with their psychopomps on Bifrost up to Valhal, and do not proceed
thither through space, but have a solid foundation for the hoofs of
their steeds. Here, as in Fafnersmal (15), the air is compared with a
river, in which the horses are compelled to wade or swim if the bridge
leading to Asgard is not used, and the current in this roaring stream is
said to be very strong; while, on the other hand, "the fish" stands safe
and inviting therein. That the author of Grimnersmal called the bridge
a fish must seem strange, but has its natural explanation in Icelandic
usage, which called every bridge-end or bridge-head a _spordr_, that is,
a fish-tail. Compare Sigrdrifumal (16), which informs us that runes were
risted on "the fish-tail" of the great mythic bridge (_á bruar spordi_),
and the expression _brúarspordr_ (bridge-head, bridge-"fish-tail") in
Njala (246) and _Biskupas_ (1, 17). As a bridge-pier could be called
a fish-tail, it was perfectly logical for the poem to make the bridge
a fish. On the zenith of the bridge stands Valhal, that secures those
fallen in battle, and whose entrance is decorated with images of the wolf
and of the eagle (Grimnersmal, 10), animals that satisfy their hunger on
the field of battle. This explains why the fish is called that of the
folk-wolf or great wolf. The meaning of the paraphrase is simply "the
Valhal bridge." That the bow of Bifrost stands north and south follows
from the fact that the gods pass over one end of the bridge on their way
to Urd's fountain, situated in the south of the lower world, while the
other end is outside of Nifelhel, situated in the north. From the south
the gods come to their judgment-seats in the realm of the dis of fate and
death. From the north came, according to Vegtamskvida, Odin when he rode
through Nifelhel to that hall which awaited Balder. Why the Asa-father
on that occasion chose that route Vegtamskvida does not inform us. But
from Saxo (_Hist. Dan._, 126), who knew an old heathen song about Odin's
visit in the lower world on account of Balder's death, we get light
on this point. According to this song[17] it was Rostiophus Phinnicus
who told Odin that a son of the latter and Rind was to avenge Balder's
death. Rostiophus is, as P. E. Müller has already remarked, the rimthurs
_Hrossthiófr_ mentioned in Hyndluljod as a son of _Hrimnir_ and brother
of the sorceress _Heidr_, the vala and witch well known from Völuspa and
other sources. Nifelhel is, as shown above (No. 60), the abode of the
rimthurses transferred to the lower world. Where his father _Hrimnir_
(Bergelmer) and his progenitor _Hrimgrimnir_ (Thrudgelmer) dwell in the
thurs-hall mentioned in Skirnersmal, there we also find _Hrossthiófr_,
and Odin must there seek him. Vegtamskvida makes Odin seek his sister.
It is Bifrost's north bridge-head which particularly requires the
vigilance of Heimdal, the ward of the gods, since the rimthurses and the
damned are its neighbours. Heimdal is therefore "widely known" among the
inhabitants of Nifelhel (Skirnersmal, 28), and Loke reproaches Heimdal
that his vocation as watchman always compels him to expose his back to
the torrents of an unfavourable sky (Lokas., 48). In the night which
constantly broods over this northern zone shine the forms of the "white"
god and of his gold-beaming horse _Gulltoppr_, when he makes spying
expeditions there. His eye penetrates the darkness of a hundred "rasts,"
and his ear catches the faintest sound (Gylfag., 27). Near Bifrost,
presumably at the very bridge-head, mythology has given him a fortified
citadel, _Himinbjorg_, "the ward of heaven," with a comfortable hall well
supplied with "the good mead" (Grimn., 13; Gylfag., 27).
