The Sources of Myths, Part 5

In this case, attention is also drawn to the presence of a symbolic layer in the group of mythological works related to the cult of fertility.

Modern research has made it possible to establish, that the Codex Regius manuscript was written around 1270 year. However, the chronology of the creation of individual songs is difficult to define. It is usually established for the period from the 9th to the 11th century. Some researchers, however, extend the chronological range to the VIII-XIII centuries. An analysis of the runic inscriptions revealed, that alliteration and Eddy-style verses were known around 700 year. When determining the time of writing each song of the cycle, they were usually based on comparative studies of the themes found in the works, descriptions of landscape forms and elements of material culture with historical and archaeological sources. Equally vague, like dating, is the origin of the tracks. It is believed, that most of it was probably created in the environment of Icelandic bóndras. Some are of the general Scandinavian provenance, and not necessarily courtly. It is worth emphasizing here, that they have no direct literary counterparts in the areas inhabited by continental Germans. But they are undoubtedly the songs of the heroic cycle.

Edda's source value has been repeatedly questioned. Numerous researchers have raised doubts as to the authenticity of the information contained therein, concerning the mythical world. The question of the authorship of individual mythical themes was also very controversial. A question was asked in this case, are the events described in Edda a product of the author's fantasy?, or they are a poetic reworking of a widespread myth. Now to be adopted, that despite numerous post-pagan accretions, Eddy's core is genuine, being a poetic transformation of the mythical reality of northern Germans. Among other things, this conclusion is prompted by the analysis of the content of Scandinavian rock carvings. Thanks to them it was established, that some myths were firmly entrenched in Scandinavian society. This mainly concerns the idea of ​​ragnarok and the symbolism associated with it (Walkirie, wilk, Walhalla, snake-dragon, etc.), as well as the character of Thor, the cult of which, according to modern research, was widespread.