Temple at Uppsala
. 
The Temple at Uppsala was a religious center dedicated to the Norse gods Thor,
Odin, and Freyr located in what is now Gamla Uppsala in Sweden. It is described
by the 11th-century historian Adam of Bremen as the most significant pagan site
in the region and was destroyed by the Christian King Inge the Elder c. 1080.
The site is also referenced in the Ynglinga Saga of the Heimskringla written by
the Icelandic mythographer Snorri Sturluson (l. 1179-1241) and the Gesta
Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus (l. c. 1160 - c. 1220). In every case, it is
associated with the gods of the Norse religion and in Adam and Saxo with human
sacrifice. At the time Adam was writing (c. 1070), Christianity was still
contending with the old Norse beliefs for supremacy in the region, while in
Saxo’s time, it was more established. Both wrote from a Christian point of view
and so cast the temple and its rites in a negative light. Sturluson was
recounting ancient myths for his age and so humanized the gods, making deities
like Odin into great kings of the past rather than gods and so avoided having
to demonize the site for a Christian audience.
This article appeared on viking-archaeology-blog.blogspot.com credit to the original writer
No comments