Odin
From Open Encyclopedia
- This article focuses on the Norse god; see Wodanaz for a comparative discussion of the Germanic god
- For other meanings of Odin see Odin (disambiguation)
Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the highest god in Norse mythology and Norse paganism, like West Germanic Woden continuing Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz
His name is related to óðr, meaning "excitation," "fury" or "poetry," and his role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is god of both wisdom and war. He is also attested as being a god of magic, poetry, victory, and the hunt. Image:Oden som vandringsman.jpg
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Characteristics
Odin is an ambivalent deity; Old Norse (Viking Age) connotations of Odin lie with "poetry, inspiration" as well as with "fury, madness": Several myths do associate Odin with wisdom and poetry. Odin left his eye in the purifying waters of Mimir's spring for wisdom. Odin gives to worthy poets the mead of inspiration from the vessel Óð-rœrir.[{{fullurl:}}#endnote_skald]
Odin is associated with the concept of the Wild Hunt, a noisy, bellowing movement across the sky, leading a host of the slain, directly comparable to Vedic Rudra. Image:Sinfjötli.jpg Consistent with this, Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda depicts Odin as welcoming the great dead warriors who have died in battle into his hall, Valhalla. These fallen, the einherjar, are assembled by Odin to support the gods in the final battle of the end of the world, Ragnarök.
He was also a god of war, appearing throughout Norse myth as the bringer of victory. In the Norse sagas, Odin sometimes acts as the instigator of wars, sending his valkyries to influence the battle toward the end that he desires. At the battlefields, the valkyries are also charged with selecting the dead in order to gather the best warriors in Valhalla. Sometimes Odin himself appears in person.
Odin was also a shapechanger, able to alter his skin and form in any way he liked. He was said to travel the world as an old man with a staff, one-eyed, grey-bearded, and wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and a healer, hinting at shamanistic origins.
Origins
- Main article: Wodanaz
Image:Odin Vendel helmet.jpg Image:Tangelgarda Odin.jpg Worship of Odin dates to Proto-Germanic paganism. The Roman historian Tacitus probably refers to Odin when he talks of Mercury. The reason is that, like Mercury, Odin was regarded as Psychopompos, "the leader of souls".
Parallels between Odin and Celtic Lugus have often been pointed out: both are intellectual gods, commanding magic and poetry. Both have ravens and a spear as their attributes, and both are one-eyed. Julius Caesar (de bello Gallico, 6.17.1), who mentions Mercury as the chief god of Celtic religion. A likely context of the diffusion of elements of Celtic ritual into Germanic culture is that of the Chatti, who lived at the Celtic-Germanic boundary in Hesse during the final centuries BC ( It must be remembered that Odin in his Proto-Germanic form was not the chief god, but that he only gradually replaced Tyr during the Migration period.
Although the precise etymology of Odin's name is debated, it is thought to be related to the word óðr, meaning "excitation" or "fury".
Scandinavian Óðinn emerged from Proto-Norse *Wōdin during the Migration period, Vendel artwork (bracteates, image stones) depicting the earliest scenes that can be aligned with the High Medieval Norse mythological texts. The context of the new elites emerging in this period aligns with Snorri's tale of the indigenous Vanir who were eventually replaced Aesir intruders from the Continent.[1]
Seid
Image:Manuscript Odinn.jpg The goddess Freyja is described as an adept of the mysteries of seid (shamanism), a völva, and it is said that it was she who initiated Odin into its mysteries. In Lokasenna, Loki verbally abuses Odin for practising seid, condemning it as an unmanly art. A justification for this may be found in the Ynglinga saga where Snorri opines that in following the practice of seid, the practitioner was rendered unmanly. Another explanation is that its manipulative aspects ran counter to the male ideal of forthright, open behaviour.
Odin was a compulsive seeker of wisdom, consumed by his passion for knowledge, to the extent that he sacrificed one of his eyes (which one is unclear) to Mímir, in exchange for a drink from the waters of wisdom in Mímir's well.
Further, the creation of the runes is attributed to Odin and is described in the Rúnatal, a section of the Hávamál. He hanged himself from the tree called Yggdrasill whilst pierced by his own spear in order to acquire knowledge. He remained thus for nine days and nights, a significant number in Norse magical practice (there were, for example, nine realms of existence), thereby learning nine (later eighteen) magical songs and eighteen magical runes. The purpose of this strange ritual, a god sacrificing himself to himself because there was nothing higher to sacrifice to, was ostensibly to obtain mystical insight through mortification of the flesh.
Some scholars see this scene as influenced by the story of Christ's crucifixion; and others note the similarity to the story of Buddha's enlightenment. it is in any case also influenced by shamanism, where the symbolic climbing of a "world tree" by the shaman in search of mystic knowledge is a common religious pattern. We know that sacrifices, human or otherwise, to the gods were commonly hung in or from trees, often transfixed by spears. (See also: Peijainen) Additionally, one of Odin's names is Ygg, and the norse name for the World Ash —Yggdrasill—therefore means "Ygg's (Odin's) horse". Another of Odin's names is Hangatýr, the god of the hanged.
