saint Benedict. Moreover, for the

work of conversion, it was essential to explain the theology through sermons and

homilies, because of that they wrote down the Icelandic Homily book, which is a

collection of more than 50 homilies with some additional material, written in the 12th

century. The study of texts as the Physiologus is attested by fragments of sermons, as the

AM237 fol. The redaction of exempla was popular in Iceland, one example of this was

the Dialogues of Gregory the Great or the Vitae Patrum, which was translated into old

Norse probably around 1300. Attestations of the translation of the Old Testament is found

in the Stjorn, which was composed in three parts, of which the second one is the eldest,

and contains only the translation of some parts of the Bible, while the others presented

more comments than translations. We have no clear attestations of translations of biblical

texts in the first part of the conversion, but as I said, during the preaching the priest had

to quote passes of the Sacred Scriptures in vernacular, so that the common people could

understand the meaning of these words. A source for this phenomenon is represented by

the Life of the Saints, in which these preachings are narrated in vernacular. There are also

attested proofs of moral treatises, as the translation of Alcuin’s De Virtutibus et Vitiis in

the Norwegian Homily book before 1300. The education of the people and the literate

men, occurred through the Church’s channel, for example, Ari Froði was educated at the

school of the priest Teiter.

This monopoly of the written culture had influenced the redactions of the sagas. As I said,

the vehicle of writing was the Latin alphabet and, moreover, the Icelanders learned to

write thanks to the Latin texts, and not only the religious ones. The 12th and in particular

the 13th centuries are considered the Renaissance of the literature in the Nordic countries.

The Scandinavian erudite people of this time had absorbed the literature from the south

of Europe, as the Roman tradition, but they did non neglect their native traditions and

used the new alphabet and culture to write about them and their origin, as we could see

in the next subchapter. Theodore Anderson49, for example, assumes that the description

of Brynhild Völsunga saga reminds Virgil’s characterization of Dido in the Aeneid. Saxo

himself used some Virgilian reminiscences and other Roman echoes in the Gesta

Danorum. He also wrote in Latin. From this time on, going to study in Europe or Norway

was quite common, and the Saga of the Bishops attested this practice, despite the reform

49 Andersson 1980, 241

28

movement. So, influences from European culture were stronger than before, in particular

during the Kingdom of Hákon Hákonasor. The courtly style was affirmed on the line of

the chivalric and courtly culture of France and the European continent in general. For

example, this is the period of the redaction of the Riddarasögur50, which is the chivalric

romance. This genre of texts is strictly linked with the theme of the translation. During

this period, different Latin works were translated in Old Icelandic. It is essential to

underline the fact that, these translations of the pseudo-historical texts are not always

precise: quoting Cicero, they were translated “non verbum pro verbo”, but they are a sort

of a personal reworking of the author, in fact sometimes the writer, as we will see in the

analysis of the Trójumanna saga.

The Ancient Sagas 51are another example of the translated text. Stephanie Würth

considers this type of saga as pseudo-histories52. These sagas are five, and they are about

the Matter of Rome, which is strictly linked with the Trojan one. The scope of this saga

was to give information about the past. One of the first examples is the Rómverja saga,

which was translated around 1180. It is a combination of three different texts: two of

Sallust, the Bellum Iugurthinum and the Coniuratio Catilinae, and one of Lucan, the

Pharsalia or the Bellum civile. The first two talk about the Roman republican period,

while the last one is about the early phase of the Empire of Rome. During the Middle

Ages, the interest for the Roman Republic was not so popular, but the Icelanders probably

appreciated the image of a land without a king, because during this first phase they were

independent, and they did not have one, at least until 1263, when Iceland became part of

the Kingdom of Norway. In fact, between 930 and 1262, the historians talk about the

period of the Free State or the Commonwealth period. In this view, it is possible to

understand the interest in texts as the Sallust’s ones or Lucan’s.

Another example is the Gyðinga saga, which is about Jewish history from the death of

Alexander the Great until the death of Pontius Pilate, in particular between 333 BC and

50 AD. The sources of this saga are the first of the two Apocryphal Books of the

Maccabees for the first part, supplemented by the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor,

which is the primary source for the second part. This saga is not so popular as the other

ancient one, only a few attestations of it are known. Moreover, the Alexanders saga was

50 About the romance and the Riddarasögur, see Glauser 2005 and Barnes 2000 51 About the Veraldar saga, see (S. Würth, Der "Antikenroman" in der Islandischen Literatur des

Mittlalters 1998) (Würth, Historiography and Pseudo-History 2005) 52 Würth, Der "Antikenroman" in der Islandischen Literatur des Mittlalters 1998.

29

written in this period, and it narrates about the story of Alexander the Great, in particular,

represents the translation of the Latin text of Walter of Châtillon’s Alexandreis written in

1180. This saga is a free reinterpretation of the Latin verses translated into Old Norse

prose, because it was addressed to an audience which was interested in history and

political facts, and did not have a strong knowledge of the classical history. Two other

examples of the translation of the Latin Texts are the Trójumanna saga and the Breta

Sögur53. Like the other ones, these are not simple translations. Moreover, they are

somewhat different. They could be enumerated with the Fornaldarsögur, namely the

sagas of the pre-history of Iceland because, in a certain way, they were a sort of narration

of the pre-history of the Icelandic settlers.

2.2 The construction of the origin: the myth of Troy

With the introduction of the Latin alphabet, the Icelanders started to write sagas and

reported their ancient traditions. Furthermore, the Norse literature and the Icelandic one,

in particular, have an extraordinary place inside the Medieval European literature,

because they were varied, extensive and original, as Margaret Clunies Ross reported

(Clunies Ross, 2000). In particular, it is interesting to find such a significant number of

productions of manuscripts and texts in Iceland, if we think about how the society was

composed mostly of a small farming population on an island which is far from the

continent’s town and centres of culture. From the beginning, the Icelanders were

considered as great historians, because of their excellent knowledge of the past and the

past of their Norwegian ancestors. “Indeed, the Icelanders have cultivated their own

history with a vigour out of proportion to their resources and population size”54. One of

the most important sources for the historiographical works in the Middle Ages

Scandinavia was the skaldic poetry, which was often quoted in order to give a sort of

historical value to their stories. In particular, “they wrote about their own history in the

past and the present, and equally readily about Norwegian kings, the hero of prehistory

and the history of foreign countries” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 11). The fame of great

historians was known and recognised by the others and in particular at the court of the

Norwegian kings, where the Icelanders found a proper place as poets, historians and good

storytellers. When King Sverrir of Norway wanted to write his biography, he asked the

53 About the Trójumanna saga, see chapter 3. About the Breta sögur, see chapters 1 and 3. 54 Whaley 2000, 161

30

Icelandic abbot Karl Jónsson, from the monastery of Þingeyrar, to write the first part of

the text. Also, King Magnus Lawmender asked Sturla Þórðarson to write a saga about his

kingdom and the ruling of his father, Hákon Hákonarson. Because of this, it is possible

to assume, as Clunies Ross does, that “Icelanders were professionals, a kind of literary

Swiss Guard, which was called upon when it became necessary to relate history in poetry

or in writing” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 13). However, why were they so interested in

historical literature?

Their patrimony of oral traditions was great, and they also received strong influences

from the European culture. Furthermore, they firmly believed that the literature could

give immortality to the deeds and the protagonists. This is the reason why they developed

the idea of a “useful past” (Whaley, 2000). The historical texts had two main scopes:

prodesse et delecatare, namely to teach and to enjoy the narration of the past. In

particular, since the ancient times, there was the idea “To later generations the lives

commemorated are source of moral or political education, furnishing examples of the

good deeds of good men to emulate, and the bad to avoid” (Whaley, 2000, p. 176), which

is similar to the idea of Cicero of “Historia magistra vitae” (Cicero, De Oratore 2, 9).

However, this strong attention to history and to traditions is very peculiar. They had a

problem because they knew that the settlement on the island represented a great cesura in

their history. They felt the necessity to understand what was their past and their role inside

the European history. They found an answer in the Ancient sagas and in particular in the

Trojan matter. This influence came from England and in particular from the tradition of

migration of the people from Troy. Faulkes55 claims that the construction of genealogies

of this type and in particular linked to the Gods are typical of the Anglo-Saxon literature.

On the base of this influence, the Icelandic author created their mythological past. This

construction from Asia was already found in France and Britain, and it had origin in

Rome56. Furthermore, it is essential also to report this fact: the Scandinavians, and in

particular the Norwegians, believed that their kings were in a certain way linked to the

British kings, because one of their first kings, Hákon son of Haraldr Finehair, had been

fostered at the court of the English king Æthelstan. Moreover, the Icelanders considered

themselves heirs of the Norwegian kings. So, if they were the heirs of the English kings,

who were descendants of the Trojans, then also the ancestors of the Icelanders came from

55 (Faulkes 1978-79) 56 See chapter 1

31

Troy. This story is also perfect for them because it is a tale of migration, as their past was

the migration from Scandinavia to Iceland. This elaborate creation of genealogical

inheritance and the migration of Aeneas and his fellows was perfect for the construction

of the pre-history of the Icelanders, which could give the possibility to introduce them

inside the world History, and to make this past their own. Furthermore, this creation is

comprehensible in a world strongly influenced by the Latin and Christian world view.

Because of that, they created genealogies, which presented this derivation from the Asia

of their Gods, the Æsir. Snorri himself used the similarity between the names to create a

connection and a source. Furthermore, they adopted the theory of the translatio studii,

when they claimed their language and poetic arts were brought there by Oðin from Asia57.

To demonstrate this, I consider important to illustrate some texts which presented this

idea. Ari Frodi in his Íslendigabók quoted it, but also Snorri in the Edda and the

Heimskringla, and The Third Grammatical Treatise report this idea of derivation from

East (Troy).

2.2.1 Ari inn Froði Þorgilsson and the Íslendigabók

Ari is one of the most prominent authors of the Norse Literature. It is possible to assume

that he was the first historian of the Icelandic literature because he was the only one

mentioned by name in the First Grammatical Treaties. In this text, he is described as inn

froði, which means the Knowledgeable. This was a nickname of great honour, and it was

a sign of great respect, in particular, this “title” was used for the erudite people of that

time.

“Many of the greatest intellectuals of the Icelandic þjóðveldi (‘commonwealth’)

were distinguished by the honorific nickname inn fróði, ‘the wise, learned’ or the

near-synonymous inn vitri, and people referred to as (sann-)fróðir, vitrir, ecc.”

(Whaley, 2000, p. 162).

He lived during the 11th century, and his masterpiece was the Íslendigabók, which is one

of the most essential works of the historical tradition of the Icelandic and Norse culture.

Clunies Ross assumes:

“Íslendigabók is a pioneering work in which Ari marks out the main lines of a

history that were never subsequently altered, selects the most important events, and

establishes a chronology” (Clunies Ross, 2000, p. 15).

57 Whaley 2000, 178-179

32

He probably wrote other texts as well, but only the Íslendigabók survived. We know that

in the past there was for sure another version because, in the prologue of the Hemskringla,

Snorri quoted part of Ari’s work, which is not found in the text we have today. Snorri had

probably read the first version of the text, in which the history of the kings of Norway,

Denmark and England are narrated, but we do not know.

Ari is considered a historian because of his style and his purpose to write only about real

historical events, using a very incisive style and without the additions of the

ornamentations. He lived during the 11th century, during the first part of his life he lived

at Haukadal with his cousin - the famous priest, and future bishop - Teitir, son of the

bishop Ísleir. With him, Ari studied and learned to write and to read the Latin language

and the vernacular, the Old Icelandic. He was the first historian to write an entire text in

his vernacular using the Latin alphabet. He wrote the text between 1123 and 1133, and

his primary source was the oral tradition, in particular, the narration of his grandfather

and his cousin, the priest Teitir. Because of his education, two bishops asked him to write

the Íslendigabók, Thorlakr and Ketill, and they checked his final work with the help of

the priest Sæmundr, as it is said in the prologue of the text. This book was created inside

the clerical world and due to the desire of two prominent figures of the society of that

time. In particular, they were interested in the narration of the settlement and the

conversion of Iceland. So Ari did it: at the beginning of the text, he wrote about the first

settlers, about the first legislation, the institution of the Alþing, about the dating of the

years, the division of the lands in districts, the colonization of Greenland, the advent of

Christianity in Iceland, the conversion of the foreign bishops and, in the end, he wrote

about the life of the bishop Ísleir and the bishop Gizurr.

So, Ari gave the Icelanders an identity and a history, but he did more. In fact, after the

narration of these events, in a sort of appendix, the Íslendigabók presents two genealogies:

one is about the bloodlines of the Icelandic bishops, while the second is about the

ancestors of the Ynglingar and of the inhabitants of Breidafjord. In this second one, it is

possible to read that: the first ancestor is “Yngvi Tyrkia konungr” (Halldór, 1930, 72),

which means “Yngvi the king of the Turks”, so it is possible to notice that Ari believe

that one of the first ancestors of the Icelanders came and lived in Turkey so, this way, the

theory of the offspring of the kings of Sweden, of Norway and in the end of the Icelanders,

from the Turks is demonstrated. In fact, after the name of Yngvi, it is possible to read “II

Njörðr Svía konungr” (Halldór, 1930, 72), namely Njordr king of Sweden. The third of

the genealogy is Freyr, which is the same name of the God, and at number 32 it is possible

33

to read: “XXXII Óleifr feilan, sá er fyrstr bygði þeira á Íslandi” (Halldór, 1930, 72), which

means Oleif Feilan who was the first who settled in Iceland. Ari presented the Icelanders

as the descendants of the Kings of Norway and Sweden but in particular as the Turks’

descendants.

The first ancestor was Yngvi, the king of the Turks, and it is possible to assume that it

was based on the influence of the medieval legend of Troy. Faulkes assumes that:

“he may also have chosen the Turks because in pseudo-Fredegar both Franks and

Turks are said to have been descended from survivors of Troy, and the Turks to

have settled near the Danube in the Thracian area.”58

This supposition links the oriental origin’s idea with the Franks’ one59. Furthermore, in

this appendix, a second Yngvi was quoted, as number 14, while Frey is the 3rd. In the old

tradition, this idea of an original Yngvi king of the Turks is not found: only the fusion of

Frey and him can be found, as they are only one person. This is an unicum of Ari. So, It

is crucial to consider this appendix, because:

“There is no accompanying narrative that survives but evidently Ari had in mind

some idea of a migration of euhemerised gods from the Black Sea area to

Scandinavia, perhaps in imitation of other European legends of the foundation of

nations by survivors of the Trojan war, though it is impossible to know exactly what

Ari meant to imply by the word Tyrkir.”60

2.2.2 Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)

The attestation of this offspring from Asia did not end with Ari. It is possible to find it

attested in two of Snorri’s texts, the Snorra Edda and the Heimskringla.

Snorri was one of the most important figures of medieval Iceland, and he belonged to a

potent family of Icelandic chieftains. His foster-father John Loftson educated him at

Odda, an important centre of culture. He was the son of Saemund the Wise, who was a

famous learned priest with a remarkable knowledge of the history of Iceland and Norway.

Here Snorri was educated, and he learned to write and read, he studied Latin, poetry and

law. During his life he also lived in Norway, at the court of King Hákon, so he could get

in touch and know all the new influences from Europe. Because of that, he became a

famous historian. Two of his works are crucial for this essay: the Snorra Edda and the

58 Faulkes 1978-79, 114 59 Remember the Fredegard’s Chronicle, see chapter 1. 60 Faulkes 1978-79, 98

34

Hemskringla, the Lives of the Norse King, in particular, the first saga of these the Ynglinga

Saga

The Prose Edda, or Snorra Edda, is one of the most famous works of the Norse literature

and the most extensive source for the Norse mythology. It is a sort of handbook, a manual,

in which it is possible to find the narration of the creation of the Universe, the descriptions

of the Gods, and many myths, like the prophecy of the Ragnarök and the legends of brave

warriors. All of them are “stories which incorporate shards of ancient memory” (Byock,

2005, p. IV). In this text, Snorri has incorporated - in many ways - both the Eddic and the

skaldic verses, and he had transformed them into prose, creating a unique masterpiece.

The Edda was written during the 13th century, on the base of the oral tradition of the

ancient mythology and legends about the Viking era (800-1100). This work is not only

for erudite people, but Snorri wrote this text thinking about the possibility of reading it

aloud for an audience of both literate and not. When this text was written, the conversion

to the new religion was complete. The Icelanders often wrote about their past, and these

legends and myths were an essential part of it because they were considered a cultural

heritage and not a creed. This explains why, during this century, it is possible to find texts

like this one and the Poetic Edda. Snorri aimed to write a sort of handbook for all those

who wanted to become skalds. He did not want to recreate the rituals or bring back to life

the old beliefs: he only wanted to preserve and to pass on ancient legends and poetry. In

particular, he seemed to fight against the influence of the new poetic genre coming from

Europe and Scandinavia, even if these influences are present in the text, as we will see.

The Edda is composed of three parts: the Prologue, the Gylfafinning and the

Skaldskaparmal. The second part is the real core of the text, and it is the story of the

delusion of Gylfi. The illusional meeting between the Swedish king Gylfi and the Æsir is

here narrated, when Odin told the king the story and the legends of the old beliefs. The

third and last part of the Edda is the real manual for the skalds.

The most interesting part is the Prologue because it is quite different from the other parts,

because of the construction of the sentences and the narration. In this part of the text, the

influences of the Greco-Roman tradition and the idea of a derivation from the East are

strong61. He aims to “to elevate the status of Edda by equating Norse stories with those

from the Greco-Roman tradition” (Byock, 2005, p.XIV), but also to report the traditional

idea of this original derivation of the Æsir from Troy. The first chapter is full of

61 Faulkes, The sources of Skáldskaparmál : Snorri's intellectual background 1993

35

reminiscences from the biblical texts, as the creation of Adam and Eve, the Universal

Flood and Noah’s flood. He also talked about the nature of the word and the division of

the people. In the second chapter, the world’s division in three parts is described: one of

these is Europe, which “is also called Enea”62, as the name of the protagonist of the

Aeneid, the Trojan hero Aeneas, the ancestor of all the great Empires, like Rome.

Furthermore, it is said that

“this is the north region, it begins in the west and continues northward towards the

sea. Also, its northern regions are so cold that no grass grows and no one can

subsist there”63 (Byock, 2005, p. 5).

