CONTENTS
Prologue 1
Introduction 3
About the religion in Scandinavia and Northern Europe during Pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age 7
Theories about the origin of the gods 7
Mythological overwiew 13
Detailed analysis of the functions of certain gods 16
Cult 26
Fertility cult 28
Secret men’s—and warrior’s—leagues (cultic leagues) 55
The cult of Óðinn 59
Warrior’s leagues in saga and reality 67
The different sagas about the Völsungs 73
Individual initiation 78
Hero-sagas 80
About the cult of Óðinn on rune-stones 98
The Helgikvíðae 110
The cult of Oðínn and shamanism in iconographical representation and the ways of distribution of the cult 122
About skíalfs, hjallrs and Óðinn 160
Conclusions of the examination of the fertility-cult and the cult of Óðinn 164

The cult of Gaut and the religion of the Goths—a cultic league? An hypothesis 169
Archaeological results 186
Stone- and Bronze Age in the Kattegat-area with focus on Västergötland 186
The transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age and the riddle of the women’s graves 198
Weapon-graves and weaponless graves 218
Cultic-political topography and continental connections 224
1. Denmark 224
2. West- and South-Scandinavia 234
3. Eastern Sweden and the islands in the Baltic— an archaeological survey 256
Conclusion of the archaeological results 263
The problem of cultic leagues 270
The Helgikvidae and the Semnonenhain 270
Tribal and cultic structure 280
Conclusion of the problem of cultic leagues 301
What do the teophoric and sacral place-names tell? 304
Description of the known history of the Goths 332
Sources mentioning the Vistula-Goths 332
The migration 334
The division into Greutungi and Vesi 336
Gutþiuða and Vesi-Tervingi 353
The Arian Goths 366
Summary of the known history of the Goths 373
What or where was the well spring—the possible Gothic origin? 379
Classical literary confirmations 379
The research-discussion about the origin of the Goths 393
1. Archaeological judgements 393
2. Historiographical judgements 448
3. Linguistic judgements 476
Conclusions about the possible Gothic origin 537
Conclusions of the examination 543
Die Gotenquelle—Zusammenfassung 551
Sources and references 557
About the Author 611
Index 613
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