Odin's desire for wisdom can also be seen in his work as a farmhand for a summer, for Baugi, in order to obtain the mead of poetry. See Fjalar and Galar for more details.
Blót
It is attested in primary sources that sacrifices were made to Odin during blóts. Adam of Bremen relates that every ninth year, people assembled from all over Sweden to sacrifice at the Temple at Uppsala. Male slaves and males of each species were sacrificed and hanged from the branches of the trees.
As the Swedes had the right not only to elect king but also to depose a king, the sagas relate that both king Domalde and king Olof Trätälja were sacrificed to Odin after years of famine. It has been argued that the killing of a combatant in battle was to give a sacrificial offering to Odin. The fickleness of Odin in battle was well-documented, and in Lokasenna, Loki taunts Odin for his inconsistency.
Sometimes sacrifices were made to Odin to bring about changes in circumstance. A notable example is the sacrifice of King Víkar that is detailed in Gautrek's Saga and in Saxo Grammaticus' account of the same event. Sailors in a fleet being blown off course drew lots to sacrifice to Odin that he might abate the winds. The king himself drew the lot and was hanged.
Sacrifices were probably also made to Odin at the beginning of summer, since Ynglinga saga states one of the great festivals of the calendar is at sumri, þat var sigrblót "in summer, for victory"; Odin is consistently referred to throughout the Norse mythos as the bringer of victory.
The Ynglinga saga also details the sacrifices made by the Swedish king Aun, who, it was revealed to him, would lengthen his life by sacrificing one of his sons every ten years; nine of his ten sons died this way. When he was about to sacrifice his last son Egil, the Swedes stopped him.
Edda
Image:Odin riding Sleipnir.jpg According to the Prose Edda, Odin was a son of Bestla and Borr and brother of Vé and Vili and together with these brothers he cast down the frost giant Ymir and created the world from Ymir's body. The three brothers are often mentioned together. "Wille" is the German word for "will" (English), "Weh" is the German word (Gothic wai) for "woe" (English: great sorrow, grief, misery) but is more likely related to the archaic German "Wei" meaning 'sacred'.
Odin fathered his most famous son, Thor, on Jörð 'Earth'. His wife and consort was the goddess Frigg, who in the best-known tradition was the loving mother of their son Baldr. By the giantess Gríðr, Odin was the father of Víðarr, and by Rindr he was father of Váli. Also, many royal families claimed descent from Odin through other sons. For traditions about Odin's offspring, see Sons of Odin.
According to the Hávamál Edda, Odin was also the creator of the Runic alphabet. It is possible that the legends and genealogies mentioning Odin originated in a real, prehistoric Germanic chieftain who was subsequently deified, but this is impossible to prove or disprove.
Attributes
Image:Ardre Odin Sleipnir.jpg Attributes of Odin are Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse, and the severed head of Mímir, which foretold the future. He employed Valkyrjur to gather the souls of warriors fallen in battle (the Einherjar), as these would be needed to fight for him in the battle of Ragnarök. They took the souls of the warriors to Valhalla (the hall of the fallen), Odin's residence in Ásgarðr. One of the Valkyries, Brynhildr, was expelled from his service but, out of compassion, Odin placed her in a hall surrounded by a ring of fire to ensure that only the bravest man could seek her hand in marriage. She was rescued by Sigurd. Höðr, a blind god who had accidentally killed his brother, Baldr, was then killed by another of Odin's children, Váli, whose mother was Rindr, a giantess who bore him fully grown and vowing not to even bathe before he had exacted vengeance on Höðr.
Odin has a number of magical artifacts associated with him: the dwarven spear Gungnir, which never misses its target, a magical gold ring (Draupnir), from which every ninth night eight new rings appear, an eight-legged horse (Sleipnir) and two ravens Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory), who travel the world to acquire information at his behest. He also commands a pair of wolves named Geri and Freki, to whom he gives his food since he consumes nothing but wine. From his throne, Hlidskjalf (located in Valaskjalf), Odin could see everything that occurred in the universe.
The Valknut is a symbol associated with Odin.
Names
The Norsemen gave Odin many nicknames; this was in the Norse skaldic tradition of kennings, a poetic method of indirect reference, as in a riddle. See List of names of Odin. The name Alföðr ("Allfather", "father of all") appears in Snorri Sturluson's Younger Edda. (It probably originally denoted Tiwaz, as it fits the pattern of referring to Sky Fathers as "father".) According to Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Odin is known in Wendish mythology as Woda or Waidawut.
Odin and Jesus
The 13th century eddaic account of Odin likely contains some Christian elements. The scene where Odin hangs from a tree as a sacrifice to himself has been suggested to reflect the crucifixion of Jesus, down to the detail of having his side pierced with a spear; however, archeological evidence, such as the above mentioned Tollund Man, clearly establish that this form of sacrifice existed before the time of Christ and thus is most likely developed independently. Other inconsistencies, such as that Odin was hung by a rope from a tree whereas Jesus was nailed to a cross (both wood, but in different contexts) further supports an independent origin of the myth. It is still likely that early Germanic Christians connected the two myths, moulding their image of Christ after Odin and vice versa, an effect that is also suggested by the Anglo-Saxon Dream of the Rood which portrays Christ as a Germanic warrior-king. Odin's son Balder, a god of light, shares some of Jesus' traits as a youthful "dying and rising" god, but unlike in the case of latter, his resurrection fails and he has to remain in the underworld. The Havamal account of Odin's sacrifice positions Odin in the otherwise unique Pauline Christian attributes of a "father god" who suffers and defeats death.
