Charles XII of Sweden (1968), 44–45.
Rudbeck’s discussion of the classical gods begins in earnest in Atl. I, 427–95. Worship of Apollo was exported from the Hyperboreans into Greece, or, more specifically, the Balder religion was carried over by Swedish maidens into Delphi, Delos, and Athens (Atl. I, 382, 477, 536– 37). Apollo was pronounced Swedish (475–82). Reference to Apollo as the “most Greek” in the classical pantheon comes from Burkert, Greek Religion, Archaic and Classical, translated by John Raffan (1985), 143; and Cicero’s words are from The Nature of the Gods III, 57. Balder’s description and wisdom, “wisest of the Aesir and most beautifully spoken,” is in Gylf. 21. That Balder “dreamed great dreams” is in Gylf. 49, and the “blessed god” is described in Voluspa 31–34.
Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto (Iliad I, lines 8–10; and Theogony 917–20). According to Rudbeck, the Roman god Jupiter was originally the Greek Zeus, who in turn was first the Swedish Thor (Atl. I, 442–50). Like Zeus’s mother Rhea, Thor’s mother was Freyia (actually Frigg, but the two have long been confused). Rudbeck’s derivation of Zeus from the old Swedish language is on pages 444–46, and his attempt to trace the legacy of Thor on Crete, which was often cited as the legendary birthplace of Zeus, is on pages 446–48.
The Olympians admitted that Zeus, in terms of brute strength, far surpassed the other gods (Iliad XV, line 101ff.). Hesiod’s Theogony tells the story of Zeus defeating the Titans and punishing leaders such as Atlas and Prometheus (520ff.). Odin was called “All-Father” in Gylf. 10, and Odin’s special watch over, among other things, prisoners, the slain, and the hanged is in Gylf. 20. Odin trading his eye for a drink at Mimir’s well of wisdom is recounted in Gylf. 15. His drinking and eating habits, with the two ravens on his shoulder, are in Gylf. 38 and in Snorri’s Heimskringla Ynglingasagan 7. Thor and the adventures in the land of the giants are in Gylf. 45–47. Thor was the “strongest of all the gods and men” in Gylf. 21. Odin and Thor’s differences were revealed in many Norse works, for instance the Poetic Edda’s Lay of Harbarth. Rudbeck discusses Odin and Hades in Atl. I, 455–57.
Rudbeck’s use of the Swedish language, as opposed to Latin, is related in Annerstedt, Bref II, xciii–xcv; and Rudbeck’s words in the text, 1 May 1677, are printed in Annerstedt, Bref II, 148. The translation of Rudbeck’s words about Cicero and Aristotle comes from G. Castren, in Kirby (1990), 286. A stimulating treatment of Rudbeck’s work as an architect is found in Hahr, “Olof Rudbeck d.a. som arkitekt,” in Rudbecksstudier (1930); and in Ragnar Josephson’s Det hyperboreiska Uppsala (1945). Rudbeck had a preference for long rows of columns and round open spaces long before his interest in the Poseidon palace. Yet in many projects, the Atlantis nuances are hard to miss. Josephson compares Rudbeck’s blueprints for the university building and Plato’s description of the Poseidon palace on Atlantis on pages 66–72. Beyond this, Rudbeck’s suspension bridge over the River Fyris was compared to a Roman aqueduct (35–36), and his work on the royal gardens near the palace was compared to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (76–82).
The delay in the funds and the reminders of the king’s money are mentioned in Rudbeck to De la Gardie, 20 March 1677, Annerstedt, Bref II, 142–43. Another inquiry about the status of the funds is in Rudbeck’s letter of 22 April 1677, 146. The costs of the printing can be reconstructed from a number of letters. By April 1677, Rudbeck was printing two sheets a week at a cost of fifty-four daler: ten to the printer, eight for the paper, eighteen to the artist, and another eighteen to the engraver. By November 1677 the costs were at 2,000 daler silvermynt for the printer; 1,000 for paper; and 250 for the special, larger paper to be used for printing the figures (7 November 1677, Annerstedt, Bref II, 158–59). The total was 5,930 daler silvermynt, with a breakdown added as a supplement to this letter. The costs shouldered by Olof Rudbeck, not counting the research expenses, would rise to some 9,700 daler kopparmynt, Rudbeck to De la Gardie, 2 March 1682, RA, Kanslers embetets handlingar for Uppsala universitet arkiv E.11:7.
