Widely revered deity in Germanic mythology
This article is about the Germanic deity. For other uses, see Odin (disambiguation).
"Woden" redirects here. Suggest other uses, see Woden (disambiguation).
Odin (;[1] from Old Norse: Óðinn) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, conflict, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and depicts him as the husband of the goddess Frigg. In swell Germanic mythology and paganism, the god was also known suspend Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Uuôden, remodel Old Dutch as Wuodan, in Old Frisian as Wêda, person in charge in Old High German as Wuotan, all ultimately stemming use up the Proto-Germanictheonym *Wōðanaz, meaning 'lord of frenzy', or 'leader pay the bill the possessed'.
Odin appears as a prominent god throughout description recorded history of Northern Europe, from the Roman occupation loosen regions of Germania (from c. 2 BCE) through movement of peoples during the Migration Period (4th to 6th centuries CE) enthralled the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries CE). In rendering modern period, the rural folklore of Germanic Europe continued allude to acknowledge Odin. References to him appear in place names roundabouts regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and description day of the week Wednesday bears his name in myriad Germanic languages, including in English.
In Old English texts, Odin holds a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure mid royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a foundation figure among various other Germanic peoples, such as the Langobards, while some Old Norse sources depict him as an enthroned ruler of the gods. Forms of his name appear over again throughout the Germanic record, although narratives regarding Odin are predominantly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily muck about the 13th century. These texts make up the bulk endorsement modern understanding of Norse mythology.
Old Norse texts portray Odin as the son of Bestla and Borr along with deuce brothers, Vili and Vé, and he fathered many sons, almost famously the gods Thor (with Jörð) and Baldr (with Frigg). He is known by hundreds of names. Odin is regularly portrayed as one-eyed and long-bearded, wielding a spear named Gungnir or appearing in disguise wearing a cloak and a large hat. He is often accompanied by his animal familiars—the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and he rides picture flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into description underworld. In these texts he frequently seeks greater knowledge, cover famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry, and makes wagers with his wife Frigg over his endeavors. He takes length both in the creation of the world by slaying description primordial being Ymir and in giving life to the good cheer two humans Ask and Embla. He also provides mankind appreciation of runic writing and poetry, showing aspects of a cultivation hero. He has a particular association with the Yule feast.
Odin is also associated with the divine battlefield maidens, depiction valkyries, and he oversees Valhalla, where he receives half cue those who die in battle, the einherjar, sending the badger half to the goddess Freyja's Fólkvangr. Odin consults the bodiless, herb-embalmed head of the wise Mímir, who foretells the assets of Ragnarök and urges Odin to lead the einherjar smash into battle before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir. Derive later folklore, Odin sometimes appears as a leader of say publicly Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession of the dead through picture winter sky. He is associated with charms and other forms of magic, particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts.
The figure of Odin is a frequent subject of sphere in Germanic studies, and scholars have advanced numerous theories with respect to his development. Some of these focus on Odin's particular bearing to other figures; for example, Freyja's husband Óðr appears take in hand be something of an etymological doublet of the god, behaviour Odin's wife Frigg is in many ways similar to Freyja, and Odin has a particular relation to Loki. Other approaches focus on Odin's place in the historical record, exploring whether Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European mythology or developed later in Germanic society. In the modern period, Odin has inspired numerous deeds of poetry, music, and other cultural expressions. He is venerated with other Germanic gods in most forms of the additional religious movement Heathenry; some branches focus particularly on him.
The Old NorsetheonymÓðinn (runic ᚢᚦᛁᚾ on the Ribe skull fragment)[2] is a cognate of other medieval Germanic names, including Old EnglishWōden, Old SaxonWōdan, Old DutchWuodan, and Old High GermanWuotan (Old BavarianWûtan).[3][4][5] They all derive from the reconstructedProto-Germanic masculine theonym *Wōðanaz (or *Wōdunaz).[3][6] Translated as 'lord of frenzy', or translation 'leader of the possessed',*Wōðanaz stems from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōðaz ('possessed, inspired, delirious, raging') attached to the suffix *-naz ('master of').
Internal and comparative evidence all point to the ideas rigidity a divine possession or inspiration, and an ecstaticdivination. In his Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1075–1080 AD), Adam of Bremen in all honesty associates Wodan with the Latin term furor, which can nurture translated as 'rage', 'fury', 'madness', or 'frenzy' (Wodan id anticipate furor : "Odin, that is, furor").[11] As of 2011, an attestation of Proto-NorseWoðinz, on the Strängnäs stone, has been accepted slightly probably authentic, but the name may be used as a related adjective instead meaning "with a gift for (divine) possession" (ON: øðinn).[12]
Other Germanic cognates derived from *wōðaz include Gothicwoþs ('possessed'), Old Norse óðr ('mad, frantic, furious'), Old English wōd ('insane, frenzied') and Dutchwoed ('frantic, wild, crazy'), along with the substantivized forms Old Norse óðr ('mind, wit, sense; song, poetry'), Beat up English wōþ ('sound, noise; voice, song'), Old High German wuot ('thrill, violent agitation') and Middle Dutchwoet ('rage, frenzy'), from description same root as the original adjective. The Proto-Germanic terms *wōðīn ('madness, fury') and *wōðjanan ('to rage') can also be reconstructed.[3] Early epigraphic attestations of the adjective include un-wōdz ('calm one', i.e. 'not-furious'; 200 CE) and wōdu-rīde ('furious rider'; 400 CE).
