Jörmungandr Jörmungandr Jörmungandr that is coiled around Midgard, and
HelIn Norse mythology, Hel is a being that presides over a realm of the same name, where she receives a portion of the dead. Hel is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
, ruler of Helheim. These three monsters are described as the progeny of
LokiIn Norse mythology, Loki is a god or jötunn . Loki's relation with the gods varies by source. Loki assists the gods, and sometimes causes problems for them. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon and a mare. Loki's positive relations with the gods ends...
. Other creatures include
Huginn and MuninnIn Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring the god Odin information...
(thought and memory, respectively), the two ravens who keep Odin, the chief god, apprised of what is happening on earth, since he gave his eye to the
Well of MimirIn Norse mythology, Mímisbrunnr is a well associated with the being Mímir, located beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. Mímisbrunnr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
in his quest for wisdom,
SleipnirIn Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
, Loki's eight legged horse son belonging to Odin and Ratatoskr, the squirrel which scampers in the branches of Yggdrasil.
Völuspá
In the
Poetic Edda poem
VöluspáVöluspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing Odin...
("Prophecy [
spá] of the
völvaA Völva was a priestess in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology.-Names and etymology:The Völvas and their male counterparts were referred to by many names...
"), Odin, the chief god of the Norse pantheon, has conjured up the spirit of a dead völva and commanded this spirit to reveal the past and the future. She is reluctant: "What do you ask of me? Why tempt me?"; but since she is already dead, she shows no fear of Odin, and continually taunts him: "Well, would you know more?" But Odin insists: if he is to fulfill his function as king of the gods, he must possess all knowledge. Once the völva has revealed the secrets of past and future, she falls back into oblivion: "I sink now".
Abiogenesis and anthropogenesis
According to Norse myth, the beginning of life was fire and ice, with the existence of only two worlds: Muspelheim and Niflheim. When the warm air of Muspelheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, the jötunn
YmirIn Norse mythology, Ymir, also named Aurgelmir among the giants themselves, was the founder of the race of frost giants and an important figure in Norse cosmology.-Creation myth:...
and the icy cow Audhumla were created. Ymir's foot bred a son and a man and a woman emerged from his armpits, making Ymir the progenitor of the Jötnar. Whilst Ymir slept, the intense heat from Muspelheim made him sweat, and he sweated out
SurtrIn Norse mythology, Surtr is a jötunn. Surtr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
, a jötunn of fire. Later Ymir woke and drank Audhumbla's milk. Whilst he drank, the cow Audhumbla licked on a salt stone. On the first day after this a man's hair appeared on the stone, on the second day a head and on the third day an entire man emerged from the stone. His name was
BúriBúri was the first god in Norse mythology. He was the father of Borr and grandfather of Odin. He was formed by the cow Auðumbla licking the salty ice of Ginnungagap. The only extant source of this myth is Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda....
and with an unknown jötunn female he fathered Bor, the father of the three gods
OdinOdin , is considered the chief god in Norse paganism and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon Wōden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wōđinaz or *Wōđanaz.The name Odin is generally accepted as the modern translation; although, in some cases, older...
, Vili and
VeVE, Ve or ve may refer to:* Vili and Vé, gods in Norse mythology* Vé , a shrine in Germanic paganism and modern place name element* Ve , a character from the Cyrillic alphabet* Ve , a character of the Arabic alphabet...
.
When the gods felt strong enough they killed Ymir. His blood flooded the world and drowned all of the jötunn, except two. But jötnar grew again in numbers and soon there were as many as before Ymir's death. Then the gods created seven more worlds using Ymir's flesh for dirt, his blood for the Oceans, rivers and lakes, his bones for stone, his brain as the clouds, his skull for the heaven. Sparks from Muspelheim flew up and became stars.
One day when the gods were walking they found two tree trunks. They transformed them into the shape of humans. Odin gave them life, Vili gave them mind and Ve gave them the ability to hear, see, and speak. The gods named them
Ask and EmblaAsk and Embla , according to Norse mythology, were the first two humans created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...
and built the kingdom of Middle-earth for them; and, to keep out the jötnar, the gods placed a gigantic fence made of Ymir's eyelashes around Middle-earth.
