The Modern Myth of the Viking

This paper presents the text of a lecture first given in the series commemorating the work of Paul Johnstone. In the years since it was given further material has been gathered and the issues it addresses are still current. The paper discusses how we have constructed histories of the Scandinavian Iron Age, in particular the myth of the ‘Viking’, and how these are manipulated and used in society today. It is argued that by not countering spurious histories assiduously enough, academia has effectively subscribed to them and in some ways has actively contributed to their construction. This realisation should temper our future research.