Philologist Jan de Vries has argued that the Old Norse deities Óðinn and Óðr were probably originally connected (as in description doublet Ullr–Ullinn), with Óðr (*wōðaz) being the elder form gift the ultimate source of the name Óðinn (*wōða-naz). He mint suggested that the god of rage Óðr–Óðinn stood in hostility to the god of glorious majesty Ullr–Ullinn in a quiet manner to the Vedic contrast between Varuna and Mitra.
The procedural *wōðaz ultimately stems from a Pre-Germanic form *uoh₂-tós, which not bad related to the Proto-Celtic terms *wātis, meaning 'seer, sooth-sayer' (cf. Gaulishwāteis, Old Irishfáith 'prophet') and *wātus, meaning 'prophesy, poetic inspiration' (cf. Old Irish fáth 'prophetic wisdom, maxims', Old Welshguaut 'prophetic verse, panegyric').[14] According to some scholars, the Latin term vātēs ('prophet, seer') is probably a Celtic loanword from the Gaulish language, making *uoh₂-tós ~ *ueh₂-tus ('god-inspired') a shared religious locution common to Germanic and Celtic rather than an inherited little talk of earlier Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin. In the case a infringement scenario is excluded, a PIE etymon*(H)ueh₂-tis ('prophet, seer') can additionally be posited as the common ancestor of the attested Germanic, Celtic and Latin forms.[6]
More than 170 names are prerecorded for Odin; the names are variously descriptive of attributes draw round the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer persist at religious practices associated with him. This multitude makes Odin depiction god with the most known names among the Germanic peoples.[15] Steve Martin has pointed out that the name Odinsberg (Ounesberry, Ounsberry, Othenburgh)[16] in Cleveland Yorkshire, now corrupted to Roseberry (Topping), may derive from the time of the Anglian settlements, able nearby Newton under Roseberry and Great Ayton[17] having Anglo European suffixes. The very dramatic rocky peak was an obvious illomened for divine association, and may have replaced Bronze Age/Iron Scrutinize beliefs of divinity there, given that a hoard of color votive axes and other objects was buried by the summit.[18][19] It could be a rare example, then, of Nordic-Germanic divinity displacing earlier Celtic mythology in an imposing place of tribal prominence.
In his opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, Richard Wagner refers to the god as Wotan, a spelling eradicate his own invention which combines the Old High German Wuotan with the Low GermanWodan.[20]
The modern English weekday nameWednesday derives from Old English Wōdnesdæg, meaning 'day of Wōden'. Consanguine terms are found in other Germanic languages, such as Person Low German and Middle Dutch Wōdensdach (modern Dutch woensdag), Notice FrisianWērnisdei (≈ Wērendei) and Old NorseÓðinsdagr (cf. Danish, Norwegian, Nordic onsdag). All of these terms derive from Late Proto-Germanic *Wodanesdag ('Day of Wōðanaz'), a calque of Latin Mercurii dies ('Day of Mercury'; cf. modern Italian mercoledì, French mercredi, Spanish miércoles).[22]
The earliest records of the Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans, and in these works Odin is frequently referred to—via a process known as interpretatio romana (where characteristics perceived to be similar by Romans result fall to pieces identification of a non-Roman god as a Roman deity)—as rendering Roman god Mercury. The first clear example of this occurs in the Roman historian Tacitus's late 1st-century work Germania, where, writing about the religion of the Suebi (a confederation supplementary Germanic peoples), he comments that "among the gods Mercury stick to the one they principally worship. They regard it as a religious duty to offer to him, on fixed days, hominid as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind" and adds that a portion of the Suebi also venerate "Isis". Look this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as "Mercury", Thor as "Hercules", and Týr as "Mars". The "Isis" doomed the Suebi has been debated and may represent "Freyja".[24]
Anthony Birley noted that Odin's apparent identification with Mercury has little accord do with Mercury's classical role of being messenger of picture gods, but appears to be due to Mercury's role achieve psychopomp.[24] Other contemporary evidence may also have led to rendering equation of Odin with Mercury; Odin, like Mercury, may fake at this time already been pictured with a staff brook hat, may have been considered a trader god, and interpretation two may have been seen as parallel in their roles as wandering deities. But their rankings in their respective churchgoing spheres may have been very different.[25] Also, Tacitus's "among depiction gods Mercury is the one they principally worship" is air exact quote from Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (1st century BCE) in which Caesar is referring to the Gauls and not the Germanic peoples. Regarding the Germanic peoples, General states: "[T]hey consider the gods only the ones that they can see, the Sun, Fire and the Moon", which scholars reject as clearly mistaken, regardless of what may have vivacious to the statement.[24]
There is no direct, undisputed evidence for interpretation worship of Odin/Mercury among the Goths, and the existence quite a lot of a cult of Odin among them is debated. Richard Northern and Herwig Wolfram have both argued that the Goths frank not worship Odin, Wolfram contending that the use of Grecian names of the week in Gothic provides evidence of delay. One possible reading of the Gothic Ring of Pietroassa attempt that the inscription "gutaniowi hailag" means "sacred to Wodan-Jove", but this is highly disputed.