The völva goes on to describe
YggdrasilIn Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is central in Norse cosmology, and around it exists Nine Worlds....
and three norns,
UrðrUrðr is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Verðandi and Skuld , Urðr makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates of people...
(Wyrd), Verðandi and
SkuldSkuld may refer to:* Skuld, one of a group of three norns in Norse mythology* Skuld , a princess in Norse mythology* 1130 Skuld, an asteroid discovered on 2 September 1929 and named after the Norn...
. She then describes the war between the Æsir and Vanir and the murder of Baldr, Odin's handsome son whom everyone but Loki loved. (The story is that everything in existence promised not to hurt him except mistletoe. Taking advantage of this weakness, Loki made a projectile of
mistletoeMistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub...
and tricked
HöðrHöðr is the brother of Baldr in Norse mythology. Guided by Loki he shot the mistletoe missile which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr....
, Odin's blind son and Baldr's brother, into using it to kill Baldr.
Hel-Germanic mythology:* Hel , a location in Norse mythology.* Hel , ruler of Hel, the location.-Locations:* Hel Peninsula, a peninsula on the Polish shores of the Baltic Sea.* Hel, Poland, a town at the tip of that peninsula....
said she would revive him if everyone in the nine worlds wept. A female jötunn -
ThokkÞökk is a giantess in Norse mythology, presumed to be Loki in disguise, who refuses to weep for the slain Baldr, thus forcing him to stay in Hel.-Prose Edda:...
, who may have been Loki in shape-shifted form - did not weep.) After that she turns her attention to the future.
Ragnarök
Ragnarök refers to a series of major events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the
godsIn Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal groups of gods of the pantheon of Norse paganism. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. They are one of the two groups of gods, the other being the Vanir...
OdinOdin , is considered the chief god in Norse paganism and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon Wōden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wōđinaz or *Wōđanaz.The name Odin is generally accepted as the modern translation; although, in some cases, older...
,
ThorThor is the red-haired and bearded god of thunder in Germanic mythology and Germanic paganism, and its subsets: Norse paganism, Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic paganism....
,
FreyrFreyr is one of the most important gods of Norse paganism. Freyr was highly associated with agriculture, weather and, as a phallic fertility god, Freyr "bestows peace and pleasure on mortals"...
,
HeimdallHeimdall is one of the Æsir in Norse mythology, called the "whitest of the gods" . Heimdall is the guardian of the gods and of the link between Midgard and Asgard, the Bifrost Bridge...
, and the jötunn
LokiIn Norse mythology, Loki is a god or jötunn . Loki's relation with the gods varies by source. Loki assists the gods, and sometimes causes problems for them. Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon and a mare. Loki's positive relations with the gods ends...
), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in fire. Afterwards, the world resurfaces anew and fertile, the surviving gods meet, and the world is repopulated by two human survivors.
Kings and heroes
The mythological literature relates the legends of heroes and kings, as well as supernatural creatures. These clan and kingdom founding figures possessed great importance as illustrations of proper action or national origins. The heroic literature may have fulfilled the same function as the
national epicA national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation; not necessarily a nation-state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with aspirations to independence or autonomy...
in other European literatures, or it may have been more nearly related to tribal identity. Many of the legendary figures probably existed, and generations of Scandinavian scholars have tried to extract history from myth in the
sagasThe sagas , are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families...
.
Sometimes the same hero resurfaces in several forms depending on which part of the Germanic world the epics survived such as
WeylandIn Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith is a legendary smith. In Old Norse sources, Völundr appears in Völundarkviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda, and in Þiðrekssaga, and his legend is also depicted on the Ardre image stone VIII...
/Völund and
SiegfriedSiegfried is a German language male given name, meaning "victory peace".Siegfried may also refer to:*Siegfried , an opera by Richard Wagner...
