Eski İskandinav Edebiyatında ve Hukukunda Eşcinselliğin Temsili

Abstract

This paper proposes to examine the evidence for homosexuality among the early medieval Scandinavian peoples, popularly known as the Vikings. A variety of literary, legal, and religious sources from medieval Iceland and Norway provide an indirect window on Viking attitudes towards homosexuality. These include sagas such as Njal's Saga, Ljósvetninga Saga, Kristni Saga, Gisla Saga, Biskupa Sögur Íslenska Bókmenntafélag, and Fóstbræðra Saga along with the Eddaic poems Lokasenna and Þrymskviða. This literary testimony may be supplemented by evidence from the Law of Gulathing and the Gray Goose Laws (Gragas), as well as Staðarhólsbók and the Icelandic Homily Book. Homosexuality was termed "nið” in Old Norse, and the term varies according to certain actions or behaviour. In the sagas, the word "nið” was used in several ways with different meanings, to denote a coward, sexual pervert, or a homosexual. The word was mostly used in the meaning of coward and homosexual which were more or less synonymous for the Vikings.