Ohthere's Voyages: A late 9th Century Account of Voyages along the Coasts of Norway and Denmark and its Cultural Context

by Anton Englert, Janet Bately

At some time in the late 9th century, a Norwegian seafarer by the name of Ohthere [Oht-her-e] told the West Saxon king Alfred of his voyages along the coasts of Norway and Denmark. Ohthere's report made such an impression at the court of King Alfred that it was recorded and subsequently inserted into the Old English version of the late Roman world history by Orosius, accompanied by Wulfstan's account of a voyage across the Baltic Sea. Ohthere's account is the earliest known description of the North by a Scandinavian and gives a fascinating and highly trustworthy glimpse of the early Viking Age. Since the 16th century, Ohthere's voyages have been debated by an ever growing number of scholars, such as linguists, historians and archaeologists. In this book, a panel of experts presents the original source in its geographical, cultural, nautical and economic context.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

216 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, speaking as a lay person! I made slow progress with this but it was certainly worthwhile - beautifully presented and with lots of thorough background material in bibliographies and footnotes for further reading. I also liked the format - rather large, with double columns and plenty of room for unobtrusive but handy references. The original text is an Anglo-Saxon/O.E. account of a visit by a Norwegian, Ohthere, to the court of King Alfred in the 9th century, and appears to be based on a question and answer session. So much we don't know and can only conjecture about Ohthere, where he lived, why he was there, &c., which is frustrating - but then, how remarkable that we have this account from over a thousand years ago, and that we know as much as we do. This would appeal to anyone interested in the period and in the history of the north.

[Jack Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technical articles and illustrations fill the book and showcase the range of agreement and disagreement between the various scholars involved. I was surprised how much archaeological work had been donealong Ohthere's route.