Euhemerism in the context of "Mythography"

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda (Icelandic: Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as Edda, is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some extent written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar, lawspeaker, and historian Snorri Sturluson c. 1220. It is considered the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge of Norse mythology, the body of myths of the North Germanic peoples, and draws from a wide variety of sources, including versions of poems that survive into today in a collection known as the Poetic Edda.

The Prose Edda consists of four sections: The Prologue, a euhemerized account of the Norse gods; Gylfaginning, which provides a question and answer format that details aspects of Norse mythology (consisting of approximately 20,000 words), Skáldskaparmál, which continues this format before providing lists of kennings and heiti (approximately 50,000 words); and Háttatal, which discusses the composition of traditional skaldic poetry (approximately 20,000 words).

Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in Old English as Bældæġ, and in Old High German as Balder, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Balðraz ('hero' or 'prince').

During the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story. Compiled in Iceland during the 13th century, but based on older Old Norse poetry, the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda contain numerous references to the death of Baldr as both a great tragedy to the Æsir and a harbinger of Ragnarök.

The legendary kings of Denmark were, according to legend, the monarchs of Denmark, the Danes, or specific lands of Denmark (Zealand, Jutland or Scania) who preceded Gorm the Old, a king who reigned c. 930s to c. 960s and is the earliest reliably attested Danish ruler. Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, oversaw the widespread Christianization of Denmark, meaning that the legendary kings listed here are those from before Christianization and are predominantly (but not entirely) pagan. Kings preceding Gorm may be partly historical (especially those near to Gorm's time), but are either semi-legendary or entirely mythological. Some are based on earlier euhemerised stories (that is, figures from mythological folktales were depicted as historical kings by medieval writers such as Saxo Grammaticus).

There are many medieval accounts of the Danish kings of the Dark Ages, and these accounts can be confusing and contradictory (although there is overlap and different sources can include the same kings). This article presents the legendary kings from each source separately.

Euhemerus (/juːˈhiːmərəs, -hɛm-/; also spelled Euemeros or Evemerus; Ancient Greek: Εὐήμερος Euhēmeros, "happy; prosperous"; late fourth century BC) was a Greek mythographer at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedon. Euhemerus' birthplace is disputed, with Messina in Sicily as the most probable location, while others suggest Chios or Tegea.

The philosophy attributed to and named for Euhemerus, euhemerism, holds that many mythological tales can be attributed to historical persons and events, the accounts of which have become altered and exaggerated over time.

In Norse mythology, the sister-wife of Njörðr is the twin sister and unnamed first wife of the god Njörðr, and together with him had the deities Freyr and Freyja. This shadowy goddess is attested to in the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna, recorded in the 13th century by an unknown source, and the Heimskringla book Ynglinga saga, a euhemerized account of the Norse gods composed by Snorri Sturluson also in the 13th century but based on earlier traditional material. The figure receives no further mention in Old Norse texts.

The situation is further complicated in that narratives describing the birth of Freyr and Freyja contradictorily cite the birth of the siblings occurring either after or before Njörðr left Vanaheimr to live among the Æsir. In addition, Freyr is referred to as the "son" of Njörðr and the goddess Skaði in the Poetic Edda poem Skírnismál.

The Prologue is the first section of four books of the Prose Edda, and consists of a euhemerized account of the origins of Norse mythology. According to the Prologue, the Norse gods originate from the Trojans described in Homer's poetry, and are King Priam's descendants. Priam's grandson Thor traveled throughout the world after leaving Thrace, fighting monsters and a dragon; he eventually came far north where he married a local named Sif. From them descended both the Norse gods as well as royal lines of various kingdoms.

Regarding the euhemerization in the Prologue, Anthony Faulkes wrote that "undoubtedly one of the motives for including the prologue, and maybe the chief reason for the use of the frame device itself, was to avoid the criticism that his stories were dangerous to [Christian] orthodoxy". Rather than pagan gods, the figures of Norse legend are refashioned as human figures, if noble and powerful ones.