Just two steps from Thingvallagja walking path you´ll find the Drowning pool. PIC Duncan Fawkes
A s history has shown us again and again it has a tendency to be regularly rewritten and often by folks with special interests in mind. Naturally, such things skewer everything which is a major reason to take all historical accounts of everything under the sun with tons of salt.
For example, one of the most popular and publicized spot in Iceland is Thingvellir National Park. This truly national treasure is known foremost by amazing works of nature and a very distant second are works by man. This was the site of the first „parliament“ in the world according to Icelanders although far removed from any modern democratic processes. Be that as it may; this place is very revered by locals for this piece of history and not a brochure or website fails to mention this.
What you might not get any information about in those same brochures is the fact that also at Thingvellir, just steps from where most visitors gaze adoringly at the view, you can find the Drowning pool. This small shallow pool does not look like much and is actually great for some cooling down those three days a year when the weather gets too warm. But before splashing your face with the cool fresh water spare a though for at least eighteen women drowned here throughout the ages.
Yes, Drowning pool actually stands for a pool to drown in. Called Drekkingarhylur in the local language this place does not even have a plaque remembering those unfortunate women that were sentenced to death by drowning by men of power. And for what horrible crimes you might ask? For romance in some cases. Romance with the wrong men or breaking wows of celibacy.
Oh, and do not think men found guilty got off any easier. Those were often burned at the stake.
