Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions explores the traditions of two fascinating and contiguous cultures in north-western Europe. History regularly brought these two peoples into contact, most prominently with the Viking invasion of Ireland. In the famous Second Battle of Moytura, gods such as Lug, Balor, and the Dagda participated in the conflict that distinguished this invasion. Pseudohistory, which consists of both secular and ecclesiastical fictions, arose in this nexus of peoples and myth and spilled over into other contexts such as chronological annals. Scandinavian gods such as Odin, Balder, Thor, and Loki feature in the Edda of Snorri Sturluson and the history of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus. This volume explores such written works alongside archaeological evidence from earlier periods through fresh approaches that challenge entrenched views.

Emily Lyle is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her publications include the monograph Ten Gods (2012) and an edited collection Celtic Myth in the 21st Century (2018).

Preface (Emily Lyle)
Introduction (Emily Lyle)
CELTIC TRADITION
1 The Nature of the Fomoiri: The Dark Other in the Medieval Irish Imagination (John Carey)
2 Tuatha Dé and Fomoiri in Cath Maige Tuired (Elizabeth A. Gray)
3 Exploring Cath Maige Tuired through the Concept of Hybridity (Ina Tuomala)
4 How Time Flies in the Cath Maige Tuired (Joseph Falaky Nagy)
5 The Idols of the Pagan Irish in the Medieval Literary Imagination (Alexandra Bergholm)
6 Myth as a Historical Resource: The Case of Orgain Denna Ríg (The Destruction of Dinn Ríg) (Kevin Murray)
7 Hagiography as Political Documentation: The Case of Betha Beraigh? (The Life of St Berach) (Ksenia Kudenko)
SCANDINAVIAN TRADITION
8 Baldr's Achilles' Heel? About the Scandinavian Three-God B-Bracteates (Karen Bek-Pederson)
9 The Cult of Ô¿inn in Early Scandinavian Aristocracy (Joshua Rood)
10 Myth and History in Saxo (Morten Warmind)
11 The Scylding Dynasty in Saxo and Beowulf as Disguised Theogony (Emily Lyle)
12 Loki the Slandered God? Selective Omission of Skaldic Citations in Snorri Sturluson's Edda (James Parkhouse)
13 Ymir, Baldr, and the Grand Narrative Arc of Mythological History (Jonas Wellendorf)
Index