/
SigurdSigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
, and probably
BeowulfBeowulf is a legendary Geatish hero and later turned king in the epic poem named after him, one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the English language.-Etymology and origins of the character:...
/
Bödvar BjarkiBödvar Bjarki , meaning 'Warlike Little-Bear', is the hero appearing in tales of Hrólf Kraki in the Saga of Hrólf Kraki, in the Latin epitome to the lost Skjöldunga saga, and as Biarco in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum...
. Other notable heroes are
HagbardHagbard, the brother of Haki and son of Hamund, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál, Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum...
,
StarkadStarkad, Old Norse: Starkaðr or Störkuðr, Latin: Starcaterus, and during the late Middle Ages, also known as Starkodder, was a legendary hero in Norse mythology....
,
Ragnar LodbrokRagnar Lodbrok was a Norse legendary hero from the Viking Age who was thoroughly reshaped in Old Norse poetry and legendary sagas....
,
Sigurd RingSigurd Hring was a Swedish and Danish king mentioned in many old Scandinavian legends. According to Bósa saga ok Herrauds, there was once a saga on Sigurd Hring, but this saga is now lost...
,
Ivar VidfamneIvar Vidfamne or Ívarr inn víðfaðmi was a Danish and Swedish king hailing from Scania. He may have died c. 700. According to the Heimskringla and the Hervarar saga, Ivar was also the king of Norway, Denmark, Saxony and parts of England.- Ivar in the Sagas :He began as king of Scania and conquered...
and Harald Hildetand. Notable are also the
shieldmaidenA shieldmaiden was a woman who had chosen to fight as a warrior in Scandinavian folklore and mythology and they are often mentioned in sagas such as Hervarar saga and in Gesta Danorum. Shieldmaidens also appear in stories of other Germanic nations: Goths, Cimbri and Marcomanni. The Valkyries might...
s who were ordinary women who had chosen the path of the warrior. These women function both as heroines and as obstacles to the heroic journey.
Centres of faith
The Germanic tribes rarely or never had temples in a modern sense. The Blót, the form of worship practiced by the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian people, resembled that of the
CeltsCeltic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
and
BaltsThe Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between lower Vistula and upper Daugava and Dnieper rivers on the southeast shore of the Baltic Sea...
. It occurred either in
sacred groveA sacred grove is a grove of trees of great religious importance to a particular culture. Sacred groves were most prominent in the Ancient Near East and prehistoric Europe, but feature in various cultures throughout the world...
s, at home, or at a simple altar of piled stones known as a "
horgrA hörgr or hearg was a type of religious building or altar possibly consisting of a heap of stones, used in Norse paganism...
." However, there seem to have been a few more important centres, such as
SkiringssalKaupang is a town founded in the 780s during the time when the Vikings started to launch their raids against Britain and other parts of Europe until it was abandoned for unknown reasons in the early 10th century. It was situated in Vestfold county in Norway....
,
LejreLejre is a town and municipality on the island of Zealand in east Denmark. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The town's Old Norse name was Hleiðra. The municipality has an area of 240 km² and a total population of ca. 26,603 . Its mayor is Flemming Jensen, representing the liberal Venstre political...
and
UppsalaGamla Uppsala is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1991.As early as the 3rd century AD and the 4th century AD and onwards, it was an important religious, economic and political centre...
.
Adam of BremenAdam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
claims that there was a temple in Uppsala (see
Temple at UppsalaThe Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in Norse paganism once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala , Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century...
) with three wooden statues of Odin, Thor and Freyr.
Priests
While a kind of priesthood seems to have existed, it never took on the professional and semi-hereditary character of the Celtic druidical class. This was because the shamanistic tradition was maintained by women, the
VölvaA Völva was a priestess in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology.-Names and etymology:The Völvas and their male counterparts were referred to by many names...
s. It is often said that the Germanic kingship evolved out of a priestly office. This priestly role of the king was in line with the general role of
godiGODI is package management system for Objective Caml programming language. It provides dependency management for OCaml similar to the way CPAN provides package management for Perl...
