Author: Sarah Laskow / Source: Atlas Obscura
“The sun starts to turn black, land sinks into sea; the bright stars scatter from the sky.”
This, in the medieval Icelandic poem “Völuspá”—the prophecy of the seeress—is how the world ends. “Steam spurts up with what nourishes life, flame flies high against heaven itself.
” Gods die, the Earth burns and is reborn, green and beautiful, a new and all-powerful lord ascends.Dating back to 961, “Vǫluspá” portends the end of the island’s pagan pantheon and the rise of Christianity at the turn of the millennium. Its evocation of the volcanic and atmospheric impact of this divine upheaval is detailed, precise, and harrowing. Some scientists and geographers now believe that the account was based on the actual experience of a real-world event—the Eldgjá lava flow, the largest eruption on the island in the past 2,000 years—according to a new report published in the journal Climatic Change.
When Eldgjá erupted, it was a disaster of mythic proportions. More than…
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