The Archaeological Discoveries Of Sutton Hoo

The story of Beowulf deals with life, death, violence, kings, and monsters. Written around 800 CE, and then picked up hundreds of years later to be rewritten by a monk, it is written well after the coming of Christ. It could be simply read as an action adventure, filled with conquests and elaborate feasts, as were common of Old English tales. The story is not that simple though, and gives us a peek into a culture going through some drastic changes. Once built upon a Pagan belief system void of Christ and saturated with values such as revenge and violence, the Anglo-Saxons did not immediately adopt all of Christianity. There was a lengthy time in which both sets of beliefs were muddled and weaved together haphazardly, where no one religion was distinct. Beowulf is an example of these cultural influences crashing together. While Christianity in Beowulf, the Old English epic poem, looks different than the Christianity we recognize today, the story is built with Christian values.

Scotland has an abundance of archaeology all throughout the country and all within different parts of prehistory. Scottish archaeology has a big impact on both the rest of the UK and on the rest of Europe. Although during the beginning of the 20th century, archaeology was seen as nothing more than labour, with the help of the two great men which held ‘the Abercromby chair’ – both with their own contributions to Scottish archaeology as a whole – it soon rocketed into the discipline what we see today.

Anglo-Saxon culture consisted of receiving fame, glory, and wealth through acts of vengeance and courage. “Beowulf” portrays these parts in great detail and shows how destabilizing it can be. Through acts of vengeance, a never ending war occurs.

Archaeology is a continuously evolving field where there is a constant stream of new branches and excavation methods. Due to the influx of new technologies and innovations in recent decades, archaeologists have been able to excavate previously inaccessible areas. For example, new diving equipment and tools such as proton magnetometers, side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiler, and miniature submarines have allowed archaeologists to dive into the deep depths of the ocean. As a result, the branch of underwater archaeology was created to search for shipwrecks and other artifacts on the ocean floor. Underwater archaeology’s role has increased in recent years as it allows archaeologists to more accurately interpret the past by supplementing

In Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, treasure and weaponry were of great importance to the people of that time. During the Anglo-Saxon period (410 to 1066 A.D.), gold treasures and swords were distributed to show loyalty and trust among a kingdom’s great warriors (“Beowulf Project - Archeology” 1). For biblical figures, such as Jesus and his disciples, treasure represented wealth and weaponry showed the ability to fight against Satan (“What Does the Bible Say about GOLD?” 1). In today’s society, treasure represents the success and riches one possesses while weaponry can be seen as strength or even arrogance. No matter what period in history, treasure and weaponry play a role and its importance is ever changing.

Many people wonder how you could possibly compare an ancient Anglo-Saxon culture with the sophisticated world that we live in today. Despite numerous cultural and technological advancements, the time of Beowulf and modern day have many similarities. When examining the two cultures closely, it is observed that they have not so much changed as they have evolved. Having an army, fearing literal and hypothetical monsters, and the joy of different forms of entertainment are three of the most common and obvious resemblances. Although, Beowulf took place in the fifth century, our current day society has significant similarities to this time period.

Christianity arrived in Northern Europe over one thousand years ago. This is evidenced by some of the earliest pieces of literature that we have. The epic poem, “Beowulf”, shows many references to the influence of Christianity on English culture. There are many parallels between characters in “Beowulf” and characters from the Bible. Many Christian themes and virtues are also portrayed in “Beowulf”. Throughout “Beowulf”, the theme of Christianity manifests itself through Christ-like images of Beowulf as well as his strength in God allowing him to ward off monsters of paganism.

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic that was transmitted verbally for hundreds of years before it was written down. Around the time of its composition, Christianity was beginning to gain prominence in England and was quickly replacing the animistic religion of the Celts. As a result of the dueling religions of the time, the poem includes influences from both Christianity and paganism, leaving its readers to wonder which religion had the most sway over the poet. Beowulf is a fundamentally more Christian epic on account of Beowulf’s resemblances of Jesus Christ, its allusions to the Bible, and its intimation of a supreme, monotheistic religion.

