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56 INTEODUCTION.
Hebrews, what Homer and Hesiod together were to
the Greeks. It is, moreover, the only complete col-
lection of Icelandic poetry remaining,—the only
one which (except two fragments, some introductory
pieces and interpolated. explanations) consists en-
tirely of poetry. Whatever else has come down to
us is only fragmentary and inserted in the prose
writings, often as extracts from older poems, now no
longer known, except from these fragments.
The Later Edda is the most important relic of
Icelandic prose with regard to Mythology, although
-it is by no means the oldest monument of the prose
literature of the North. The reputed author or
compiler was Snorri Sturlason, and it is supposed to
date from the early part of the thirteenth century-
There are three manuscript copies of it extant. One
in the University Library of Copenhagen, which
Arngrim Jonsson found in 1628, and forwarded to
"Wormius. This copy is the fullest, and is probably
from the fifteenth century. The second is in the
Eoyal Library, and was obtained of Brynjulf Sveins-
son in 1640. It is older than the other, evidently
from the fourteenth century. The third is in the
University Library at Upsala, and was brought from
Iceland to Sweden by J. Eugman, about the middle
of the seventeenth century. It also appears to be
older than the first-named manuscript. .
The contents of this Edda are embraced under
three principal divisions, viz :
1. Gylfa-ginning— ^the Delusion of Gylfi, which
consists of fifty-four stories, or chapters, containing
a synopsis of the whole Scandinavian Mythology. It
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