Asia, which includes the eastern continent to the south, it was described as really beautiful

and stately, and full of gold and gemstones. In that region “the people there are most

endowed with blessings: wisdom and strength, beauty, and every kind of skills”64. The

description of Asia is peculiar because it is described as the most beautiful region and

also with the loveliest people. The explanation of this choice lays in chapter 3, where

Snorri said that in this region there was a magnificent and big city, Troy, and it is found

in the region called Turkey. This place was terrific, and there were 12 kingdoms, and in

each one, there were 12 chieftains, who were superior to the others chieftains all over the

world. The detail of the number 12 is linked to the historical presence of 12 local things

in Iceland (later 16), or it could be linked to the number of the apostles. If the first theory

is correct, in this way, Snorri inserted an Icelandic custom in the story of their ancestors

to prove the first offspring from Asia. Regarding the text, Tror, whom they called Thor,

was born here: he was the grandson of the King Priam. His father was Munon or Mennon

and his mother Troan, the daughter of the great king. Here it is possible to notice and

underline - as Snorri reported it - the idea of the offspring of the Norse in Troy. The

chapter continues with the story of the movement of Thor in Thracia, with the duke

Loricus. When he was 12 years old, he received the weapons of his father, and he acquired

his full strength. Then, he killed Loricus and his wife and became the king of the Thracia,

which is called by the Norse Thrudheim. After his coronation, he travelled a lot, meeting

dragons, giants and dwarves, and in the end, he met the prophetess Sibyl, who is called

Sif by the Icelanders. He married Sibyl, as the God Thor married the Goddess Sif. After

62 “Er sá kallaðr Európá eða Énéá”. (p.4) 63 “inn nyrði hluti er þar svá kaldr, at eigi vex gras áok eigi má byggja” (p.4) 64 “ok mannfólkit þar mest tígnat af öllum giptunum, spekinni ok aflinu, fegrðinni ok alls konar

kunnustu” (p.4)

36

this part, follows a long list of their descendants, and the last one of them is Voden, who

is Odin “an excellent man because his wisdom and because he had every kind of

accomplishment. His wife, named Figida, we call Frigg”65 (Byock, 2005, p. 6). Odin is

not destined to stay in Thracia: in chapter 4 the prophecy about the fact that “his name

would become renowned in the northern part of the world and honoured more than other

kings”66 (Byock, 2005, p. 6) is narrated. He then moved from Turkey, and a multitude of

people followed him. Wherever they went, beautiful stories were told, “making them seem

more like gods than men”67 (Byock, p. 6). They travelled without stopping until their

arrival in Saxland, where Odin settled down for a long time. He had three sons, and each

of them guarded a different land: Vitrgils had the East Saxland; Beldegg, Baldr for the

Icelanders, ruled over the Westphalia; in the end, Brand and his descendants ruled over

France, and from them came the family of the Volsung. In the 5th and last chapter of the

prologue, Snorri talked about Odin’s next journey towards North and the settlement of

the Æsir here. First, he arrived in Jutland, and there he settled as a ruler his son Skjold.

Then, he went to Sweden, and there they stayed here for a long time. The common people

thought that the prosperity of this time was possible because of the Æsir, so they

considered themselves different from the others. Odin chose a town, Sigtun, and here he

appointed leaders as it was the custom of Troy, so he chose 12 men to administer the law

on the land: here we can notice the return of this ancient custom. Then he continued his

journey to the north, and he and his people arrived in Norway. As he had done before, he

gave his son - Saeming - the power to rule: he was the king of Norway and from him

descended all the kings of Norway and the jarls. His son Yngvi became the king of

Sweden, and his descendants are called Ynglings. The chapter and the prologue end with

a statement on the derivation of the language from the eastern lands

“and people think they can deduce from the records of the names of their ancestors

that those names belonged to this language, and that the Æsir brought the language

not to this part of the world, to Norway and to Sweden, to Denmark and to Saxony

65 “hann átti þann son, er nefndr er Vóden, þann köllum vér Óðin; hann var ágætr maðr af speki

ok allri atgervi. Kona hans hét Frígíðá, er vér köllum Frigg” (p.6) 66 “Óðinn hafði spádóm ok svá kona hans, ok af þeim vísendum fann hann þat, at nafn hans myndi

uppi vera haft í norðrhálfu heims ok tignat um fram alla konunga” (p.6) 67 “svá at þeir þóttu líkari goðum en mönnum” (p.6)

37

and in England there are ancient names for regions and place which one can tell

come from a different language from this one”68 (Faulkes, 1995, p. 5).

In this text of Snorri, it is possible to find the presence of the theory of translatio studii

from Troy to the north.

“In the so-called epilogue in Skáldskaparmál there is a longer passage (also

lacking in the Uppsala manuscript), again stating that Norse myths are allegories

of events in the Troy story.138 Here more knowledge of the story is shown: the

killing of Hector by Achilles, of Achilles by Alexander, and of Priam by Pyrrhus,

and the burning of Troy are all mentioned. This information could all have come

from Trójumanna saga.”69

In the Skaldskaparmal, at chapters 8 and 9, Snorri decided to narrate the episode of the

war of Troy in a very particular way. In this part, he was explaining what the young poets

had to know. He said that the deeds, which he has narrated in the Gylfaginning, were only

ancient beliefs of the heathens because the Christians do not believe in that. He did not

claim only this, as it possible to read:

“Yet Christian people must not believe in heathens gods, nor in the truth of this

account in any other way than that in which it is presented at the beginning of this

book, where it is told what happened when mankind went astray of Asia, known as

Æsir, distorted the accounts of the events that took place in Troy so that the people

of the country would believe that they were gods”70 (Faulkes, 1995, 65)

Snorri himself said what the heathens believed to be gods, but in reality, they were only

human beings, who had distorted the events. To demonstrate this, Snorri used the episode

of the war of Troy as an example, which the heathens believe to be the Ragnarök. In the

text, it is possible to notice that Hector was described as Thor when he tried to kill the

giant serpent Miðgarðsormr. He was killing the great heroes Volucrontes, but Achilles

saved the hero, so Hector, like Thor, could not kill him. Snorri described other facts of

68 “ok þat þykkjask menn skynja mega af því, at rituð eru langfeðganönf þeira, at þau nöfn hafa

fylgt þessi tungu ok þeir æsir hafa haft tunguna norðr hingat í heim, í Nóreg ok í Svíþjóð, í

Danmörk ok í Saxland. Ok í Englandi eru forn landsheiti eða staðaheiti, þau er skilja má, at af

annarri tungu eru gefin en þessi” (Magnús Finnbogason, p. 8) 69 (Faulkes 1978-79, 122) 70 “en eigi skulo kristnir menn trua aheiþin goð ok eigin asannundi þesa sagna anna veg en sva

sem her finnz iuþafi bokar. Er sagt er fra atburþum þeim er mannfolkit viltiz fra retti tru. Ok þa

næst fra Tyrkjum hvernig Asia menn þeir er æsir eru kallaþir faulsuþu frasagnir þær fra þeim

tiþin dum er gerþuz i Troio til þes at landfolkit skyldi trua þa guð vera” (Finnur Jónsson, 1930,

86)

38

the war, and in the end, he talked about the killing of Hector by the hand of Achilles. To

this, he added that the Æsir did not want to narrate their hero’s death by the hand of one

man, so they invented the story of the serpent. After the death of the great hero Hector,

also Achilles was destined to die on the same battlefield. He was killed by Helenus, a

Trojan brother of Hector, and Snorri said that he was called Ali by the Æsir. He would be

the only one who survived the death of all the gods, as Helenus did after the end of the

destruction of Troy. Snorri continued the narration with the event of the murder of Priam

by the Pyrrhus’ hand, who is described by the pagans as the wolf Fenrir. In the narration

of the Ragnarök, we find that Odin, which is the heathens’ version of Priam, was killed

by the wolf. It is possible to assume that this construction and this point of view of Snorri,

is really fascinating and peculiar because he narrated the beliefs of his ancestors

dissociating himself from them. Furthermore, it is possible to notice how he transformed

the event of the Trojan war in something which is a part of the Norse culture. This

example demonstrates how this story became part of the culture of the Icelanders and

Scandinavians.

The Heimskringla is another important source to demonstrate the strong presence of the

idea of translation imperii et studii from the East. In this text, the lives of the Norse kings

are narrated, precisely from the mythical origin until the kingdom of Magnus Erlingson

(1156-1184). The primary source was the Íslendigabók of Ari, as I said, in the prologue

of the opera, Snorri quoted him. The main focus of this analysis will be on the first saga,

the Ynglinga saga, which could be considered as the saga of the origin of the Norse kings.

This text is crucial for this theme because it talks about the journey of the Æsir from Troy

to the north. The first ten chapters are about Odin’s journey to the north, and the deeds of

his descendant. In chapter 10, the end of the kingdom of Freyr, a descendant of the king

of the Æsir, is narrated. He also had another name, Yngvi, and after him, all his kinsmen

would be defined as Ynglings, as we will see. It is essential to analyse this first ten

chapters in depth.

Chapter 1, the Edda talks about the division of the world in three regions, together with

their description. The most important aspect to be underlined is the fact that also here,

Europe is defined as Enea, “Európá, en sumir Énéa” (Finnur, 1966, p. 4). Because of

this, it is possible to assume that Snorri, and so the other erudite, knew the story about

Aeneas and his descendants. It is possible to assume that: in this time Europe is identified

as the land of Aeneas and his offspring by the Icelanders.

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However, one of the most important chapters is the 2nd: it is fundamental in the

explanation of the eastern origin of the Aesir. Snorri said that: “The land in Asia to the

east of Tanakvisl was called Asaland or Asaheim and the chief town in the land was called

Asagarth (or Asagard)”71. The name of Troy is not reported, while it was in the Edda. In

this saga, it seems that Snorri only wanted to underline the eastern offspring of the Æsir,

and thus, the origin of the Norse Kings, without any particular indication of geographical

and historical places. In fact, he referred to this region with the name of the Nordic

tradition, Asagard or Asaland, which was the name of the land of the Æsir in the old

belief: it seems that he wanted to play with names to demonstrate this heritage, Asaland

and Æsir are really similar to Asia, as a sort of philological derivation. As Margaret

Clunies Ross assumes:

“In his Edda and Heimskringla, Snorri Sturluson supplements this idea with an

etymology, which links the term áss for the Scandinavian gods with the world Ásia,

‘Asia’.” (Clunies Ross, 2000, 17).

In this case, Troy was never nominated, even if the saga’s structure and the theme are

similar to the prologue of the Edda. In the text, it is reported that the chieftain of this city

is Odin and that he was a great warrior, and that following the custom of the place, 12

priests were elected to judge and to worship the temple. The reference to a division of

power between 12 figures is also found in the prologue of the Edda, and it could be linked

to the presence of 12 local things of Iceland, or it could be linked to the number of the

apostles. The chapters and the saga continue with the descriptions of the deeds of Odin.

In particular, Snorri made a complete description of the abilities of the chief, and in his

opinion, because Odin won every battle, all the men started to believe he was invincible,

and if they asked his blessing, or fight with or for him, they will be the winner as well.

This way, Snorri could explain why, in the past, the Æsir and Odin himself were described

as Gods to be worshipped. In chapter 3, the war between the Vanes and the Æsir is

narrated, but it is described as a war between two people and not between two divine

bloodlines. The Vanes are also described as a population of Russia. All the “divine

bloodlines” of the old religion are represented as a population of the eastern part of the

world. This will also happen in the Trójumanna saga. Another significant detail is found

in chapter 5, where Snorri dated the events, saying that, these deeds happened when in

71 “Fyrir austan Tanakvísl í Ásíá var kallat Ásaland eða Ásaheimr, en hǫfuðborgin, er var í

landinu, kǫlluðu þeir Ásgarð”

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Europe there was the Roman Empire. Furthermore, from this chapter on, the Odin’s long

journey to the north began. As in the prologue of the Edda, thanks to a prophecy, he found

out that he and his offspring would have fame and power in the north, so he started his

long journey. From here, until chapter 10, the Odin’s deeds and the settlement in Sweden

are described, followed by the kingdom of his sons. In this narration, Thor is one of his

sons and not his father, as it is said in the prologue of the Edda. In the end, in chapter 10,

Snorri said that Frey became the king of Sweden and he was the grandson of Odin, but

he was also called with another name, Yngvi. Because of this, all his kin, the Swedish

kings and later, with Ingjald, the Norwegian kings, were part of the Ynglings bloodline.

The source of both texts is Ari: on the genealogy of the Ynglings of the Íslendigabók’s

appendix, the line of the offspring of the kings of Sweden, Norway and, in the end, of the

Icelanders, came from Asia. However, Snorri changed some details, since the first

ancestor is not Yngvi, as in Ari, but in Edda is Priam, while in the Ynglinga saga is Odin

himself. This demonstrates that Snorri, in the Ynglinga saga, had omitted Troy, and he

only talks about Asia in general. Ari did not mention the Gods, the only one is Frey, which

is found as the 3rd king, as in the saga of Snorri, but while this last one said he was also

called Yngvi, Ari did not, because for him Yngvi was the 14th in the genealogy. The

original myth is reported in quite a similar way by both authors. This demonstrates the

popularity of this idea and the historical value of the myth.

2.2.3 The Third Grammatical Treatise

As the name suggests, this text is a treatise concerning some questions of the language. It

has particular attention on rhetoric and to those aspects that make a language beautiful.

This text was composed during the 13th century by Óláfr Þórðarson Hvítaskáld, the

nephew of Snorri Sturluson himself. He is known to be a priesthood’s teacher, and he

has probably written this text as a sort of manual for his students. The text is found in the

Codex Wormianus, which is deeply linked to the European influences and standards, as

the Treatise itself. In fact, Óláfr used two Latin grammar texts as primary sources: for the

first part, he used Priscianus, where he talks about the fundamental parts of the speech;

while for the second part, which is called Málskrúsfrœði (literally “the art of linguistic

ornamentation”), he used Donatus as a source, and there he talks about the linguistic faults

and the linguistic devices that enhance the beauty of ideas and their presentation.

Moreover, the author usually used the Latin rhetorical and the linguistic terms, and

sometimes he used the vernacular terms, but all the examples are made with Icelandic

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references. Furthermore, he explains all the rhetorical devices in Icelandic, because he

wants “to put the Latin scholarly tradition within the reach of Icelanders and to show

them how it could be used to explain, categorize and appreciate Icelandic poetry” (Þórir,

2005, p. 357). The idea is peculiar, and he explains his theory about the derivation of the

language and the poetry at the beginning of the second section of the text:

“in this book it may be clearly understood that everything is the one art: the poetry

which Roman orators learnt in Ancient Greece and then turned into Latin

language; and the song-metre or poetry which Óðinn and other men of Asia brought

north into the northern half of the world, and taught men this kind of art in their

own language, just they had arranged and learnt it in Asia itself, where beauty and

power and knowledge were the greatest in all the world.” (Wills, p. 280)72

The idea that the Æsir and the culture came from Asia can also be found here. In fact, as

Snorri and Ari before, the author reports this belief about the first offspring from Asia.

According to the writer, this can also be seen in language and poetry. Furthermore, he

also underlines the fact that there was also a transmission of the knowledge from Athens

to Rome, and the same thing happens in the Norse countries when Odin and his fellows

came to the north and brought the knowledge of Asia with them, which was considered

the most beautiful and powerful land.

The two main sources of the treatise are Priscianus and Donatus, but Wills assumes there

are also Latin references in this text, as Sedulius and the Aeneid of Vergil. Wills makes a

fascinating analysis of this aspect. In particular, in his essay73, he has identified almost 28

examples, which show a correspondence with the Aeneid, as Óláfr quotes. Furthermore,

he finds other 37 quotations which have a correspondence with the Latin poem in the

Latin source, as Sedulius and Donatus, who referred many times to the Aeneid in their

work. Then, Wills underlines the fact that many examples of the Norse literature have a

correspondence with the Latin poem. So, he can demonstrate a similarity of the content

between the Norse literature and the Virgilian text, which, as we will see, was widespread

and studied during all the Middle Ages in all of Europe.

72 “Í þessi bók (Donatus, Ars Maior I) má gerla skilja, at ôll er ein istin skáldskapr sá, er

rómverskir námu í Athenisborg á Griklandi ok sneru síðan í látínu-mal, ok sá ljóða-háttr eða

skáldskapr, er Óðinn ok aðrir Ásia-menn fluttu norðr higat í norðrhálfu heimsins ok kendu

mônnun á sína tungu þess konar list, svá sem þeir hôfðu skipat ok numit í sjálfu Ásíalandi, þar

sem mest var fegrð ok ríkdómr ok fróðleikr veraldarinnar” (Wills, p. 280) 73 Tarrin Wills, 2017

42

This text it is worthwhile and useful for this essay, in fact, in it is possible to find not only

the theory of derivation of the Scandinavian people and culture from Troy, but it is also

possible to notice the strong influence from Europe and the popularity that a text as the

Aeneid could have had in this world and at this time in all Europe.

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3. The Hauksbók’s Trójumanna saga

The highest representation of the Trojan theme in Icelandic literature is offered by the

Trójumanna saga, which literally means the saga of the Troy-men. This saga "is the

retelling of the Matter of Troy, that is the legends of the Trojan War that pervade medieval

literature in many vernaculars" (Eldevik, 1993, p. 658). The saga's focus is the story of

Troy and its citizens, with a particular focus on the disputes between them and the Greeks.

Indeed, the core is the great war of twelve years, the final victory of the Achaeans and the

consequent destruction of the city. However, the saga starts with a prologue on the

background of the great war, which is Jason's journey with the Argonauts to find the

Golden-Fleece. In the story, Jason and his men stopped in Troy during the ruling of

Laomedon, father of Priam. Laomedon was afraid of a possible attack from the forces of

the Argonauts. Therefore, he asked them to leave his land, which they did and continued

their journey to gain the Golden-Fleece. After successfully concluding their expedition,

Jason came back to his homeland, but Hercules, one of the Argonauts, did not. Unlike his

companions, he decided to come back to Troy to avenge the previous insult. During this

attack, Telamon, one of Hercules expedition's, kidnapped Hesione, the daughter of

Laomedon and Priam's sister. This episode is the actual explanation of what led to causes

the feud, together with the fact that the first ones refused to return the Trojan princess.

The saga continues with the narration of the kidnapping of Helen and the war.

It is important to underline how this saga ends: the story closes with the account of

Aeneas' journey out of Troy with his father and son. This passage represents the key of

the future and the construction of the ideology of the translatio imperii, since a prophecy

said that His descendant would build empires and kingdoms, and one of these would be

Brutus, the first king of Britain, as it is said in the Breta sögur, which usually follows the

Trójumanna saga in many manuscripts. “All the extant manuscripts of this version (β)

date from the fourteenth century, and in all these manuscripts Trójumanna saga is

combined with Breta sögur, the Icelandic translation of Geoffrey of Monmouths’s Historia

Regum Britannie.”74

74 Würth 2006, 297

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3.1 Traditions

Regarding the tradition of this saga, it is essential to notice that the story is not an original

Icelandic creation, but it was written following the Latin text of Dares Phrygius, De

Excidio Trojae Historia. In particular, Eldevik and Louis-Jensen75assert that, initially,

there was a lost archetype, which was written possibly at the beginning of the 13th century,

and which could be the real translation of the Dares’ text in Old Icelandic. Today, this

text can only be found in three vellum manuscripts, the AM573 4to, the Hauksbók and in

the Orms Bók Snorrasonar, which is now lost. Furthermore, it is possible to find the saga

in two vellum fragments, the AM 598 4to II α and β. Jonna Louis-Jensen identifies two

different descendant lines of this text from the original archetype: the Alpha and the Beta.

