Taboo or Magic Practice? Cannibalism as Identity Marker for Giants and Human Heroes in Medieval Iceland

Cannibalism has been connoted negatively among many Western civilizations throughout history, medieval Iceland included. Icelandic giants were characterized by a diet consisting mainly of horsemeat (banned by the Church) and human flesh (an ancient taboo). But cannibalism was also connoted positively when it was performed by heroes in accordance with the laws of sympathetic magic: in this case, eating specific parts of the human body would transfer the qualities of the eaten to the eater. The intention of this article is to discuss the role that the human body played as identity marker, and its different connotations depending on who consumed it.