, who was the head of a kindred group of families (for this social structure, see
norse clansThe Scandinavian clan or ætt was a social group based on common descent or on the formal acceptance into the group at a þing.-History:...
), and who administered the sacrifices.
Human sacrifice
A unique eye-witness account of Germanic
human sacrificeHuman sacrifice is the act of killing human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practiced in various cultures throughout history...
survives in Ibn Fadlan's account of a
RusThe Rus' were the historic population of the medieval Rus' Khaganate and Kievan Rus'.One of the earliest written sources mentioning the people called Rus in the form of Rhos dates back to year 839 AD in a Royal Frankish chronicle Annales Bertiniani, identified as a Germanic tribe called Swedes...
ship burialA ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave...
, where a slave-girl had volunteered to accompany her lord to the next world. More indirect accounts are given by
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
,
Saxo GrammaticusSaxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :...
and Adam von Bremen.
However, the Ibn Fadlan account is actually a burial ritual. Current understanding of Norse mythology suggests an ulterior motive to the slave-girl's 'sacrifice'. It is believed that in Norse mythology a woman who joined the corpse of a man on the funeral pyre would be that man's wife in the next world. For a slave girl to become the wife of a lord was an obvious increase in status. Although both religions are of the Indo-European tradition, the sacrifice described in the Ibn Fadlan account is not to be confused with the practice of
SatiSatī is a funeral practice among some Hindu communities in which a recently widowed woman would either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
.
The
Heimskringla tells of Swedish King
AunAne, On, One, Auchun or Aun the Old , English: Edwin, was the son of Jorund and one of the Swedish kings of the House of Yngling, the ancestors of Norway's first king, Harald Fairhair....
who sacrificed nine of his sons in an effort to prolong his life until his subjects stopped him from killing his last son
EgilPeople called Egil:*Agilaz, a legendary archer of Germanic mythology and a brother of Völund.*Egil, a character in the poem Hymiskvida.*Egill Skallagrímsson, a famous Viking and berserker.*Ongentheow, a legendary Swedish king....
. According to Adam of Bremen, the Swedish kings sacrificed male slaves every ninth year during the
YuleYule or Yule-tide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
sacrifices at the Temple at Uppsala. The Swedes had the right not only to elect kings but also to depose them, and both king
DomaldeIn Norse mythology, Domalde, Dómaldi or Dómaldr was a Swedish king of the House of Ynglings, cursed by his stepmother, according to Snorri Sturluson, with ósgæssa, "ill-luck". He was the son of Visbur....
and king
Olof TrätäljaOlaf Tree Feller was the son of the Swedish king Ingjald Ill-ruler of the House of Yngling according to Ynglingatal.-Heimskringla:...
are said to have been sacrificed after years of famine.
Odin was associated with death by hanging, and a possible practice of Odinic sacrifice by strangling has some archeological support in the existence of bodies such as
Tollund ManThe Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC, during the time period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950 buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. Such a find is...
that perfectly preserved by the acid of the
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, forms the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish-German border to its south...
peatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlandbogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests...
bogs, into which they were cast after having been strangled. However, scholars possess no written accounts that explicitly interpret the cause of these stranglings, which could obviously have other explanations.
Interactions with Christianity
An important note in interpreting this mythology is that often the closest accounts that scholars have to "pre-contact" times were written by Christians. The
Younger Edda and the
Heimskringla were written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century, over two hundred years after Iceland became Christianized. This results in Snorri's works carrying a large amount of Euhemerism.
Virtually all of the saga literature came out of
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
, a relatively small and remote island, and even in the climate of religious tolerance there, Snorri was guided by an essentially Christian viewpoint. The
HeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
provides some interesting insights into this issue. Snorri introduces Odin as a mortal warlord in Asia who acquires magical powers, settles in Sweden, and becomes a demi-god following his death. Having undercut Odin's divinity, Snorri then provides the story of a pact of Swedish King
AunAne, On, One, Auchun or Aun the Old , English: Edwin, was the son of Jorund and one of the Swedish kings of the House of Yngling, the ancestors of Norway's first king, Harald Fairhair....
with Odin to prolong his life by sacrificing his sons. Later in the Heimskringla, Snorri records in detail how converts to Christianity such as Saint Olaf Haraldsson brutally converted Scandinavians to Christianity.