The lower world is more extensive in all directions than the surface of
the earth above it. Bifrost would not be able to pass outside and below
the crust of the earth to rest with its bridge-heads on the domain of
the three world-fountains if this were not the case. The lower world
is therefore called _Jormungrund_, "the great ground or foundation"
(Forspjallsljod, 25), and its uttermost zone, _jadarr Jormungrundar_,
"the domain of the great ground," is open to the celestial canopy,
and the under side of the earth is not its roof. From _Hlidskjalf_,
the outlook of the gods in Asgard (Forspjallsljod, the prose texts in
Skirnersmal and in Grimnersmal), the view is open to Midgard, to the
sea, and to the giant-world situated beyond the Elivagar rivers (see the
texts mentioned), and should accordingly also be so to the broad zone of
Jormungrund, excepting its northernmost part, which always is shrouded in
night. From _Hlidskjalf_ the eye cannot discern what is done there. But
Heimdal keeps watch there, and when anything unusual is perceived Odin
sends the raven _Huginn_ (_Hugr_) thither to spy it out (Forspjallsljod,
10, 3, which strophes belong together). But from Hlidskjalf as the point
of observation the earth conceals all that part of Jormungrund below
it; and as it is important to Odin that he should know all that happens
there, _Huginn_ and _Muninn_ fly daily over these subterranean regions:
_Huginn oc Muninn fljuga hverjan dag iormungrund yfir_ (Grimnersmal, 20).
The expeditions of the ravens over Nifelhel in the north and over Surt's
"deep dales" in the south expose them to dangers: Odin expresses his fear
that some misfortune may befall them on these excursions (Grimnersmal,
20).
In the western and eastern parts of _jadarr Jormungrundar_ dwell the two
divine clans the Vans and Elves, and the former rule over the whole zone
ever since "the gods in time's morning," gave Frey, Njord's bounteous
son, Alfheim as a tooth-gift (Grimners., 5). Delling is to be regarded as
clan-chief of the Elves (light-Elves), since in the very theogony he is
ranked with the most ancient powers. With Mimer's daughter Nat he becomes
the father of Dag and the progenitor of _Dag's synir_ (the light-Elves).
It has already been emphasised (see No. 53) that he is the lord of the
rosy-dawn, and that outside of his doors the song of awakening is sung
every morning over the world: "Power to the Asas, success to the Elves,
and wisdom to Hroptatyr" (Havamál, 100). The glow of dawn blazes up from
his domain beyond the eastern horizon. Where this clan-chieftain of the
Elves dwells, thither the mythology has referred the original home of
his clan. _Alfheimr_ occupies the eastern part of Jormungrund's zone. It
is in the eastern part that Dag, Delling's son, and Sol, his kinswoman,
mount their chariots to make their journey around the earth in the sky.
Here is also the Hel-gate through which all the dead must pass in the
lower world (No. 68).
There are many proofs that the giant settlement with the Ironwood or
Myrkwood was conceived as extending from the north over large portions of
the east (Völuspa, 39, 48, &c.). These regions of Alfheim constitute the
southern coasts of the Elivagar, and are the scenes of important events
in the epic of the mythology (see the treatise on the Ivalde race).
_Vanaheimr_ is situated in the western half of the zone. At the banquet
in _Ægir's_ hall described in Lokasenna, Loke says to Njord:
thu vast austr hedan
gisl um sendr godum--
"From here you were sent out east as a hostage to the gods."
Ægir's hall is far out in the depths of the sea. The ocean known by the
Teutons was the North Sea. The author has manifestly conceived Ægir's
hall as situated in the same direction from Asgard as Vanaheim, and
not far from the native home of the Vans. This lies in the word _hedan_
(from here). According to Vafthrudnersmal (str. 39), Njord was "created
in Vanaheim by wise _regin_." When he was sent as a hostage to the gods
to Asgard he had to journey eastward (_austr_). The western location of
Vanaheim is thereby demonstrated.
