Description: Þórr, wearing
a crown and seated on a throne while holding a sceptre with
Óðinn in
armour holding a sword on his left and Frigg holding a
sword and a bow on his right. This illustration is from Chapter
3 "On the three greater gods of the Goths" in Book 3 of Historia de
Gentibus Septentrionalibus by Olaus Magnus.
Source: Olaus Magnus: Description of the Northern
Peoples
Folio or Page: 151
Medium: woodcut
Date: 1996
Dimensions (mm): 80 x 47
Provenance:
This copy of Historia de Gentibus
Septentrionalibus was purchased by P.A. Baer.
P.A. Baer photographed this illustration from her copy of Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus.
Rights:
Illustrations from Olaus Magnus: Description
of the Northern Peoples are in the public domain.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
Olaus Magnus considered these figures to be "the three greater gods of the
Goths," because he identified the Swedish Geats with the Goths and believed that
they were the direct ancestors of the Swedish people. Olaus and his brother
Johannes were among the founders of the cultural movement in Sweden known as
Gothicism.
Bibliography:
Editions
Magnus,Olaus.
Description of the Northern Peoples: Rome 1555.
Translated by
Peter
Foote,
London: Hakluyt
Society, 1996.
In the Prose Edda, Þórr is the son of
Óðinn and the giantess Jörð. However, in Heimskringla, he is a mortal.
Richard Wagner
based Donner in The Ring Cycle on
Þórr.
Source Materials:
Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (la.)
Description of the Northern
Peoples (en.)
In its original format, this work by Olaus Magnus consisted of 815
pages that were divided into 22 books with 778 chapters. It features 480
woodcuts. It was translated into English as A
Description of the Northern Peoples by Peter Foote.
Source Persons
Magnus,
Olaus (la.)
b. 1490
d. 1557
Nationality: Swedish
Olaus Magnus was a Swedish writer and Catholic ecclesiastic whose
brother Johannes was the last Catholic bishop of Uppsala. The two
brothers lived in exile after the Protestant Reformation took hold in
Sweden. Olaus was the author of the Historia de Gentibus
Septentrionalibus (A Description of the Northern Peoples), which was
printed in Rome in 1555.