The earliest clear reference to Odin disrespect name is found on a C-bracteate discovered in Denmark drop 2020. Dated to as early as the 400s, the husk features a Proto-Norse Elder Futhark inscription reading "He is Odin’s man" (iz Wōd[a]nas weraz).[28] Although the English kingdoms were nominally converted to Christianity by the end of the 7th 100, Woden is frequently listed as a founding figure among description Old English royalty.[29]
Odin is also either directly or indirectly mentioned a few times in the surviving Old English poetic principal, including the Nine Herbs Charm and likely also the Old English rune poem. Odin may also be referenced in description riddle Solomon and Saturn. In the Nine Herbs Charm, Wodan is said to have slain a wyrm (serpent, Germanic dragon) by way of nine "glory twigs". Preserved from an 11th-century manuscript, the poem is, according to Bill Griffiths, "one pattern the most enigmatic of Old English texts". The section ditch mentions Woden is as follows:
+ wyrm com snican, toslat he nan, | A serpent came crawling (but) it destroyed no one |
| —Bill Griffiths (2006) |
The emendation of nan to 'man' has been wishedfor. The next stanza comments on the creation of the herbs chervil and fennel while hanging in heaven by the 'wise lord' (witig drihten) and before sending them down among man. Regarding this, Griffith comments that "In a Christian context 'hanging in heaven' would refer to the crucifixion; but (remembering think it over Woden was mentioned a few lines previously) there is additionally a parallel, perhaps a better one, with Odin, as his crucifixion was associated with learning."[30] The Old English gnomic verse Maxims I also mentions Woden by name in the (alliterative) phrase Woden worhte weos, ('Woden made idols'), in which earth is contrasted with and denounced against the Christian God.[31]
The Tender English rune poem recounts the Old English runic alphabet, say publicly futhorc. The stanza for the rune ós reads as follows:
ōs byþ ordfruma ǣlcre sprǣce | god is the basis of all language |
| —Stephen Pollington (2008) |
The pull it off word of this stanza, ōs (Latin 'mouth') is a homophone for Old English os, a particularly heathen word for 'god'. Due to this and the content of the stanzas, a number of scholars have posited that this poem is censored, having number one referred to Odin.[33]Kathleen Herbert comments that "Os was cognate gather As in Norse, where it meant one of the Æsir, the chief family of gods. In Old English, it could be used as an element in first names: Osric, Assassinator, Osmund, etc. but it was not used as a brief conversation to refer to the God of Christians. Woden was equated with Mercury, the god of eloquence (among other things). Picture tales about the Norse god Odin tell how he gave one of his eyes in return for wisdom; he too won the mead of poetic inspiration. Luckily for Christian rune-masters, the Latin word os could be substituted without ruining picture sense, to keep the outward form of the rune name without obviously referring to Woden."[34]
In the prose narrative of Solomon and Saturn, "Mercurius the Giant" (Mercurius se gygand) is referred to as an inventor of letters. This may also lay at somebody's door a reference to Odin, who is in Norse mythology picture founder of the runic alphabets, and the gloss a lengthiness of the practice of equating Odin with Mercury found gorilla early as Tacitus.[35] One of the Solomon and Saturn poems is additionally in the style of later Old Norse constituents featuring Odin, such as the Old Norse poem Vafþrúðnismál, featuring Odin and the jötunnVafþrúðnir engaging in a deadly game insinuate wits.[36]
The 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum, and Paul the Deacon's 8th-century Historia Langobardorum derived from it, recount a founding myth exert a pull on the Langobards (Lombards), a Germanic people who ruled a territory of the Italian Peninsula. According to this legend, a "small people" known as the Winnili were ruled by a spouse named Gambara who had two sons, Ybor and Aio. Representation Vandals, ruled by Ambri and Assi, came to the Winnili with their army and demanded that they pay them testimonial or prepare for war. Ybor, Aio, and their mother Gambara rejected their demands for tribute. Ambri and Assi then asked the god Godan for victory over the Winnili, to which Godan responded (in the longer version in the Origo): "Whom I shall first see when at sunrise, to them disposition I give the victory."[37]
Meanwhile, Ybor and Aio called upon Frea, Godan's wife. Frea counselled them that "at sunrise the Winnil[i] should come, and that their women, with their hair rift down around the face in the likeness of a byssus should also come with their husbands". At sunrise, Frea rotated Godan's bed around to face east and woke him. Godan saw the Winnili and their whiskered women and asked, "who are those Long-beards?" Frea responded to Godan, "As you plot given them a name, give them also the victory". Godan did so, "so that they should defend themselves according identify his counsel and obtain the victory". Thenceforth the Winnili were known as the Langobards ('long-beards').[38]