Trying to avert civil war, the Icelandic parliament voted in Christianity, but for some years tolerated heathenry in the privacy of one's home. Sweden, on the other hand, had a series of civil wars in the 11th century, which ended with the burning of the
Temple at UppsalaThe Temple at Uppsala was a religious center in Norse paganism once located at what is now Gamla Uppsala , Sweden attested in Adam of Bremen's 11th century work Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum and in Heimskringla, written by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century...
. In
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Christianization occurred earlier and sporadically, rarely by force. Conversion by coercion was sporadic throughout the areas where Norse gods had been worshipped. However, the conversion did not happen overnight. Christian clergy did their utmost to teach the populace that the Norse gods were demons, but their success was limited and the gods never became
evil in the popular mind in most of Scandinavia.
The length of time Christianization took is illustrated by two centrally located examples of Lovön and Bergen. Archaeological studies of graves at the Swedish island of
LovönLovön is an island located in the Swedish Lake Mälaren in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County. It was a municipality of its own until 1952, when it was joined with Ekerö Municipality. Lovön's greatest attraction is Drottningholm Palace and its many public gardens, which were built on the island...
have shown that the Christianisation took 150-200 years, and this was a location close to the kings and bishops. Likewise in the bustling trading town of Bergen, many runic inscriptions have been found from the 13th century, among the
Bryggen inscriptionsThe Bryggen inscriptions are a find of some 670 medieval runic inscriptions on wood and bone found from 1955 and forth at Bryggen in Bergen, Norway. It has been called the most important runic find in the twentieth century...
. One of them says
may Thor receive you, may Odin own you, and a second one is a galdra which says
I carve curing runes, I carve salvaging runes, once against the elves, twice against the trolls, thrice against the thursThurs may refer to:*Thurs, also Thurse, a mythological race with superhuman strength in Norse mythology see Jötunn**a name of Thor*Thurisaz ᚦ, the rune expressing the thorn phoneme*Thursday, as an abbreviation...
. The second one also mentions the dangerous
ValkyrieIn Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decide who will die in battle. The valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin, where the deceased warriors become einherjar...
SkögulIn Norse mythology, Skögul and Geirskögul are valkyries who alternately appear as separate or individual figures...
. Another contrast in Norse beliefs is the
GimleIn Norse mythology, Gimlé was a place where the survivors of Ragnarök were to live. It is mentioned in the Prose Edda and Völuspá and described as the most beautiful place on Earth, more beautiful than the Sun.- Contemporary uses :...
, the supposed "high heaven, which is thought to be a Christian addition to Norse mythology, and the Ragnarokk, the "fate" of
ÆsirIn Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal groups of gods of the pantheon of Norse paganism. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. They are one of the two groups of gods, the other being the Vanir...
gods. This seems to be a Christian addition to the native mythology, since it ends the "reign" of the
ÆsirIn Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal groups of gods of the pantheon of Norse paganism. They include many of the major figures, such as Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. They are one of the two groups of gods, the other being the Vanir...
gods.
There are few accounts from the 14th to the 18th century, but the clergy, such as
Olaus MagnusOlaus Magnus was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic people. He was reported as born in October 1490 in Östergötland, and died on August 1, 1557. Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stor “great”, is a Latin family name taken personally, and not a...
(1555) wrote about the difficulties of extinguishing the old beliefs. The story related in
ÞrymskviðaÞrymskviða is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda...
appears to have been unusually resilient, like the romantic story of
Hagbard and SignyHagbard and Signy or Habor and Sign'ild were a pair of lovers in Scandinavian mythology and folklore whose legend was widely popular. The heroes' connections with other legendary characters place the events in the 5th century AD...
