From Hyperboreis, by Gottlieb S. Bayer (1937) - A Prussian historian's look at one of the oldest Western myths

By Sylvie Peyrefiche

In 1737, the journal of the Academy of Sciences of Saint Petersburg published a contribution entitled De Hyperboreis ; its author, a Prussian philologist promoted to the rank of first historian of Russia by Peter the Great, shows how the old myth spread, through scholarly reappropriations, from the Greek world to Northern Europe in the 17th century.

GS Bayer, as a man of the Enlightenment, explains the myth, underlines its power of seduction and its capacity to perpetuate itself. Ancient beliefs are capable of supporting identity constructions: this is what the historian proves about Sweden, a rival power of Russia.

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Paper version

ISBN 978-2-313-00632-0

Digital version

ISBN 978-2-313-00633-7

88 p. (2021)