Eldevik adds another one to these two, the Hauksbók version76, while Louis-Jensen and

Würth77 place it under the β. All these versions hold many similarities. Besides, they share

the same title at the beginning, namely Trójumanna saga. Stephanie Würth assumes that:

“Version α is closer to the original translation from the beginning of the thirteenth

century, but it preserved only in post-medieval manuscripts. Version β is a younger,

revised and interpolated version of Trójumanna saga”78.

Regarding the different lines79, it is possible to assert that the Alpha redaction can be

dated around the 13th century, close to the dating of the original archetype, and can be

found in the vellum fragment AM 598 4toα (and in a later paper manuscript AM 176a

fol., AM 176b fol., IB 184 4to). This redaction is the most faithful to the Dares' text

because it starts and ends at the same points of the Latin source, and only a few references

to other Latin text were added, for instance, the Aeneid of Virgil and Ovid’s texts. There

is another difference between them, the dramatic speeches of various characters and the

descriptions of the fights. These are more similar to the classic Icelandic literary tradition.

75 Eldevik 1993. Louis-Jensen is the only one who had made an edition of both the version α and

β of the saga (Louis-Jensen 1963; Louis-Jensen 1981). I did not use this edition to make the

comparison and the analysis, but the edition of the Hauksbók of Finnur Jónsson (Hauksbók: udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371 1892-1896) 76 Eldevik 1993 77 Louis-Jensen 1963 and Würth 1998 78 Würth 2006, 297 79 This information is possible to find in the two editions of Louis-Jensen (1963 and 1981) of the

text and also in the Medieval Scandinavia: an Encyclopaedia of Philip Pulsiano (Eldevik 1993). Another relevant text is the book of Stephanie Würth (Würth 1998). The scholar analyses the

Ancient roman’s saga, as the Rómverja saga, Alexander saga, Trójumanna saga, Breta sögur and

Gydinga saga.

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Furthermore, these seem to be unique of the Icelandic context. Moreover, this version

“represents a more verbose redaction of the TMS than the other MSS" (Louis-Jensen

1963). Because all of these characteristics, the α tradition of the text is considered the

most "original"; furthermore, the title is very indicative of this since it is the "Dares

Phrygius version” of Trójumanna saga.

On the other hand, the Beta redaction is datable to the second part of the 14th century, and

it can be taken as a terminus ad quem 1350. Indeed, this version can be found in the

middle of the 14th-century vellum manuscript AM 573 4to and in the vellum fragment

AM598 4to IIβ and the Swedish paper copy of the Orms Bók Snorrasonar, which is dated

around the 14th century too. The redaction of the Hauksbók is dated at the beginning of

the 14th century. The style is less creative than the Alpha tradition, but these texts present

a freer and more varied use of the different Latin sources80. They represent a support to

the Dares' version: it is possible to notice an intensive use of other Latin sources, which

are: the Aeneid of Virgil, the Ilias Latina, the Heroides and the Metamorphoses of Ovid.

One of the most particular cases is the Hauksbók's version, because the author uniquely

wrote this saga, as it is possible to notice in the analysis in the next subchapter. In the

Beta tradition another end was added: in the classic conclusion of the Dares' ending, the

story of Troy's wooden horse was not narrated, while this episode is found in the second

book of the Aeneid. Furthermore, there is a sort of sequel which tells about the reconquest

of Troy by the sons of Hector. This part cannot be found in any classical text, so it could

probably come from the French tradition of the Roman de Troye81.

80 “Version β of Trójumanna saga differs from version α mainly by using additional Latin sources.

But additions and interpolations as well as verbal correspondences and omissions common to

both versions prove that they are based on the same translation of Dares’ text” Würth 2006, 302 81 I have only analysed the Latin sources, and I made a comparison only between them and the

saga, the Roman de Troye is not studied in this present essay.

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3.2 The Latin Sources

A description of the classical sources in the European Middle Ages is necessary to

understand the context in which Haukr wrote. In particular, the attention is on their

fortune and the interpretation given about them in the Medieval time

3.2.1. De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius

The primary source of the saga is the Latin text De Excidio Troiae Historia of Dares

Phrygius. The text is short narrative prose about the war of Troy. It is a problematic text,

and we can only find one edition of it, made by Ferdinand Meister in 1873. He has omitted

many manuscripts from his analysis, because of that, the study of the text is still difficult.

While Meister has used only ten manuscripts for his edition, in 2006 Louis Faiver d'Arcier

has written a catalogue of around two hundred of them which contains this text, and he

says that this catalogue must be considered "provisoire et susceptible d’accroissement”

(Faiver d'Arcier 2006, 19)82This situation represents a problem, because, for example,

Louis-Jensen affirms that, the version Alpha of the Trójumanna saga could be written

under the influence of an English manuscript of the 13th century of Dares' text, but this

particular manuscript was not included in the Meister's edition. So, it is not easy to make

a comparison between them. Furthermore, the nature of the text itself is problematic and

challenging to define, because this is an extraordinary version of the story of the war of

Troy. Indeed, this Historia does not narrate only the war, but he adds a sort of prologue,

an Archaelogia, about what happened before the war: Jason's expedition for the Golden-

Fleece and the kidnapping of Hesione by Telamon. Moreover, the divine elements and

the miraculous event are entirely omitted, and only the human deeds are narrated. The

author wants to write a work of historiography and not a poem or a fiction. In the last

chapter, the author himself defines his work as an acta diurna83, which is a sort of

documentation and not a diary or a chronicle, as Nicoletta Canzio assumes in his analysis

of the text84, because of that, the author probably wanted to eliminate details that were

not human, not really. Furthermore, Lentano assumes that the desire of writing a work of

historiography is demonstrated by choice of the "noble fathers", Cornelius Nepos and

82 "temporary and susceptible of increase." 83 (Canali e Canzio 2014, 68) 84 Ibid. 134

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Sallust.85 This is entirely different from the Iliad of Homer, which is full of supernatural

happenings86. In the past the erudite defined Dares as an Anti-Homer, especially because

Dares was felt a historical figure: Homer himself mentioned the Phrygian in the Iliad, at

the beginning of the book V, as a priest of Hephaestus. He and his sons fought for the

Trojan side. In the past, this detail brought many erudite to think that this is the first text

about Troy's war, and moreover many thought that it could be a source of Homer himself:

for example, Claudius Eliano mentions an Iliad written by Dares Phrygius before Homer.

Modern scholars do not entirely agree with this theory. Lentano, in his essay about the

Latin text, assumes that the Historia is a brief Latin version, an epitome, of an original

Greek text87. Even if the dating is still tricky: Luca Canali88, in the introduction of the

translation of the text, talks about this difficulty. He arrives to assumes different options

on the base of the nature of the text and the sources. The complete absence of divine

elements brings many of them to date the original Greek text, not before Homer's Iliad,

but later during the Alexandrine period, in particular during the I century B.C., but any

original Greek text of Dares is not found. It is safe enough to think that it existed, but we

are not sure about that. In the beginning, the text, which we can read today, presents a

letter of Cornelius Nepos to his "friend" Sallust, "Cornelius Nepos Sallustio Crispo suo

salutem”89. In this letter, Cornelius narrates how, in Athens, he has found the text of Dares

"ipsius manu scriptam ut titulus indicat”90. After the discovery, he decided to translate it

in Latin and to send it to his friend. Canali considers this letter as a literary expedient,

because the genre of the text, and because there is no attestation of a historical relationship

between Sallust and Cornelius Nepos. About the dating of the Latin text, if the letter is

85 Lentano 2016, 16: “Chi ha scritto il testo, sia nella sua versione originale che in quella voltata

in latino, ha inteso dare al suo lavoro i tratti della storiografia: a cominciare dai “padri nobili”

sotto la cui egida viene posto il Darete a noi noto, Sallustio e Cornelio Nepote” 86 (Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014) Lentano does not

entirely agree with this definition, because the Gods are present in the text, but they are

worshipped, or they are present in the prophecy and in the dreams, but they do not take part to the

event. (Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014) 87 Lentano, Come si (Ri)scrive la Storia. Darete Frigio e il Mito Troiano 2014, 3: “Personalmente,

avrei pochi dubbi sul fatto che l’Historia abbia alle proprie spalle un originale greco, ad onta

delle ritornanti prese di posizione in senso contrario: il poligrafo di età antonina Claudio Eliano

menziona espressamente una Iliade composta «prima di Omero» da un Darete Frigio che solo

immetodicamente può essere distinto dall’autore del testo di cui la Historia rappresenta la

(abbreviata) versione latina”. 88 Canali; Canzio 2014 89 Canali; Canzio 2014, 41: “Cornelius Nepos sends greetings to his Sallustius Crispus” 90 Ibid. 41: “As its title indicates, written by his own hands."

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authentic, probably the text was written during the I century A.D., but if we analyse the

style, it is possible to date the text around the V/VI century A.D.

This text availed a vast fortune during the Middle ages because the Historia of Dares

represented a significant source of the History of the Trojan war. It was so crucial that

even Isidore of Seville wrote about Dares and his text91. Indeed, he collocated the

Phrygian as one of the most distinguished historians of the past, whit Moses and

Herodotus. In fact, in a section of his Etymologiae, the book I, chapter 42, entitled “De

primis auctoribus Historiam” Isidore speaks about these three authors in that way:

historiam autem apud nos primus Moyses de initio mundi conscripsit. Apud gentiles

uero pimus Dare Phyrgius de Graecis et Troianis historiam edidit, quam in foliis

palmarum ab eo conscriptam esse ferunt. Post Daretem autem in Graecia

Herodutus Historiam primus habitus est92.

This fact demonstrates that Dares was a significant figure in the Middle ages because he

was considered as one of the founders of the Historiography genre in the Judeo-Christian

tradition. Furthermore, the significant number of manuscripts which contain the Dares'

Historia attested the popularity of this text during all the Middle Ages. Marco Scafai,

while he is talking about the manuscript tradition of the Ilias Latina93, assumes that before

1000 the poem was copied together with the Dares' text because they have in common

the Trojan theme. Later these two texts followed two different ways: the Ilias was written

down in the Libri Catoniani, while the Historia in the Libri Manuales. This fact explains

why many authors used Dares as a source for the creation of tales on the Trojan matter,

an essential example of that being the Roman de Troye, written in 1160 by Benoit de Saint

Maure.

91 Lentano makes an exact analysis of the text of Isidore (Lentano, Note critiche ed esegetiche al

De Excidio Troiae di Darete Frigio 2016, 1013-1016) 92 “Among us Christians Moses was the first to write a history, on creation. However, among the

pagans, Dares the Phrygian was first to publish a history, on the Greeks and Trojans, which they

say he wrote on palm leaves. After Dares, Herodotus is held as the first to write History in

Greece." (Isidore of Seville, I, 42) 93 Scafai 1997, 31-32

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3.2.2. The Ilias Latina94

Another relevant text is the Ilias Latina, which accidentally, during the first part of the

Middle Ages, was written in a manuscript together with the text of Dares. This text is

peculiar because it is an epitome of the Homeric Iliad. It is the example of a text created

in a scholastic culture, without the desire to be handed down to the posterity; indeed,

during the Middle Ages and later, the life of this text was possible thanks to its small

dimension and the Virgilian influence. It is essential to underline that, during the Late

Antiquity, the Greek text was mute, so the Ilias Latina represented the only source of the

original Homeric text for a public who did not know the language. Würth, talking about

the sources of the Trójumanna saga, assumes that: “(Ilias Latina) in the Middle Ages was

considered a text of classical antiquity and belonged to the canon school literature”95.

During the IX century, the first manuscript with Ilias' text appeared, and it was written

together with the text of Dares. After some time, when the diffusion of both texts became

more critical, the Ilias took different way instead of the Phrygian text. Later the Latin

Ilias appeared in the Libri Catoniani, which are a miscellany of poetic text of lectures,

used by non-expert classic poets. Around the X century, the text was written with the

auctores maiores as Virgil, and they were joined with religious text in the Libri Auctorum

octo moralium. So, in the 975 Gualterio of Spires taught the Latin Homerus, Virgil and

Horace to his students at the cathedral-school of Spires. All of that could explain the long

life and the importance of this text during the Middle Ages.

3.2.3. Aeneid of Virgil96

Another source is the Aeneid of Virgil. Publius Vergilius Maro is a Latin poet of the I

century B.C. (Mantua, 70 - Brindisi 19 BC.). He wrote at the court of Gaius Cilnius

Maecenas and Octavian Augustus. The literary result of this relationship was the epic

poem Aeneid, in which the vicissitudes of Aeneas are narrated. This text is not a simple

literary work, but it is the basis for the creation of an ideological story to support the new

political system, introduced by Augustus. As Paolo Chiesa assumes97, he is the most

94 For the analysis of the opera and the comparison with the Icelandic text in the next subchapter,

I have referred to the edition of Marco Scafai (Scafai 1997) 95 Würth 2006, 302 96 About the medieval interpretation and fortune of Virgil: (Ziolkowski e Putnam 2008); (Ottaviano 2009); (Conte 2016) 97 Chiesa 2019

50

famous and vital classical author, and his tradition is pervasive. Over a hundred

manuscripts of his text are recorded between the Late Antiquity and the humanistic age98.

The work of Virgil had a formative function during the centuries. In particular, during the

Middle ages, his texts dominated the culture of the Western World. In the Carolingian

era, there were many copies of the Aeneid and in the same places at the same time: it was

not typical for that period. The poet was a central figure of the literary studies during all

the Middle Ages and after. Indeed, the Aeneid was not only the greatest poem of the

Latinity, but it was also accepted by the Christian culture, thanks to the 4th Bucolic, where

Virgil prophesized the advent of an era of peace and the advent of a puer who would bring

peace. That brought up to think that he was a sort of prophet of the advent of Christ –

even the puer was in Virgil's mind Octavian August. Because of that, the essential

intermediary of Virgil's masterpieces was the teaching and the scholastic environment,

which consecrated the pedagogical and the educational value of the Virgilian poem. This

fact allowed the copying and the distribution of Virgil's whole poems during the Middle

Ages. On the other hand, the same historical personality of the poet assumed mystical and

magical values, so it is possible to find in the Middle Ages an image of Virgil as poet and

prophet, as wise and magician, and this image was created in the religious culture. This

idea of the author brought to create the fictional and encyclopaedic literature (as the Image

du monde, Roman des sept Sages, Cleomadis, Renart le Contrefait, Virgilio Mantovano,

and others) and in the same cultural climate the Roman d'Eneas, written in the 11th

century, which proposed once more the myth into chivalrous and courteous forms. In this

way, Virgil satisfied the new taste of the nascent Romance art. So, during the Middle

Ages, he represented one of the main threads of the culture and the spirituality of the

Western World.

3.2.4. Metamorphoses and Heroides of Ovid99

The last two sources for the edition of the Trójumanna saga are the Metamorphoses and

the Heroides of Ovid. He was a Latin poet, who lived in the I century B.C. He was the

author of very famous masterpieces. One of them is the Metamorphoses. This work is the

poet's most famous and beloved of all. It is a great epic poem of 15 books, in which Ovid

recounts an enormous number of myths about transformations (Metamorphosis) which

98 Ibid. p. 117 99 About the medieval interpretation and fortune of Ovid: Dimmick 2002; Fyler 2013; Hexter

2002

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together constitute an incredibly original story of the Universe, which goes from the

creation of the world to the time of Augustus. "Ovid became the central classical influence

on literature and, later, the visual arts"100. There are many medieval manuscripts of his

texts, and he and Virgil were the two most read and imitated authors from the Carolingian

era, not surprisingly, it is possible to find them associated. Indeed, as I have already said,

in Ovid's texts, as in the Viriglians, it was possible to find premonitions of Christian

values. For examples in the Metamorphoses, it is possible to identify the

acknowledgement of the only one creator God, which is said in the first book.

Consequently, this last version had particular attention, because it was read as the genesis

of a pagan bible, as it is said by the Spanish king Alfonso X the Wise himself. In

particular, from the 12th century, Ovid became the primary classical influence in the

medieval western literature and the arts too. In this period, many comments of his works

started to appear, and the most important is the Vulgata. During this period, the focus

was on love and transformations, well represented by the Heroides and the

Metamorphoses. The first text is a collection of fifteen epistolary poems presented as

though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology in

the address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated, neglected, or

abandoned them. In the Middle Ages, this text represented a sort of book about the

psychology of women. His most important text is the Metamorphoses, and so, it is

possible to understand the significant role played by Ovid and his works during the

Middle Ages.

As it is possible to understand, all of these sources were famous and read during the

Middle Ages, and they represented the core of the classical literary culture of the Western

world. So, it is not strange that the Icelandic scribes knew and used these sources.

3.3. The Hauksbók and Haukr Erlendsson

I decided to concentrate my research on Hauksbók’s version because it is peculiar and

unique. The Trójumanna saga version, contained in the Hauksbók’s M.S., is different

from classical translations of the Latin text; indeed, it represents a sort of personal re-

elaboration of the Dares' Historia made by Haukr Erlendsson. The manuscript itself takes

100 Fyler 2013, 411

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the name after its author, Haukr himself, who was an Icelandic lögmaðr101, a lawman,

who worked and found fortune at the Norwegian royal court of Hákon Magnússon (1299-

1319). He was Icelandic by the origin and worked in Iceland at the beginning of his career.

This is possible to say because he appeared for the first time in 1294 as a lawman in

Iceland, in the same year his father was made knight by the Norwegian king Erik

Magnússon, the older brother of Hákon Magnússon. After a few years, he moved to

Norway, where he lived all his life, except for the years between 1302 and 1310, when he

was sent to Iceland. Firstly, he worked as a magistrate in Oslo, and later in the region of

Gulaþing, near Bergen, in the western coast of Norway.

The Hauksbók is a great vellum manuscript, and it was written between 1265 and 1334.

Today it is dived in three parts, the AM 371 4to, the AM 544 4to102 and the AM 675 4to.