In the "western halls" of Vanaheim dwells Billing, Rind's father,
the father of the Asa-god, Vale's mother (_Rindr berr Vala i
væstrsölum_--Vegt., 11). His name has been preserved in both the German
and the Anglo-Saxon mythic records. An Old German document mentions
together Billunc and Nidunc, that is, Billing and Mimer (see No. 87). In
the mythology Mimer's domain is bounded on the west by Billing's realm,
and on the east by Delling's. Delling is Mimer's son-in-law. According to
Völuspa, 13 (Codex Hauk.), Billing is a being which in time's morning,
on the resolve of the gods, was created by _Modsognir_-Mimer and
_Durinn_. Mimer's neighbours in the east and in the west were therefore
intimately connected with him. An Anglo-Saxon record (Codex Exoniensis,
320, 7) makes Billing the race-hero of the kinsmen and neighbours of
the Angles, the Varnians (_Billing veold Vernum_). This too has a
mythological foundation, as appears in Grimnersmal (39) and in the saga
of Helge Hjorvardson, which, as before stated, is composed of mythic
fragments. When Sol and Mane leave Delling's domain and begin their
march across the heavens, their journey is not without danger. From the
Ironwood (cp. Völuspa, 39) come the wolf-giants _Skoll_ and _Hate_ and
pursue them. _Skoll_ does not desist from the pursuit before the car
of the bright-faced goddess has descended toward the western halls and
reached _Varna vidr_ (_Scaull heitir ulfr, er fylgir eno scirleita godi
til Varna vidar_--Grimnersmal, 39). _Varna vidr_ is the forest of the
mythic Varnians or Varinians. Varnians, Varinians, means "defenders,"
and the protection here referred to can be none other than that given to
the journeying divinities of light when they have reached the western
horizon. According to Helge Hjorvardson's saga, Hate, who pursues the
moon, is slain near Varin's Bay. _Varinn_, the "defender," "protector,"
is the singular form of the same word as reappears in the genitive plural
_Varna_. These expressions--_Billing veold Vernum_, _Varna vidr_, and
_Varins vik_--are to be considered as belonging together. So also the
local names borrowed from the mythology, _Varinsfjördr_ and _Varinsey_,
in Helge Hjorvardson's saga, where several names reappear, _e.g._,
_Svarinn_, _Móinn_, _Álfr_, and _Yngvi_, which in connection with that of
Billing occur in the list of the beings created by Mimer and _Durinn_. It
is manifest that _Varna vidr_, where the wolf _Skoll_ is obliged to turn
back from his pursuit of Sol, and that _Varins vik_, where the moon's
pursuer Hate is conquered, were conceived in the mythology as situated
in the western horizon, since the sun and the moon making their journey
from the east to west on the heavens are pursued and are not safe before
they reach the western halls. And now as Billing dwells in the western
halls and is remembered in the Anglo-Saxon mythic fragments as the prince
of the Varnians or Varinians, and as, furthermore, _Varinsfjördr_ and
_Varinsey_ are connected with adventures in which there occur several
names of mythic persons belonging to Billing's clan, then this proves
absolutely an original mythic connection between Billing and his
western halls and those western halls in whose regions _Varna vidr_
and _Varinsvik_ are situated, and where the divinities of light, their
journey athwart the sky accomplished, find defenders and can take their
rest. And when we add to this that Delling, Mimer's kinsman and eastern
neighbour, is the lord of morning and the rosy dawn, and that Billing is
Mimer's kinsman and western neighbour, then it follows that Billing, from
the standpoint of a symbol of nature, represents the evening and the glow
of twilight, and that in the epic he is ruler of those regions of the
world where the divinities of light find rest and peace. The description
which the Havamál strophes (97-101) give us of life in Billing's halls
corresponds most perfectly with this view. Through the epic presentation
there gleams, as it seems, a conscious symbolising of nature, which
paints to the fancy the play of colours in the west when the sun is set.
