© Gunnar Tómasson
28 December 2014.
Brennu-Njálssaga and Dante’s Commedia.
Introduction
T.S. Eliot:
“Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them – there is no third.”
Yes, there is a third – and a fourth for that matter!
Italian scholar Giancarlo Gianazza:
“The message coded into the Divine Comedy is a description of the route to Iceland.”
Authors of “hidden poetry” in the Saga-Shakespeare tradition routinely use the Alpha and Omega lines and/or sentences of their works to convey number symbolic signals of their kinship with the writings of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) and Sturla Þórðarson (d. 1284) in 13th century Iceland, including Edda and Brennu-Njálssaga.
When Sturla died, Dante (c. 1265-1321) was 19 years old, but he was a contemporary of the law-speaker Haukur Erlendsson (d. 1334), whose writings reveal deep knowledge of the works of Snorri and Sturla.
For purposes of the analysis below, Dante need only have known the wording – and Cipher Values – of the Alpha and Omega sentences of Brennu-Njálssaga as a whole and of the inserted section on Advent of Christianity in Chs. 100 – 105, as well as Snorri‘s Omega Poem in the Háttatal section of Edda.
Also as shown below, Victor Hugo, whose works include Han d‘Islande, concludes his masterpiece, Les Misérables, with a brief verse, whose Cipher Value – and apparent ‟hidden poetry‟ content – accord perfectly with my construction of Dante’s modus operandi in “documenting” kinship between Commedia and the works of Snorri Sturluson and Sturla Þórðarson.
***
I. Dante’s Commedia – Alpha and Omega lines*
Alpha
15438 = Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
Omega
15813 = l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
31251
* In the middle of the journey of our life
the love that moves the sun and the other stars.
II. Brennu-Njálssaga – Alpha and Omega sentences.**
The entire work
6257 = Mörðr hét maðr.
13530 = Ok lýk ek þar Brennu-Njálssögu.
Section on Christianity
12685 = Höfðingjaskipti varð í Nóregi.
11274 = Fara menn við þat heim af þingi.
43746
** A man was named Mörðr.
And there I conclude Brennu-Njálssaga.
There was a change of chieftains in Norway.
At that people went home from Althing.
III. Brennu-Njálssaga – Alpha Commedia
15438 = Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
1 = Monad
Onset of cosmic strife
4600 = Scialetheia (Shadow of Truth)
7000 = Microcosmos (Man in God‘s Image)
2307 = 23 September
1241 = 1241 A.D. (Date of Snorri Sturluson‘s ‟murder‟)
End of One ‟Year‟ of Strife
13159 = Ártíð Snorra fólgsnarjarls (Anniversary of Snorri´s ‟death‟)
43746
IV. Brennu-Njálssaga – Alpha and Omega Commedia
31251 = Dante’s Alpha and Omega lines
Father of All
2568 = Alföðr
Divine Wisdom
4385 = Hagia Sophia
Sol Invictus
1000 = Light of the World
Rex Mundi
-4000 = Dark Sword
Snorri’s ‟book‟ perfected
8542 = Bók þessi heitir Edda. (This book is named Edda.)
43746
V. Dante’s Commedia – Alpha and Omega sentences*
Alpha – Inferno: Canto I
15438 = Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
15885 = mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
12588 = ché la diritta via era smarrita.
Omega – Paradiso Canto XXXIII
13112 = A l’alta fantasia qui manco possa;
13458 = ma già volgeva il mio disio e ‘l velle,
14138 = sì come rota ch’igualmente è mossa,
15813 = l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
100432
VI. Snorri Sturluson’s ‟Commedia‟
EK/EGO
1 = Monad
7 = Man of Seventh Day
11359 = Snorri Sturluson
And there EK conclude Brennu-Njálssaga.
43746 = Brennu-Njálssaga
Anonymous Author Above
45319 = Zodiac – Twelve Houses (See Note.)
