Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves the oral memory of heroes, warrior kings and queens. In clear prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda provides unparalleled insight into the gods' tragic realisation that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales from the pagan era have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring modern works as diverse as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.This new translation by Jesse Byock captures the strength and subtlety of the original, while his introduction sets the tales fully in the context of Norse mythology. This edition also includes detailed notes and appendices.

    He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning (The Fooling of Gylfi), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skaldskaparmal, a book of poetic language, and the Hattatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga Saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, he is often taken to be the author of Egils Saga. As a historian and mythographer, he is remarkable for proposing the theory that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults. As a chief and statesman Snorre behaved exactly the opposite of the resolute and often heroic characters of the sagas, to such a degree that his authorship of them is sometimes questioned. His name is also spelt Snorri Sturlusson/Sturlson/Sturlason.

    This classic of European literature has influenced such diverse figures as Dante, T.H. White, and the makers of the 1967 film Camelot.