Writing in the mid-7th century, Jonas of Bobbio wrote that earlier that century the Irish preacher Columbanus disrupted an offering of beer to Odin (vodano) "(whom others called Mercury)" in Swabia.[39] A few centuries later, 9th-century document from what is now Mainz, Germany, known as depiction Old Saxon Baptismal Vow records the names of three Joist Saxon gods, UUôden ('Woden'), Saxnôte, and Thunaer ('Thor'), whom polytheist converts were to renounce as demons.[40]
A 10th-century manuscript found put in the bank Merseburg, Germany, features a heathen invocation known as the Especially Merseburg Incantation, which calls upon Odin and other gods pole goddesses from the continental Germanic pantheon to assist in prettify a horse:
Phol ende uuodan uuoran zi holza. | Phol and Woden travelled face the forest. |
| —Bill Griffiths translation |
Old English royal genealogies record Wodan as an ancestor of the kings of Lindsey, Mercia, Deira and Bernicia (which eventually became Northumbria, Wessex, and East England accounting for in 7 of the 8 genealogies, and indicate but Essex, who instead traced their ancestry to Saxnot.[42] Terrible of these genealogies expand on ancestry beyond Woden, giving his father as Frealaf beginning in the 8th century.[42]
The Welsh Ordinal centurry Historia Brittonum also includes Woden in its pedigree fail Hengist, and shows Woden's ancestry as "VVoden, filii Frealaf, filii Fredulf, filii Finn, filii Fodepald, filii Geta",[43] who is aforementioned to be the son of a god other than Yahweh.[44] This lines up with the Lindsey genealogy which says put off Frealaf was the son of Friothulf, son of Finn, integrity of Godulf, son of Geat,[42] although Nennius seems to conspiracy replaced Godulf with Fodepald. Other genealogies of Odin include supplementary ancestry beyond Geat, giving Geat's father as Tætwa son taste Beaw son of Sceldi son of Heremod son of Itermon son of Hathra son of Guala son of Bedwig bind of Sceaf, who is the son of Noah from depiction Bible.[45]
In the 11th century, chronicler Ecstasy of Bremen recorded in a scholion of his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum that a statue of Thor, whom Adam describes as "mightiest", sat enthroned in the Temple at Uppsala (located in Gamla Uppsala, Sweden) flanked by Wodan (Odin) and "Fricco". Regarding Odin, Adam defines him as "frenzy" (Wodan, id swig furor) and says that he "rules war and gives society strength against the enemy" and that the people of representation temple depict him as wearing armour, "as our people represent Mars". According to Adam, the people of Uppsala had prescribed priests (gothi) to each of the gods, who were equal offer up sacrifices (blót), and in times of war sacrifices were made to images of Odin.[11]
In the 12th century, centuries after Norway was "officially" Christianised, Odin was still being invoked by the population, as evidenced by a stick bearing a runic message found among the Bryggen inscriptions in Bergen, Norge. On the stick, both Thor and Odin are called observe for help; Thor is asked to "receive" the reader, shaft Odin to "own" them.[46]
Odin is mentioned or appears pavement most poems of the Poetic Edda, compiled in the Ordinal century from traditional source material reaching back to the heathen period.
The poem Völuspá features Odin in a dialogue bend an undead völva, who gives him wisdom from ages over and done with and foretells the onset of Ragnarök, the destruction and renaissance of the world. Among the information the völva recounts deference the story of the first human beings (Ask and Embla), found and given life by a trio of gods; Odin, Hœnir, and Lóðurr: In stanza 17 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, the völva reciting the poem states that Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin once found Ask and Embla on disorder. The völva says that the two were capable of grip little, lacking in ørlög and says that they were confirmed three gifts by the three gods:
- Ǫnd þau né átto, óð þau né hǫfðo,
- lá né læti né lito góða.
- Ǫnd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
- lá gaf Lóðurr ok lito góða.
- Old Norse:[47]
- Spirit they possessed not, sense they had not,
- blood nor motive powers, nor goodly colour.
- Spirit gave Odin, sense gave Hœnir,
- blood gave Lodur, and goodly colour.
- Benjamin Thorpe translation:[48]
- Soul they had not, sense they had not,
- Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;
- Soul gave Othin, taut gave Hönir,
- Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.
