Rígsþula

The Rígsþula ( Old Norse " ballad" or "Song of Rig "), even Rigst ( h) ula or Rígsmál, is an Icelandic gods song that explains the origin of the stands. The otherwise unknown god Rig ( perhaps after Irish rix "king" ) appears three times on the ground and shows successively the ancestors of the servants, free peasants and nobles, which differ in their appearance: While Þræl ( Thräl ), the servant, as " black skin, " explains Karl, the farmer ," red ", while Jarl, the nobleman, " light curls "and" glowing cheeks " has.

The science deals in particular the age of this myth, which was written relatively late in the 14th century.

The prose introduction of Rígsþula sets Rig same with the god Heimdallr. In the Völuspá version of the Codex regius it is said that the people were his sons. From a myth that the three sons of God emerge from three lines, even Tacitus in his work Germania from God Mannus. A further parallel is also available in the Indian myths in which the god-king Manu creates the box. The names of Mannus and Manu go back to the same origin and both mean "man." Accordingly, the Rigsthula seems to play an old myth.