The first one is in Iceland at the Árni Magnússon Institute, while the last two are in

Copenhagen at the Arnamagnaean Institute. Two hundred ten leaves have initially

composed the Hauksbók, now only 141 folia are survived, we have lost a significant part

of the AM 371 4to, one of these was the page with the name of Haukr, which was lost

during the XVII century. Furthermore, for the identification of one of the hands of this

manuscript, in particular, the hand of Haukr, we have letters from 28 January 1302 and

14 October 1310 written by Haukr Erlendsson himself103. Indeed, the script in the letters

is similar to the first hand in Hauksbók. The 15 hands, which wrote the manuscript, have

been identified, and the Hand 7 is identified as the Haukr's one. This fact is not common

in the Icelandic manuscripts. Elizabeth Asham Rowe assumes that this manuscript "is an

unusual book for three reasons", and the first one is that the "writer is known with

certainty”104 Indeed, this is the oldest Icelandic medieval manuscript of which we knew

the author. He is one of the scribes and the mind of this book, but he is not the only scribes

of the manuscript. It is possible to identify more hands which have worked on it. For sure,

the AM 371 4to was composed by him; instead, the other two are alternated with the

hands of other scribes, probably people at his service. Concerning the dating of the work,

for sure the AM 371 4to and the AM 544 4to (fol. 22-59 and 60-107) were written between

the 1306 and 1308, when Haukr was on a mission in Iceland for the Norwegian crown.

101 For a precise biography of Haukr Erlendsson: Gunnar, Littérature et Spiritualité en

Scandinavie Médiévale - La Traduction Norroise du de Arrha Animae de Hugues de Saint-Victor

1995 102 handrit.is 2009-2019 103 (handrit.is 2009-2019) 104 (Ashman Rowe 2008, 51)

53

Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson present this manuscript's dare in their definition

of the Hauksbók in the Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopaedia (Gunnar e Stefan 1993,

271), and this is accepted by Asham Rowe, who reported the information (Ashman Rowe

2008, 59). The manuscript presents a different type of texts. Indeed, it contains Historical

and semi-historical texts, as the Trójumanna saga is, but there are also mathematical

treatises and philosophical and theological dialogues, a collection of tracts and excerpts

on geographical, chronological and theological subjects. It also contains a map of

Jerusalem, the Vǫluspá and the Elucidarius105.

The nature of the manuscript is unique because of its heterogeneity of texts. The scholars

have argued about the model which he could have taken inspiration. They have tried to

define the nature of this book. Gunnar Harðarson and Stefán Karlsson (1993) defined the

Hauksbok "from its inception… an entire private library” 106. However, others do not

agree with them because it can be a simple library, and they prefer to underline the non-

Icelandic aspect of the text. The nature and the content of the text are not completely

Icelandic, because of that, two years later, Gunnar Harðarson107 (1995) underlined the

fact that Haukr was a magistrate at the court of Bergen in Norway. Following this idea,

Helgi Þorláksson108 (2004) emphasises the political aspect of the manuscript: he thinks

that Haukr has written this book in this way to demonstrate not only to have a complete

knowledge of the Icelandic questions but also to demonstrate to have knowledge on the

North Atlantic Area in general, which means Norway, Greenland and Vinland, to the king

and the court. Another possibility could be that he wanted to present his lineage to prove

his elitist origin. His belonging to the élite is not to so difficult to demonstrate. If we only

look at the content of the text and not to the author, the text could be a work of an

ecclesiastic or a powerful man. Haukr was a man of law, and his father was a knight. In

Iceland it was quite reasonable that the men of power, clerical or chieftain, had a similar

education, because they did not have a single centre of culture, but the education, the

authorial work and the copying of text were done in different places, as the farmhouse of

the chieftains, the monasteries and the episcopal centre109. So, the nature of the

105 For a complete list and analysis of the Hauksbók’s text read the article of Ashman Rowe

(Ashman Rowe 2008, 52-63) 106 Gunnar and Stefan, Hauksbók 1993, 271 107 Gunnar, Littérature et Spiritualité en Scandinavie Médiévale - La Traduction Norroise du de

Arrha Animae de Hugues de Saint-Victor 1995 108 Helgi, Why did Haukr Redact the Book of Settlements? 2004 109 About the education and the Icelandic cultural centre see chapter 2 of the present thesis.

54

manuscript is quite problematic. Stephanie Würth110 defines the Hauksbók as a sort of an

encyclopaedic work or as a sort of schoolbook. The Encyclopaedic literature

“presented the arts and the sciences that the Greeks considered essential to liberal

education in a form acceptable to the Christian Church. It was not arranged

alphabetically as modern encyclopaedias are, to act as a repertory of information

on all branches of knowledge, but concentrate on presenting a digest of all the

artes”111 .

As it is possible to see, the definition described the case of the Hauksbók perfectly. “Taken

together, the texts of the Hauksbók constitute an encyclopaedia focusing on history. all

four parts of an encyclopedia are represented: the cosmos, history, science and ethics.”112

During the XII century, the two most crucial encyclopaedists were Isidore of Seville and

Bede. Indeed, many parts of the Etymologiae of Isidore were in the manuscript.

Furthermore, the encyclopaedic literature could be found in very different contexts, and

it had links with very different types of knowledge, from the lapidary to the biblical

comments. Many texts of this genre could be found in Iceland, and they were a model for

many authors113. Sverrir Jakobsson assumes the Hauksbók represents a world view of the

élite society of Iceland between the 1100 and 1400, and I believe he is right. Indeed, I

think the Icelandic encyclopaedic literature and the Hauksbók itself could be seen as a

“collective product of Icelandic culture dispersed in space and time”114. Also, I believe

that this encyclopaedic manuscript could be seen as a library, in which is found the

knowledge and the “scholastic” texts of this élite, as Würth assumes: “the character of an

encyclopaedia is reflected in the conception of the Hauksbók as a substitute for a library:

it combines the contents of many books containing a large spectrum of knowledge”115.

One does not exclude the other: a library is the base of the culture of a person, and it could

be the representation of the knowledge of a society. If we only think about Virgil, or

Isidore of Seville, or the biblical comments, they were texts which all the erudite knew

110 Würth 2006 111 Clunies Ross and Simek 1993, 164 112 Würth 2006, 303 113 The scholars discuss the model of the manuscript. Sverrir Jakobsson (Sverrir, Við og veröldin:

Heimsmynd Íslendinga 1100-1400, 2005) proposed the Memebrana Reseniana 6 as a possible

model, while Rudolf Simek (Simek 1990) assumes that the Liber Floridus could be the model of

the Hauksbók. To know more about the debate is useful to read the article of Ashman Rowe,

2008, 66-71. 114 Sverrir 2007, 24 115 Würth 2006, 303

55

and used in their works, and this represents a sort of wold view, a culture of all the

medieval Europe, and this culture is based on the study of texts which are present in a

library. The Hauksbók itself and its History's idea are deeply linked with the necessity to

demonstrate the common origin of the Norse people with the rest of the European country,

and in particular to demonstrate their role in the world history. One of the first steps of

this common History is the text of the Trójumanna saga itself.

3.4. The version of the Hauksbók's Trójumanna saga

The text of the saga is located in the AM 544 4to, from fol. 23r to fol. 33v. The scribe of

this part was identified as the Hand of Haukr Erlendsson himself, and it is defined as

Hand 7. The script is the Gothic book. For all these reasons, Stefán Karlsson (Stefán 1964)

dated the redaction of the saga between 1302 and 1310, when Haukr was in Iceland in a

mission for the Norwegian court.

3.4.1. “Her hefr Troio manna sogu”

The text opens by the Rubric "Her hefr Troio manna sogu" (Finnur Jónson, 1892-1896,

p.193)116, which means "here you have the saga of the Troy-men". This is a common

characteristic of all the Icelandic Trojan sagas, so this is not a particularity of this text.

However, the uniqueness of this version is that: despite having this title, the text does not

start with Troy's story and its citizens, but Haukr elaborates a very original prologue about

Crete's story many years before the war of Troy.

The first chapter starts during "a dogum Iosue er hofdingi var Iorsala landi yfir Gyþinga

lyð eftir Moyises" (p. 193), which means during the kingdom of Joshua, who ruled in the

kingdom of Jordan after Moses. Joshua was a Jew warrior and a conqueror, and, according

to the biblical text, he led the conquest of Palestine around the 13th century BC. The

choice of a biblical figure for the dating is standard in the Middle Ages: starting from the

Constantinian era, the scholars and the writers tried to draw a universal chronology, which

had to contemplate the historical biblical tradition together with the Greek and the Roman

ones. However, I find the choice of this dating interesting, and I believe that it is not

accidental. As I have already said, Moses himself was considered one of the first essential

116 Finnur Jónsson makes the only one edition of this text of 1892-96 (Hauksbók: udgiven efter

de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371 1892-1896), so I use his edition for the present

comparison and the references. I have translated the quotation in English.

56

historians in the Middle Ages and, of course, a historical figure. So, it is possible to justify

the choice of the scribe, regarding the dating during the kingdom of Joshua, as follow:

first, Joshua was perceived as a remote and distant historical figure, as a figure of the Old

Testament could be, and because of that his kingdom is perfect to collocate these ancient

events. Second, in my opinion, he chose Joshua because he was the king after Moses,

who was considered as a historian during the Middle Ages. So, if Moses did not talk about

these events, it is because they happened after him and, probably, they thought Dares

lived after Moses.

The set of the first part of the saga is Crete and the protagonists are the ancient pagan

gods, which now have lost their divine nature, and are presented as historical human

beings, in particular as kings of the island and of the other pagan kingdoms, except the

Jewish kingdom, which is not contemplated as a part of it.

So, the saga begins at the time of the kingdom of Joshua in Crete. Indeed, it is possible to

read "i ey þeiri i Iorsala hafi er Krit heitir", which means "in that island of the Jerusalem's

sea, which is called Crete". Geographically the scribe collocated the island of Crete in

the sea of Jerusalem, but it is not close to Jerusalem, in fact, it is located in the south-east

of the Peloponnesus, and it is a Greek island. In the 14th century, the island was a

Venetian dominion, and before the 4th crusade (1204) the island was a part of the

Emperor of Constantinople. It is difficult to understand why the scribe located the island

in the sea of Jerusalem and not simply in the Mediterranean. I suppose because it was felt

as a dominion of the Holy Land and crusades' wold, or the scribe had confused Cyprus

with Crete. The first island is more geographically close to the city of Jerusalem and its

sea, but this is only a supposition. One of the protagonists of the first chapter is Saturnus,

which is also "ver kollum Frey", meaning the Icelanders identified him with their god

Frey. In this way it is possible to notice how the Roman-Greeks culture is elaborated to

be understood and to be interiorized by the Icelanders, and in the same way, the scribe

tries to demonstrate they are a part of this world culture, because they believed in the

same "pagan gods", and the only difference is the names they used to identify them. Frey

is one of the most important Gods of the Norse pantheon, he is a bearer of peace and as

Snorri says he is the noblest of all.117 This transformation of the Roman gods in German

117 "Freyr er hinn ágætasti af ásum. Hann ræðr fyrir regni ok skini sólar, ok þar með ávexti jarðar,

ok á hann er gott at heita til árs ok friðar. Hann ræðr ok fésælu manna." (Snorri, Gylfaginnin,

XXIV) (Frey is the most splendid of the gods. He controls the rain and the shining of the sun, and

57

gods is typical of the Icelandic literature. Saturnus is an ancient Latin God, later identified

with the Greek Cronus. He represents the Golden Age of humanity. He is one of the most

ancient deities of the pagan world. Under this light, it is possible to notice similarities

between them. The source for this part of the chapter is Virgil, who said about Saturnus

in the Aeneid:

"haec nemora indigenae Fauni Nymphaeque tenebant/ gensque virum truncis et

duro robore nata,/ quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros/ aut

componere opes Morant aut parcere parto,/ sed rami atque asper victu venatus

alebat./ primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo/ arma Iovis fugiens et regnis

exsul ademptis./ is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis/ composuit legesque

dedit, Latiumque vocari/ maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutus in oris./ aurea quae

perhibent illo sub rege fuere/ saecula: sic placida populos in pace regebat,/ deterior

donec paulatim ac decolor aetas/ et belli rabies et amor successit habendi."

(Aeneid, VIII, vv. 314-327)118

Also, Ovid in the Metamorphoses said that Saturnus is the god of the Golden Age, during

which there were no laws and violence, no judges and no armies, men ate the food which

nature gave them spontaneously, but this era is destined to end when Jupiter sent away

Saturnus. In the saga, the scribe wrote this story, but it is not as a simple translation of

these texts; indeed, he made some changes. The era of Saturnus is presented exactly like

the Golden Age described by the Latin authors. In the beginning, he was not rich nor

powerful, but Saturnus was a clever man, and he finds the way to learn how to work gold.

He found out that Jews have good in this skill and every day they worked gold in the

Tabernacle of God. So, he decided to steal this skill and to bring it back to his kingdom.

In this way, he became a mighty man, many cities were built in his land, and he became

the king of the kingdoms. The beginning of the Golden Age is represented by "hann let

gullpening ganga un eyna" (p.193), that is that “he let circulate a Golden-Coins”

though them the bounty of the earth. It is good to invoke him for peace and abundance. (Byock,

2005, p.35)) 118 "These woodland places/ once were home of local fauns and nymphs/ together with a race of

men that came/from tree trunks, from hard oak: they had no way/ of settled life, no arts of life, no

skill/ at yoking oxen, gathering provisions,/ practising husbandry, but got their food/ from oaken

boughs and wild game hunted down./ In that first time, out of Olympian heaven, Saturn came

here in flight from Jove in arms,/ an exile from a kingdom lost; he brought/ these unschooled men

together from the hills/ where they were scattered, gave them laws, and chose/ the name of

Latium, from his latency/ or safe concealment in this countryside./ In his reign were the golden

centuries/ men tell of still, so peacefully he ruled, / till gradually a meaner, tarnished age/ came

on with fever of war and lust of gain." (Fitzgerald, 1983)

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(gullpening). Because of that, "kolludu heiðnir men þat gullheim, er hann reð fyri"

(p.193), meaning that the pagans called it the golden kingdom. Furthermore, the text says

he was great, and there is no notice about kin before him, so the heathens called him

creator (upphaf) and god (guð). As I said before, the Metamorphoses were felt as the

prophecy of the advent of God, because Ovid at the beginning of his opera talks about

one creator God who have created everything, this god here is associated with Saturnus,

because before him there was no one. In this way it is possible to assume that Haukr read

the Metamorphoses and the Aeneid, and on the basis of them, he decided to make this

story real; indeed, it looks like he was talking about a real event, because he has

completely omitted the divine elements, and he explained the supernatural parts as pagan

beliefs. Furthermore, he adds the story of the stealing of the Jewish skills about the gold,

as he wants to set the story during the biblical time, while the Latin sources do not talk

about the Jews. The story goes on saying that Saturnus has three sons, Jupiter, Neptune

and Pluto, but the favourite one is Jupiter. From now, the scribe starts to strongly

underline the theme of the Trinity and the number 3. Indeed, in the classical mythology,

Saturnus had many children, Juno, the wife of Jupiter, for example, was a daughter of

Saturnus too, but here he remembered only three of them, and, furthermore, they are

represented as the trinity of the sky, himna þrenníng (p.194). After Saturnus became a

powerful king and obtained the control of the Heaven and the Hell, heyrt hafði hann ok

getið halvitisi ok eignadði hann þat ok sva himin (p.194), his sons asked him to have one

of these kingdoms for each. He really loved his sons, so he decided to divide the power

in this way: Jupiter obtained the Heaven and the power of the fire, the thunderbolt, and

he always sent them three for time as the sign of the Trinity, as it is possible to read "lat

fara iamnan sva at þat megi allir sia marking þrenningar rikir þins" (p.194); Neptune

obtained the control over the drying land, þersum heimi (p.194), and Saturnus gave him

a Trident as the mark of the Trinity as a gift; in the end, Pluto obtained the ruling of Hell

and as a gift and a sign of the trinity he received a watch-dog, varðhund (p.194), which

had three heads and is called Cerberus. As it is possible to see, the recurrence of the

number 3 and the theme of the Trinity is very strong. I suppose that he wanted to put all

the story under a Christian perspective, with a creator god and the trinity of the sons. It is

possible to notice that: in both the Latin sources, Jupiter is defined as the most powerful

god, the king of the Gods, and his weapon is the thunderbolt. Neptune is identified as his

brother, and he has control over the sea and waves. Indeed, in the Aeneid, he is presented

as a powerful god, and he had the power over the sea, in many times he tried to save

59

Aeneas and, from the beginning of the Book I, Neptune is presented with his trident (levat

ipse tridenti”119 Book I, v.145). Last, there was Pluto, who is the Latin god of the

Underworld, he was represented as the king of Hell, and he possessed a watchdog

("ingens ianitor… latrans"120, Aenid, VI, v. 400), Cerberus121, which had three heads

("tria Cerberus extulit ora"122; Metamorphoses IV, v. 450). In none of these sources, the

division of the kingdoms is explicated. One reference to this division can be found before

the tales of the rape of Proserpine, in the Metamorphoses: Aphrodite asked his son Cupid

to use his weapon, the arrow of love, to demonstrate their power over all the three great

worlds; indeed, it is said:

"illa, quibus superas omnes, cape tela, Cupido,/ inque dei pectus celeres molire

sagittas,/ cui triplicis cessit fortuna novissima regni./ tu superos ipsumque Iovem,

tu numina ponti/ victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti:/ Tartara quid

cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque/ imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi,/

et tamen in caelo, quae iam patientia nostra est,/ spernimur, ac mecum vires

minuuntur Amoris."123 (Metamorphoses, V, vv. 366-374).

I suppose that the scribe takes inspiration for the division of the kingdoms from these

passages of Virgil and Ovid, as it is possible to underline this is a personal re-elaboration

of the story by the scribe himself. This fact demonstrates that this Old Icelandic version

is not a simple translation, because there is not a complete correspondence between the

Latin texts and the saga version. Some changes or ways to make the text new are very

peculiar as we can see. Another one, fascinating, is the description of the passages from

the Golden Age of Saturnus to the Silver Age of Jupiter. The story of the fight against the

119 "he raises his trident" 120 "the huge guardian … dog" 121 Another description of the watch-dog is in Aeneid, VI, vv. 416- 423: "Cerberus haec ingens

latratu regna trifauci/ personat aduerso recubans immanis in antro./ cui uates horrere uidens iam

colla colubris/ melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam/ obicit. ille fame rabida tria guttura

pandens/ corripit obiectam, atque immania terga resoluit/ fusus humi totoque ingens extenditur

antro." ("Cerberus barking with his triple throat/ makes all that the shoreline ring, as he lies huge/

in a fencing cave. Seeing his neck begin/ to come alive with snakes, the prophetess/ tossed him a

lump of honey and drugged meal/ to make him drowse./ Three ravenous gullets gaped/, and he

snapped up the stop. Then his great bulk/ subsided and lay down through all the cave.") 122 "Cerberus lifted the three mouths" 123"My son, you who are arms and hands to me, and all my power, take those all-conquering darts,

my Cupid, and shoot your swift arrows into the heart of the god to whose lot fell the last of the

three kingdoms. You have conquered the divinities of the upper air, including Jupiter himself, and

hold them in subjection; yes, and the gods of the sea, also not excepting their overlord. Why is

Tartarus left alone? Why not extend your mother's domain, and your own? A third part of the

world is at stake, while we display such tolerance that we are being scorned in heaven."

