This thesis discusses how the elderly are represented in the four Icelandic family sagas, Laxdæla saga, Brennu-Njáls saga, Eyrbyggja saga and Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar. It looks to analyse what ‘old’ is, what the signs of being ‘old’ are, how society views the elderly and how the elderly view themselves. Since these sagas focus on the wealthy and powerful, the scope is limited to the powerful, with only a few instances of lower-class elderly individuals. Of particular interest to this thesis are the differences in physical ageing between men and women and how they are treated as they age.