The untold story of a Renaissance man on an adventurous hunt for a lost civilization-an epic quest through castles, courts, mythologies, and the spectacular world of the imagination. What do the gods of Mount Olympus have in common with the gods of Valhalla? What do these, in turn, have to do with the pharaohs of Egypt, and the glories of fabled Atlantis? In 1679, Olof Rudbeck stunned the world with the answer: they could all be traced to an ancient lost civilization that once thrived in the far north of Rudbeck's native Sweden. He would spend the last thirty years of his life hunting for the evidence. 300 years later, his story appears in English for the first time, a narrative of discovery as well as a cautionary tale about the dangerous dance of genius and madness.

Promises -- Oracle of the North -- Remarkable correspondences -- A Cartesian witch hunt -- Follow the fish! -- Gazing at the fac of Thor -- The quest for the golden fleece -- Mountains don't dance -- Twelve trumpets, four kettledrums and a bag of gold -- All oars to Atlantis -- Olympus stormed -- Hanging by a thread -- Et vos homines -- On nothing -- And then the snake thawed -- The Elysian fields.