The sagas, a rich collection of traditional Scandinavian stories, were written down in Iceland between the late 1100s and the 1300s. They can be divided into several categories: lives of Icelandic kings and bishops, family histories, romances, and sagas of ancient times. This last group of sagas deals with the adventures of legendary heroes. Often set in distant or imaginary locations, they are a major source of information about Norsereferring to the people and culture of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland mythology.

First settled in the late 800s by the Vikings—seafaring people from Norway Sweden, and Denmark—Iceland had a paganterm used by early Christians to describe non-Christians and non-Christian beliefs culture until about 1000, when Christianity was introduced. One purpose of...