[Lalaith]

Just an aside on the rebirth/hope issue.
I don't pretend to be an expert on paganism in general but I do know a bit about the Norse mythical cycle. One of the problems in trying to establish just what the Vikings believed in terms of religion is that most of what we know about it today was written down during the Christian period. Snorri Sturluson, who wrote so much of what we rely on, was a 13th century historian, and a Christian (albeit unusually for that time, a secular individual rather than a cleric).

Also, Norse paganism and Christianity co-existed for several hundred years in the Viking world. Viking society had not converted as whole until around 900-1000 AD, while allowing individuals who had turned from the "old belief" to practice their new religion.
Scholars believe that some aspects of the mythological cycle - particularly the death and rebirth of Baldr - may have been injected later, as part of a Christianising influence.
I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing were true for other "pagan" belief systems. (I don't even know how we are defining the word pagan anyway. "Stuff our ancestors used to believe"? It seems a bit too vague, the old Norse religion has for example not much to do with the nature-based religion many people I know practice today, often called paganism)

As for eternal monuments (v. interesting points, Noggie...) Ozymandias springs to mind...