Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Qupperneq 192

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Arni Einarsson
J.E. Turville-Petre (1947) and Faulkes (1966, p. 30) noted the correspondence
between the palace of Hugon and the house of Rauðúlfr, and Faulkes discussed
the common features. These are (1) the mathematical symmetry of the building,
(2) decorations representing the whole of creation, and (3) pronounced astrolo-
gical connections. Faulkes (1966, p. 31) stated that many ofthelaterdescriptions
of similar buildings could well have been influenced directly by Ovids palace of
the Sun. Although not mentioned by Faulkes, the allegorical characters present
in Ovid’s palace might have a counterpart in the house of Rauðúlfr, which probably
contained the hours and the seasons, as well as the twelve months of the year:
On his (Phoebus’) right hand and on his left stood Day, Month, Year, the Generations
(saeculaque) and the Hours, all ranged at equal intervals. Young Spring was there, his
head encircled with a flowery garland, and Summer, lightly clad, crowned with a
wreath of corn ears; Autumn too, stained purple with treading out the vintage, and
icy Winter, with white and shaggy locks. (Metamorphoses, 2, tr. Innes 1974, p. 50.)
The mathematical symmetry of Ovid’s building is overemphasized by Faulkes.
The only symmetry is that the building had two doors, each decorated with six
signs of the zodiac. The geometry of Rauðúlfr’s house is clearly not derived from
Ovid. There is, however, good evidence that the house was meant to be an “Abode
of the Sun” and on this evidence we must seriously consider the possibility that
King Olaf was representing the sun.32
There are two more direct references to the sun in the story of Rauðúlfr which
have not been discussed so far. One is a legendary “sun stone” (sólarsteinn) which
King Olaf used to fmd the position of the sun in the overcast sky in order to test
the skill of Sigurðr. The other is when Rauðúlfr explained that the turning of the
house or bed was made so that the king wouid keep a fixed angle towards the sun
in order to have a favourable dream. The implications of this will be discussed later.
Gates of the Sun
The four cardinal points were more than just geographical reference points. We
haveseen in the Icelandic Homily Bookhow parallels weredrawn between theages
of man and the position of the sun in the east in the morning, south at noon,
west in the evening and in north at midnight. The annual cycle of the sun was
also associated with the cardinal directions in a way which may identify the four
doors of the dream house as “gates of the heaven” or “gates of the sun”. According
to Isidore (Etymologiae III 40.1) there were two gates of the heavens, the east and
the west: by one the sun appears, by the other it retires. Due east and west are
also the points of sunrise and sunset during the equinoxes. An E-W line which
12 According to Ovid the abode of the sun was in the east. It might be significant that Rauðúlfr’s
house was in Eystri Dalir, the “eastern valleys”.