Etruscan art – Italy before the Romans
Etruscan art: Apollo of Veii (ca. 520 BC) Etruscan art and Greek art Etruscan art is in some ways a lot like Greek art of the same time, because the Etruscans [...]
Etruscan art: Apollo of Veii (ca. 520 BC) Etruscan art and Greek art Etruscan art is in some ways a lot like Greek art of the same time, because the Etruscans [...]
A tree in Germany (late 1700s, by Joseph Keller) - History of Christmas trees Evergreens and the winter holidays Because Christmas is related to old celebrations of the winter solstice, evergreen trees have always [...]
Earliest science in Europe A Neanderthal stone awl - early European inventions For a long time, northern Europe was a scientific backwater: new ideas came from other places to northern [...]
Tyr in Viking work from Sweden, 700s AD Tyr (or Tiw) was the German form of the Indo-European sky god Dyeus Piter. He was the same god as the Greek [...]
Viking stone, 600s AD, from Gotland, Sweden. Odin is riding his horse, Sleipnir. Sometime before 300 AD, people started to think of Odin (or Wotan) as the chief of the [...]
Norse god Loki? (Snaptun Stone, Sweden, ca 1000 AD) Who was the god Loki? Loki was the German god of tricks. He was kind of like the Indian god Krishna, [...]
A Viking religious sacrifice (ca. 900 AD, Sweden) Northern European religion From their first appearance in historical literature around 100 BC, the Germans were polytheistic. They believed in many gods, [...]
Freya wearing her necklace (about 800 AD) Who is Freya? Freya is the only important goddess of the Germans. She was married to Odin, and she's a kind of fertility [...]
Kriemhild goes to marry Etzel of the Huns (1400s AD) - Kriemhild's Revenge Part II: Kriemhild's Revenge Well, naturally that wasn't the end of the story. A woman like Kriemhild [...]
Prince Siegfried kills the dragon Fafnir -Door of the Christian church of Hylestad in Norway (1200s AD) What is the Niebelungenleid? The Niebelungenlied, or the Story of the Niebelungs, was [...]