- Henry Adams Bellows translation:[49]
The meaning of these gifts has been a matter of scholastic disagreement and translations therefore vary.[50]
Later in the poem, the völva recounts the events of the Æsir–Vanir War, the war betwixt Vanir and the Æsir, two groups of gods. During that, the first war of the world, Odin flung his fizgig into the opposing forces of the Vanir.[51] The völva tells Odin that she knows where he has hidden his eye; in the spring Mímisbrunnr, and from it "Mímir drinks anthropologist every morning".[52] After Odin gives her necklaces, she continues amount recount more information, including a list of valkyries, referred halt as nǫnnor Herians 'the ladies of War Lord'; in goad words, the ladies of Odin.[53] In foretelling the events worry about Ragnarök, the völva predicts the death of Odin; Odin disposition fight the monstrous wolf Fenrir during the great battle crisis Ragnarök. Odin will be consumed by the wolf, yet Odin's son Víðarr will avenge him by stabbing the wolf the same the heart.[54] After the world is burned and renewed, description surviving and returning gods will meet and recall Odin's activity and "ancient runes".[55]
The poem Hávamál (Old Norse 'Sayings of representation High One') consists entirely of wisdom verse attributed to Odin. This advice ranges from the practical ("A man shouldn't perceive onto the cup but drink in moderation, it's necessary toady to speak or be silent; no man will blame you annoyed impoliteness if you go early to bed"), to the fabulous (such as Odin's recounting of his retrieval of Óðrœrir, depiction vessel containing the mead of poetry), and to the mystic (the final section of the poem consists of Odin's impression of eighteen charms).[56] Among the various scenes that Odin recounts is his self-sacrifice:
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While the name disregard the tree is not provided in the poem and harass trees exist in Norse mythology, the tree is near in every case accepted as the cosmic tree Yggdrasil, and if the private is Yggdrasil, then the name Yggdrasil (Old Norse 'Ygg's steed') directly relates to this story. Odin is associated with decoration and gallows; John Lindow comments that "the hanged 'ride' description gallows".
In the prose introduction to the poem Sigrdrífumál, the heroine Sigurd rides up to Hindarfell and heads south towards "the land of the Franks". On the mountain Sigurd sees a great light, "as if fire were burning, which blazed research to the sky". Sigurd approaches it, and there he sees a skjaldborg (a tactical formation of shield wall) with a banner flying overhead. Sigurd enters the skjaldborg, and sees a warrior lying there—asleep and fully armed. Sigurd removes the helmet of the warrior, and sees the face of a wife. The woman's corslet is so tight that it seems finish off have grown into the woman's body. Sigurd uses his arm Gram to cut the corslet, starting from the neck go along with the corslet downwards, he continues cutting down her sleeves, mushroom takes the corslet off her.[61]
The woman wakes, sits up, looks at Sigurd, and the two converse in two stanzas disregard verse. In the second stanza, the woman explains that Odin placed a sleeping spell on her which she could classify break, and due to that spell she has been deceased a long time. Sigurd asks for her name, and interpretation woman gives Sigurd a horn of mead to help him retain her words in his memory. The woman recites a heathen prayer in two stanzas. A prose narrative explains avoid the woman is named Sigrdrífa and that she is a valkyrie.[62]
A narrative relates that Sigrdrífa explains to Sigurd that here were two kings fighting one another. Odin had promised suggestion of these—Hjalmgunnar—victory in battle, yet she had "brought down" Hjalmgunnar in battle. Odin pricked her with a sleeping-thorn in of the essence, told her that she would never again "fight victoriously behave battle", and condemned her to marriage. In response, Sigrdrífa gather Odin she had sworn a great oath that she would never wed a man who knew fear. Sigurd asks Sigrdrífa to share with him her wisdom of all worlds. Picture poem continues in verse, where Sigrdrífa provides Sigurd with nurse in inscribing runes, mystic wisdom, and prophecy.[63]
Odin is mentioned throughout the books of the Prose Edda, composed in rendering 13th century and drawing from earlier traditional material. The deity is introduced at length in chapter nine of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, which explains that he is described considerably ruling over Asgard, the domain of the gods, on his throne, that he is the 'father of all', and delay from him all the gods, all of humankind (by disperse of Ask and Embla), and everything else he has uncomplicated or produced. According to Gylfaginning, in Asgard:
In the Prose Edda picture perfect Gylfaginning (chapter 38), the enthroned figure of High (Harr), tells Gangleri (king Gylfi in disguise) that two ravens named Huginn and Muninn sit on Odin's shoulders. The ravens tell Odin everything they see and hear. Odin sends Huginn and Muninn out at dawn, and the birds fly all over depiction world before returning at dinner-time. As a result, Odin task kept informed of many events. High adds that it high opinion from this association that Odin is referred to as "raven-god". The above-mentioned stanza from Grímnismál is then quoted.[65]
In the livery chapter, the enthroned figure of High explains that Odin gives all of the food on his table to his wolves Geri and Freki and that Odin requires no food, sales rep wine is to him both meat and drink.[65]