Efforts to raise money are related in Rudbeck’s letters as well, including selling paper damaged in the spring flood of 1677, according to his letter to De la Gardie, 22 April 1677, Annerstedt, Bref II, 146. He tried to divert customs duties, as seen already in Rudbeck’s letter to De la Gardie, 17 February 1674, Annerstedt, Bref II, 92. Securing of loans from “good friends” was admitted and described years later, Rudbeck to De la Gardie, 31 March 1685; LUB, De la Gardie slaktarkiven. Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie 93:1. On pawning the family silver, see Rudbeck to De la Gardie, 7 November 1677, Annerstedt, Bref II, 58–59.
CHAPTER 12: HANGING BY A THREAD
Besides Rudbeck’s letters, among the more lively sources for the dispute about Old Uppsala, my account is based primarily on Schuck, KVHAA III, 322–66; Eriksson (2002), 271–76; Lindroth (1975), 311–15; Annerstedt, Bref II, xcv–xcvi; and Godel (1897), 170–72. Schefferus’s background and career are summarized in Lindroth, 206–14, and his cape was noted, 212. Schuck discusses Schefferus’s Upsalia in KVHAA III, 322–25, and Epistola Defensoria III, 340–44. As an effect of the problems with Schefferus, Atterbom reported a saying popular in Rudbeck’s house: “It is as true as if it were written in Schefferus’s Lapponia” ([1851], 36–37).
Rudbeck’s use of the prisoners of war is related, among other places, in Atl. I, 100, 109. The stakes in the dispute are described by Rudbeck in a letter to De la Gardie, 24 May 1677 (Annerstedt, Bref II, 153–54). The count’s letter of 17 May 1677 announcing the prohibition was printed by Schuck in KVHAA III, 345–46. Schuck outlines the problems with Bishop Karl’s Annotations (357–60), and he, like Annerstedt, believed the controversial letter was a forgery. No one, though, as Schuck notes, had accused Rudbeck of this forgery (355).
Reference to Lundius as a “worse Rudbeckian than Rudbeck himself” is found in Annerstedt, Bref II, cxvii. Schuck’s words on Lundius are in KVHAA III, 355–56. The anecdote of Lundius meeting the devil in his bedroom is found in many sources, for instance, Strindberg, Bondenod, 224–25. The story of Zalmoxis comes first from Herodotus’s Histories IV, 94. Lindroth’s summary, (1975), 315, and the reference to Schefferus’s mistake, Schuck, KVHAA III, 329. Archaeological opinion comes from Sune Lindqvist, “Olof Rudbeck d.a. som faltarkeolog,” in Rudbecksstudier (1930), 249–58.
Verelius’s problems with the college are discussed by Schuck in KVHAA, as well as in his biography of Johan Hadorph (1933). His being paid only once for his many years of service as Professor of Antiquities of the Fatherland is noted, for instance, in Hadorph, 45.
CHAPTER 13: ET VOS HOMINES
The significance of De la Gardie’s donations can still be seen today. Besides the Uppsala Edda, there were also the Heimskringla, Olafssaga, early editions of Saxo Grammaticus, and a codex containing a fragment of Olof Tryggvason’s Saga. Some, however, were lost in the fire of 1702, including Snorri’s Heimskringla, on loan at that time to Olof Rudbeck. De la Gardie’s donation is discussed by Godel (1897), 84–85; and Fahraeus (1936), 220–23.
The Silver Bible is discussed by Lars Munkhammer, Silverbibeln: Theodoriks bok (1998); and Tonnes Kleberg, Codex Argenteus: The Silver Bible at Uppsala (1984). The Dutchman who owned the Silver Bible was Franciscus Junius. Rudbeck’s reference to the Gothic Bible comes from Atl. I, 154–57, and a related derivation of the word Uppsala is found on page 261.
Some pages of the Silver Bible have continued to surface, including one that turned up, to considerable attention, in August 1970. Construction crews were restoring Speyer Cathedral, lowering the floor to add a more modern heating system. The page was found in a secret hiding place, in a potato sack, along with some other relics, including the bones, supposedly, of the Renaissance humanist Erasmus. As for the theft in April 1995, I was then living in Sweden and remember listening to the radio when a rather shocked disc jockey announced it. Munkhammer’s account (1998) explains many of the details that, at the time, were so strange.
