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The Deluding of Gylfi

The Deluding of Gylfi
  • Creator: Thomas Bartholin 1659-1690
  • Description: The Swedish King Gylfi, who is in disguise as Gangleri, presumably in the presence of Óðinn, who is represented in three forms as Þriði, Jafnhárr, and Hárr. This scene is from the Deluding of Gylfi in Gylfaginning in Snorri's Edda. The illustration is in Bartholin's Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres.
  • Source: Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres
  • Folio or Page: 473
  • Medium: Not known
  • Date: 1689
  • Dimensions (mm): 180 x 210
  • Provenance:
    This copy of Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres is in the Rare Book collection of Det Kongelige Bibliotek.
    P.A. Baer photographed this illustration Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres with the permission of Det Kongelige Bibliotek.
  • Rights:
    Illustrations from the 1689 edition of Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres are in the public domain.
  • Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
    P. A. Baer notes that this lithograph is a reverse image copy, without the text but including the asterisk, of the copperplate by Olaus Verelius in ‪Gothrici & Rolfi Westrogothiae Regum Historia: Lingua antiqua Gothica conscripta‬ from 1664 (43 [a]). See: mnd:GothRolfWestReg-1664-043a-01.
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Sources

    Bartholin, Thomas. Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres [Three books of Danish antiquities concerning the causes of the Danes’ contempt of death while they were still pagan]. Hafniae: Bockenhoffer, 1689.

    Secondary Sources

    Baer, Patricia Ann. An Old Norse Image Hoard: From the Analog Past to the Digital Present. Diss. U. of Victoria, 2013. Web.
    Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur . An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.
  • Identity Number: AntiDani-1689-473-01
  • Download size: 928 KB
  • Related items: GothRolfWestReg-1664-043a-01   
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Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres   Snorri Sturluson   Prose Edda   Gylfaginning, Deluding of Gylfi   Gylfi   Gangleri   Óðinn, Odin   Þriði, Third   Hárr, High   Jafnhárr, Just-as-high   Bartholin, Thomas   Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres  

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Gods and Goddesses

Hárr (non.) High (en.) One of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti.
Jafnhárr (non.) Just-as-high (en.) One of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti. Jafnhárr means Just-as-High.
Óðinn (non.) Odin (en.) The chief god of the Æsir in The Prose Edda. However, in Heimskringla he was a mortal who tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he was a god.
Þriði (non.) Third (en.) One of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti. Þriði means Third.

Historical Persons, i.e. from Heimskringla, Saxo, sagas etc.

Gylfi (non.) A king in Ynglinga Saga, the first saga in Heimskringla, who promises Gefjon a ploughshare of land. He plays a much larger role in Snorri's Edda where he decides to try and discover if Óðinn and his followers are men or gods.

Myths

Gylfaginning (non.) Deluding of Gylfi (en.) Part of the story that Snorri uses to frame one of the three sections of his Prose Edda. It is not a myth, but is an essential part of Snorri's attempt to use euhemerization as an explanation for the origin of the belief in pagan gods.

Mythological Persons

Gangleri (non.) This is the name that King Gylfi used when he went to question Óðinn, and the men who came with him from Asia, to see if they were gods or sorcerers. It is also one of the many names of Óðinn that are known as Óðins heiti.

Source Materials:

Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis libri tres (la.) This book contains an illustration of “The Deluding of Gylfi” that is a mirror image of Verelius’ copperplate rendering of the illustration in U. It lacks the text within the illustration but does have Verelius’ asterisk indicating that the illustration should be inserted facing page 43.
Prose Edda (is.) Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse mythology and poetics.

Source Persons

Bartholin, Thomas (da.) b. 20th October 1616
d. 4th December 1680
Nationality: Danish
Occupation: physician, mathematician, theologian
Bartholin was a physician, mathematician, theologian, and antiquarian scholar. He was the brother-in-law of Ole Worm, a.k.a. Olaus Wormianus, who was one of the founders of the study of Nordic antiquity.
Snorri Sturluson (is.) b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited with writing Heimskringla, The Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's Saga.