La ricchezza nel Heliand

In Heliand the semantic field around the concept of wealth shows significant variety. Interestingly, the attractions of Christian or heavenly wealth and the invitation to renounce pagan or worldly wealth are generally expressed through the same terms, stripped of the materiality of their original etymologies and reinvested with a new spiritual meaning. Through an analysis of some passages in which the lexicon around wealth and related concepts receives a different treatment in Heliand than in its sources, this paper therefore aims to elucidate one of the many aspects of the complex cultural revolution accomplished by Saxon society in its encounter with Christianity.