Watched Places

Ancient Tibet

The Ancient Cultures of the Himalayas

Tibet

Once thought to be the mysterious Kingdom of Shangri-la, Tibet is the highest elevated country on earth, with a culture that has been devoutly Buddhist for centuries

Ancient America

The World of the American Indian

America

Before the new world was colonized, America was an amazingly complex patchwork of Indian tribes, confederacies, and nomadic hunters, now known collectively as Native Americans

Ancient Portugal

The Ancient Lusitanian World

Portugal

The Lusitanians are the ancestors of the Portuguese, and were the last Celtiberian tribe to submit to Roman rule, and were considered among the most rebellious tribes in Iberia

Ancient Italy

The Ancient Roman World

Italy

The Romans spread across Europe from their Italian homeland changing the course of history forever by making the Mediterranean a Roman lake

Ancient Nigeria

The Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa

Nigeria

The cultures of West Africa created some of the most powerful empires that inhabited the sub-Saharan regions of this continent

Ancient Romania

The Ancient Carpathian Tribes

Romania

First the Thracians, and later the Dacians fought to maintain their unique culture in the mountains of the southern Carpathian basin, eventually adopting a language of their Roman conquerors

Ancient Guatemala

The World of the Ancient Maya

Guatemala

Birthplace of the Lowland Maya, this region in Central America was home to Cancuén and Tikal, some of the most sophisticated city states to ever be encountered by Europeans in the new world.

Ancient Ethiopia

The Ancient Kingdoms of Abyssinia

Ethiopia

The Ancient Ethiopians lay claim to
having the oldest continuous Kingdom in the world, starting over four thousand years ago with the Kingdom of Axum



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Latest Comments

Under founding of denmark the picture of a statue is not gorm the old, but holger danske/ ogier the dane.
Holger Danske is normally regarded as a Danish national symbol. He is first mentioned in literature as one of the French king Charlemagne’s warriors in La Chanson de Roland from around 1060. In this Chanson he is called Oger le Danois, his name being the only link to Denmark. In the later epos La Chevalerie d’Ogier de Danemarche (1200-1215) he is portrayed as the main character and is described as a son of the Danish king Gudfred (d. 810), an enemy of Charlemagne.

His first appearance in Nordic literature is in the saga Karlemagnússaga from the latter part of the 1200s, which in the main consists of passages translated from French texts. His name here is given as Oddgeir danski. This saga was translated into Danish during the 1400s and thereafter Holger Danske became part of Danish folklore with several accounts in the Danish Chronicle first published around 1509.

The Danish national writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1845 wrote the fairytale Holger Danske, where he is described as sitting fast asleep in the casemates of the Castle of Kronborg, with his beard having grown into the table in front of him and his sword in his lap, prepared to wake up to action in case of Denmark being threatened from outside forces. Today his statue can be seen in the casemates of Kronborg as described by Hans Christian Andersen.

During the German occupation of Denmark in 1940-45 one of the principal partisan organizations was named after Holger Danske.

in Ancient Denmark