***
Les Misérables – Omega Chapter
‘Grass conceals and rain blots out’
In the Père-Lachaise cemetery, in the neighborhood of the potters’ field, far from the elegant quarter of that city of sepulchers, far from all those fantastic tombs that display in presence of eternity the hideous fashions of death, in a deserted corner, beside an old wall, beneath a great yew on which the bindweed climbs, among the dog-grass and the mosses, there is a stone. This stone is exempt no more than the rest from the leprosy of time, from the mold, the lichen, and the birds’ droppings. The air turns it black, the water green. It is near no path, and people do not like to go in that direction, because the grass is high, and they would wet their feet. All around there is a rustling of wild oats. In spring, the linnets come to sing in the tree.
This stone is entirely blank. The only thought in cutting it was of the essentials of the grave, and there was no other care than to make this stone long enough and narrow enough to cover a man.
No name can be read there.
Only many years ago, a hand wrote on it in pencil these four lines, which have gradually become illegible under the rain and the dust, and are probably gone by now:
23994 = Il dort. Quoique le sort fût pour lui bien étrange.
22982 = Il vivait. Il mourut quand il n’eut plus son ange.
15117 = La chose simplement d’elle-même arriva,
19824 = Comme la nuit se fait lorsque le jour s’en va.
81917
He is asleep. Though his mettle was sorely tried,
He lived, and when he lost his angel, died.
It happened calmly, on its own,
The way night comes when day is done.
***
VII. Victor Hugo’s ‟Commedia”
3045 = Logos
3781 = The Pope
4988 = The Vatican
Angel transformed
-7864 = Jesus Patibilis (minus/lost)
4000 = Flaming Sword
End of Man of Seventh Day’s Mission
10565 = Holy Name of JHWH restored in Creation (10-5-6-5 Hebrew gematria)
81917 = He is asleep. He lived, and when he lost his angel, died.
100432
Note.
The Cipher Value of the Twelve Houses of the Zodiac, 45319, is also that of Snorri Sturluson’s Omega Poem in the Háttatal section of Edda:
Twelve Houses.
16729 = Aries-Taurus-Gemini-Cancer-Leo-Virgo
28590 = Libra-Scorpio-Sagittarius-Capricornus-Aquarius-Pisces
45319
Omega Poem
24523 = Njóti aldrs ok auðsala konungr ok jarl, þat er kvæðis lok.
20796 = Falli fyrr fold í ægi, steini studd, en stillis lof.
45319
Loose translation:
May king and earl enjoy a house of plenty that is poem’s end.
May earth sooner sink in the sea than praise fall silent.
Addendum
29 December 2014.
There was a well-recognized structure to the works of the like of Dante, “Shakespeare”, Hugo and other literary giants.
- A story-line that would hold the reader’s interest.
- An underlying “moral” theme that familiarity with the work would bring.
- And below that a “spiritual” vision based on ancient creation myth and Platonic-Pythagorean number symbolism.
Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) and his nephew and literary collaborator Sturla Þórðarson (d. 1284) were path-breakers in this respect.
Their achievement consisted in infusing the literary tradition of the Four Augustan Poets (Horace, Virgil, Propertius and Ovid) with Christian imagery.
Snorri expressly distinguished between two kinds of human understanding:
Jarðlig skilning or Earthly understanding, and
Andlig spekðin or Spiritual Wisdom.
The latter was rooted in Monad as Logos and communicated through Hagia Sophia/Divine Wisdom.
The dividing line between the works of the Four Augustan Poets and that of the works of Snorri and Sturla is clearly marked in Dante’s Commedia.
For the first part of his journey, Dante is guided by Virgil.
Then someone else takes over and brings him to Union with Beatrice.
And what does that mean, and how does Beatrice, 3263, relate to Hagia Sophia, 4385?
This seemingly meaningless question has a clear-cut number symbolic answer:
For Beatrice “masks” Hagia Sophia, as in 3263 + 4385 = 7648.
How so?
It does so through the Cipher Sum 2307 + 1241 + 4000 + 100 = 7648.
The first two Cipher Values (2307 and 1241) represent the “date” (23 Sept. 1241 A.D.) of Snorri Sturluson’s “murder most foule”, as of the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father.
The last two Cipher Values (4000 and 100) are fixed symbolic numerical values:
4000 = Constant value of Cosmic Creative Power
100 = Poem’s End.
***
A calculator for converting letters to cipher values is on the Internet at:
http://www.light-of-truth.com/ciphersaga.htm
Gunnar Tómasson