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father can be found in the Latin sources too, as I said when I had introduced the Era of

Saturnus, so the saga tells that Jupiter wanted the power of his father, and he and his

brothers decided to attack him. They were close to winning, and so they proposed two

choices, to go away or to fight. Saturnus, who was good, accepted to set his sons free and

went away on exile. This is said in both the Latin sources, but in the Aeneid, it is specified

that Jupiter sent away Saturnus and he went to Italy, like in the saga, "Saturnus segir

ofsialfreða sunu sina verit hafa ok ofmikit len þeim gefit. Stockr hann undan hingat i

Italiam" (p.194). This let the era of the war begin. Indeed, the first act sees the three sons

of Saturnus fighting the father with the weapons. Also, here it is possible to find the very

fascinating detail which is the symbol of this change: the shift of the material of the coins.

Indeed, Jupiter withdrew the golden coins, and he let a silver coin circulate, "hann tekr af

gullþenning (golden coin) en lætr ganga silfr þenning (silver coin)" (p. 194). Now the

only king is Jupiter, the most powerful of them all. From this moment, the saga talks only

about Jupiter, while Neptune and Pluto disappear from the story. After Jupiter became

king, he had to fight against the sons of Titan, the brother of Saturnus. They had great

power, and they went harrying and making evil things. They were so strong that they had

built a great stronghold, “þeir fa sva mikinn styrk at þeir gera ser eina sterka borg”

(p.194), where the sons of Titan lived and from there, they went to bring destruction.

Jupiter decided to banish them, so he collected his troops, and he moved the war to them,

“konungr samnar her i moti” (p.194). They surrendered him, and Jupiter let them free,

and they set themselves on the Mount Etna where they were left to die starving by him,

as it is possible to read: “Iupiter soekir at ok lettir eigi not fyr en þeir gefa sig upp. Hann

lætr þa handtaka ok setia i fiallit Etna ok let þa þar svellta til heliar” (p.195). The fight

between Jupiter and the sons of the Titans are narrated both in Ovid and in Virgil. In the

beginning of Metamorphoses’ first book it is possible to read:

"Neve foret terris securior arduus aether,/ adfectasse ferunt regnum caeleste

gigantas/ altaque congestos struxisse ad sideera montis./ tum pater omnipotens

misso perfregit Olympum/ fulmine et excussit subiecto Pelion Ossae./ obruta mole

sua cum corpora dira iacerent,/ perfusam multo natorum sanguine Terram/

immaduisse ferunt calidumque animasse cruorem/ et, ne nulla suae stirpis

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monimenta manerent,/ in faciem vertisse hominum. "124(Metamorphoses, I, vv. 151-

160)

Ovid talks about giants and not about the descendant of the Titans. However, it is possible

to find the reference in Virgil when he writes about Aeneas' journey in the Underworld,

in the Tartarus. ("tum Tartarus ipse/ (…) hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes,/

fulmine deiecti fundo voluuntur in imo."125 Aeneid, VI, vv. 577-581). The Tartarus is one

of the places of the underworld of the pagan mythology. During the Middle Ages, the

Tartarus was seen as Hell, and Pluto sometimes as the representation of the devil. When

Aeneas went down in the Underworld, he was in Italy, in Cuma. I do not know why the

scribe says the descendants of Titan went to the Mount Etna, he only says that they went

there and because the nature of the Mount, which is a volcano, the heathens considered

and called that place Hell, “ok þvi truðu heiðnir men at hann sendi þa til helvitis þvi ar

iarðelldr er i fialli þvi” (p.195). Probably the scribe associates the Tartarus and Hell, and

in particular, he believes that hell is constituted by fire, so, he thinks it could be like a

volcano, and because of that he believes that the pagans considered the Etna and the

Tartarus as the same thing.

After the war with the Titan's descendant, Jupiter decided to build an excellent ship for

himself, and, on the prow, he put the head of a bull. With this ship, he does every military

expedition, and because of that the pagan thinks he should move as bull's body above the

vast sea, “þvi trudu heiðnir men at hann foeri i griðungs liki yfir stor hof “(p.195). Jupiter

was also useful in witchcraft and, so, he could change his aspect in the bull's one, “enda

hafði hann ok fiolkyngi til at hann matti griðungr synaz” (p.195). This identification of

Jupiter with the bull is unusual; also, the identification as the place of his kingdom in

Crete is quite peculiar. Because of that, I suspect that Haukr has decided to unite god's

figure with the figure of the mythological king Minos. Indeed, Crete is Minos' kingdom,

and he is famous for the minotaur, which is the mythological beast with the body of a

man and the head of a bull. The similarity with the description of the ship of Jupiter and

the pagan beliefs of this figure is noticeable. Furthermore, in Metamorphose VIII, vv. 99-

124 "And the ether was not safer than the lands. They say that the Giants sought a kingdom in

heaven. Also, they built mountains piled up to the high stars. Then the all-powerful father broke

through Olympus with a cast-down. Lightning bolt and shook Pelion out from under Ossa. Just

as the frightful bodies of the Giants were laying hidden by the large rock. They say that the Earth,

covered with the blood of her sons, was soaked, so she brought the warm blood to life. Also, so

that she would not lack any reminders of her lineage, she changed the blood into the face of men." 125 "then the Tartarus itself (…) here is Earth's ancient race, the brood of Titans, Hurled by the

lightning down to roll forever in the abyss"

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100, Minos himself said about Crete and his kingdom as "Iovis incunabula, Creten,/ qui

meus est orbis", which means literally "the cradle of Jupiter, Crete, which is mine

kingdom". Moreover, in the book VIII, it is also said that Minos usually offers one

hundred bulls to Jupiter as a sacrifice. So, I think it is possible to assume this hypothesis

about the fusion of these two figures, and furthermore, this explains also why the scribe

chooses Crete as the kingdom of Jupiter.

The text continues with the description of Mercury as the son of Jupiter and his concubine

Maia, and it is said that he was great in the sports and he is wise, "hann atti sun er

Merkurius het. Hans modðir het Maia, hon var frilla hans. Merkurius var mikill i þrotta

maðr ok vitr" (p. 195). In Metamorphoses II, vv.685-686, it is said about Mercury, that

he "videt has Atlantide Maia/ natus et arte sua silvis occultat abactas"126, so he was

identified as the son of Maia, and he is good in the art of the thieves, he is fast and smart.

Chapter 2 talks about the story of Io and Jupiter. She was the daughter of a powerful man

in Greece, Inachus. She was famous for her beauty. Also, when the news of her beauty

came to Jupiter, he wanted to see her, so he left his kingdom and went to Inachus' land.

Here he saw the beauty of Io, so, he fell in love with her, and he wanted to have her.

Inachus called him to a meeting, and during that meeting, they discussed the honour of

Jupiter and about his request to obtain Io as a wife. Inachus did not want to give him his

daughter, so Jupiter affirmed that he could obtain her against his will and so he left. Jupiter

came back with a little ship so that no one could see his arrival. After that he arrived in a

wood, where he met some slaves and poor people, he asked them where the king was and

about the news in the land. They answered the king was upset because Crete-Thor127 has

come in his land for his daughter. He asked them to bring him Io in the wood, and in

exchange, he would give them the silver. They accepted, so they kidnapped Io and

brought her to Jupiter. After that, he went back to his kingdom with the girl, in Crete.

Here, she met the wrath of the wife of Jupiter, Juno, who did not like this girl, and because

of that, she transformed the princess into a young heifer. She was put under the control

of Argus, who was a servant with a hundred eyes: because of that, he could control her

day and night. To save her, Jupiter sends his son Mercury, who lulled to sleep Argus, and

after that, Mercury killed him. Io was now liberated, and after that, she gave birth to

126 "the son of Maia Atlantean espied them, and by his cunning drove them off and hid them in

the woods 127 It is interesting the use of the name Crete-Thor, this is typical of the Icelandic literature:

sometimes the deities assume a name made by their name and an object, land or an adjective.

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Hercules. Juno hated this boy and wanted to kill him, so she sent him two snakes, but he

was already powerful, so he killed the snakes. This is the synopsis of the chapter. I think

it is interesting to underline only a few things. First of all the name of the Gods are not

presented only with the Latin version: at the beginning Jupiter is called with his name,

but when he is in the forest with the slaves, they talk about him calling him Crete-Thor,

as it is possible to read at page 195, "þeira segia konung sitia i goðum friði en ecki er her

tiðara at tala en um Krita-Þór hversu sneypilega hann for". Furthermore, the name Thor

appears a few sentences again later, when the scribe says that Thor sent Mercury to save

her ("Þór sendi til Merkurium", p.196). Jupiter is not the only one to change the name;

also his wife, in the beginning, is called with her roman name, Juno, but during the tale,

she is called Sif, as the Nordic Goddess wife of Thor ("sva er sagt at Sif kona Þors",

p.196). It is the same thing which happens in chapter 1 about Saturnus-Frey. Jupiter is the

god of thunder, so the scribe identified him with Thor, and in consequence of that, Juno

became Sif, the wife of Thor. Another important difference is that the story narrated in

the Metamorphoses, which is the source of this tale, is quite different. Inachus is not a

king, he is a demi-god, and he cries because he has lost his daughter Io, who is not a

princess but a nymph. Probably following the influence of Snorri and the others author,

the writer transforms the characters in human being to make the story real, but, as it is

possible to notice, the magical deeds, as the transformation of Io in a heifer, or the figure

of Argus, spoil the intention. The Latin source continues with that Jupiter sees the great

beauty of the girl, but he does not ask her as a wife. He meets her in the wood, and he

promises her to protect her, but she runs away afraid. He follows her and the Latin text

reports that Jupiter rapes her. After that, Juno wants to find his unfaithful husband, and

he sees him in the Argolis. Jupiter, knowing his wife, decides to transform the young Io

in a heifer to protect her from his wife. On Juno's request, he gives her the heifer as a gift,

and then she gives the heifer to Argus because she does not trust her husband and she is

worried about the possibility that he could try to steal the heifer. Argus is described in the

same way as in the saga; indeed, he has hundred eyes which only two at time rest. To

save the girl, Jupiter sends Mercury. He runs to her, and he makes Argus sleep with a tale,

and he kills him. Juno is not happy, but Jupiter asks her to forgive the girl and let her free,

promising that it will never happen again. So, the girl is free. The third different detail of

the story is that the scribe omitted the meeting with her father when the girl is still a heifer,

probably because he does not consider this detail important. The last big difference is that

at the end of the story, Ovid tells the girl gives birth to a son, but he is not Hercules. As

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for Minos-Jupiter, here we can see another fusion of two mythological figures. Io gives

birth to Epaphus, and he is a demigod as Hercules and as Io, his mother. However, unlike

Hercules, Epaphus did not kill the two snakes when he was still a child. Probably this is

another simplification of the story.

Chapter 3 is dedicated to the story of Lycaon. In this case, it is possible to notice the

complete adherence to the Latin text of the Metamorphoses. As before, this is not a pure

translation, but it is a resume of the tale of Lycaon. It is narrated the trick, which he wants

to play Jupiter and the consequent transformation into a wolf. Indeed, Jupiter has heard

about the tyrant Lycaon, and he wants to go to him to see the truth. In the Icelandic

version, it is said that Lycaon is a cannibal or a troll, and Jupiter wants to know if it is

true. He came to his house and because of that Lycaon wanted to do the trick to Jupiter,

serving him the flesh of a human for dinner ("ok hit fysta kvelld ser hann at þar var

mannaslatr i katli ok nu grunar bondan hverr gastrin man vera ok vill nu svikia hann",

p.196). In the Icelandic version, Jupiter sent men to his house to kill him, while in the

Latin text Jupiter made the house fall down and while Lycaon is running away, he is

transformed into a wolf. So, it is possible to say that the scribe tells the story as a historical

event and the transformation is defined as a belief of the pagan, as in the other cases, with

the classical form: "þvi truðu heiðnir menn at"128. Last note to this chapter: in the

Metamorphoses, this episode is collocated after Titians' war, while in the saga it is

postponed.

In chapter 4, the story of Europa and her brother Cadmus is narrated. The story is similar

to the Inachus' one; indeed Agenor, a great rich king, was afraid that the same could

happen to him. Indeed, he had two children, a daughter who is called Europa and a son

who is called Cadmus. Europa was magnificent, and Agenor was worried about the

possibility that Jupiter tried to kidnap her, so he asked Cadmus to protect her, or he would

never receive the kingdom after his death. Cadmus is described as a great wise man, so

great that he has invented the Greek alphabet. As in the other case, Jupiter learned about

her, and he decided to have her. So, he left the city and swam to the seashore where the

daughter of the king was walking. He turned himself into a bull and waited for her. When

she saw him, she went to him and started to pet him. After that, he, like a bull, sprang up

and brought the girl to his kingdom. King Agenor was sad because of that, and he exiled

his son until he should find his sister and bring her back. So, Cadmus went to Jupiter for

128 "because of that the heathens believed…"

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a meeting, and they discussed the situation. In the end, they came to term: Jupiter married

Europa and Cadmus obtained the third part of the kingdom. From this union, Apollo was

born; he was the God of the sun. Jupiter changed the name again and became Thor, and

he found out that Apollo is good in witchcraft and in to create monsters, so he sent his

men to grants him the dawn ("gerir at hann ellding", p.197). The story about the

kidnapping of Europa is quite the same to the Metamorphoses' text: the episode of the

bull is notably similar, except for the description, of which the Icelandic one is more

detailed than the Latin one. Furthermore, in the Ovidian script the name of the girl does

not appear at the beginning of the story, neither the name of the brother Cadmus, who

appears only in the following book, the third one. Cadmus is sent away from his father

after the rape of Europa. After the exile, he finds another kingdom for himself, but he

never meets his sister, neither he comes to term with Jupiter, Cadmus finds a new

kingdom, Thebe. Another difference in the Trójumanna saga is the fact that Europa gives

birth to Apollo, while in the Latin tradition the mother of Apollo is Leto. In the Latin

tradition, and in particular in Ovid's text, Europa marries the king of Crete Asterius, and

he adopts her children, one of these being Minos, king of Crete. I believe it possible that

Haukr decides to make a fusion between the king Asterius and Jupiter because in the

Trójumanna saga it is said that she marries the king of Crete and this also happens in the

Latin text, but they are two different figures. Apollo appears at the end of the tale in the

Metamorphoses, but only as a god who helps Cadmus to find the new kingdom, which

will be the city of Thebe. So, it is possible to notice the revision, what Haukr does about

every tales of the Metamorphoses and the Aeneid is real and peculiar.

Chapter 5 is the last chapter of this extended prologue, and it is about the fight between

Salomon and Jupiter. I suppose it represents the defeat of Jupiter-Thor against Salomon

and Christianity. Indeed, this first prologue ends with the death of Jupiter by the hand of

Salomon's troops; indeed, the text says: "ok þar af þa dó hann ok mikill luti folks hans ok

syndiz Þor hanum þat maklig script" (p.197). This part cannot be found in any of the

classical sources, neither Ovid nor Virgil. Probably it is a construction of Haukr himself

to explain the end of the kingdom of Jupiter and the end of the heathen time. There is one

text in the Old English tradition about a dialogue between Salomon and Saturnus129,

probably he took inspiration by this text, but for the moment I am not sure about this.

129 Lendinara 1994

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With chapter 5 this first prologue about the kingdom of Jupiter-Thor.

3.4.2. "Fra Edelon"

After this first section, a new one begins, which has the following title, "Fra Edelon"

(p.197). For the moment I do not know what the translation of this term, Edelon, can be,

because it does not appear in any of the Latin sources.

Chapter 6 talks about another transformation of Jupiter, the last one of the saga, even if

in the previous chapter, he is dead. The feminine protagonist is Alkonia Amphitrion,

daughter of Edelon. As always, Jupiter wanted her, so he went to her, and when she sat

on her lady's bower, then a golden rain (gulldropum) started to fall over her knees, so she

went out, and she finished under a great shower of rain, which is in reality Jupiter. He

grabbed her and brought her to his ship. Unlike the other time, her father did not send

anyone to find her because Edelon knew who took her. The scribe of the saga, here, makes

a big mistake probably because he did not understand the text of Ovid, or because the

manuscript he has read130. Indeed, the episode of the golden rain happens to Danae and

not to Alkonia Amphitiorn, who probably is Alcmena wife of Amphitrion. Indeed, in

Metamorphoses Book VI, vv. 112-114, it is possible to read:

Amphitryon fuerit, cum te, Tirynthia, cepit,/ aureus ut Danaen.131

I think the nearness of the name Amphitrion and aures is probably the reason for this

misunderstanding.

From chapter 7 the Trójumanna Saga begins, because from now on the scribe writes the

saga following Dares' text. Indeed, in the "prologue" the scribe had only used the Aeneid

and the Metamorphoses as sources, but from now on, he starts referring to the De Excidio

Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius in particular. So, from chapter 7, the two texts start to

follow the same timeline, and they both talk about the journey of Jason to find the Golden-

Fleece. As always, the Old Icelandic version presents some differences with the source.

Furthermore, details from the other Latin texts, from the Metamorphoses and, in

particular, from the Heroides of Ovid can be found. Chapter 7 starts with the presentation

of the king of the Peloponnese Pelias as an excellent and rich man. He had a brother,

Aeson, who had a son, Jason. He was very popular in the kingdom, more than his uncle,

130 I could not see the manuscripts used and read by Haukr, and for now I do not know what they

could be. 131 "assumed the likeness of Amphitrion when he embraced the lady of Tiryns: how he tricked

Danae by changing into a shower of gold."

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who was very jealous of him and was worried about a possible usurpation by his nephew,

so he plotted a plan to eliminate him. Indeed, Pelias knew about the pride of Jason so he

proposed him to find the Golden Fleece, which represented a great trial, hoping Jason

could die during this travel because it was known that no one had ever returned from it.

