Axenthof Thiad

Suggested Reading

We have created the following list as an aid to the potential Theodsman and for the reconstruction of pre-Christian Germanic heathenry in general. All sources are linked to Amazon.com for quick and easy purchase.

The list is divided into three pages: Primary Sources (current page), Secondary Sources, and Additional Suggested Reading.

Primary Sources

The primary source material is a must read for any heathen. Since the majority of these sources will be read in translation, each source is described and a short opinion regarding the quality of the translation is provided. It must be understood that no translation is perfect but some have proven to be better than others.

• The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems (Dover Value Editions), By Henry Adams Bellows. This is the preferred English translation of Axenthof Thiad. Though it divides the mythological poems and the heroic poems into separate works the translation has proven to be close to the original when compared side by side.


• The Poetic Edda: The Heroic Poems (Dover Value Editions), by Henry Adams Bellows. This is the companion to the above and contains the heroic poems.


• The Poetic Edda (Oxford World's Classics), by Carolyne Larrington. This translation is complete, but marked by many modernisms. The arrangement of the notes at the end of the translation can prove troublesome for some readers.


• The Poetic Edda, by Lee M. Hollander. This translation is complete but marked by Hollander's tendency to change the names (heiti) of the gods to accommodate the poetic requirements. These changes are precisely why this translation does not come more highly recommended.


• Edda (Everyman's Library), translated by Anthony Faulkes. This is the complete translation of the Edda of Snorri Sturluson. It is an excellent translation with a lengthy introduction and summary at the end.


• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics), by Jesse Byock. This is another excellent, though incomplete, translation of Snorri's Edda All works by Jesse Byock are highly recommended.


• Germania (Clarendon Ancient History Series), by J.B. Rives. This book is full of useful information in addition to being a worthy translation.


• Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX: I. English Text; II. Commentary (Bks.1-9), edited by Hilda Ellis Davidson and translated by Peter Fisher. This is another must read for the reconstructionist heathen.


• Klaebers Beowulf, Fourth Edition, edited by R.D. Fulk, et al. This is the standard work on Beowulf.


• Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition, by Howell D. Chickering. This is a dual language edition of Beowulf. The translation is decent though secondary to Klaeber's edition above.


• The Earliest English Poems (Penguin Classics), by Michael Alexander. Read for The Seafarer and The Wanderer, if not for anything else.


• The Sagas of Icelanders: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (World of the Sagas), by Jane Smiley, et al. This is a large collection of the Icelandic sagas for a very affordable price. This work includes the following sagas: Egil's Saga, Vatnsdaela Saga, Laxdaela Saga, Hrafnkel's Saga, Bandamanna Saga, Gisli Sursson's Saga, Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue's Saga, Ref's Saga, The Vinland Sagas.


• Njal's Saga (Penguin Classics), translated by Robert Cook. An easily acquirable translation that provides the reader with an interesting look into bloodfeud and law in saga era Iceland.


• The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics), translated by Jesse L. Byock. This is Byock's excellent translation of the Volsunga Saga.


• Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, by Lee M. Hollander.


• Heimskringla: or, The Lives of the Norse Kings, translated by Erlig Monsen.


• Eyrbyggja Saga (Penguin Classics), translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards.


• The Lombard Laws (Sources of Medieval History), by Katherine Fischer Drew.


• The Laws of the Salian Franks (The Middle Ages Series), by Katherine Fischer Drew.


• The Burgundian Code: Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad; Additional Enactments (Sources of Medieval History), by Katherine Fischer Drew.


• Bede: The Reckoning of Time (Liverpool University Press - Translated Texts for Historians), by Faith Wallis.

More titles coming soon.

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