Gra's List of Recommended Heathen Reading
Revised June, 2007
II. Secondary Sources
A. Germanic Religion
Crossley-Holland retells the Norse myths for modern readers. His extensive notes explain his sources and artistic choices. These stories are an excellent introduction to the myths for readers who find the primary sources and more academic works daunting.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1980.
Page doesn't seem to like the Vikings much, yet he is fascinated by them. His short book is a useful introduction to Norse mythology.
Page, R.I. Norse Myths. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
H.R. Ellis Davidson’s readable survey is a good place to start exploring the modern scholarship of ancient Norse beliefs.
Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of the Viking Age. New York: Bell Publishing, 1964. [The same work has also been published as a Penguin paperback under the title Gods and Myths of Northern Europe.]
Turville-Petres classic work is the best survey of Germanic religion ever written in English.
Turville-Petre, E.O.G. Myth and Religion of the North. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1964.
Simeks tome is an indispensable reference with detailed entries (including citations) on all aspects of Germanic religion.
Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Woodbridge, Suffolk: D.S. Brewer, 1993.
This longer work by Ellis Davidson compares pagan Norse and Celtic religion. Some of the parallels seem forced, but others are intriguing and suggest a common origin or cultural exchange.
Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1988.
Dubois analysis of Scandinavian religion begins well but later digresses into a belabored discussion of Christian symbolism; I got the impression that the book was created by combining several essays rather than conceived of as a single work. However, the discussion of the Saami, Finnish, and Baltic peoples and their relationship to Scandinavian society is a valuable reminder of the importance of these cultural influences.
Dubois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
Owens work is a useful compilation of information about Anglo-Saxon Heathenism.
Owen, Gale R. Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons. New York: Dorset Press, 1985.
B. Germanic Cultures
Green is a linguist with a particular interest in Old High German. In tracing the history of words and the concepts they denote, he has produced the best analysis of Germanic culture and thought that I have ever read.
Green, D.H. Language and History in the Early Germanic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Todds book is exactly what his title suggests: a survey of the history and culture of the early Germanic peoples from the Goths to the Saxons and the Svear to the Lombards. The treatment of each group is relatively brief, but the strength of the book is its comprehensive scope.
Todd, Malcolm. The Early Germans. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992.
Many, many books have been published about the Vikings and various aspects of their society; Foote and Wilsons classic tome is still one of the best and most comprehensive.
Foote, P.G. and D.M. Wilson. The Viking Achievement: the Society and Culture of Early Medieval Scandinavia. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1970.
Wilsons short work gives welcome attention to the history of Scandinavia before the Viking age and discusses how Viking culture developed from its predecessors.
Wilson, David M. The Vikings and their Origins: Scandinavia in the First Millenium. London: Thames and Hudson, 1970.
C. Runes
Elliots book is a nice introduction to runic history and inscriptions.
Elliot, Ralph W.V. Runes: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1989
A self-described "unimaginative runologist," Page takes a more skeptical view than Elliot. His survey is useful and concise.
Page, R.I. Reading the Past: Runes. London: British Museum Press, 1987
Halsalls book provides extensive commentary on and analysis of the Old English Rune Poem. She includes the Old English text and discusses variant readings. The Norwegian and Icelandic Poems as well as the little Abecedarium Nordmannicum are also provided in an Appendix.
Halsall, Maureen. The Old English Rune Poem: A Critical Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.
D. Germanic Culture in Context: Indo-European Studies and European Prehistory
Mallorys classic work surveys Indo-European languages, cultures, history, and the ever-vexing "homeland" problem.
Mallory, J.P. In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989.
Puhvel is a protg of Georges Dumzil, but he is refreshingly free of the dogmatism sometimes displayed by Dumzilians. His book covers several Indo-European religions (including Germanic). Both the parallels and the differences between cultures are illuminating.
Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.
Watkins is a Harvard linguist of great erudition. His Dictionary lists alphabetically a series of Indo-European roots and briefly traces how various English words descend from them. Enthralled, I read it from cover to cover; readers less enamored of linguistics will find it a useful reference.
Watkins, Calvert. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
McEvedys little Atlas uses a series of maps of Europe and the Near East as the framework for discussing the history of the entire region from the age of the Neanderthals through the 4th century C.E. Its visual approach helps the reader painlessly absorb a wealth of information about the relationships among cultures and how they shifted over time. McEvedys commentary is concise and lucid, but differing viewpoints are given short shrift.
McEvedy, Colin. The New Penguin Atlas of Ancient History. 2nd ed. London: Penguin, 2002.
Milisauskas compendium is exactly what it claims to be, a survey of European prehistory from the early Paleolithic through the Iron Age. Chapters are authored by experts in their respective periods. I recommend reading McEvedys Atlas first to get an overview of the territory and then turning to Milisauskas for more depth and detail.
Milisauskas, Sarunas, ed. European Prehistory: A Survey. New York: Springer, 2002.
III. Works of Imagination