After 1000 BC some form of Indo-European language was
spoken by most European cultures. From the middle of the 1st millennium
BC, Germanic tribes lived in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany.
Their expansions and migrations from the 2d century BC onward are recorded
in history. Scandinavian and Germanic mythology have a common origin and
structure; they will, therefore, be discussed in their unity. With the
exception of the observations made by the Romans Julius Caesar and Tacitus,
all of the sources on Germanic mythology are late and Christian. The main
body of traditions is contained in the Prose Edda
of SNORRI STURLUSON (c.1179-1241), an Icelandic historian who is considered
the most accurate editor, redactor, and interpreter of the religious and
mythological sources of the old Norse religion. The myth of creation is
given in detail only by Snorri, who edited several sources in presenting
a somewhat coherent form. In the beginning was a great void (Ginnungagup).
Before the Earth was formed, the world of death existed; in this world
(NIFLHEIM) was a great well, from which flowed
11 rivers. South of Niflheim existed an extremely hot world (Muspell) guarded
by a giant called Sutr ("the Black"). The rivers of Niflheim froze, and
these frozen rivers occupied Ginnungagup. Sparks from Muspell, however,
fell on the rivers and melted them. Droppings from this melting took shape
as YMIR, the giant, and from Ymir's sweat other
giants, male and female, were formed. Another version relates that the
melting drops took the form of the primordial cow, Audumbla, who fed Ymir
with her milk. The cow also licked the salty blocks of ice, shaping them
into the form of the first man, who is called Buri. Buri has a son, Bor,
who marries Bestla, daughter of a giant, Bolthorr; the children from this
union are the gods ODIN, Vili, and Ve. Odin and
his brothers kill Ymir and from his body fashion the Earth. The gods endow
two tree trunks with the qualities of wit, breath, hearing, vision, and
so on. These tree trunks are the archetypes of the human race; the man
is Askr (an ash tree) and the woman, Embla (a creeper). They next build
ASGARD, the abode of the gods. Snorri describes
in other versions how a great tree, Yggdrasil, the tree of fate,
arises in the center of the world. Beneath the tree is the well of fate,
which is described as feminine in form; the course of human life is decided
here. In some versions, the council of the gods is convened around the
tree. The tree is supported by three roots; one of these roots stretches
to the underworld (HEL), another to the world of
the frost-giants, and the last one to the world of human beings. The welfare
of the entire world is dependent on the primordial tree, Yggdrasil. The
Norse deities are divided into two major groups, the Aesir and the
Vanir. The most important of the Aesir are Odin, THOR,
and sometimes Tyr. Their counterparts among the Vanir are Njord, FREY,
and FREYA.
The Vanir symbolize riches, fertility, and fecundity.
They are associated with the earth and the sea as these symbolize the sources
of fecundity.
The Aesir symbolize other values: Odin is a magician,
chief among the gods, and a patron of heroes; Thor,
who is god of the hammer, is an atmospheric deity of thunder who presides
over work. In many of the Norse mythological cycles these two kinds of
deities live in peace and engage in cooperative enterprises. Several important
versions, however, report that in the distant past a fierce war was fought
between the Aesir and the Vanir. Some scholars have interpreted this war
between the Aesir and the Vanir as the reflection of the historical encounter
of the Germanic peoples with indigenous cultures.
Georges Dumezil and Jan de Vries, however, see the warfare
and division among the deities as part of the unitary structure of Indo-European
mythology. The familiar triad is formed by Odin and Thor, who divide the
functions of the magical lawgiver; Tyr, the warrior god; and the Vanir,
the fertile producers, who are defeated and subsumed into hierarchy. In
the Norse cycles the conflict between the gods begins when Odin and Thor,
the greatest of the gods, refuse the full status of godhood to the Vanir.
The latter entreat the Aesir by sending to them a woman, Gullveig (gold-drink,
gold drunkenness), who corrupts them. War then breaks out. After both sides
are exhausted, each side exchanges members of its group with the other;
the Vanir send Njord and his son Frey, the Aesir, MIMIR and Hoenir. The
truce is celebrated by a meeting at which all the gods spit into a bowl,
creating a giant called Kvasir, who is the sign of peace and harmony among
the deities. Kvasir is later sacrificed and from his blood a more potent
drink for the gods is made. Kvasir thus becomes the drink that inebriates
deities and gives inspiration to the poets. An important mythological episode
involves the deities BALDER and LOKI.
Balder, one of the sons of Odin, appears as the essence of intelligence,
piety, and wisdom. He holds court in a hall in heaven called Glitnir. Both
gods and men come to him to settle legal disputes, and his judgments are
reconciling and fair. Loki is a giant who is an Aesir by adoption. He and
Odin have made a vow of friendship. Balder has a very disturbing dream
in which his life is threatened. Upon reporting this dream to the Aesir,
his mother, FRIGG, exacts an oath from fire and
water, all metals, bird and beast, and earth and stones that they will
not harm Balder. After this the Aesir begin to amuse themselves by placing
Balder in the midst of them and throwing darts and stones at him. Because
of the oath Balder remains unharmed. When Loki sees this spectacle, he
disguises himself as a woman and inquires of Frigg why Balder suffers no
harm. Frigg tells him of the oath and also tells him of the one form of
nature from which she did not exact the oath, the mistletoe. Loki immediately
brings the mistletoe to the assembly of the Aesir and offers it to the
blind god Hoder, brother of Balder, volunteering to direct his aim so that
he can participate in the game. When the mistletoe strikes Balder, he falls
dead. The Aesir want to take vengeance on the perpetrator of the deed,
but because of the sanctity of the court they cannot. Because Balder is
not a warrior and does not die in battle, he does not go to VALHALLA,
the hall of slain heroes, but into the domain of Hel,
keeper of the dead. When Odin requests his release, Hel responds that if
everything in the world both dead and alive weeps for Balder, then he can
return to the Aesir; otherwise he will remain with Hel. The Aesir send
messengers throughout the world requiring all nature, humanity, gods, and
beasts to weep for Balder. All respond except a giantess, Thokk (Loki
in disguise), whose refusal to weep forces Balder to remain in Hel's domain.
The Aesir finally succeed in capturing Loki and chaining him to prevent
him from carrying out his evil tricks. The prediction is, however, that
he will one day break these chains. This will be the sign for the loosing
of all evil, monsters and giants, to attack the gods in the great battle
of RAGNAROK, the twilight of the gods. Odin
will be devoured by the wolf FENRIR, who will
then be killed by Vidar, a son of Odin. Terrible fights will rage among
the gods and the forces of evil until finally the primeval god HEIMDALL
and Loki come face to face and kill each other.
The Earth will then be destroyed by fire, and the entire universe will
sink back into the sea. This final destruction will be followed by a rebirth,
the Earth reemerging from the sea, verdant and teeming with vegetation.
The sons of the dead Aesir will return to Asgard
and reign, as did their fathers.