, and versions of both were recorded in the 17th century and as late as the 19th century. In the 19th and early 20th century Swedish folklorists documented what commoners believed, and what surfaced were many surviving traditions of the gods of Norse mythology. However, the traditions were by then far from the cohesive system of Snorri's accounts. Most gods had been forgotten and only the hunting Odin and the jötunn-slaying Thor figure in numerous legends. Freyja is mentioned a few times and Baldr only survives in legends about place names.
Other elements of Norse mythology survived without being perceived as such, especially concerning supernatural beings in
Scandinavian folkloreScandinavian folklore is the folklore of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Swedish speaking parts of Finland.In Scandinavia the term 'folklore' is not often used in academic circles, instead terms such as Folketro or Folkesagn have been coined...
. Moreover, the Norse belief in destiny has been very firm until modern times. Since the Christian
hellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
resembled the abode of the dead in Norse mythology one of the names was borrowed from the old faith,
Helvíti i.e.
Hel's punishment. Many elements of the
YuleYule or Yule-tide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
traditions persevered, such as the Swedish tradition of slaughtering the pig at Christmas (
Christmas hamA Christmas Ham or Yule Ham is a traditional dish associated with modern Christmas, Yule and Scandinavian Jul. The tradition is suggested to have begun amongst the Germanic peoples as a tribute to Freyr , a god in Germanic Paganism associated with boars, harvest and fertility.-Origins:According to...
), which originally was part of the sacrifice to Freyr.
Modern influences
| Day (Old Norse) |
Meaning |
| Mánadagr |
Moon's day |
| Týsdagr |
Tyr's day |
| Óðinsdagr |
Odin's day |
| Þórsdagr |
Thor's day |
| Frjádagr |
Freyja's day |
| Laugardagr |
Washing day |
| Sunnudagr/Dróttinsdagr |
Sun's day/The Lord's day |
The Germanic gods have left numerous traces in modern vocabulary and elements of every day western life in most Germanic language speaking countries. An example of this is some of the names of the days of the week: modelled after the names of the days of the week in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
(named after Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn), the names for Tuesday through to Friday were replaced with Germanic equivalents of the Roman gods and the names for Monday and Sunday after the Sun and Moon. In English, Saturn was not replaced.
Viking revival
Early modern editions of Old Norse literature begins in the 16th century, e.g.
Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Olaus Magnus, 1555) and the first edition of the
13th century
Gesta DanorumGesta Danorum is a work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
(
Saxo GrammaticusSaxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :...
), in 1514. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the
EddaThe term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century. They are the main sources of medieval Norse mythology and skaldic tradition in Iceland...
(notably Peder Resen's
Edda Islandorum of 1665). The renewed interest of
RomanticismRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
in the Old North had political implications. Myths about a glorious and brave past is said to have given the Swedes the courage to retake
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, which had been lost in 1809 during the
war between Sweden and RussiaThe Finnish War was fought between Sweden and Russia from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...
. The
Geatish SocietyThe Geatish Society, or Gothic League was created by a number of Swedish poets and authors in 1811, as a social club for literary studies among academics in Sweden with a view to raising the moral tone of society through contemplating Scandinavian antiquity...
, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this myth to a great extent.
A focus for early British enthusiasts was George Hicke, who published a
Linguarum vett. septentrionalium thesaurus in 1703–5. In the 1780s,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
offered to cede
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
to Britain in exchange for Crab Island (West Indies), and in the 1860s Iceland was considered as a compensation for British support of Denmark in the Slesvig-Holstein conflicts. During this time, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and Nordic culture grew dramatically.
Germanic Neopaganism
Romanticist interest in the Old North gave rise to
Germanic mysticismGermanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria-See also:*Common Germanic deities*Germanic mythology*Germanic paganism*Germanic folklore*Heathenry...
involving various schemes of occultist "Runology", notably following
Guido von List Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
and his
Das Geheimnis der RunenDas Geheimnis der Runen is a book by Austrian mystic Guido von List, in which he presents his "Armanen Futharkh".It appeared as a periodical article in 1906, and as a standalone publication in 1908.-Contents:...