Every culture has its own set of values, beliefs, and customs. These values, beliefs and customs create each unique culture, and these cultural constructions are directly and indirectly acquired throughout the lifetime of the culture. A major part of culture is literature; the literature of the time reflects upon daily life and society during the time that the story was composed. Beowulf, an epic poem, is one of the most important and only works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Much like a fable, the epic poem of Beowulf had lessons that taught the people within this society how to behave. This essay will outline how the importance of Christianity and the Germanic Heroic Code in Beowulf are revealed throughout the epic poem as important aspects of the Anglo-Saxon culture as a whole.

As European civilizations began to develop, humans created polytheistic belief systems. These belief systems allowed humanity to define, worship, and comprehend both the natural and supernatural worlds that surrounded them. However, as perceptions of religious beliefs changed, polytheistic belief systems transformed into a monotheistic belief system. Originally governed by the Celtic faith, Britain’s belief structure experienced a significant transformation with the conquest of the Anglo-Saxons and their Germanic paganism. Society was struggling to establish its identity within a new belief structure. To ease this integration Christian ideas were founded on the existing pagan ideology. This transition produced a gradual conversion to Christianity. The epic poem “Beowulf”, written circa 1000 AD, reflects the unification of Anglo-Saxon pagan concepts with Christian beliefs. ……. The poem, “Beowulf”, demonstrates the fusion between these two divergent religious systems in the characterization Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon by utilizing principles from both Christianity and Paganism.

The stories of Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are two that have been compared for centuries. Based in two different time periods, both novels describe religion, loyalty, and distinguish social classes through characters. In the novel Beowulf, the character Beowulf is known as the “hero of all heroes,” strong, courageous, and a warrior who is willing to risk his life for his ideals. In The Canterbury Tales, there are twenty-four tales describing characters from a knight to a monk’s tale. As the stories are written in two different time periods with different themes and voices, they can be compared in many ways. Both novels describe religion through their warriors, Beowulf and the Knight from The Canterbury Tales.

In Beowulf, the cultural traditions of the ancient Germanic tribes are expressed. Throughout the poem, treasures are a symbol of achievement, glory, and wealth in the Germanic culture. The possession of treasures such as gold earns one respect within the Germanic tribes. Moreover, the act of partitioning is celebrated and it earns you a title of a good king and warrior. While the doing the opposite condemns you and titles you a greedy king and warrior.

One way that Sutton Hoo improved people’s understanding is that it validated some of the cultural descriptions and practices found within Beowulf. Before the discovery of Sutton Hoo people often wrote the poem off as a fanciful tale however “the rich gold treasure from Sutton Hoo brought the immediate recognition that descriptions of lavish burials and gold-adorned armour in Beowulf could no longer be dismissed as poetic exaggeration or folk memories of an age of gold before the Anglo-Saxons came to England” (Cramp 57). Because of the finding of the cenotaph people began to reguard Beowulf as a historical reference. However, some negative effects also stem from the assumed connection between the two. With the discovery of the artifacts people began to translate the poem into modern lanuages differently, adding more descriptions of precious metals and wealth that the text does not directly suggest. For example, “In a passage describing burial treasure from far-off lands, the translator’s words ‘bright gold and silver’ fit Sutton Hoo...but it is alien to Beowulf” (Frank 55). This is where the historical evidence of both the text and the site can limit or change the understanding of the time period in untrue or unprovable

The Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf” takes the reader back into a time long past; one of family, fate, and fealty. Beowulf offers a glimpse of a society struggling between two different paths, one path being the assimilation into the new Christian traditions and the other is the fast fading past of glorified warriors and family ties. In the poem, the reader can see the attempts of the poet to convey the values and stories of Judeo-Christianity in a society of Anglo-Saxon paganism. The poet illustrates the infiltration of the Christian teachings and how they might have appeared within the lives of the people through the literary devices of symbolism, allegory, and allusion.

Beowulf is an epic dense with imagery derived from Anglo-Saxon Pagan culture and Christianity because it is was written in England during the 8th century, a period of Christian migration, growth, and conversion. From the sea where he loses a fight but fends off evil sea-monsters, the forests, and specific animals such as the raven, Beowulf blends nature, mysticism, and reality seamlessly. The descriptions of nature are general and vague which makes it hard to tell exact locations and lets the reader form their own, personalized visualization of the area; likewise, the role of nature in the lives of the Anglo-Saxon culture and Pagan religion remain unclear at best. Provided with many images of nature in Beowulf, this analysis will extract a deeper understanding of how the Anglo-Saxons used their Paganistic view of nature to help shape Beowulf.