ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I consider portrayals of Þórr that seem to show influence from Greco-Roman models of non-Christian religion, beginning with texts by learned Scandinavians and Icelanders like Trójumanna saga before focusing on Adam of Bremen’s portrayal of a Swedish temple and Saxo Grammaticus’s description of Þórr throwing a lightning bolt. While the parallels between the latter two depictions of Þórr and those of the Roman god Jove are significant, they nevertheless evidence a connection between Þórr and lightning. Saxo’s representation of Þórr finds corroboration in a stanza of poetry by the Icelander Þjóðólfr Arnórsson.