(1908) in the early 20th century.
Since the 1970s, there have been revivals of the old Germanic religion as
Germanic NeopaganismGermanic Neopaganism is the modern revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria...
(
Ásatrú) in both
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Modern popular culture
Norse mythology influenced
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
's use of literary themes from it to compose the four operas that make up
Der Ring des NibelungenDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas or 'music dramas' by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
(
The Ring of the Nibelung).
Mats WendtMats Wendt Born in 1965. Scandinavian classical composer and artist. Most international known work is Eddan - the invincible sword of the elf-smith, a 16 hour long "cybersymphonic" work on Norse mythology according to Viktor Rydberg...
based his neo-romantic 16-hour symphonic suite Eddan – the invincible sword of the elf-smith on the chronological reconstruction of the Norse myths by
Viktor RydbergAbraham Viktor Rydberg was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877-1895...
.
Subsequently,
J. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from...
's writings, especially
The SilmarillionThe Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, were heavily influenced by the indigenous beliefs of the pre-Christian Northern Europeans. As his related novel
The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
became popular, elements of its fantasy world moved steadily into popular perceptions of the fantasy genre. In many fantasy novels today can be found such Norse creatures as elves, dwarves, and frost jötnar. Subsequently, Norse mythology has also greatly influenced popular culture, in literature and modern fiction. (See Marvel Comics'
The Mighty Thor or Neil Gaiman's
The Sandman (Vertigo) also Neil Gaiman's novel
American GodsAmerican Gods is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow. It is Gaiman's fourth prose novel, being preceded by Good Omens ,...
)
Norse mythology is a recurring theme in
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States...
lyrics. Bands like Manowar,
TherionTherion is a Swedish heavy metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...
,
BathoryBathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and Viking metal. The band is named after the infamous Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory.-Early years :...
,
Amon AmarthAmon Amarth is a Viking-themed melodic death metal band from Tumba, Sweden, founded in 1988 , and named after an alternative name for Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth...
, and
TyrTýr is a band from the Faroe Islands which plays a combination of heavy metal and folk music, with strong progressive metal elements. Their subject matter revolves almost entirely around old Nordic lore, mythology, and history. They signed a worldwide deal with Austria's Napalm Records in early...
among others, composed concept albums with songs based on the Eddas and Norse paganism.
Many video games, especially RPG and strategies, are based on or inspired by Norse mythology, and feature certain elements of it. Examples of games influenced by Norse mythology include
Too HumanToo Human is an action-RPG video game developed by Canadian developer Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 console...
,
Age Of MythologyAge of Mythology , is a mythology-based, real-time strategy computer game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios...
,
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich KingWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the second expansion set for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade. It adds a substantial amount of content to the game world, including the continent of Northrend, home of the titular Lich...
, and many others.
Primary sources
- The Prose Edda
The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Old Norse language Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Norse mythology...
- The Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.Codex Regius was written in the...
- Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum is a work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...
- Ynglinga saga
The Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. He based it on an earlier Ynglingatal which is attributed to the Norwegian 9th century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, and which also appears in Historia Norwegiae.The Ynglinga saga...
- Saga
-Video Games:*Saga , an MMORTS computer game developed by Silverlode Interactive*SaGa, a video game franchise by Square Enix-Old Norse:*Saga, stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc....
s
General secondary works
(1998).
A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources (translated by Terry Gunnell & Joan Turville-Petre). Reykjavík: Félagsvísindastofnun. ISBN 9979542640. (editors) (2006).
Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 918911681X. (1980).
Gods of the North. London: Thames and Hudson. (Revised from an earlier hardback edition of 1955). ISBN 0-500-27177-1. (2002).
The Norsemen in the Viking Age. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. ISBN 1405149647. (1994).
Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vol. 1: The Myths. Odense: Odense Univ. Press. ISBN 8778380081. (1964).
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Baltimore: Penguin. New edition 1990 by Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013627-4. (Several runestones)
- —— (1969). Scandinavian Mythology. London and New York: Hamlyn. ISBN 0-87226-041-0. Reissued 1996 as Viking and Norse Mythology. New York: Barnes and Noble.
