Viking tales of heroes, villains, warriors, explorers and kings, told around campfires and mead halls for centuries. The stories of Grettir the Strong, and of Kormac the Skald. And the saga of Erik the Red, who settled Greenland, and his son Leif the Lucky, who sailed to America centuries before Columbus.

Written in consultation with leading academics.

A trip to the furthest edgelands of the Viking world via the drama of the Old Norse sagas -- from the Arctic Circle to Constantinople, North America to Kievan Rus.

Explore Captivating Viking Sagas The period between the end of the eighth century CE and the middle of the eleventh is often called the "Viking Age" because this is the period in which Scandinavian people expanded their contacts with the outside world through trade, raiding, exploration, and colonization. This volume presents a version of Ragnar's saga compiled from different modern sources, along with information providing additional historical and documentary context, followed by a discussion of some aspects of modern appropriations and representations of ancient Norse culture. The first section of the book provides historical context for Ragnar's saga through an exploration of daily life in ninth-century Scandinavia and of contemporary Viking culture and history. The text of the saga itself forms the second part of the book, along with notes giving further information about how this version of the saga is presented and about elements within the story that might not be familiar to modern readers. The third section of the book deals with representations of ancient Norse cultures in modern popular media. Within this book, you'll find the following the Viking Sagas and topics covered The World of Ragnar Lothbrok The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and His Sons Representations of Norse Myths and History in Modern Media The Clash of History and Drama in the History Channel Television Series Vikings And much more! Get the book now and learn more about Viking Sagas!

The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik’s son Leif the Lucky’s perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the North Atlantic to pass down this compelling tale of the first Europeans to talk with, trade with, and war with the Native Americans.

The Sagas of Icelanders are enduring stories from Viking-age Iceland filled with love and romance, battles and feuds, tragedy and comedy. Yet these tales are little read today, even by lovers of literature. The culture and history of the people depicted in the Sagas are often unfamiliar to the modern reader, though the audience for whom the tales were intended would have had an intimate understanding of the material. This text introduces the modern reader to the daily lives and material culture of the Vikings. Topics covered include religion, housing, social customs, the settlement of disputes, and the early history of Iceland. Issues of dispute among scholars, such as the nature of settlement and the division of land, are addressed in the text.

Through a combination of archaeological artifacts and early writings, historians have recovered much of a lifestyle and philosophy that once rivaled those of Greece and Rome. Even today the names of figures from northern mythology, from Odin and Thor to the Valkyries, have not lost their power to excite the imagination. Richly illustrated.