The Eddaic version, however, of the history of the gods is not so circumstantial as that in the Ynglingasaga it is, on the other hand, distinguished by an exquisite simplicity and archaic force of style, which give an entirely classical character to its mythical legends of Odin and of Loki. Advancing from the Black Sea northwards through Russia, and westward through Esthonia, the Aesir seem to have overrun the south lands of Scandinavia, not as a horde but as an immigrant aristocracy. It is from the Ynglingasaga and from the Gylfaginning that we gain all the information we possess about the conquering deities or heroes who set their stamp upon the religion of the North. Commencing with the adventures of a mythical king Gylfi and the giantess Gefion, and the miraculous formation of the island of Zealand, it tells us that the Aesir, led by Odin, invaded Svithjod or Sweden, the land of Gylfi, and settled there. Gylfaginning, or the Delusion of Gylfi, on the other hand, is the most precious compendium which we possess of the mythological system of the ancient inhabitants of Scandinavia. The preface bears a very modern character, and simply gives a history of the world from Adam and Eve, in accordance with the Christian tradition. It is divided into five parts, the Preface or Formdli, Gylfaginning, Bragaraeiur, Skdldskaparmal and Hdttatal. The Prose Edda, properly known as Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, was arranged and modified by Snorri, but actually composed, as has been conjectured, between the years i 140 and 1 i 60. The collection of Snorri is now known as the Prose or Younger Edda, the title of the Elder Edda being given to a book of ancient mythological poems, discovered by the Icelandic bishop of Skalaholt, Brynjulf Sveinsson, in 1643, and erroneously named by him the Edda of Saemund. Whether he gave this name to the work is doubtful the title first occurs in the Upsala Codex, transcribed about fifty years after his death. It is believed that the Edda, as he left it, was completed about 1222.

1178-1241), the greatest name in old Scandinavian literature.

The only work known by this name to the ancients was the miscellaneous group of writings put together by Snorri Sturlason (q.v. From the 14th to the 17th century, this word - but no one has formed a reasonable conjecture why - was used to signify the technical laws of Icelandic court metre, Eddu regla, and 'Never to have seen Edda' was a modest apology for ignorance of the highest poetic art.

The word is unknown to any ancient northern language, and is first met with in Rigspula, a fragmentary poem at the end of Codex Wormianus, dated about 1200, where it is introduced as the name or title of a great-grandmother. Of these only one bears that title from antiquity the other is called Edda by a comparatively modern misnomer. EDDA, the title given to two very remarkable collections of old Icelandic literature.

The Poetic Edda by Unknown