Icelanders

Financial journalist and New York Times best seller, Michael Lewis is the author of many published books on various subjects ranging from politics to Wall Street. 2008 global financial meltdown with the build-up the housing and credit bubble during the 2000s are the main topics of some of his best sellers’ books: “Flash Boys”, “The Big Short”, and “Boomerang”. Rare storyteller’s ability to make the virtually any subject, lucid and compelling is the main reason of his popularity. He received an MSc

Beowulf is one of the great heroic poems in English literature. The epic follows a courageous warrior named Beowulf throughout his young, adult life and into his old age. As a young man, Beowulf becomes a legendary hero when he saves the land of the Danes from the hellish creatures, Grendel and his mother. Later, after fifty years pass, Beowulf is an old man and a great king of the Geats. A monstrous dragon soon invades his peaceful kingdom and he defends his people courageously, dying in the process

peoples within medieval Europe. …Some Scandinavianists have argued that in Iceland Europeans had a chance to experiment with social and political organizations unencumbered by the customs of the homeland; other scholars believe, however, that the Icelanders brought with them to the new land the customs of the old, including gender relations.” In 1990, Fordham University hosted a conference on gender and medieval society, focusing on the issue of feminist studies as a frame from which medieval

We left JFK, NY at 9 pm on May 10, 2017, and flew directly to Iceland with a flying time of 6hr. This flight wasn’t too long coupled with a 4hr time difference, it was difficult to rest well. After landing at Keflavik, Iceland around 6:30 am, May 11, we entered a small airport, but nevertheless it took us more than 2hrs just to pass through the airport entry check point. OAT was our tour company. We had a small group of 16. The tour guide let us boarded a bus for an hour drive to the capital city

“The love that dare not speak its name” truly was a mute love in pre-Christian Norse society. The Norse viewed male homosexual intercourse through a curious (by modern American standards) dichotic lens. Similarly to Roman and Greek societies, the Norse attached no great negative stigma or condemnatory connotations to the idea itself of homosexual intercourse. However, the Vikings intensely disapproved of free men taking the passive role in any male-male sexual acts. Norse society regarded passivity

Loki is a complicated Norse pagan god associated with both the trickster archetype, and the devil. He helps the gods out of countless predicaments, yet he ultimately leads to their deaths. When most think of Loki, his monstrous children and role in Ragnarok come to mind. Recently, he has entered the collective consciousness due to his role as a villain in the popular Marvel movie, Thor. His changes in behavior can be explained by the influence of Christianity on Norse pagan religion. Loki had originally

Europe had experienced a general cooling of the climate between years 1150 and 1460 and a very cold climate between 1560 and 1850. This event came to be known as the “Little Ice Age.” This cold weather had impact on agriculture, health, economics, emigration, and art and literature . The term “Little Ice Age” was named by Francois Matthes in 1939 to describe the most destructive climate drop in Europe. This ice age was consisted of mountain glaciers which brought temperatures as low as 2 degrees

By 879 AD, Guthrum's remaining army left Wessex, some following him to his Kingdom and some leaving to life a more settled life in Northumbria in York. Some assembled on the Thames to form a new army to return to the European continent to begin new campaigns and take advantage of the political turmoil in Francia with the death of King Charles the Bald (Charles II) in 877 AD. Although with the treaty in place between King Alfred of Wessex and King Guthrum of the Danelaw, Alfred was saved any major

While the Viking Era was rather brief, these infamous Scandinavian brutes left a mark in history larger than they themselves were tall. The Vikings emerged from the present-day area in Northern Europe known as Scandinavia, which consists of the countries of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Named for their legendary raids, the name “Viking” is said to mean “a pirate raid” and originates from a dead language called “Old Norse”, which was the native tongue of the Vikings. Contrary to the widely Christian

The ocean in medieval times was a thing of great mystery to the ordinary medieval peasant. However to the explorers, the church and the educated the sea was a dangerous place. The ocean began to fascinate people in the time of the early Greeks. The Titans ruled the earth in the beginning, and Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaea was one of them. "In him [Oceanus] Homer salutes the essence of all things, even the Gods, and regards him as a divinity whose power was inferior to none but Zeus'" He