When eventide comes Billing's lass, "the sun-glittering one," sleeps on
her bed (_Billing's mey ec fann bedjum á solhvita sofa_--str. 97). In his
halls Billing has a body-guard of warriors, his _saldrótt_, _vigdrótt_
(str. 100, 101), in whom we must recognise those Varnians who protect
the divinities of light that come to his dwelling, and these warriors
watch far into the night, "with burning lights and with torches in their
hands," over the slumbering "sun-white" maiden. But when day breaks
their services are no longer necessary. Then they in their turn go to
sleep (_Oc nær morni ... thá var saldrott um sofin_--str. 101).
When the Asas--all on horseback excepting Thor--on their daily journey
to the thingstead near Urd's fountain, have reached the southern
rune-risted bridge-head of Bifrost, they turn to the north and ride
through a southern Hel-gate into the lower world proper. Here, in the
south, and far below Jormungrund's southern zone, we must conceive
those "deep dales" where the fire-giant Surt dwells with his race,
Suttung's sons (not Muspel's sons). The idea presented in Gylfaginning's
cosmogony, according to which there was a world of fire in the south
and a world of cold in the north of that Ginungagap in which the world
was formed, is certainly a genuine myth, resting on a view of nature
which the very geographical position forced upon the Teutons. Both these
border realms afterwards find their representatives in the organised
world: the fire-world in _Surt's Sökkdalir_, and the frost-world in
the Nifelhel incorporated with the eschatological places; and as the
latter constitutes the northern part of the realm of death, we may in
analogy herewith refer the dales of Surt and Suttung's sons to the
south, and we may do this without fear of error, for Völuspa (50) states
positively that Surt and his descendants come from the south to the
Ragnarok conflict (_Surtr fer sunan med sviga læfi_). While the northern
bridge-head of Bifrost is threatened by the rimthurses, the southern is
exposed to attacks from Suttung's sons. In Ragnarok the gods have to
meet storms from both quarters, and we must conceive the conflict as
extending along Jormungrund's outer zone and especially near both ends of
the Bifrost bridge. The plain around the south end of Bifrost where the
gods are to "mix the liquor of the sword with Surt" is called _Oskópnir_
in a part of a heathen poem incorporated with Fafnersmal. Here Frey
with his hosts of einherjes meets Surt and Suttung's sons, and falls by
the sword which once was his, after the arch of Bifrost on this side is
already broken under the weight of the hosts of riders (Fafnersmal, 14,
15; Völuspa, 51). _Oskópnir's_ plain must therefore be referred to the
south end of Bifrost and outside of the southern Hel-gate of the lower
world. The plain is also called _Vigridr_ (Vafthrudnersmal, 18), and is
said to be one hundred rasts long each way. As the gods who here appear
in the conflict are called _in svaso god_, "the sweet," and as Frey falls
in the battle, those who here go to meet Surt and his people seem to be
particularly Vana-gods and Vans, while those who contend with the giants
and with Loke's progeny are chiefly Asas.
When the gods have ridden through the southern Hel-gate, there lie before
them magnificent regions over which Urd in particular rules, and which
together with Mimer's domain constitute the realms of bliss in the lower
world with abodes for departed children and women, and for men who were
not chosen on the field of battle. Rivers flowing from Hvergelmer flow
through Urd's domain after they have traversed Mimer's realm. The way
leads the gods to the fountain of the norns, which waters the southern
root of the world-tree, and over which Ygdrasil's lower branches spread
their ever-green leaves, shading the gold-clad fountain, where swans swim
and whose waters give the whitest colour to everything that comes in
contact therewith. In the vicinity of this fountain are the thingstead
with judgment-seats, a tribunal, and benches for the hosts of people who
daily arrive to be blessed or damned.
These hosts enter through the Hel-gate of the east. They traverse deep
and dark valleys, and come to a thorn-grown plain against whose pricks
Hel-shoes protect those who were merciful in their life on earth, and
thence to the river mixed with blood, which in its eddies whirls weapons
and must be waded over by the wicked, but can be crossed by the good on
the drift-wood which floats on the river. When this river is crossed the
way of the dead leads southward to the thingstead of the gods.
