Description: Óðinn flying in the form
of an eagle while being pursued by the giant Suttungr, who is also in the
form of an eagle. Óðinn
is carrying Skáldskapar mjaðar, i.e. the Mead of Poetry, in his
mouth but some of it, which is known as the Rhymster's Share, is
falling from his backside to earth. This scene is from the
The Mead of
Poetry myth in Skáldskaparmál in Snorri
Sturluson's
Edda.
Source: SÁM 66
Folio or Page: 76r.
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. 75r.
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.
skáldskapar
mjaðar (non.)
mead of poetry (en.)
The drink created by the dwarves Falar and Galar from the blood of
Kvasir.
Giants and Giantesses
Suttungr (non.)
Suttung (en.)
The giant who hid the mead of poetry in a mountain named Hnitbjörg and
set his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it.
Gods and Goddesses
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
Mead of Poetry Myth
This myth begins at the end of the war between the two groups of gods
known as the Æsir and the Vanir. These two groups seal their peace by
exchanging hostages and also by spitting into a bowl. The spittle is
made into a wise being named Kvasir. Kvasir is eventually murdered by
the dwarves Fjalarr and Gjalarr who mix his blood with honey to make
mead. The mead makes anyone who drinks it into a poet. The two dwarves
later murder the giant Surttungr and his wife and then are forced to
give the mead to Surttungr's son as compensation. Surttungr hides the
mead in the mountain Hnitbjorg with his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it.
Óðinn finds a way to get into the mountain and steals the mead.
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.