- —— (1988). Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press. ISBN 0815624387.
- —— (1993). The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415049377. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2 vols., 2nd. ed., Grundriss der germanischen Philogie, 12–13. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. (1999). Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: Univ. Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812217144. (1973). Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Ed. & trans. Einar Haugen. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03507-0. (1888). Teutonic Mythology, 4 vols. Trans. S. Stallybras. London. Reprinted 2003 by Kessinger. ISBN 0-7661-7742-4, ISBN 0-7661-7743-2, ISBN 0-7661-7744-0, ISBN 0-7661-7745-9. Reprinted 2004 Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43615-2 (4 vols.), ISBN 0-486-43546-6, ISBN 0-486-43547-4, ISBN 0-486-43548-2, ISBN 0-486-43549-0.
- —— (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Oxford house Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. they are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's...
. ISBN 0-19-515382-0. (A dictionary of Norse mythology.) (2006). Treasure of Norse Mythology Volume I ISBN 978-3-922800-99-6. (1996). The King, the Champion and the Sorcerer: A Study in Germanic Myth. Wien: Fassbaender. ISBN 3900538573. (2007). From Asgard to Valhalla : the remarkable history of the Norse myths. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1845113578. (1997). Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-36385-5. (1990). Norse Myths (The Legendary Past). London: British Museum; and Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75546-5. (2002). The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala: Dissertation, Dept. Archaeology & Ancient History. ISBN 9150616269. (1993). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-369-4. New edition 2000, ISBN 0-85991-513-1. (1853–1855) Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie. (2003). Decolonizing the Viking Age. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell. ISBN 9122020063(v. 1); 9122020071(v. 2). (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Reprinted 1975, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-7420-1.
Romanticism
(1875).
Norse Mythology, or, The Religion of Our Forefathers. Chicago: S.C. Griggs. (1909).
Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas. London: George G. Harrap. Reprinted 1992, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover. ISBN 0-486-27348-2. (1909),
The Heroes of Asgard. New York: Macmillan Company. Reprinted 1982 by Smithmark Pub. ISBN 0-8317-4475-8. Reprinted 1979 by Pan Macmillan ISBN 0-333-07802-0.
Modern retellings
(1920).
The Children of Odin: A Book of Northern Myths, illustrated by
Willy PogányWilliam Andrew Pogany was a Hungarian prolific illustrator of children's and adult books.Born Vilmos Andreas Pogany in Szeged, Hungary. He studied at Budapest Technical University and in Munich and Paris...
. New York, Macmillan. Reprinted 2004 by Aladdin, ISBN 0-689-86885-5.
-
- Sacred Texts: The Children of Odin. (Illustrated.) (1981). The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-74846-8. Also released as The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025869-8. (1967). "d'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths". New York, New York Review of Books. (1927). Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods and Heroes, Scandinavian Classics. Trans. Sigurd Bernhard Hustvedt (1963). New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation. ISBN 0-404-04538-3.
- etext of Munch
See also
Spelling of names in Norse mythology often varies depending on the nationality of the source material. For more information see Old Norse orthographyThe orthography of the Old Norse language since the introduction of the Latin alphabet in Iceland was varied historically. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spelling for the language. When Old Norse names are used in texts in other languages, modifications to this spelling are...
.
- Alliterative verse
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...
- Numbers in Norse mythology
The numbers three and nine are significant numbers in Germanic paganism and later Norse mythology. Both numbers appear throughout surviving attestations of Germanic paganism, in both Germanic mythology and religious practice itself...
- Project Runeberg
Project Runeberg is an initiative patterned after Project Gutenberg that publishes freely available electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. The Project began archiving Nordic-language literature in December 1992, but today also has graphical...
- a Nordic equivalent to Project Gutenberg
- Ásatrú
in the United States is a form of Germanic Neopaganism, in particular inspired by the Norse paganism as described in the Eddas and as practiced prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia....
The modern practice of Norse beliefs
External links