The similarity of Odin and Jesus was resurrected by Richard Wagner. Wagner's association of Odin with Jesus is treated in the Notes of the Seminar Given in 1928–1930 of Carl Jung. Recently, the German NPD issued T-Shirts labeled Odin statt Jesus ("Odin rather than Jesus") that were popular among the extreme right, but also among apolitical Neo-Pagans.
Persisting beliefs in Odin
Snorri Sturluson's record of the Edda is striking evidence of the climate of religious tolerance in medieval Iceland, but even he feels compelled to give a rational account of the Aesir in his preface. In this scenario, Snorri speculates that Odin and his peers were originally refugees from Troy, etymologizing Aesir as derived from Asia. Some scholars believe that Snorri's version of Norse mythology is an attempt to mould a more shamanistic tradition into a Greek mythological cast. In any case, Snorri's writing (particularly in Heimskringla) tries to maintain an essentially scholastic neutrality. That Snorri was correct was one of the last of Thor Heyerdahl's archeo-anthropological theories (see The search for Odin).
The spread of Christianity was slow in Scandinavia, and it worked its way downwards from the nobility. Among common people, beliefs in Odin may have lingered for some time, and legends would be told until modern times.
The last battle where Scandinavians attributed a victory to Odin was the Battle of Lena in 1208 [2]. The former Swedish king Sverker had arrived with a large Danish army, and the Swedes discovered that the Danish army was more than twice the size of their own. Naturally, the Danes got the upper hand and they should have won. However, the Swedes claimed that they suddenly saw Odin riding on Sleipnir. Accounts vary on how Odin gave the Swedes victory, but in one version, he rode in front of their battle formation.
The bagler-saga, written in the 13th century concerning events in the first two decades of the 13th century, tells a story of a one-eyed rider with a broad-brimmed hat and a blue coat who asks a smith to shoe his horse. The suspicious smith asks where the stranger stayed during the previous night. The stranger mentions places so far distant that the smith does not believe him. The stranger says that he has stayed for a long time in the north and taken part in many battles, but now he is going to Sweden. When the horse is shod, the rider mounts his horse and says "I am Odin" to the stunned smith, and rides away. The next day, the battle of Lena took place. The context of this tale in the saga is that a peace-treaty has been signed in Norway, and Odin, a god of war, no longer has a place there. Håkon Håkonssons saga, written in the 1260s, describes how, at some point in the 1230s, Skule Baardsson has the skald Snorri Sturluson compose a poem comparing one of Skule's enemies to Odin, describing them both as bringers of strife and disagreement. These episodes do not necessary imply a continued belief in Odin as a god, but show clearly that his name was still widely known at this time.
Scandinavian folklore also maintained a belief in Odin as the leader of the Wild Hunt (Åsgårdsreia in Norwegian). His main objective seems to have been to track down and kill the forest creature huldran or skogsrået. In these accounts, Odin was typically a lone huntsman, save for his two wolves. Originally, he was armed with a spear, but in later accounts this was sometimes changed to a rifle.
Modern age
Modern popular culture
- Main article: Odin in popular culture
With the Romantic Viking revival of the early-to-mid 19th century, Odin's popularity increased again. Odin, under the German form of his name, Wotan (pronounced ['vo:ta:n]) is one of the main protagonists of Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen. This depiction in particular has had influence on many subsequent fiction writers.
Germanic neopaganism
Odin, along with the other Germanic Gods and Goddesses, is worshipped by Germanic neopagans. His Norse form is particularly acknowledged in Ásatrú, the "faith in the Aesir", an officially recognised religion in Iceland and Denmark.
Notes
- ^ _____. Skaldskaparmal, in Edda. Anthony Faulkes, Trans., Ed. (London: Everyman, 1996).
Literature
- H. R. Ellis Davidson, The Battle God of the Vikings, York (1972)
- Hector Chadwick, The Cult of Othinn
- Kris Kershaw, Odin, 2004, ISBN 3935581386
- Horst Obleser, Odin, 1993, ISBN 392678914X
See also
| Image:Mjollnir icon.png | |
| List of Norse gods | Æsir | Vanir | Giants | Elves | Dwarves | Valkyries | Einherjar | Norns Odin | Thor | Freyr | Freya | Loki | Balder | Tyr | Yggdrasil | Ginnungagap | Ragnarök Sources: Poetic Edda | Prose Edda | The Sagas | Volsung Cycle | Tyrfing Cycle Rune stones | Old Norse language | Orthography | Later influence Society: Viking Age | Skald | Kenning | Blót | Seid | Numbers | |
| The nine worlds of Norse mythology | People, places and things |
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