The story is the same, but there are several differences between the original version of

Dares and the Hauksbók's one, as the description of the characters, which can be found

only in the Icelandic text. The Latin text is shorter than the Icelandic version, mainly

because it does not present the dialogues between Jason and his uncle Pelias, it says only:

"Pelias rex ut vidit Iasonem tam acceptum esse omni homini, veritus est, ne sibi

iniuras faceret et se regno eiceret. Dicit Iasoni Colchis pellem inauratam arietis

esse Dignam eius virtute: ut eam inde auferret omnia se ei daturum pollicerut."132

(chapter I),

Instead of a long speech, which is found in the Icelandic version. This is ascribable to the

different nature of the two versions: Dares presents a very short report of the story,

because he wrote an acta diurna, as he said in the last chapter of his text, so a documentary

text, instead, the purpose of the Trójumanna saga is "prodesse et delectare", which means

to teach and to amuse, because it is a saga, which means a tale, a story was written to be

read by a public. Another exciting thing is the different use of words to define the Golden

Fleece, indeed in the Latin text Dares prefers to use the term "Colchis pellem inauratam

arietis" which means the fleece of a ram overlaid with gold, while the Old Icelandic

version presents the world gullspunni, which is its precise translation. Probably the scribe

prefers to refer to the more classic terms of the myth than to the technical terms of Dares,

who choose to use this form because he wanted to eliminate the magical parts from his

narration, to make the story more real. Indeed, he decided to write about the expedition

of Jason only because he wanted to write a sort of "Archaelogia" of the events of the

Trojan War, and he had to write about this expedition for what will follow, but he

eliminated every magical part from the narration. Haukr does not do this, and he mixes

all the versions to create the complete text of the story. Indeed, he presents the list of the

Argonauts,

132 "When king Pelias saw that Jason was popular with everyone, he feared that he might do some

harm or drive him off the kingdom. Accordingly, he told Jason there was something worthy of

his prowess at Colchis: the golden fleece of a ram. If Jason brought it back, he would give him

complete control of the kingdom."

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"þessir menn rèðust til ferðar með Jason: hinn mikli Erkúles, sun Þórs; Kastor ok

Pollox af Sparta, brœðr Eline, er venst var allra kvenna í Girklandi, hana átti

Menelaus, ok Klitemestre. Er átti Agamemnon; með honum fór ok Nestor hinn spaki

or Piló, ok Telamon af Salómína ok Peleus af Figía; eigi eru fleiri menn nefndir"133

(p. 198)

Also, he started to introduce other characters as Helen and Menelaus, Clytemnestra and

Agamemnon, while Dares does not, he says that: “Demostrare eos qui cum Iasone

profecti sunt non videtur nostrum esse: sed qui volunt eos cognoscere, Argonautas

legant”134 (chapter 1). Indeed, Haukr recreates the list thanks to chapter III of the Dares'

text, which narrates the punitive expedition of some of them against Laomedon king, as

we can see later. The story continues with the arrival of the Argonauts to the land of

Laomedon king, father of Priam. In the Icelandic version, when Laomedon is presented

as a king, the scribe reports the list of the family of Priam, Laomedon's son,

fyri því ríki rèð þá Lamedon, hans sun var Príamus, en dóttir Hesíóna; kona Príamí

hèt Hekúba, þeirra synir voru þeir, hinn ágæti Ektor ok hinn fagri Alexandr, er

Paris hèt öðru nafni, Deiphebus, Helenus ok Tróilus; dœtr þeirra þær Kasandra ok

Pólixena ok Tróan; átti Príamus ok laungetna sunu.135 (pp. 198-199)

basing on chapter IV of Dares

Hoc ubi Priam nuntiatum est patrem occisum … Ilium petit cum uxore Hecuba et

liberis Hectore Alexandro Deiphobo Heleno Troilo Andromacha Cassandra

Polyxena, nam errant ei etiam alii filii ex concubunis nati.136

The scribe probably considers essential to report the name of the main characters at the

beginning of the story, in particular, the Trojans. After the presentation of the family of

Priam, the chapter deviates from the Historia; indeed, the scribe decides to put two myths

133 "Those men were settled for the journey with Jason, the great Hercules, son of Thor, Castor

and Pollux from Sparta, brothers of Elena, who was the most beautiful of all the women in Greece,

Menelaus married her, and Agamemnon married Clytemnestra. With him also went Nestor the

wise from Pylos and Telamon of Salamis and Peleus of Pythia. Not more men are named." 134 "It is not our business to tell about those who set forth with Jason. If anyone wishes to know

about them, he should read the Argonautica". 135 "Laomedon ruled on this kingdom. His son was Priam and his daughter Hesione. The wife of

Priam was called Hecuba. Their sons were they, the excellent Hector and the fair (beautiful)

Alexander, whom Paris is called in another name, Deiphobus, Helenus and Troilus, and their

daughters were Cassandra and Polyxena and Troan. 136 "Here this is said to Priam that his father was killed … he returned to Troy, along with his

wife, Hecuba, and his children, Hector, Alexander, Deiphobus, Helenus Troilus, Andromache,

Cassandra and Polyxena. Actually, with him came also other children who were born from

concubines".

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in the story, which are not found in Dares' version, probably because of the presence of

numerous supernatural events. These two myths are: the dream of Hecuba about the

destiny of Paris as the cause of the destruction of Troy; and the myth of the marriage of

Thetis and Peleus. Both the tales come from Ovid, the first is narrated in Heroides XVI,

which is the letter sent by Paris to Helen; while the second is from the Metamorphoses,

even if, I think he makes a mistake about this episode, because it is Peleus the husband of

Thetis, instead of Paris, while Haukr writes the contrary. My opinion is that: he takes

inspiration the Heroides, even if also in the Metamorphoses the episode is narrated. Würth

affirms the same, when she talks about the episode of the Judgement137. In particular, he

takes inspiration from the letter V, which the nymph Eson sent to Paris after he left her

for Helen. This letter narrates about their marriage and their love before he met the

beautiful Helen. Here, the episode of the golden apple and the quarrel-beauty is narrated:

both the episode are linked traditionally to the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. The chapter

ends with a race between the bulls and the coronation of Paris by Thor.

Chapter 8 is not found in the Dares' text; indeed, in this chapter Judgement of Paris is

narrated on the line of the letter XVI of the Ovid's Heroides. The story is entirely the

same, the three goddesses were conducted, in this case by Saturnus and not by Mercury,

to Paris on the mount Ida. Here, after the recognition of his father (Heroides V), the prince

judged the goddess, who, respectively, promised him a gift: Minerva the wisdom, Juno

the power and the strength, and Venus promised him the love of the most beautiful Greek

woman, Helen. He chose Venus, because of that Sif will be an enemy of the Trojans. The

only significant difference between the two texts is the name of the goddess: the scribe

uses the name of Nordic goddesses, Sif (Juno), Freya (Venus) and Frigg (Minerva).

Chapter 9 starts with the arrival of the Argonauts to Laomedon's land. The king, worried

about a possible attack, asked them to go away. This fact made Hercules angry, and he

planned to take revenge one day. So, the journey of the Argonauts went on, so they arrived

in Colchis, and they met the king, who is called Medius in the Icelandic saga, while in the

Classical tradition he is called Eeta. This part of the story is entirely omitted by Dares,

who did not want to talk about the supernatural events, so he only says that: "Colchos

profecti sunt, pellem abstulerunt, domum reverse sunt"138(De Excidio Troiae, II), a sort

of veni, vidi, vici, indeed he says that they arrived in Colchis, they obtained the Fleece

137“This passage (the competition among Sif, Freya, and Frigg) in Hauksbók is tied not to Dares’

text, but to Ovid’s Heroides and other, unknown sources” (Würth 2006, 306) 138 And set out for Colchis, and stole the fleece, and returned to their homeland".

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and then they came back home. Indeed, chapter 9 and chapter 10 of the Trójumanna saga

tell the story of the deeds of Jason to obtain the Golden-Fleece, thanks to the help of

Medea. The tales of this fact entirely inspire the story in the Metamorphoses of Ovid,

book VII. Indeed, the narration is quite the same, there are only a few differences,

probably because of the re-arrangement of the text operated by Haukr, for example as I

said, the name of the king is different. Furthermore, the king himself describes the

attempts of Jason to dissuade him from trying, while in the Metamorphose is Medea who

talks about that, when she discovered that she is in love with the hero. She asked his sister

to call the Greek hero for a meeting, and they met in the wood, and they fell in love, while

in the classic version Medea fell in love with him from the beginning, and she decided to

help him because of that, even if she had to betray his father and people. The attempts are

quite the same, but the sequence of them is different: in the Icelandic version, he made

sleep the bulls and the dragon at the beginning, and not at the end, as in the Latin text.

Furthermore, in the Metamorphoses' version, all the attempts are public, while in the Old

Icelandic one, Medea and Jason exceeded the challenge without no one seeing them. The

result is the same: Jason wins and takes the Golden-Fleece, and after the victory, he and

his men destroyed the city, while Medea took the gold and the treasure of his father. After

this, all of them left the Colchis and started their journey back home. One night they

stopped on an island, and they spent there the night, but the day after all the men left the

island, abandoning Medea. When she woke up, she found out that all left, so she cursed

Jason. Chapter 10 ends with Jason returning home, who will become a great king after

Pelias.

Chapter 11 of the Trójumanna saga is similar to the chapter III of the De Excidio Troiae,

in fact, the story and the events are the same, the only difference is how the Icelandic

scribe writes the story, because it is an elaboration and not a translation of the Latin text,

but in both it is narrated how Hercules reunites his friends and troops, and they take

revenge against Laomedon for the úvirðíng (p.202), when they came for the first time to

his kingdom during the Golden-Fleece's expedition. The chapter ended with the city's

destruction and Laomedon's killing and the kidnapping of Hesione by Telamon. This fact

is represented as one of the causes of the war of Troy. This is the first part of the prologue

of the Trojan war. As it is possible to notice, the timeline of the two versions, the Latin

and the Icelandic ones, is the same, but the author of the saga decides to add more details,

and he takes inspiration by the other sources, as the Ovid's text. Moreover, this adding of

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stories and details is more evident in the following subchapter, where Haukr adds a new

part to the Dares' story, and he narrates the deeds of Hercules.

3.4.3. "Fra Erkules"

As I said, in this part, Haukr deviates from the text of Dares, and he adds a new part about

Hercules ("Fra Erkules", p.203): in chapters 12 and 13 he narrates the deeds of the hero.

The primary source, in this case, is the Heroides, IX, which is the letter of Deianira to

Hercules after he left her for another woman. In chapter 12, the text says that, after the

defeat of Laomedon and the return to his homeland, Hercules left his home to do great

deeds. After that, the scribe resumes the most important part, as the killing of the lion of

Nemea, even if the text talks only about a great lion killed by his hand ("hann drap með

höndum sèr einn mikinn leo", p.203). In the list are also found: the killing of the Idra

("ormr með mörgum höfðum, ok ef eitt var af honum höggvit, þá komu ij í staðinn",

p.203); the theft of the golden apples; the killing of Geryon. The chapter tells about the

time when Atlas sustained the Vault of the Sky while he shored up the Earth ("ok gerði

þar mikla stólpa til marks víðförli sinnar", p.203). Furthermore, it talks about his journey

to the Strait of Gibraltar and he names it with the Icelandic name, Norvasund. He

mentions the killing of Cacus and the killing of the Centaurus and the Harpies ("hann

drap ok þar þá fugla, er ágætastir hafa verit, er Arpíne hètu" p.203). At the end of chapter

12, it is said that the heathens believed that he is born in Heaven and he becomes a star.

This is a clear reference to Hercules'Ascension in the Book IX of the Metamorphoses:

here is described how the hero ascends to the sky after his death. He became a part of the

sky itself, so he becomes a star.

In chapter 13, the episode of the betray of Deianira is presented. She was the first wife of

Hercules, and he left her for another woman, so she plotted a plan to kill him. In this

chapter, there is a long speech of Deianira herself. She explained the reason for her

sorrow, and it is possible to find another list of the deeds of Hercules. In reality, this

speech is a sort of letter she sends to Hercules with a tunic soaked with her blood, which

will be the weapon which kills the hero. She committed suicide. These two chapters, 12

and 13, represent a sort of arrangement of the Ovidian texts, in particular, the Book IX of

the Metamorphoses and the Letter IX of the Heroides, in particular, the speech of Deianira

in the Trójumanna saga. Indeed, in this text, it is possible to find many references to the

text of the Heroides.

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3.4.4. “Er Troo var eflð annan tima”

After this part, the text follows the same timeline of Dares' text. Indeed, a new part of the

story begins, and it is possible to understand this by the title “Er Troo var eflð annan

tima” (p.204), it means “when Troy was reinforced another time”.

Chapter 14 starts after the destruction of the city made by Hercules and Telamon. During

this fight, he was not in the city, but he was away so that he could save himself. When he

learned about the destruction of the city, he went there with all his family and property.

This part corresponds to the chapter IV of the Historia, and it is quite similar, the only

significant difference is the fact that here Dares made the list of the relatives of Priam,

while Haukr had anticipated this list in chapter 7, as I have already said. Furthermore, in

this chapter, it is told about the reconstruction of the city of Troy, which is made stronger

and more prominent, so in case of war, they could defend themselves inside the walls.

This part is also found in Dares' text, but he also describes the name of the city's doors

and the construction of a Temple dedicated to Jupiter. In the Old Icelandic version, the

description of the city is quite different. First of all, the names of city's doors are omitted:

the text talks only about the protection of Apollo and Neptune, which is linked to the text

of the Metamorphoses, Book XI, vv. 194-204, where Ovid narrated

Ultus abit Tmolo liquidumque per aera Vectus/ angustum citra pontum Nepheleidos

Helles/ Laomedonteis Latoius adstitit arvis./ dextera Sigei, Rhoetei laeva profundi/

ara Panomphaeo vetus est sacrata Tonanti:/ inde novae primum moliri moenia

Troiae/ Laomedonta videt susceptaque magna labore/ crescere difficili nec opes

exposcere parvas/ cumque tridentigero tumidi genitore profundi/ mortalem induitur

formam Phrygiaeque tyranno/ aedificat muros pactus pro moenibus aurum.139

So, the scribe of the Trójumanna saga changes the story, in fact, in the Ovidian text the

construction of the high walls is collocated during the kingdom of Laomedon and not

during the kingdom of Priam. In the Icelandic version we can read this: en eigi varð hon

139 “Apollo, when he had taken his revenge, left Tmolus and journeyed through the clear air, but

stopped short of the narrow strait of Helle, Nephele's daughter, and alighted on the plains of

Troy. There, on the right of the Sigean promontory, and to the left of the Rhotean, an ancient

altar, sacred to the Thunderer of Panomphe, stood. From there, the god saw Laomedon,

beginning to raise the walls of his new city, Troy. He saw, too, that the great task the king had

undertaken demanded no small resources, and that it was proceeding with much toil and

difficulty. So, along with the god who bears the trident, the father of the swelling seas, Apollo

disguised himself as a mortal and, on receiving a promise of gold in return for the city's defences,

built the walls of Troy for the Phrygian tyrant.”

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fyrr allger, svâ sem þeir vildu, fyrr en Neptúnus ok Apolló sólarguð gerðu hana (p.204)140.

Furthermore, the castle is collocated above all city'sdistricts, and it was built as a temple,

dedicated to Thor. From now the names of the gods will always be in the Norse version,

as the scribe wants to say that, the Trojans now are the ancestors of the Icelandic and

Norse people, and this is understandable if we think to the texts of Snorri, or Ari or the

Third Grammatical Treatise, which I have analysed in chapter 2141. In this chapter, it is

told that, after the city's construction, Priam sent a messenger to the Greeks, who were

guilty of the previous attack, to ask the return of his sister Hesione. This is found in both

texts, but the Trójumanna saga omits Antenor's name, which appears only after the

answer of the Greeks. Furthermore, only one speech with Telamon is reported, while in

Dares' text, Antenor went to all of the Greeks guilty of the destruction of the city.

Furthermore, the scribe seems confused, because at the beginning Antenor met Peleus,

but the answer was given by Telamon, who said he was not guilty and he never gave back

what now is his own without fighting, but we know he was the king who has taken

Hesione home with him. By Dares and Haukr, this is presented as one of the first causes

of the Trojan War. Antenor after the answer came back to Priam and referred to the

answers and the mocking:

Hann fór þegar brott, ok lètti eigi fyrr en hann kom heim til Príamó ok sagði honum

alla sína ferð, ok sagðist fundit hafa alla þá menn, er honum áttu sakir at bœta, ok

sagði fyri sakbœtr koma spott ok heitun.(p.205)142

In the first part of chapter 15, chapters VI, VII, VIII and IX of the De Excidio Troiae of

Dares are resumed. It is said that, after the return of Agenor, Priam decided to call all his

sons in assembly to decide to move war against the Greeks. Here the debate between the

sons of Priam about the decision to go on war started. Hector, the eldest son, agrees about

the war, but he tries to explain that they do not have enough strength to move war because

they do not have so many ships and the enemies in Greece are many. Later on, Alexander

spoke and, as in Dares, he agreed on the war and he wanted to be the leader of this

expedition because the events on the Mount Ida, which are represented by the judgement

140 “He set already the material to the city and the city grew stronger than before, and Neptune

and Apollo, god of sun, granted her.” 141 I believe essential to underline the connection with the Icelandic texts which I have analysed

in chapter 2, Ari, Snorri and the Third Grammatical Treatise. The Trojans are considered

Scandinavians' ancestors, because of that, they built a temple to worhipThor and not Jupiter. 142 “He went immediately away, and he left, not before he came home to Priam, and he told him

the whole journey, and he declared to have met all that men who had to repair to him for the sake,

and he said to come about, mocked and mot for damages."

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and the promise of Venus-Freyja to give him the most beautiful woman (Eftir þat sagði

Alexandr draum sinn, þann er hann hafði dreymt í Íða skógi, p. 205), but in this chapter

it is not represents as an actual fact, but as a dream, as in Dares' text. In the Historia, Paris'

Judgement is presented as a dream because the author wants to eliminate all the

supernatural details. However, in the Trójumanna saga, this is weird because, in chapter

8, the judgement is presented as a real fact. Deiphobus supported the idea of the

expedition. Later on, Helenus spoke, and he did not wholly agree with the expedition,

because he feared its consequences. In Dares, he is not only the youngest, but he is famous

as a prophet and, during the assembly, he said it is dangerous for the city and the family

if they bring back a woman from the Greeks, because they would come to fight. At last,

Troilus, the youngest spoke, and he agreed on the war. After that, Priam announced that

he would levy the troops and go, and he stated that Alexander would be the leader of this

expedition. After this one man, Pandus, son of Eyporbus, opposed himself to the

expedition and he asked his father to say that, if Alexander should bring back a woman

from Greece, so death and destruction would come to them (ef Alexandr næmi konu af

Girklandi, at þar af mundu vèr fá údæmi ok aldrtila, p. 205), so it is better to live

inactively than to die (ok kallaði hann ner sínu skapi vera at lifa í atferðarleysi en deyja

hæðilega í forsjóleysi ok heimsku með ofkappi, pp. 205-206). These are the same word of

the Latin version; so, it is possible to read:

dicere coepit si Alexander uxorem de Graecia adduxisset, Troianis extremum

exitium futurum, sed pulchrius esse in otio vitam degere, quam in tumulto

libertatem amittere et in periculu inire143. (chapter 8)

Then, Priam insulted this man and defined him as a woman. Also, Cassandra, Priam's

daughter, advised them about the following of this expedition, but no one listened to his

prophecy, so the expedition started. In Dares there is also a description of how they

prepare the ships for the journey, using wood from the mount Ida, but not in the Icelandic

version, there they only start the journey. After that, Alexander finally arrives in Greece:

before he met Menelaus, and, after their meeting, he moved to Cythera, where Helen was.

