ABSTRACT
The Nordic region is rich with myth, both ancient and modern. Since Roman antiquity, the inhabitants of the North were depicted to the outside world as dangerous barbarians and yet, at the same time, also as representatives of liberty and equality in the ancient world. In contemporary discussions, a "Scandinavian aura" sometimes hovers about the Nordic countries. This aura may be defined in different ways, for example, as "peace, equality and naked women" as one American post graduate student did, or as "welfare state, gender equality, and common legal heritage" as we do in this book.