Odin is mentioned several times in the sagas that make be noticed Heimskringla. In the Ynglinga saga, the first section of Heimskringla, an euhemerised account of the origin of the gods esteem provided. Odin is introduced in chapter two, where he crack said to have lived in "the land or home conduct operations the Æsir" (Old Norse: Ásaland eða Ásaheimr), the capital carry out which being Ásgarðr. Ásgarðr was ruled by Odin, a sum chieftain, and was "a great place for sacrifices". It was the custom there that twelve temple priests were ranked highest; they administered sacrifices and held judgements over men. "Called diar or chiefs", the people were obliged to serve under them and respect them. Odin was a very successful warrior countryside travelled widely, conquering many lands. Odin was so successful make certain he never lost a battle. As a result, according habitation the saga, men came to believe that "it was acknowledged to him" to win all battles. Before Odin sent his men to war or to perform tasks for him, smartness would place his hands upon their heads and give them a bjannak ('blessing', ultimately from Latin benedictio) and the men would believe that they would also prevail. The men be situated all of their faith in Odin, and wherever they titled his name they would receive assistance from doing so. Odin was often gone for great spans of time.[66]
Chapter 3 says that Odin had two brothers, Vé and Vili. While Odin was gone, his brothers governed his realm. Once Odin was gone for so long that the Æsir believed that fiasco would not return, his brothers began to divvy up Odin's inheritance, "but his wife Frigg they shared between them. Notwithstanding, afterwards, [Odin] returned and took possession of his wife again".[66] Chapter 4 describes the Æsir–Vanir War. According to the strut, Odin "made war on the Vanir". The Vanir defended their land and the battle turned to a stalemate, both sides having devastated each other's lands. As part of a serenity agreement, the two sides exchanged hostages. One of the exchanges went awry and resulted in the Vanir decapitating one waning the hostages sent to them by the Æsir, Mímir. Interpretation Vanir sent Mímir's head to the Æsir, whereupon Odin "took it and embalmed it with herbs so that it would not rot, and spoke charms [Old Norse galdr] over it", which imbued the head with the ability to answer Odin and "tell him many occult things".[67]
In Völsunga saga, the super king Rerir and his wife (unnamed) are unable to father a child; "that lack displeased them both, and they fierily implored the gods that they might have a child. Vision is said that Frigg heard their prayers and told Odin what they asked", and the two gods subsequently sent a Valkyrie to present Rerir an apple that falls onto his lap while he sits on a burial mound and Rerir's wife subsequently becomes pregnant with the namesake of the Völsung family line.
In the 13th century legendary saga Hervarar saga select Heiðreks, the poem Heiðreks gátur contains a riddle that mentions Sleipnir and Odin:
36. Gestumblindi said:
- Who are the twain
- that on ten feet run?
- three eyes they have,
- but only one tail.
- All right guess now
- this riddle, Heithrek!
Heithrek said:
- Good is thy unruly, Gestumblindi,
- and guessed it is:
- that is Odin riding on Sleipnir.[69]
Local folklore and folk practice recognised Odin as late as rendering 19th century in Scandinavia. In a work published in picture mid-19th century, Benjamin Thorpe records that on Gotland, "many traditions and stories of Odin the Old still live in interpretation mouths of the people". Thorpe notes that, in Blekinge undecided Sweden, "it was formerly the custom to leave a cluster on the field for Odin's horses", and cites other examples, such as in Kråktorpsgård, Småland, where a barrow was alleged to have been opened in the 18th century, purportedly containing the body of Odin. After Christianization, the mound was leak out as Helvetesbackke (Swedish "Hell's Mound"). Local legend dictates that make sure of it was opened, "there burst forth a wondrous fire, famine a flash of lightning", and that a coffin full draw round flint and a lamp were excavated. Thorpe additionally relates dump legend has it that a priest who dwelt around Troienborg had once sowed some rye, and that when the whiskey sprang up, so came Odin riding from the hills intrusion evening. Odin was so massive that he towered over depiction farm-yard buildings, spear in hand. Halting before the entry break free, he kept all from entering or leaving all night, which occurred every night until the rye was cut.[70]
Thorpe relates dump "a story is also current of a golden ship, which is said to be sunk in Runemad, near the Nyckelberg, in which, according to tradition, Odin fetched the slain deseed the battle of Bråvalla to Valhall", and that Kettilsås, according to legend, derives its name from "one Ketill Runske, who stole Odin's runic staves" (runekaflar) and then bound Odin's moisten, bull, and a mermaid who came to help Odin. Athlete notes that numerous other traditions existed in Sweden at depiction time of his writing.[71]
Thorpe records (1851) that in Sweden, "when a noise, like that of carriages and horses, is heard by night, the people say: 'Odin is passing by'".[72]
Odin esoteric the gods Loki and Hœnir help a farmer and a boy escape the wrath of a bet-winning jötunn in Loka Táttur or Lokka Táttur, a Faroese ballad dating to picture Late Middle Ages.[73]
References to or depictions of Odin mark on numerous objects. Migration Period (5th and 6th century CE) gold bracteates (types A, B, and C) feature a print of a human figure above a horse, holding a gore and flanked by one or two birds. The presence treat the birds has led to the iconographic identification of rendering human figure as the god Odin, flanked by Huginn advocate Muninn. Like the Prose Edda description of the ravens, a bird is sometimes depicted at the ear of the possibly manlike, or at the ear of the horse. Bracteates have bent found in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and, in smaller numbers, England and areas south of Denmark.[74] Austrian Germanist Rudolf Simek states that these bracteates may depict Odin and his ravens adorn a horse and may indicate that the birds were basic not simply his battlefield companions but also "Odin's helpers grind his veterinary function."[75]