She was famous for her beauty, and Alexander and his companions were curious to see

her. The original version is not so different, the only difference is the fact that Dares wants

to underline Helen's loneliness, so it could be easier to kidnap her.

143 “If Alexander brought home a wife from Greece, Troy would utterly fall. It was much better,

he said, to spend one’s life in peace than to risk the loss of liberty in war.”

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In chapter 16, the kidnapping of Helen is described. The two versions are quite different,

even if the story is the same. In Dares' text it is narrated in chapter X: Alexander and

Helen see each other only one time before the kidnapping, and they fall in love during

this only one meeting, they do not talk, she feels sad and guilty for this love, Alexander

becomes mad, and he decides to kidnap her and to bring her to Troy with him, so he orders

his men to be ready with the ship. During the night, he goes to Helen and takes her with

other women to his ship. There is a fight with the men of Menelaus, who do not want to

let go of their queen, but Alexander wins and leaves Cythera. Before the arrival in Troy,

he stops on the island of Tenedon, and there he and Helen consume their love. After that,

the report of this event comes to Menelaus, who asks to help his brother Agamemnon.

The Icelandic version is quite different, because Helen and Paris meet in the temple and

they have the possibility to talk and promise love to each other, in particular, thanks to a

trick Paris makes Helen swear she will be her woman, so, while they are in the temple,

he gives her a golden apple, where these words are carved: ek sver þess við goðin, at ek

skal Alexandr giftast, ok vera hans drottníng hèðan af (p. 206), which means she is

swearing to be his queen. He does this because he knows that every oath made in front of

the gods are holy, and no one can go against them. Because of that, Helen is worried.

Probably this is a creation of the author himself because I could not find any reference in

the classic texts. After this episode, he leaves the temple and comes back to his ships.

During the night he kidnaps Helen and other women. There is a fight between the citizens

of Cythera and Alexander's men, but the victory is Paris', so he can come back to Troy

with Helen. Priam is happy for that because he hopes the Greeks will now send back

Hesione. So, he organises the wedding between Alexander and Helen, everybody is

happy, except for Cassandra, who knows the danger of this act, so when she meets Helen,

she tells her that Helen will bring them all the plagues. Priam becomes angry with his

daughter and asks her to close her mouth. This last part of chapter 16 corresponds to the

beginning of chapter XI of the De Excidio Troiae. Also, in this way, the prologue ends,

and the war could start.

3.4.5. “Fra hefred til Troio”

Here the war of Troy starts, as it is said by the subtitle “Fra hefred til Troio" (p.207),

which means "about the military expedition to Troy". The extended prologue to the great

war ends with the arrival of Helen in Troy. Now, the chapter directly starts the war, from

the preparation to the end of the Trojans.

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Chapter 17 opens the war of Troy, and it corresponds to the chapters from XI to XVI of

the Dares' text. It is a resume about the preparation of the war of the two sides. Menelaus

begged his brother for help. They met together and decided to reunite all the Greeks for

a war expedition against Troy. As Dares writes, both Greeks and Trojans send men to

Delphi, to enquiry the future. The first sent were Achilles and Patroclus, to them Apollo

prophesied the victory of their side, but he also said that the duration of the war would be

ten years, while, to Calchans, who was sent by the Trojans, it is said that he had to ally

with the Greeks. Also, this happened, Calchans came back with Achilles and Patroclus to

the Greeks side, and he fought alongside them. In this way, no response came back to

Priam, the king. Furthermore, it is said that the Greeks started their expedition from the

harbour of Athens and their fleet was composed by 1310 ships (höfðu þeir iij skip hins xj

tigar hins xij hundraðs, p.207), while in Dares they are about 1070 plus 30, furthermore

in the Latin text the list is complete, which means the author reports a complete list of the

number of the ships offered by the commanders. Their arrival on the land of Tenedon

and the action which they do there (robbery and killing, ok ræntu þar fè ok drápu men

p.207) is then narrated. The chapter ends with a shortlist of the most famous Greek

characters,

Agamemnon var konúngr yfir her Girkja, en þessir voru ágætastir menn með

honum: Menelaus, bróðir hans, Akilles ok Patroklus, fóstbróðir hans; Palamídes,

Díómedes, Ajax, Telepus; Úlixes ok Nestor voru spekíngar mestir í her þeirra.144

(p.207)

and with the denial of Priam to give back Helen. The structure and the narration are the

same of the Dares' text, the only difference is the length of the Old Icelandic version:

Haukr resumes all these events in one chapter, while Dares uses 5 chapters, and he also

offers a description of the protagonists of the war, the complete list of the Greek

participants and the first attacks made by Achilles to the allies of Troy. As it is possible

to understand, a list of ships could be considered boring for a saga, and furthermore, the

scribe presents a resume of the text of Dares, as he did in other parts.

In chapter 18, the narration is not based on the previous sources, Ovid, Virgil or Dares,

but in this case, the scribe reports an episode of the Ilias Latina. He talks about the episode

of Criseus, a priest of Apollo, and his daughter. The king Agamemnon has taken

144 “Agamemnon was the king over the Greeks troops, and these men with him were excellent,

Menelaus, his brother, Achille, Patroclus, his stepbrother, Palamedes, Diomedes, Ajax Telephus.

Ulysses and Nestor were the wisest in their army.”

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Criseides, the priest's daughter, because of that he was sorrowful and asked the god to

help him and to punish his enemy. Because of that, Apollo sent a plague against them and

many of the Greeks died ("ok því kom drepsótt í lið Girkja ok yfir allar þeirra herbúðir,

ok varð svâ mikit mannfall af þessu drepi, at iij mílur voru þat á alla vega, er eldar einir

voru, þeir er menn brendu líkami dauðra manna, sem þá var siðr.” p.208)145. After that,

they enquired the god, and they understood what they had to do. So, Agamemnon sent

her back to her father. As I said, this episode is not found in Dares, probably because he

does not report supernatural events. After that, the war could begin: in fact, the declaration

of war by Priam is here described, when he says no to the offer of the Greeks to give back

Helen and the treasure. Agamemnon asked his men to be ready to attack the city. In Dares,

in chapter XVIII the Trojan forces are described, this detail, as for the list of the Greeks

troops, is omitted in the Icelandic text. After this, the battle is described, and it seems that

the scribe has translated into Old Icelandic the Dares text because the words are quite the

same when he narrates this: Protesilaus fought very hard, and many of the Trojans ran

away or die. After that Hector came to fight against Protesilaus and he killed him. Then

the help from the Greeks troops came, so Hector ran back in the city, even if the battle

continued when Achilles and his men arrived, and they made many trojans run away.

After this, "ok sleit þá nótt bariodagann", which means the night falls on the battle, which

is the Icelandic translation of the Latin "nox proelium dirimit”. This sentence is used in

both texts to conclude every battle.

In chapter 19, the Greeks camp's construction in front of the wall of Troy is presented.

Because of that, the Achaeans could understand the difficulties to conquer the city. This

part is found in Dares, who says "Agamemnon exercitum totum in terram educit, castra

facit”146, however, he does not say anything about the wall and the type of camp, as it is

said in the Icelandic text, "Eftir um morgininn kom Agamemnon konúngr með allan

herinn, ok setti herbúðir sínar á völlunum hjá borginni, ok lèt gera virki um ok grafa díki

um; sá þeir þá at Trója var svâ sterk, at engi von var at hon mundi unnin verða”147 (p.

208). The following part is very similar in both versions, both talk about the arrival of

145 “and because of that, a plague-strike fell on the Greeks and over their entire camp. Also, from

this pestilence, a so great loss of life happened, that was 3 miles of the entire road, that they were

one single fire, in which they burned the body of the dead men, as their custom was.” 146 “Agamemnon led forth all of his armies onto the land and set up camp”. 147 “After during the morning, king Agamemnon came with all the army and set his camp on the

ground near the city, and he placed to do the work about, and he set to dig dyke around. They

saw then that Troy was so strong that there was no hope that the city would be won."

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both sides, and the fight between Memnon and Hector, but in the Icelandic text, the death

of Patroclus is wholly omitted, which will be narrated in chapter 23 of the Trójumanna

saga. The death of Protesilaus is also omitted, because, I think, he is not one of the most

important characters and the scribe does not consider relevant to write about him. Another

difference is the description of Hector, while he is going to war, so in the Icelandic

version it is possible to read: “Hektor gekk fram rösklega ok drap menn á báðar hendr"

(p.208), which means that he appears gallantly while he goes to the battle and he kills his

enemy by both hands. This description is not found in the Latin text of Dares, and I think

this is typical of the romance or the saga literature. The chapter ends with the meeting in

battle of Hector and Ajax: while they were fighting, they found out that they were

kinsmen, so they stopped to fight and recognized their friendship ("ok gáfust þeir frændr

gjöfum ok mæltu til vináttu” p. 208148). After this, there are two years of peace: its

duration is the same in the Latin and the Icelandic text, but Dares uses "proelium post

biennium”, instead Haukr uses the winters to date, “griða um ij vetr” (p. 208).

Chapter 20 is the translation of the Historia and corresponds to chapters XX and XXI. It

is said about the discussion for the power between Agamemnon and Palamedes, but the

first one remains the leader of the Greeks force. Another hard battle follows, and the text

could be defined as a precise translation of the Latin text in Old Icelandic. After this battle,

there was the assembly of the Greeks troops in which Agamemnon incited the men to

fight harder and to try to kill Hector, the very protector of the city. During this assembly,

Menelaus declared that he wanted to fight in a single battle with Paris to decide the result

of the war. The assembly accepted this idea, but Paris refused this duel because Helen

dissuaded him. This part, about Menelaus' proposal, cannot be found in Dares, probably

because it is a construction of Haukr himself, because it is also not found in the Ilias

Latina. After more days of battle and death follow, with long periods of peace.

From chapter 21, which corresponds in part to chapter XXIII of Dares, Haukr starts

introducing a variation of the Dares Text, and as we have seen, this is not new. The first

part of the chapter is quite similar to the Latin one: both talk about other periods of fights

and peace, and Haukr makes a resume of Dares' chapter, while in the previous one he

makes a proper translation of the Latin text. After this, in the Icelandic text, an

extraordinary battle is presented: this time Menelaus and Paris met each other in the

battlefield. The Achaean challenged to fight the Trojan, who is persuaded by his brother

148 “And they provided good friendship with gifts and said to friendship.”

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Hector to accept it. The single combat started, and it is predictable, the victory seemed to

be gained by Menelaus, but the Goddess Freya saved Paris and brought him to Helen.

After that, Pandarus shot Menelaus, who was brought to his camp to heal his wounds,

while the battle resumed more vehemently. This part is not found in the Historia, the

scribe uses as source the Ilias Latina: if we take the verses from 252 to 358, it is possible

to notice that two texts are entirely the same, he omitted only the part about the pact,

which establishes that the war will be won with this fight between the two men and no

other man could act against them this duel.

Chapter 22 represents a sort of prologue to the death of Patroclus. Also, this chapter is

absent in the Dares' text, which presents the death of the hero as a common consequence

of the war and not as the most important event to bring back to war Achilles. This chapter

is open by the image of Achilles, who was playing his stringed instrument to the men.

This image is entirely taken by the Ilias Latin, in particular from verse 585 and 586. While

he is in his camp, the battle raged harder between the two sides. Because there are a lot

of dead ones, in an assembly the Trojans decided to give back Helen and all the booty

stolen from Paris to Menelaus to conclude the war, but this offer received a high no from

Menelaus himself, who said that he would fight until the destruction of the city. This also

is not found in Dares. I suppose it is a resume of the verses from 636 to 640 of the Ilias.

After another battle, the Greek commanders tried to persuade Achilles to come back to

fight, because they were losing the war, in exchange for his return, they would give back

Briseidam and many treasures. Before this meeting, Agamemnon had taken this girl from

him, after the renounce of the daughter of Criseus: properly the taking of Briseidam was

the reason why Achilles retired from battle. His honour was compromised because of that,

and he refused this offer. This narration can not be found in the text of Dares; in fact, the

scribe takes inspiration for this part from the Ilias, verses 688-695. The Icelandic story

continues with another great battle, in which Hector was hit by a rock, cast by Ajax, son

of Telamon and Hesione. This image, so peculiar, is taken from the verses 779-781, which

says: Hector ubique ferus violento pectore saevit, quem saxo ingenti percussum maximus

Aiax depulit et toto prostratum corpore fudit149 (p.159). The war continued until

Agamemnon went back to his ship with his troops (ad classe Agamemnon alae, v.795 the

army of Agamemnon to the ships). With the conclusion, the chapter ends.

149 “Wherever Hector ferociously rages with a violent heart, but Ajax hits him with a big stone,

and he shot him down with all his body”

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In chapter 23, one of the most famous episodes of the Iliadic tradition is narrated: the

death of Patroclus and the consequent wrath of Achilles. The episode is entirely absent in

the Historia, in fact, Dares dedicates only one line to the death of Patroclus in chapter

XIX, when he says "Hector Patroclum occidit et spoliare parat”150. while in the

Trójumanna saga, the death of the young hero has an epic tone, which is typical of the

world of the Ilias and the saga too. It is possible to notice that the scribe has adapted these

verses from 805 to 838 in Old Icelandic, from the moment in which Patroclus declared

war, to Ajax, who saved his armour and body. After the death of the young Greek, the

news arrived to Achilles, and he fell crying and he lied down in a mound and tears off his

clothes and kissed the dead body, saying that he would go to take revenge against Hector,

as it possible to read, "þú hinn mikli ok hinn máttugi Ektor, er vegr ok prýði er alls

Frigíalands! svâ sem nú erttu glaðr af sigrinum ok lofaðr af öllum Tyrkjum, þá skalttu

skjótt fá þess nekkíng!”151 (pp. 212-213). This speech corresponds to the verses “non

impune mei laetabere caede sodalis/ Hector – ait – magnoque meo, violente, dolori/

persolves poenas atque istis victor in armis,/ in quibus exsultas, fuso morire cruore”152

(vv. 850-853). After that, Haukr presents a sort of resume of the following Illias' verses,

omitting the part about the weapons procured by Thetis, the mother of Achilles. In fact,

after the speech, the hero went to the battle and started fighting against Aeneas. He could

save himself because he was under the protection of the gods, "ef Eneas hefði eigi undan

snúit", so from him Empires will be built, "þá hefði eigi tróversk ætt upp hafizt, ok eigi

sjálfir keisararnir sínar ættir átt til hans at telja”. This part is present in the Ilias too,

even if it is explicated how he got help: it is represented by the action of the god Neptune,

who saves him properly because he will be the ancestor of great leaders, in particular,

Octavian Augustus, "quem nisi servasset magnarum rector aquatum, ut profugus laetis

Troia repararet in arvis Augustumque genus Claris sunmitteret astris, non clarae gentis

nobis manisset origo" (vv. 899-902). After this, all the Trojans ran back to the city, and

the battle ended.

With chapter 24, the scribe returns to the Dares' text, and he does more because he cites

the name of the Latin writer, "Svâ segir meistari Dares” (p. 213). So, it is possible to

150 “Hector slew Patroclus and he was trying to strip off his armour” 151 “you the great and the mighty Hector, who only also is the adornment and the valour of all the

Phrygia, so as now you are glad of victory and praised of all the Trojans, then shall you quickly

grasp this” 152 “not with impunity you will bring joy to yourself, Hector, but you, violent, will pay the price

for my great grief and, shed your blood, you will die in this armour of your victory”

81

understand that the primary source is properly the De Excidio Troiae Historia. This

chapter is the complete translation and re-elaboration of chapter XXIV of the Phrygian's

text. The text tells about the dream of Andromache, which is a prophecy of Hector's death,

and the consequent absence of Hector at the beginning of the battle. This part is very

similar to the Latin text. Both present the narration of the dream, the concern of

Andromache, the attempt of Priam to Hector from going to the battle. There are only a

few differences: for example, in the Icelandic text the episode in which Andromache asks

Hector to not go to the battle showing him their son Astyanax is not mentioned, or the

understandable anger of the hero, in the Icelandic text he accepted the order of Priam.

The battle started again, and the Greeks were winning, but when Hector heard the sounds

of the battle and found out that many Trojans were dying, he took his weapon and went

fighting, here he met his destiny, whose name was Achilles. The description of the duel

between Achilles and Hector is taken from the Ilias and not from Dares, who only says

“Hector Achillis femur sauciavit. Achilles dolore accepto magis eum persequi copit nec

destitit, nisi eum occideret.”153 (chapter XXIV), while the Icelandic text presents a

description of a very long fight between them, as it is mentioned in the Ilias, in the verses

from 935 to 1003. After a long battle Achilles won and injured the body of the Trojan

prince tying the body to his carriage and dragging him three times around the city. In

Dares, as it is possible to notice, this part is absent.

Even chapter 25 is not found in the Latin text, because Dares wholly omitted the fact that

Achilles does not give back the body of Hector after the battle, but he kept it; meanwhile,

the Icelandic text does. The chapter talks about Priam's arrival to Achilles' tent to beg the

body of his son back. The speech is very intense, as it is possible to read in the Ilias too,

“nunc sis mittisimus oro et patris afflicti genibus miserere precantis donaque quae porto

miseri pro corpore nati accipias, si nec precibus nec flecteris auro, in senis extremis tua

dextera saeviat annis: salre saeva pater comitabor funera nati!”154 (vv. 1031-1036)

which correspond to the Old Icelandic “En ef þú vilt eigi mýkja reiði þína fyri bœn mína,

ok eigi fyri fègjafar, þá herð þína hœgri hönd ok lát mik fylgja hinum ágæta Ektori syni

153 “Hector wounded Achilles’ leg. Buy Achilles, though pained, pressed on all the harder and

kept pressing on until he had won” 154 “Now, I pray you to be most merciful and to have mercy of a father praying on his knee, and

you accept the gift, which I bring for the dead body of my unfortunate son. If prays and the gold

does not move you, so your right hand hit me on my ultimate old age: at last, I, father, will

accompany my son in the obsequies."

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mínum til helvíta”155 (p.215). I will never be tired to repeat that, the scribe makes a

personal re-elaboration of the story, as we can see in every chapter.

