User:XERodger/sandbox

Dínus saga drambláta [The Saga of Dínus the Proud] or Saga af Dinus ok Philomena [The Saga of Dínus and Pilotemia] tells the story of Dínus, son of the King of Egypt through various adventures and challenges. Dínus and Philotemia, daughter of Maximilianus of Africa, both scorn the affections of the opposite sex. Throughout the saga they play a number of tricks on one another. Eventually the two fall in love via a magic apple and are married. However they experience further trials of enchantment and transformation during their married life.

Dínus saga drambláta is cited as an example of Greek influence on the sagas of Iceland, most notably due to the symbolic importance of the magic apples in the tale. This has resonance with elements of Greek mythology. The saga is written in an ornate style which utilises aliteration and other phrasal variations, however 'like many other medieval Icelandic romances, the Dínus saga drambláta has been ignored from a stylistic point of view'.

The saga contains some interesting references to the medieval method of education. These are foregrounded at the beginning of the saga along with a passage which describes the geography of the world of the saga: 'It is found thus written in ancient books of learning that the world is divided into three parts or ‘partes;’ the first, to the south, is called Asia, the western, Africa; and the northern region is called Europe. In Europe there are excellent and renowned kingdoms in which all is fair and lush. In Asia is the Holy Land, where all the most wonderful works were performed from the time of the birth of our lord, Jesus Christ, during the time of his fleshly existence and passion, and during his rising and resurrection and many other miracles, when our lord was in this land. Egypt lies in that part of the world'

The saga exists in two versions, the first, and longer, dates from the 15th century, the shorter was produced later, possibly at the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th. The original saga was probably composed in the fourteenth century in Iceland, the oldest existing manuscript dates from 1670 An English translation was produced in 1921 by Henry Goddard Leach in Angevin Britain and Scandinavia, a version also exists in A Pageant of Old Scandinavia (1946). Pp. 334-37.