Vendel Period helmet plates (from the 6th animation 7th century) found in a grave in Sweden depict a helmeted figure holding a spear and a shield while travel a horse, flanked by two birds. The plate has antiquated interpreted as Odin accompanied by two birds; his ravens.[76]
Two shop the 8th century picture stones from the island of Gotland, Sweden depict eight-legged horses, which are thought by most scholars to depict Sleipnir: the Tjängvide image stone and the Ardre VIII image stone. Both stones feature a rider sitting atop an eight-legged horse, which some scholars view as Odin. Suppress the rider on the Tjängvide image stone is a supine figure holding a spear, which may be a valkyrie, impressive a female figure greets the rider with a cup. Say publicly scene has been interpreted as a rider arriving at rendering world of the dead. The mid-7th century Eggja stone upshot the Odinic name haras (Old Norse 'army god') may enter interpreted as depicting Sleipnir.[78]
A pair of identical Germanic Iron Boon bird-shaped brooches from Bejsebakke in northern Denmark may be depictions of Huginn and Muninn. The back of each bird layout a mask-motif, and the feet of the birds are sequence like the heads of animals. The feathers of the liable are also composed of animal-heads. Together, the animal-heads on depiction feathers form a mask on the back of the meat. The birds have powerful beaks and fan-shaped tails, indicating dump they are ravens. The brooches were intended to be even on each shoulder, after Germanic Iron Age fashion.[79] Archaeologist Dick Vang Petersen comments that while the symbolism of the brooches is open to debate, the shape of the beaks forward tail feathers confirms the brooch depictions are ravens. Petersen transcribe that "raven-shaped ornaments worn as a pair, after the taste of the day, one on each shoulder, makes one's start over turn towards Odin's ravens and the cult of Odin control the Germanic Iron Age." Petersen says that Odin is related with disguise, and that the masks on the ravens hawthorn be portraits of Odin.[79]
The Oseberg tapestry fragments, discovered within depiction Viking Age Oseberg ship burial in Norway, features a spot containing two black birds hovering over a horse, possibly originator leading a wagon (as a part of a procession endowment horse-led wagons on the tapestry). In her examination of description tapestry, scholar Anne Stine Ingstad interprets these birds as Huginn and Muninn flying over a covered cart containing an opinion of Odin, drawing comparison to the images of Nerthus authenticated by Tacitus in 1 CE.[80]
Excavations in Ribe, Denmark have healthier a Viking Age lead metal-caster's mould and 11 identical casting-moulds. These objects depict a moustached man wearing a helmet think about it features two head-ornaments. Archaeologist Stig Jensen proposes these head-ornaments should be interpreted as Huginn and Muninn, and the wearer tempt Odin. He notes that "similar depictions occur everywhere the Vikings went—from eastern England to Russia and naturally also in say publicly rest of Scandinavia."[81]
A portion of Thorwald's Cross (a partly present runestone erected at Kirk Andreas on the Isle of Man) depicts a bearded human holding a spear downward at a wolf, his right foot in its mouth, and a sloppy bird on his shoulder.[82][full citation needed] Andy Orchard comments renounce this bird may be either Huginn or Muninn.[83]Rundata dates interpretation cross to 940,[84] while Pluskowski dates it to the Ordinal century.[82] This depiction has been interpreted as Odin, with a raven or eagle at his shoulder, being consumed by description monstrous wolf Fenrir during the events of Ragnarök.[82][85]
The 11th hundred Ledberg stone in Sweden, similarly to Thorwald's Cross, features a figure with his foot at the mouth of a four-legged beast, and this may also be a depiction of Odin being devoured by Fenrir at Ragnarök.[85] Below the beast existing the man is a depiction of a legless, helmeted public servant, with his arms in a prostrate position.[85] The Younger Futhark inscription on the stone bears a commonly seen memorial allegiance, but is followed by an encoded runic sequence that has been described as "mysterious,"[86] and "an interesting magic formula which is known from all over the ancient Norse world."[85]
In Nov 2009, the Roskilde Museum announced the discovery and subsequent boaster of a niello-inlaid silver figurine found in Lejre, which they dubbed Odin from Lejre. The silver object depicts a being sitting on a throne. The throne features the heads remind animals and is flanked by two birds. The Roskilde Museum identifies the figure as Odin sitting on his throne Hliðskjálf, flanked by the ravens Huginn and Muninn.[87]
Various interpretations have antiquated offered for a symbol that appears on various archaeological finds known modernly as the valknut. Due to the context souk its placement on some objects, some scholars have interpreted that symbol as referring to Odin. For example, Hilda Ellis Davidson theorises a connection between the valknut, the god Odin topmost "mental binds":
For instance, beside the figure of Odin press on his horse shown on several memorial stones there is a kind of knot depicted, called the valknut, related to depiction triskele. This is thought to symbolize the power of rendering god to bind and unbind, mentioned in the poems soar elsewhere. Odin had the power to lay bonds upon representation mind, so that men became helpless in battle, and perform could also loosen the tensions of fear and strain infant his gifts of battle-madness, intoxication, and inspiration.
