Knowra Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga Ynglinga saga is a medieval Icelandic account of Sweden’s earliest rulers, beginning with the gods Óðinn and Njörðr and tracing a legendary royal line.
Heimskringla : A collection of sagas about Norwegian kings, traditionally attributed to Snorri Sturluson. Ynglinga saga opens this larger history of Norway’s rulers.
Óðinn : A principal Norse god associated with wisdom, poetry, war, and the dead. The saga portrays him as a ruler who leads his people into Scandinavia.
Old Norse literature : The medieval literature composed in Old Norse, especially in Iceland and Scandinavia. Ynglinga saga is a major example of its prose historical writing.
Domalde : A legendary Swedish king in the Yngling lineage, associated with famine and sacrificial death. His reign exemplifies the saga’s link between royal fortune and ritual sacrifice.
Snorri Sturluson : An Icelandic writer, historian, and politician active in the early thirteenth century. He is traditionally identified as the author of Heimskringla and its opening saga.
Njörðr : A Norse god associated with seafaring, wealth, and fertility, and a member of the Vanir. The saga makes him a human-like ruler succeeding Óðinn.
Icelandic sagas : Medieval prose narratives written in Iceland, including histories, family stories, and legendary tales. The saga uses the prose narrative form associated with this tradition.
Aun the Old : A legendary Swedish king said to have prolonged his life through repeated sacrifices of his sons. His grotesque longevity tale exposes the cost of royal power in the saga.
Yngling dynasty : A legendary Scandinavian royal lineage associated with the Swedish kings of Uppsala and the Norwegian Ynglings. The saga’s genealogy follows this lineage from divine ancestors to human rulers.
Freyr : A Norse god associated with fertility, prosperity, and peace. The saga presents him as a Swedish king whose reign brings abundance.
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