In chapter 26, the Dares' text and the Icelandic one share again the same timeline. This

chapter corresponds to the XXV, XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII of the Historia. In both,

more episodes of the war are narrated and, in particular, the change of the leader. At the

beginning of the chapter, Palamedes obtained the title of the leader of the troops, even if

Achilles disliked it, but he had to accept it. This chapter is also important because it tells

about the love of the hero for Polyxena, the daughter of Priam. He was so in love with

her that he could not leave the bed, so he sent a messenger to Hecuba, the wife of Priam,

to obtain the hand of the princess, promising that he and his men would leave the war if

he can have the girl. The queen delivered the message to Priam, who refused: he would

give him his daughter only if all the Greeks left his land. When Achilles heard this, he

asked the commanders to leave the land and to finish this long war. He said that it was

insane to fight for the sake of a woman, but the commanders denied, and after that,

Palamedes conducted the men to battle, while Achilles refused to fight. During the battle

many men felt down, one of this was Palamedes himself, killed by Alexander. So, the

Greeks ran back to their camp and to their ships, and then ok sleit þá nótt bardagann

(p.216), the night felt down on the battle. As I said, this chapter is the same as the Latin

text, sometimes, there is not a complete adherence between them, because Haukr does

not do a translation, but a resume of the Historia.

At the beginning of chapter 27, the beginning of the chapter XXIX of Dares is resumed.

This chapter tells how Agamemnon becomes the chieftain of the Greek troops again. The

following part is the resume of chapter XXIX, XXX and XXXI of the Historia, in fact,

it narrated about the battles and the same period of peace, and the return of Achilles in

war after the killing of his men, the Myrmidons, by Troilus is reported, “Tróilus gekk fast

á hendr Girkjum, ok öngum meirr en riddurum Akilles, er Mirmídóne voru kallaðir […]

ok er Akilles sá úför sinna manna, þá ljóp hann upp ok þreif vâpn sín, ok fór til bardaga

með mikilli eggjan.”156 (p. 217) After that, Achilles kills Troilus. The chapter ends with

the death of Memnon by the hand of Achilles after days of fighting. The chapter is similar

155 “and if you want not to smooth your anger in front my petition and not for gifts, then clench

your right hand and let me accompany the excellent Hector, my son, to the hell” 156 “Troilus went fast to the Greeks hands and straited more than Achilles' horsemen who is called

Mirmidons, (…) Also, when Achilles saw the defeat of his men, then he jumped up and touched

his weapon and went to the battle with a great goading.”

83

to the Latin text, and the only variation is the meeting between Achilles and Agamemnon,

who in the Icelandic version is with Nestor, while in the Latin one only the king goes to

talk with the hero.

Chapter 28, as the previous one, is a resume of chapter XXXIV, XXXV and XXXVI of

the Historia. The events described are the same; the only difference is the fact that Haukr

resumes these passages. As I said, this is the shorter version of the Icelandic saga, even

if, in the beginning, he presents a unique prologue, which is not part of the original

Trójumanna saga. In this chapter, the death of Achilles by the hand of Paris is narrated.

Hecuba was sad for the death of her two sons by the hands of the Greek hero, so she

decided to kill him organizing a fraud. She and her son Paris sent a message to Achilles,

promising he will marry Polyxena at the temple of Apollo, but after that, he and his men

should leave the land. The temple was outside the city, and there Paris and his men waited

for Achilles while hiding themselves. The Greek hero accepted to go, very happy, and

Antelocus, son of Nestor, came with him. Here they were both killed and the bodies,

thanks to the intercession of Helenus, Paris' brother, were sent back to the Greek camp.

The description of the two Greeks heroes' arrival and their deaths are similar in both the

version, as Haukr has translated from the original one. After the death of Achilles,

Agamemnon sent messengers to Neoptolemus Pyrrhus, son of the dead hero, asking to

come here and to revenge his father. At the end of the chapter, the death of Alexander and

Ajax are narrated: they killed each other. The chapter ends with the crying of Helen on

the body of her lover and the moving of the Greek troops under the city's walls, "Annan

dag gekk Agamemnon konúngr með Girkja her allt at borginni, ok eggjaði þá útgöngu til

orrostu, en engi maðr gekk út, ok bjoggust þeir þá enn við í borginni eftir föngum”157

(p.218). the end of the war is near.

3.4.6. “Svikin Trója”

Here the end of Troy begins, and the scribe indicates this moment with the subtitle “Svikin

Trója”, which means the fraud of Troy, in fact, the war is won thanks to trick and not in

a battle, as we will read. Another important thing is the fact that the author reports two

versions of the defeat of Troy.

157 “Another day Agamemnon went with the entire Greek army to the city, and they made

themselves ready about the city after the fight.”

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Chapters 29 and 30 narrate the final fights and the fraud of some Trojans, Aeneas,

Antenor, Polydamos Delon, who let the Greeks into the city. Chapter 29 starts with the

arrival of Penthesilea to help king Priam against the Greeks. She is the queen of the

Amazons and a great warrior. After that, the battle could start: for many days they fought.

In the end, the queen of the Amazons was killed by Neoptolemus. After that, the Trojans

had an assembly: they discussed if it is wiser to surrender themselves to the Greeks or to

continue to fight. Aeneas and the others thought it was better to give up and to give back

Helen and the treasures because Paris was dead, but Priam had not agreed, so he decided

to continue the war. Knowing that a few men would agree with the capitulation,

concerned the king, who thought it would be a possible betrayal by the hand of these, so,

he talked about this with his son Amphimacus. His fears were real: of course, Aeneas,

Antenor, Polydamos Delon and other commander planned to give the victory to the

Greeks, opening the door of the city during the night. So, they sent a messenger to

Agamemnon king, who accepted their offer to help in exchange for the immunity of them

and their kin. The Greek king sent Sinon to come to terms with the Trojans and to receive

the plan. So, that happened: during the night the doors were opened. The Greeks entered

into the city, killing and destroying. Neoptolemus killed King Priam in front of the altar

of Frigg, while Aeneas hid Polyxena following the order of the queen Hecuba. This is the

end of Troy. This two chapters, 29 and 30, are similar to the Latin version and they are a

resume of the chapters XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL and XLI.

Chapter 31 of the saga narrates the day after the battle. Agamemnon thanked the gods and

the troops for the victory. Then peace was given to the kin of Priam, who were Helenus,

Cassandra and Andromache and Hecuba. The Greeks divided the booty, and they were

ready to go when Neoptolemus remembers about Polyxena, and he wanted to find her and

to kill her. No one could find her because Aeneas had hidden her very well. Agamemnon

asked Antenor for help, so he went to Aeneas, but he refused to help. In the end, they

found Polyxena, and they gave her to Pyrrhus, who cut her head on the tomb of his father

Achilles because he believed she was the cause of the death of the hero. Agamemnon was

angry with Aeneas because the hiding of the girl, so he sent him on an exile. Menelaus

obtained his wife back and all the treasure stolen by Paris. Antenor stayed with 2 thousand

and five hundred men, while Helenus, Hecuba, Cassandra and Andromache went to the

Cheronese with thousand men and 200. This is the end of the war of Troy, written by

Dares. In fact, in the following chapter 32, the scribe reports the fighters' count and the

count of the dead men. The chapter begins with the information about the duration of the

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war, "the Greeks stayed in Troy 10 winters, six months and 12 days, as is said by the

scholar Dares” (svâ segir meistari Dares, at Girkir sæti um Tróju x vetr ok vj mánuði ok

xij daga, p.221). Furthermore the number of the dead ones for both parts is reported: 886

thousand Greeks (Af Girkjum fèllu DCCC þúsunda ok átte tigir þúsunda, ok vj þúsundir,

p.221) and 676 thousand Trojans without the number of the dead in the city, because they

are too many (en af Trójumönnum fèllu, áðr en borg væri unnin, DC þúsunda, ok vij tigir

þúsunda, ok vj þúsundir, en þat veit engi töl á, hvat Girkir drápu um nóttina, þá er þeir

unnu borgina ,p.221). The number corresponds to the Latin source. All the numerical

information is the same in both versions. The only difference is the list of the dead heroes

made by Haukr and the corresponding killer. The chapter ends with the prophecy about

the Aeneas’ descendant, who will be emperors and chief all over the world (keisararnir,

er höfuðsmenn eru allrar veraldarinnar158P.222).

Chapters 33, 34 and 35, are based on another source and present a different version of the

end of the saga, which is not present in Dares' text. This fact is interesting, because the

author of the saga, in this case, acts as a real historian because he reports two different

versions of the same event quoting the sources. In this case, the source is the Aeneid of

Virgil, called here the saga Rumeria (p. 222), the saga of the Romans. The story comes

back to the murder of Achilles. After that, Agamemnon brought together the leaders of

the Greeks, and they discussed the war because now it seemed hard to gain the victory.

No one wanted to give up, and Ulysses, after a few days of thinking, found out a plan:

they had to build a giant wooden horse, and they had to hide inside parts of the troops,

while the other part of the army pretended to leave the land and to come back home. So

they did it. Ulysses and part of the army were hidden inside the wooden horse outside the

wall of the city, while the other went to a neighbouring island, waiting for the night. When

the Trojans saw the empty camp of the Greeks, they rejoiced, but they were surprised

when they saw the horse. After that, one man arrived running from the beach: he was

Sinon, a Greek warrior fastened and marked as he was ready to be sacrificed. They

interrogated him, and he said that the Greeks had left the land to come back home because

they were tired for the long years of war. They left here a wooden horse to pray the Gods

for a safe return and as a gift for them. He was left there because he did not agree with

Ulysses and with the plan to leave the war. So, he was chosen for sacrifice; this is the

reason why he is fastened and marked. The Greeks and Ulysses were sure the Trojans

158 “emperor which are chief all over the world.”

86

would kill him, but this did not happen. They believed in his version, despite the words

of Cassandra and of a heathen priest, whose name is not reported, but in the classical

tradition, he is Laocoon, the priest of Neptune. He was against the idea to bring the horse

inside of the city, but two snakes came out from the sea and killed him and his two sons.

This was read as a sign: the Trojans decided to bring in the city the horse and their

destruction. The horse was too big to pass under the door, so they had to destroy part of

the walls. When the night came, and all of them were sleeping, the Greeks arrived in the

city and killed many citizens. Priam himself was killed in front of the altar of Thor. Only

Aeneas could save himself, his father and his son, running away from the city following

the prophecy to go to Italy. All these events are narrated in the Book II of the Aeneid

when Aeneas tells the story of Troy's fall to queen Dido. At the end of chapter 34, the

author tells us that the story, after the destruction, is the same as the Dares' one.

The last two chapters of the Trójumanna saga, 35 and 36, are dedicated to the events

following the war. Pyrrhus came back to Epirus with Andromache and Helenus, where

he married the Trojan, but after a few years, he wanted to leave the woman to marry

Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen, but they refused to give her to him

because she was promised to Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Orestes killed Neoptolemus,

so Helenus married Andromache and together ruled over Epirus, and there they built a

great city in honour of Troy. The last chapter continues the story with the gesta of the son

of Andromache and Hector, who came back to Troy to rebuild the city. This part is not

found in any Latin source, because of that Eldevik159 reports that this addition may be

inspired by the French source, as the Roman de Troye of Benoit de Saint Maure.

The saga ends with the declaration of the end of the story, and here Haukr anticipates that

after this saga, the saga about Aeneas and his descendants who have settled England will

follow, which means the Breta sögur:

Ok er nú yfir farit þá sögu er ágætust hefir verit í veröldunni í heiðni, at allra manna

virðíngu, þeirra er vitrir eru, ok flestar frásagnir eru kunnar, en hèr eftir hefr sögu

frá Enea, ok þeim er Bretland bygðu160. (p. 226)

159 Eldevik 1993 160 “So now the story is gone above then, which the glory has been in the world in the Heathen

country, that the reputation of all their wise men and most the act of relating are known, and

hereafter, you have the saga about Aeneas and them, who settled England”.

87

Conclusions

The present thesis demonstrates the prominence and the vitality of the Trojan matter

during the centuries. This theme's permanence is fascinating, and it reveals that the

cultural heritage of Europe is the same, and it has the same root. Faulkes himself161

underline this fact: all these European Trojan texts are linked, and they influence each

other. For example, the Chronicle of Fredegar influenced Ari’s Íslendigabók. Moreover,

this Frankish chronicle influences Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Historia Regum

Britanniae. Desdemond162 assumes that there is a sort of genealogy of this theme, which

starts from Virgil and arrives in medieval England. So, Virgil’s Aeneid is the starting

point. Isidore of Seville163 theorizes the idea of „imitatio imperi“, which means that all

the rulers have to take inspiration from the Roman Empire to become powerful and

wealthy. I assume that the medieval Kingdoms had taken this advice seriously. So, when

they had to create propaganda, they referred to Rome and its culture. This model includes

Troy and the idea of the transaltio imperii et studii. This last definition theorizes a

power‘s movement of the centre from the Eastern world to the Western. If this transfert

is real, this explains enterly the research of the first offspring in Troy, an eastern city. I

want to underline the link between the power and the culture. All these new kingdoms

used the Trojan origin in the construction of propaganda: to have an origin in Troy is the

symbol of nobility. These kingdoms, like Iceland and Scandinavia, did not know what

their root was. They have the same necessity to find a first offspring, a place where their

ancestors lived. Rome and Virgil gave them the answer. If the Roman Empire, the model

of all them all, had its origin in Troy, they had to have the same root. So, in the

Merovingian era, two chronicles, the Fredegar’s one and the Historia Liber Francorum,

narrated about Francio and his Trojan ancestors, who ran away from the city’s destruction.

Goffredo da Viterbo claimed that Charlemagne was the meeting point of the Roman

heritage and the Trojan one. The English kings did the same: they find their origin in

Troy, in particular in Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas164. This necessity to emulate the

Franks started when England and Normandy had the same ruler. So, when the English

king was a king but also a subject of the King of France. In this way, the English

propaganda used the same weapon of the Franks, the idea of transaltio imperii from Troy.

161 (Faulkes, Descent from the Gods, 1978-79) 162 (Desmond, 2016) 163 See page 12 164 About these texts see the subchapter 1.3

88

This background is essential to understand the context of the Trójumanna specific case.

Because the process of Christianisation and acculturation, Iceland came in touch with the

Latin culture and with this theory of translatio imperii et studii. This is attested by text as

the Ari’s Íslendigabók or the Snorra Edda. Iceland is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and

it is a young settlement. In front of the others, Icelanders felt more the necessity to be part

of world history. They created a “useful past”165, and they took inspiration by the matter

of Troy because they noticed the popularity of this theme and its crucial political role.

“By asserting Trojan descent, Icelanders joined not only the ancient Roman but also

Normans, Britons and Saxons and Franks in staking a claim to a place at the heart of the

world, not its margins”166.

The Trójumanna saga is the product of this necessity. This saga is not an original creation

but is the re-elaboration of a Latin text, the De excidio Troiae Historia of Dares Phrygius.

However, the analysis of the Haukbók‘s version has demonstrated that Haukr had taken

inspiration by other Latin sources: the Metamorphoses and the Heroides of Ovid, the Ilias

Latina, and the Aeneid of Virgil. The text is peculiar and demonstrates Haukr‘s

knowledge of the Latin text. The author creates a sort of „patchwork“: the core is Dares‘

text, but Haukr adds different episodes, descriptions and a completely new prologue.

Moreover, the writer changes the Latin sources: he never translates „verbum pro verbo“

but he adds information.

In the prologue, Haukr narrates of Saturnus‘ kingdom and its golden age, the advent of

Jupiter and the silver era. This last period is characterized by war. Moreover, in the

prologue he narrates the Jupiter-Thor deeds, using as sources the Ovidian texts,

Metamorphoses and Heorides, and the Aeneid. This free use of the Latin sources

demonstrates that Haukr has a perfect knowledge of the interpretaions of Ovid and Virgil,

and he has read these texts. The author makes many changes to the original version. The

Haukr‘s public and the context are the reason for these changes and additions. For

example, he sets the event during the kingdom of Joshua, who rules over the Jews after

Moses. He uses this information to date the events because he wants to wirte a historical

text to teach something. So, he uses biblical information to date. Another significant

change is that: the name of the „ancient gods“ (Saturnus, Jupiter, Juno) turn in the Norse

one (Frey, Thor, Sif) after a few chapters. This is not weird in the Icelandic literature.

165 (Whaley, 2000) 166 (Whaley, 2000, p. 178)

89

Snorri himself changes the name of the Trojan heroes with the Norse gods‘ name.

Furthemore, in the prologue, Haukr precises that all these gods are in real human being,

even if the heathens belives that they are gods. These few notes demonstrate the intention

of Haukr to write a historical saga about the deeds of the Scandinavian ancestors.

Furthemore, when he starts to narrate the reconstruction of the city and when he narrates

the death of Priam, he talks only about temple and altar dedicated to the Norse gods. The

changes of the name, the explanation of the heathens‘ beliefs, and the Trojan worship of

the Norse Gods are the complete demonstration of this intent: he is talking about the Norse

ancestors‘ past. Also, in the end, he does not only narrates the Dares‘ version of the city‘s

fall, but he reports the wooden horse‘s episode. As a historian, he wants to precise that

there are two versions about the Acheans‘ victory: the Dares‘ version which tells the

Aeneas‘ betray and the Aeneid‘s version of the wooden horse. Another demonstration of

this „historical“ intent is that: Haukr reports the dead‘s number of both sides, like Dares.

He uses the Phrygian text to do that. All this annotation demonstrate the intent to create

a Historia, and not only a text of plesure. Even if Haukr wants to write a historical text

for an encyclopedic codex, the Hauksbók, it is possible te fact that the Trojan hero could

seem nobler than the Greeks. For example, Hector is described as a chivalric character

when „gallantly“ he goes to fight (Hektor gekk fram rösklega chapter 19). The choice of

this adverb is also linked to the chivalric literature, which is popular in that period.

Furthermore, the Greeks could win because of treachery: in Dares’ version some Trojan

betray the city and let enter the enemies; in the Aeneid, Ulysses invents the trick of the

wooden horse. On this point of view, I assume that this text is strictly linked to the idea

of translatio because, in the end, Hauk says that the Breta Sögur, which is the saga of the

descendant of Troy, follows. So, the Trójumanna saga is the prologue of the real story of

the translatio of the Norse ancestor from Troy to Iceland. This conclusive affirmation

permits to collocate this text under the great tradition of the Translatio imperii et studii.

In conclusion, I assume that this text is crucial to understand how the process of

acculturation works. Haukr could be used as a model of this process because the

elaboration of this saga has inside aspects of both the culture, the chivalric theme, the use

of a foreign tradition to create a new mythological past. Also, the study of this saga has

permit to underline the “world of view”167 of the Scandinavian and its élite. The references

to these classical sources and the biblical passages demonstrate the education and the

167 (Sverrir, Hauksbók and the Construction of an Icelandic World view, 2007)

90

knowledge of this élite. At last, this thesis has demonstrated the unique heritage of the

European culture and the idea of an oriental origin.

In the end, it is fascinating and exciting to think that we are all the descendants of Troy.

91

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