Was there ever a more Icelandic name than Snorri Sturluson? It’s like a swirling, whirling snowstorm.

Snorri Sturluson was a poet, lawyer and historian, born in 1179. He is famous for having proposed that our gods begin life as earthly warriors, then rise to deity as cults grow around their tombs. Mourners call their dead leader’s name for courage in battle, and the name begins to take on a god-like meaning. And so a mortal becomes divine.

Isn’t that fabulous?

He also has an interesting death. Snorri used to visit a thermal pool near his house (it’s still there to this day) and was murdered in the tunnel that led back home.

More on good old Snorri here.