Pre-Christian northern Europe
A gap in the curriculum
Pre-Christian northern Europe
ScopeAbout one book
AfterWho We Are and How We Got Here
Leads toChildren of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings
Lineage11 books back to the Big Bang
I do not know much about pre-Christian Northern Europe beyond what is implicitly covered in Children of Ash and Elm and The Horse, the Wheel, and Language. I know that Indo-European peoples lived there, that they were outside the Roman world, and that the Romans slaughtered some of them while failing to conquer others. Beyond that, I would like to understand much more about their societies, cultures, religions, and political organization.
Claude’s take
The medieval North, and the Vikings already in the tree, grow directly out of these pre-Christian cultures.
Candidate reading
- Empires and Barbarians — Peter Heather
- The Germania — Tacitus