Part 3

The mythic progenitor of the Amalians, Hamall, has already been mentioned above as the foster-brother of the Teutonic patriarch, Halfdan (Helgi Hundingsbani). According to Norse tradition, Hamal's father, Hagall, had been Halfdan's foster-father (Helg. Hund. ii.), and thus the devoted friend of Borgar. There being so close a relation between the progenitors of these great hero-families of Teutonic mythology, it is highly improbable that the Amalians did not also act an important part in the first great world war, since all the Teutonic tribes, and consequently surely their first families of mythic origin, took part in it. In the ancient records of the North, we discover a trace which indicates that the Amalians actually did fight on that side where we should expect to find them, that is, on Hadding's, and that Hamal himself was the field-commander of his foster-brother. The trace is found in the phrase fylkja Hamalt, occurring several places (Sig. Faf, ii. 23 ; Har. Hardr, ch. 2; Fornalds. Saga, ii. 40; Fornm., xi. 304). The phrase can only be explained in one way, "arranged the battle-array as Hamall first did it". To Hamal has also been ascribed the origin of the custom of fastening the shields close together along the ship's railing, which appears from the following lines in Harald Hardradi's Saga, 63:

Hamalt syndiz mér hömlur
hildings vinir skilda.

We also learn in our Norse records that fylkja Hamalt, "to draw up in line of battle as Hamal did," means the same as svínfylkja, that is, to arrange the battalions in the form of a wedge. [*] Now Saxo relates (Hist., 52) that Hadding's army was the first to draw the forces up in this manner, and that an old man (Odin) whom he has taken on board on a sea-journey had taught and advised him to do this. [**] Several centuries later Odin, according to Saxo, taught this art to Harald Hilditönn. But the mythology has not made Odin teach it twice. The repetition has its reason in the fact that Harald Hildit¨nn, in one of the records accessible to Saxo, was a son of Halfdan Borgarson (Hist., 361; according to other records a son of Borgar himself - Hist., 337), and consequently a son of Hadding's father, the consequence of which is that features of Hadding's saga have been incorporated into the saga produced in a later time concerning the saga-hero Harald Hilditönn. Thereby the Bravalla battle has obtained so universal and gigantic a character. It has been turned into an arbitrarily written version of the battle which ended in Hadding's defeat. Swedes, Goths, Norsemen, Curians, and Esthionians here fight on that side which, in the original model of the battle, was represented by the hosts of Svipdag and Gudhorm; Danes (few in number, according to Saxo), Saxons (according to Saxo, the main part of the army), Livonians, and Slavs fight on the other side. The fleets and armies are immense on both sides. Shield-maids (amazons) occupy the position which in the original was held by the giantesses Hardgrep, Fenja, and Menja. In the saga description produced in Christian times the Bravalla battle is a ghost of the myth concerning the first great war. Therefore the names of several of the heroes who take part in the battle are an echo from the myth concerning the Teutonic patriarchs and the great war. There appear Borgar and Behrgar the wise (Borgar), Haddir (Hadding), Ruthar (Hrútr-Heimdal, see No. 28a), Od (Óður, a surname of Freyja's husband, Svipdag, see Nos. 96-98, 100, 101), Brahi (Brache, Asa-Bragr, see No. 102), Gram (Halfdan), and Ingi (Yngvi), all of which names we recognise from the patriarch saga, but which, in the manner in which they are presented in the new saga, show how arbitrarily the mythic records were treated at that time.

[* Compare the passage, Eiríkr konungr fylkti svá liði sínu, að rani (the swine-snout) var á framan á fylkingunni, ok lukt allt utan með skjaldbjorg, (Fornm., xi. 304), with the passage quoted in this connection: hildingr fylkti Hamalt liði miklu.]

[** The saga of Sigurd Fafnisbani, which absorbed materials from all older sagas, has also incorporated this episode. On a sea-journey Sigurd takes on board a man who calls himself Hnikarr (a name of Odin). He advises him to "fylkja Hamalt" (Sig. Fafn. ii. 16-23).]

The myth has rightly described the wedge-shaped arrangement of the troops as an ancient custom among the Teutons. Tacitus (Germ., 6) says that the Teutons arranged their forces in the form of a wedge (acies per cuneos componitur), and Cæsar suggests the same (De Bell. Gall., i. 52: Germani celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange facta...). Thus our knowledge of this custom as Teutonic extends back to the time before the birth of Christ. Possibly it was then already centuries old. The Aryan-Asiatic kinsmen of the Teutons had knowledge of it, and the Hindooic law-book, called Manus', ascribes to it divine sanctity and divine origin. On the geographical line which unites Teutondom with Asia it was also in vogue. According to Ælianus (De instr. ac., 18), the wedge-shaped array of battle was known to the Scythians and Thracians.

The statement that Harald Hilditönn, son of Halfdan Borgarson, learned this arrangement of the forces from Odin many centuries after he had taught the art to Hadding, does not disprove, but on the contrary confirms, the theory that Hadding, son of Halfdan Borgarson, was not only the first but also the only one who received this instruction from the Asa-father. And as we now have side by side the two statements, that Odin gave Hadding this means of victory, and that Hamal was the first one who arranged his forces in the shape of a wedge, then it is all the more necessary to assume that these statements belong together, and that Hamal was Hadding s general, especially as we have already seen that Hadding's and Hamal's families were united by the sacred ties which connect foster-father with foster-son and foster-brother with foster-brother.