Further up there is a golden bridge across the river to the glorious
realm where _Mimer's holt_ and the glittering halls are situated, in
which Balder and the _ásmegir_ await the regeneration. Many streams come
from Hvergelmer, among them _Leiptr_, on whose waters holy oaths are
taken, and cast their coils around these protected places, whence sorrow,
aging, and death are banished. The halls are situated in the eastern part
of Mimer's realm in the domain of the elf of the rosy dawn, for he is
their watchman.
Further down in Mimer's land and under the middle root of the world-tree
is the well of creative force and of inspiration, and near it are Mimer's
own golden halls.
Through this middle part of the lower world goes from west to east
the road which Nat, Dag, Sol, and Mane travel from Billing's domain to
Delling's. When the mother Nat whose car is drawn by _Hrimfaxi_ makes
her entrance through the western Hel-gate, darkness is diffused along
her course over the regions of bliss and accompanies her chariot to the
north, where the hall of Sindre, the great artist, is located, and toward
the Nida mountains, at whose southern foot Nat takes her rest in her own
home. Then those who dwell in the northern regions of Jormungrund retire
to rest (Forspjallsljod, 25); but on the outer rim of Midgard there is
life and activity, for there Dag's and Sol's cars then diffuse light
and splendour on land and sea. The hall of Sindre's race has a special
peculiarity. It is, as shall be shown below, the prototype of "the
sleeping castle" mentioned in the sagas of the middle ages.
Over the Nida mountains and the lands beyond them we find Ygdrasil's
third root, watered by the Hvergelmer fountain, the mother of all waters.
The Nida mountains constitute Jormungrund's great watershed, from
which rivers rush down to the south and to the north. In Hvergelmer's
fountain and above it the world-mill is built through whose mill-stone
eye water rushes up and down, causing the maelstrom and ebb and flood
tide, and scattering the meal of the mill over the bottom of the sea.
Nine giantesses march along the outer edge of the world pushing the
mill-handle before them, while the mill and the starry heavens at the
same time are revolved.
Where the Elivagar rivers rise out of Hvergelmer, and on the southern
strand of the mythic Gandvik, is found a region which, after one of its
inhabitants, is called _Ide's_ pasture (_setr_--Younger Edda, i. 292).
Here dwell warriors of mixed elf and giant blood (see the treatise on the
Ivalde race), who received from the gods the task of being a guard of
protection against the neighbouring giant-world.
Farther toward the north rise the Nida mountains and form the steep
wall which constitutes Nifelhel's southern boundary. In this wall are
the Na-gates, through which the damned when they have died their second
death are brought into the realm of torture, whose ruler is _Leikinn_.
Nifelheim is inhabited by the spirits of the primeval giants, by the
spirits of disease, and by giants who have fallen in conflict with the
gods. Under Nifelhel extend the enormous caves in which the various
kinds of criminals are tortured. In one of these caves is the torture
hall of the Nastrands. Outside of its northern door is a grotto guarded
by swarthy elves. The door opens to Armsvartner's sea, over which
eternal darkness broods. In this sea lies the Lyngve-holm, within whose
jurisdiction Loke, Fenrer, and "Muspel's sons" are fettered. Somewhere
in the same region Bifrost descends to its well fortified northern
bridge-head. The citadel is called _Himinbjörg_, "the defence or rampart
of heaven." Its chieftain is Heimdal.
While Bifrost's arch stands in a direction from north to south, the way
on which Mane and Sol travel across the heavens goes from east to west.
Mane's way is below Asgard.
The movable starry heaven is not the only, nor is it the highest, canopy
stretched over all that has been mentioned above. One can go so far to
the north that even the horizon of the starry heavens is left in the
rear. Outside, the heavens _Andlánger_ and _Vidblainn_ support their
edges against Jormungrund (Gylfag., 17). All this creation is supported
by the world-tree, on whose topmost bough the cock Vidofner glitters.
