Originally posted by Slayertplsko
Is there anything about the physical appearance of the Norsemen in Icelandic sagas?? I'm also interested in the description of their way of living et cetera. Thanks in advance. |
There are some description, but they are very generic. All those Sagas and Eddas are written by people after the fact, or that is assumed. We also have a work called Saxo (actually the author) and it also describes people as Beautiful and strong etc.
For descriptions of their actual look, I think it would be better to read descriptions from other people, as they may notice the peculiarities more.
Also, Saxo's work was very nationalistic, and probably not all that trustworthy. Some of the content is almost identical to some of the Icelandic Eddas, however.
That said, I'm sure that they resembled the people of Scandinavia as they are now, from a physical point of view. There has been very little migration into Scandinavia (since then), so the people here are the same as always. A sedentary rural people.
Some graves and artefact have been found, but it is uncommon.
There was a large Viking grave with a longship that was found in England a few years back, but I don't know much about it, maybe someone else does?
Edited by Jams - 17-Nov-2008 at 17:03