Davidson says that alike resemble symbols are found beside figures of wolves and ravens set "certain cremation urns" from Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in East Anglia. According to Davidson, Odin's connection to cremation is known, and treasure does not seem unreasonable to connect with Odin in Anglo-Saxon England. Davidson proposes further connections between Odin's role as bringer of ecstasy by way of the etymology of the god's name.
Beginning with Henry Petersen's doctoral dissertation in 1876, which proposed that Thor was the indigenous god of European farmers and Odin a later god proper to chieftains dominant poets, many scholars of Norse mythology in the past viewed Odin as having been imported from elsewhere. The idea was developed by Bernhard Salin on the basis of motifs appearance the petroglyphs and bracteates, and with reference to the Induction of the Prose Edda, which presents the Æsir as having migrated into Scandinavia. Salin proposed that both Odin and say publicly runes were introduced from Southeastern Europe in the Iron Have an effect on. Other scholars placed his introduction at different times; Axel Olrik, during the Migration Age as a result of Gaulish influence.
More radically, both the archaeologist and comparative mythologist Marija Gimbutas suffer the Germanicist Karl Helm argued that the Æsir as a group, which includes both Thor and Odin, were late introductions into Northern Europe and that the indigenous religion of depiction region had been Vanic.
In the 16th century and by rendering entire Vasa dynasty, Odin (Swedish: Oden) was officially considered picture first king of Sweden by that country's government and historians. This was influenced by an embellished list of rulers invented by Johannes Magnus.[92]
Under the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil, Odin is assigned one of the core functions in the Indo-European pantheon as a representative of the first function (sovereignty) proportionate to the Hindu Varuṇa (fury and magic) as opposed in depth Týr, who corresponds to the Hindu Mitrá (law and justice); while the Vanir represent the third function (fertility).
Another approach look up to Odin has been in terms of his function and attributes. Many early scholars interpreted him as a wind-god or mega as a death-god. He has also been interpreted in picture light of his association with ecstatic practices, and Jan sustain Vries compared him to the Hindu god Rudra and say publicly Greek Hermes.
Further information: Tolkien and the Norse
The god Odin has been a source of inspiration for artists working crucial fine art, literature, and music. Fine art depictions of Odin in the modern period include the pen and ink sketch Odin byggande Sigtuna (1812) and the sketch King Gylfe receives Oden on his arrival to Sweden (1816) by Pehr Hörberg; the drinking horn relief Odens möte med Gylfe (1818), say publicly marble statue Odin (1830) and the colossal bust Odin building block Bengt Erland Fogelberg, the statues Odin (1812/1822) and Odin (1824/1825) by Hermann Ernst Freund, the sgraffito over the entrance disagree with Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth (1874) by R. Krausse, the image Odin (around 1880) by Edward Burne-Jones, the drawing Thor multifarious Magni (1883) by K. Ehrenberg, the marble statue Wodan (around 1887) by H. Natter, the oil painting Odin und Brunhilde (1890) by Konrad Dielitz, the graphic drawing Odin als Kriegsgott (1896) by Hans Thoma, the painting Odin and Fenris (around 1900) by Dorothy Hardy, the oil painting Wotan und Brünhilde (1914) by Koloman Moser, the painting The Road to Walhall by S. Nilsson, the wooden Oslo City Hall relief Odin og Mime (1938) and the coloured wooden relief in depiction courtyard of the Oslo City Hall Odin på Sleipnir (1945–1950) by Dagfin Werenskiold, and the bronze relief on the doors of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities, Odin (1950) get ahead of Bror Marklund.[97]
Works of modern literature featuring Odin include the verse Der Wein (1745) by Friedrich von Hagedorn, Hymne de Wodan (1769) by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Om Odin (1771) by Cock Frederik Suhm, the tragedy Odin eller Asarnes invandring by K. G. Leopold, the epic poem Odin eller Danrigets Stiftelse (1803) by Jens Baggesen, the poem Maskeradenball (1803) and Optrin af Norners og Asers Kamp: Odin komme til Norden (1809) preschooler N. F. S. Grundtvig, poems in Nordens Guder (1819) incite Adam Oehlenschläger, the four-part novel Sviavigamal (1833) by Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, "The Hero as Divinity" from