[17] Possibly the same as that of which a few strophes are preserved in
_Baldrs draumar_, an old poetic fragment whose gaps have been filled in
a very unsatisfactory manner in recent times with strophes which now are
current as Vegtamskvida. That Odin, when he is about to proceed to the
abode which in the subterranean realms of bliss is to receive Balder,
chooses the route through Nifelhel is explained not by Vegtamskvida,
where this fact is stated, but by the older poem mentioned by Saxo, which
makes him seek the dweller in Nifelhel, the rimthurs _Hrossthiófr_, son
of _Hrimnir_.
(_Continuation of Part IV in Volume III._)
INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES.
TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY.
Transcriber's Note: This index has been copied in from Volume III for the
convenience of the reader (although it doesn't use the accented letters
found in the rest of the text).
A
Achilles, 44, 192.
Achivians, 62.
Adalbert, 320.
Adam, 86, 132, 319, 338.
Adam of Bremen, 714.
Adriatic, 62.
Aeduans, 66.
Aegir, 43, 136, 235, 422, 575, 697, 813, 822, 967.
Aeneas, 44, 66, 81, 730.
African, 6.
Agelmund, 858.
Aggo, 104, 861, 893, 953, 1008.
Agni, 587, 605, 886.
Agrippa, 76, 86.
Ahriman, 817.
Ahura, 8.
Ahuramazda, 127, 381, 450.
Ai, 140.
Ajo, 100, 861, 992.
Alamannians, 53, 119, 708.
Alarik, 25.
Alba-Longa, 66.
Aldonus, 101.
Aldrian, 981, 991.
Alexander, 50, 55.
Alf, 167.
Alfather, 376, 220, 340.
Alfheim, 696, 865, 947.
Alfhild, 168.
Alfrandull, 1002.
Alfsol, 168.
Alps, 62.
Almveig, 1000.
Alvalde, 174, 584, 898, 953, 992.
Alveig, 173, 257, 263, 273.
Alveig-Signe, 793, 902.
Alvis, 437.
Alvism, 365, 376.
Alvismal, 436, 445.
Alvitr, 898.
Amala, 293.
Amalgort, 293.
Amalian, 147, 285, 293, 980.
Amazons, 168.
Ambri, 100.
Amelolt, 293.
Amelungs, 147, 293.
America, 940.
Amlethus, 317, 843.
Amlodi, 843, 568.
Amma, 140.
Ammianus, 58.
Amsvartner, 564.
Anarr, 157.
Anchises, 54, 112.
Andlanger, 706.
Andvare, a dwarf, 300, 977.
Angerboda, 226, 275, 558, 707, 809.
Angeyja, 597.
Angles, 55.
Anglo-Saxon, 86.
Angra-Mainyu, 127.
Angul, 89.
Animals, 23.
Anses, 738.
Ansgarius, 806.
Ansgis, 54, 112.
Antenor, 53, 62.
Anthaib, 101.
Anthropology, 729.
Anti-Christ, 722.
Anundus, 848, 884, 896, 932, 951.
Anus, 879.
Anzius, 147.
Apaosha, 970.
Apollo, 79.
Aquili, 553.
Are, 57, 425, 438.
Arinbjorn, 173, 464.
Aristarchus, 53.
Armenia, 3.
Arnulf, 54.
Artimis, 79.
Arvidson, 844.
Aryan, 3, 14, 30, 124, 188, 253, 380, 746.
Asa-Brage, 256, 801.
Asa-father, 746.
Asa-god, 147, 191, 210, 246, 740, 777, 793, 820.
Asaland, 33.
Asalfr, 926.
Asas, 34, 41, 83, 211, 235, 254, 275, 364, 376, 397, 436, 485,
580, 620, 720, 819, 838, 852, 875, 888, 946.
Asasynir (goddesses), 446.
Asbjorn, 245.
