The Role of Horses in the Old Norse Sources: Transcending worlds, mortality and reality

This thesis presents the depiction and use of horses in the Old Norse sources, including their role in religion, rituals and beliefs. A close reading of the myths in the Poetic Edda and Snorra Edda shows that horses were seen as a bridge between worlds – a main form of transportation through the gaps between the living and the dead, between mythological worlds, and even beyond the boundaries of reality. In the Íslendingasǫgur, echoes of the horse’s role as a transcendent animal are also seen, since the horse is often associated with the dead and the afterlife through its ability to foretell fates and forebode death. Superstition also surrounds the horse with regards to land settlement, fertility and health, and the horse is associated with supernatural powers over the elements in some accounts. These characteristics of the horse in the Old Norse sources support the hypothesis that the horse served as much more than just a transport animal for the living and the dead, but as a shaman in Old Norse culture. This thesis will explore the ways in which horses were considered sacred and spiritual animals, providing a connection between the mortal and mythological beings to the unconscious and supernatural realms