Author Description

The Younger Edda, also known as the Prose Edda, is an Old Norse work of literature written in Iceland. The work is often assumed to have been written, or at least compiled, by the Icelandic scholar, lawspeaker and historian Snorri Sturluson around the year 1220. It begins with a euhemerized Prologue, a section on the Norse cosmogony, pantheon, and myths. This is followed by three distinct books: Gylfaginning (consisting of around 20,000 words), Skáldskaparmál (around 50,000 words) and Háttatal (around 20,000 words). It was originally referred to as simply Edda, but was later titled the Younger Edda (or Prose Edda) to distinguish it from the Elder Edda (or Poetic Edda).