Description: The giant Þjazi, in
the form of an eagle, perched on a tree branch, watching
Óðinn, Loki, and Hœnir, who are sitting on the
ground around a large cauldron. This scene is described in
The Abduction of
Iðunn myth in Skáldskaparmál in Snorri's Edda.
Source: SÁM 66
Folio or Page: 73v.
Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
Date: 1765
Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
Provenance:
The last page of the manuscript lists three names which likely
represent the earliest owners of SAM 66: Gísli Gíslason (1797 -
1758) from Skörð in Reykjahverfi; St. Petersen, who has not been
identified; and Magnús Guðmundsson, a farmer at Sandur in Aðaldalur.
Magnús' daughter, Elín Sigríður emigrated to Canada in 1876 and took
the manuscript with her. Elín Sigríður's farm near Gimli, Manitoba
was called Melsted which also became the family's surname in
Canada.
The Icelandic counsel to Minnesota, Örn Arnar, bought the manuscript
from one of Elín Sigríður´s descendents, Ken Melsted in Wynyard,
Saskatchewan and donated it to the Ární Magnússon Institute in
Iceland on February 2, 2000.
The manuscript is now known either by the title Melsteð Edda or by its shelf mark SÁM 66 4to.
Rights:
Images from SÁM 66
are displayed with permission from the Stofnun Árna
Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum in
Iceland. Link to E-manuscript Description. E-manuscript illustration f. 73v.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Reykjavik: Stofnun
Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. SÁM
66. 1765. Hand
copied paper manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Driscoll,
Matthew. The view From the North: Some Scandinavian digitisation
projectsReview of the National Center for Digitization.
4 (2004):
22 - 30.
Sigurðsson,
Gísli. The
Last Manuscript Home?The Manuscripts of Iceland.
Gísli
Sigurdsson
and
Vésteinn
Ólason
. Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon
Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 -
186.
Simek,
Rudolf.
Angela
Hall
. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W
Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer,
2007.
Loki is counted among the gods but is a giant by birth.
Giants and Giantesses
Þjazi (non.)
Thjazi (en.)
The giant who persuaded Loki to abduct the goddess Íðunn.
Gods and Goddesses
Hænir (non.)
Haenir (en.)
An enigmatic god who gives man his reason in the Creation myth in
The Prose Edda. In Heimskringla he is one of the hostages that the Æsir send
to the Vanir.
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.
Myths
Abduction of Iðunn Myth
The myth concerning the abduction of Iðunn and the apples of
immortality by the giant Thjazi with the help of Loki. In the end, the
god's compel Loki to rescue Iðunn and regain the apples.
Prose Edda (is.)
Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse
mythology and poetics.
SÁM 66 4to (is.)
SAM 66 4to (en.)
SAM 66 4to is also known as Melsted Edda.
Source Persons
Jakob
Sigurðsson (is.)
Jakob
Sigurdsson (en.)
b. 1727
d. 1779
Nationality: Icelandic
Jakob was a tenant farmer, poet, scribe, and illustrator, who created
full-page Edda illustrations in hand-copied
paper manuscripts in Iceland in the eighteenth century.
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.
