<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">By the 12th century, northern territories were fairly well known in practice, but there was an urgent need to explain the state of this region in written form. In most national narratives, there is an evident tendency to emphasise the similarity of local history with a more significant and more authoritative (Roman or sacred) history (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_mgrsd-2018-0038_ref_014_w2aab3b7b2b1b6b1ab2b1c14Aa">Mortensen 2005</xref>). This paper deals with a very specific geographical image—“Europe, or Eneá”—that appears on two “textual maps” by an Icelandic historian of the 13th century, Snorri Sturluson, in his <italic>Edda</italic>, an Icelandic <italic>ars poetica</italic> (c. 1220), and in his large compendium of the kings’ sagas entitled <italic>Heimskringla</italic> (c. 1230). The author demonstrates that the toponym <italic>Eneá</italic>, going back to the ancient hero Aeneas, was formed by Snorri himself as a result of his immersion in the local Icelandic culture and literature, where the Troy story had, by that time, occupied a significant place.</abstract>

By the 12th century, northern territories were fairly well known in practice, but there was an urgent need to explain the state of this region in written form. In most national narratives, there is an evident tendency to emphasise the similarity of local history with a more significant and more authoritative (Roman or sacred) history (Mortensen 2005). This paper deals with a very specific geographical image—“Europe, or Eneá”—that appears on two “textual maps” by an Icelandic historian of the 13th century, Snorri Sturluson, in his Edda, an Icelandic ars poetica (c. 1220), and in his large compendium of the kings’ sagas entitled Heimskringla (c. 1230). The author demonstrates that the toponym Eneá, going back to the ancient hero Aeneas, was formed by Snorri himself as a result of his immersion in the local Icelandic culture and literature, where the Troy story had, by that time, occupied a significant place.

“Some call Europe, and some call Eneá”: on the origins of the Old Icelandic learned prehistory

Miscellanea Geographica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

By the 12th century, northern territories were fairly well known in practice, but there was an urgent need to explain the state of this region in written form....

“Some call Europe, and some call Eneá”: on the origins of the Old Icelandic learned prehistory

Published Online: Jul 31, 2019

Page range: 121 - 124

Received: Oct 05, 2018

Accepted: Nov 26, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0038

Keywords
Knowledge transfer, antiquity, Middle Ages, Old Norse-Icelandic sources, geographical images, toponyms

© 2019 Tatjana N. Jackson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

“Some call Europe, and some call Eneá”: on the origins of the Old Icelandic learned prehistory

Published Online: Jul 31, 2019

Page range: 121 - 124

Received: Oct 05, 2018

Accepted: Nov 26, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0038

KeywordsKnowledge transfer, antiquity, Middle Ages, Old Norse-Icelandic sources, geographical images, toponyms

© 2019 Tatjana N. Jackson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Knowledge transfer, antiquity, Middle Ages, Old Norse-Icelandic sources, geographical images, toponyms