Asciburgium, 122, 839.
Asgard, 33, 41, 166, 218, 229, 245, 276, 376, 397, 423, 443,
467, 575, 601, 693, 724, 751, 772, 790, 806, 845, 865, 877,
909, 938, 959, 977, 989, 1004.
Asia-land, 45.
Asia Minor, 77.
Asiatic, 4, 14.
Ask, 127, 140, 604, 733.
Asmegir, 353, 436, 446, 827, 878.
Asmund, 265, 743.
Assi, 100.
Assyrians, 37.
Astrology, 71.
Asvid, 365, 743.
Asvinians, 880, 910.
Atlakvida, 512.
Atlantic, 87.
Atlas, 977.
Atle, 471, 915.
Attic, 53.
Attila, 286, 809, 983.
Audhumbla, 389, 574, 733, 433.
Augustus, 711.
Aurboda, 213, 242, 781, 815, 845, 962.
Aurgelner, 433, 570.
Aurnir, 899, 948, 992.
Austria, 28.
Ave, 140.
Avo, 848, 884, 896.
Avernians, 66.
Avesta, 8, 17, 30, 450, 878.
Azdingi, 159.
B
Baal, 37.
Babel, 37, 84.
Babylon, 37, 84.
Bacchus, 900.
Bactria, 9, 84.
Bærmagnis-Sogo, 310.
Bainaib, 101.
Balder, 36, 88, 191, 212, 248, 346, 368, 377, 400, 413, 436,
465, 622, 684, 726, 782, 796, 809, 833, 877, 888, 898, 963, 985.
Banings (destroyers), 297.
Barbarossa, 55.
Baugregin's Well, 577.
Beda, 55, 88.
Beistla, 624.
Bel, 836.
Beldegg, 40, 88.
Belgium, 28.
Beli, 836.
Benfey, 18.
Beowulf, 130, 191, 472, 605, 749, 811, 825, 844, 986, 1002.
Berchter, 591.
Berchtung, 146, 291.
Bergelmer, 434, 570, 626.
Bergio, 115.
Berggram, 848.
Berig, 116.
Berker, 146.
Bergtrollet, 844.
Berserks, 39.
Berther, 146.
Bessarabia, 25.
Bestla, 160, 389, 476.
Beyla, 575.
Bhrigu, 587.
Bifrost, 397, 415, 462, 534, 586, 693, 705, 758, 827, 989.
Bil, 676, 985, 1003.
Billing, 471, 698.
Birka, 806.
Biterolf, 359, 644, 977, 997.
Bjaef, 88.
Bjarmia, 563.
Bjorn, 245.
Bjorno, 884.
Bjort, 229, 756.
Blekingia, 104.
Blid, 229, 756.
Bodn, 331.
Bodvar, 530.
Boethius, 812.
Bolthorn, 361, 624.
Bor, 389, 434, 574, 603.
Borgar, 145, 255, 281, 293, 591, 847, 861, 976.
Bose Saga, 310.
Bosphorus, 48.
Bous, 787.
Bragarædur, 959.
Brage, 43, 468, 675, 824, 967, 986.
Bravalla, 283.
Breidablik, 36.
Brimer, 643.
Brisingamen, 272, 364, 725, 819, 829, 876.
Britain, 55.
Brok, 361, 718, 895.
Brunnakr, 898, 953.
Brunnie, 898, 953.
Brutus, 66.
Brynhild, 491, 979.
Buddhism, 732.
Budlungs, 189.
Bundehash, 126.
Bure, 389.
Burgarus, 145.
Burgundaib, 101, 113.
Byggvir, 575.
Byleipt, 559.
Byrgir, 676, 986, 1003.
Byzantium, 48.
C
Cæsar, 66, 283.
Cain, 813.
Capitoline Hill, 74.
Carthage, 58.
Cassiodorus, 114.
Cave of Punishment, 552.
Celts, 10, 25, 254.