In Norse mythology, the All-Father, the god of poetry and the dead; also known as Woden (English) or Wotan (German). He gave one eye to the Giant Mimir in exchange for wisdom. He rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, and keeps two ravens to bring him news. Often he wanders the world as a hooded one-eyed old man.
Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the chief god in Norse mythology and Norse paganism, like the Anglo-Saxon Woden continuing Proto-Germanic *Wōdinaz or *Wōđanaz.
Characteristics
Odin is an ambivalent deity. Old Norse (Viking Age) connotations of Odin lie with "poetry, inspiration" as well as with "fury, madness." Odin left one of his eyes in the purifying waters of Mímir's spring in order to gain the wisdom of the ages. Odin gives to worthy poets the mead of inspiration, made by the dwarves, from the vessel Óð-rœrir.
Odin is associated with the concept of the Wild Hunt, a noisy, bellowing movement across the sky, leading a host of the slain.
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, which when literally interpretated, signifies the hall of the slain. These fallen, the einherjar, are assembled and entertained by Odin in order that they in return might fight for and support the gods in the final battle of the end of the world, Ragnarök. In the Norse sagas, Odin sometimes acts as the instigator of wars, and is said to have been able to start wars by simply throwing down his spear, and/or sending his valkyries, to influence the battle toward the end that he desires. Valkyries were Odin's beautiful battle maidens that went out to the fields of war to select and collect the worthy men who died in battle to come and sit at Odin's table in Valhalla, feasting and battling until they had to fight in the final battle, Ragnarök. Odin would also appear on the battlefield, sitting upon the leader of the Norse as two ravens on each shoulder.
Odin was also a shapechanger, able to alter his skin and form in any way he liked. Odin is said to be a healer, hinting at shamanistic origins, as he is god of magic and prophecy, common practices in cultures in which shamans are prominent.
Origins
Worship of Odin dates to Proto-Germanic paganism.
Parallels between Odin and Celtic Lugus have often been pointed out: both are intellectual gods, commanding magic and poetry. (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.)
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.
Some scholars have linked Odin with the "Death God" template. A few of them, such as Jan de Vries and Thor Templin, link Loki and Odin as being one-in-the-same until the early Norse Period.
Blót
It is attested in primary sources that sacrifices were made to Odin during blóts.
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. Sailors in a fleet being blown off course drew lots to sacrifice to Odin that he might abate the winds.
Sacrifices were probably also made to Odin at the beginning of summer (mid April, actually--summer being reckoned essentially the same as did the Celt, at Beltene, Calan Mai [Welsh], which is Mayday--hence as summer's "herald"), 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.
Edda
According to the Prose Edda, Odin, the first and most powerful of the Aesir, was a son of Bestla and Borr and brother of Ve and Vili and together with these brothers he cast down the frost giant Ymir and created the world from Ymir's body.
Odin had several wives with whom he fathered many children. By the Earth Goddess Jord (Fjorgin) Odin was the father of his most famous son, Thor the Thunderer. By the giantess Grid, Odin was the father of Vídar, and by Rinda he was father of Vali|Vale.
According to the Hávamál Edda, Odin was also the creator of the Runic alphabet.
Exploits
Odin and his brothers, Vili and Ve, are attributed with slaying Ymir, the Ancient Giant, to create Midgard. Odin and his brothers are also attributed with creating mankind. Odin gave them breath and life; Many kings and royal houses claim to trace their lineage back to Odin through Ask and Embla.
Odin ventured to Mimir's Well, near Jötunheim, the land of the giants, not as Odin, but as Vegtam the Wanderer, clothed in a dark blue cloak and carrying a traveller's staff. To drink from the Well of Wisdom Odin had to sacrifice his left eye, symbolizing his willingness to gain the knowledge of the past, present and future. Mimir accepted Odin's eye and it sits today at the bottom of the Well of Wisdom as a sign that the father of the gods had paid the price for wisdom. Tyr sacrificed his hand to fetter Fenrisulfr, and similar to Odin, Heimdall sacrificed his hearing to Mimir to gain wisdom.
Odin was said to have learned the mysteries of seid from the Vanic goddess and völva Freyja, despite the un-warrior-like connotations of using magic. (Another example of this may be found in the Ynglinga saga where Snorri opines that men who used seid were ergi or unmanly.)
Odin's quest for wisdom can also be seen in his work as a farmhand for a summer, for Baugi, and his seduction of Gunnlod in order to obtain the mead of poetry. (See Fjalar and Galar for more details.)
In the Rúnatal, a section of the Hávamál, Odin is attributed with discovering the runes. (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.
Attributes
Attributes of Odin are Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse, which was given to Odin by Loki, and the severed head of Mimir, which foretold the future. They took the souls of the warriors to Valhalla (the hall of the fallen), Odin's reception hall in Asgard.
Odin had three residences in Asgard. Third, was Valhalla, where Odin received the souls of the warriors killed in battle, called the Einheriar. The souls of female warriors, and those strong and beautiful women whom Odin favored, became Valkyries, who functioned as the elite guard of Odin, in addition to the serving maids of the Einheriar.
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 fly around the world daily, to which they report the happenings of the worlds to Odin at Valhalla nightly.
The Valknut is a symbol associated with Odin.
Names
The Norsemen gave Odin many nicknames; See List of names of Odin. (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 elements similar to Christianity. The passage 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;
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 instead of Jesus") that are popular mostly in the Heavy Metal music scene
Persisting beliefs in Odin
Snorri Sturluson 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 the Anatolian city of Troy, etymologizing Aesir as derived from the word Asia. 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 . Accounts vary on how Odin gave the Swedes victory, but in one version, he rode in front of their battle formation. When the horse is shod, the rider mounts his horse and says "I am Odin" to the stunned smith, and rides away. 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).
Toponyms with the name of Odin
On the sea-side, in northern France, successively occupied by germano-celtic populations, Romans, Saxons, Danes, Flemish, English people around Audresselles (Oderzell) district of Marquise:Audinghen (Odingham), close to Raventhun (Raventown), Tardinghen (Thordingham),
Loquinghen (Lokingham) and Audembert (Odinberg)
In central France (Berry):Vatan same as Wotan
In Denmark:Odense (Odins Vi, i.e. Odin's Sanctuary)
In Norway:Onsøy (Norse Óđinsøy - Odins island), name of a peninsula (and also name of a parish and a former municipality) in the county of Østfold.
Óđinsakr (Odins field/acre), name of three farms (in the parishes Svinndal, Gran and Hole). Óđinsvin (Odins meadow/pasture), name of three farms (in the parishes Buvik, Byneset and Meldal). Óđinsland (Odins land), name of two farms (in the parishes Bru and Kyrkjebø). Óđinssalr (Odins hall), name of two farms (in the parishes Onsøy and Melhus). Óđinshof (Odins temple), name of a farm in the parish of Ullensaker. (The names of the farms are given in the Norse form.)
Modern age
Modern popular culture
With the Romantic Viking revival of the early-to-mid 19th century, Odin's popularity increased again.
Germanic neopaganism
Odin, along with the other Germanic Gods and Goddesses, is worshipped by Germanic neopagans. Mirabello, The Odin Brotherhood, 2003, ISBN 1-869928-71-7 Peter Sawyer, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, 1997, ISBN 0-19-285434-8 Neil Philip, The Illustrated Book of Myths, 1995, ISBN 0-7894-0202-5 Snorri Sturlson, Prose Edda Jean I. 1999, ISBN 192839462 Sverre Bagge, "Society and Politics in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla", 1991, ISBN 0-520-06887-4
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