The Vikings - Odin,Thor, Tyr.....

                            Three Nordic Gods 

Uppsala temple, Carl Larsson, wiki

                                                                                        
 The religion of the Nordic Vikings was like the religion of the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans -  polyteistic. They believed in many gods, and there were many gods at hand -  a god for everything a human might need.

Odin, Icelandic, wiki

Odin is the main god, a magnificent demonic and  terrifying, sadistic figure. He was obsessed of a quest for wisdom, and he sacrificed one eye for this knowledge. He is merciless, capricious, heartless, he is the god of war and warriors, he owns the spear Gungner, the selfrenewing goldring Drøpner, the eight-legged fast horse Sleipner, and he is guarded by his two wolves and achieves news from everywhere by his two ravens Hugin and Munin -  he consults with Mimer's severed head,  he finds the runes and knows their power, he hunts by night with his escorte over mountain, forest and field, he reveals himself on the battlefield and for the men dedicated to death as a one-eyed gestalt, swept in his cloak and witha wide-brimmed hat.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Odin and Sleipner wiki

Odin is also the god of the bards, he is the leader of the mysterious assignation, the rage of the soul. He knows about witchcraft and seid, nothing is alien to him, he is the god of magnates, aristocrats, and a dangerous god. Sometimes he is called Alfader, which is true, since he is in the lead of the Asa-gods, but he is  not a kind old man like an Alfader should be, he is not loving and protective, mild or understanding, he is not a typical Alfader-figure. His clients among humans are kings, earls, chiefs, magicians, poets and those who are killed in the battlefield. They are led by the valkyries to Valhalla and end up like a part of the incalculable warrior troop, the Einheries, the forever fighting and resurgent warriors, who'll have to assist Odin when Ragnarok arrives. 

In order to reach all his goals, all his purpose, all his collecting knowledge and wisdom, Odin does not hesitate, he avoids no fraud, cunning or broken promises, he is tough on everyone and not less tough on himself, he is both chynical and cold, he is wild and ecstatic. He is the deepest and most grandios god among all gods, and there is a long distance from him to Thor, the next Asagod.

Thor and chariot, drawing 1895 wiki

Thor is mostly depicted as a red-bearded, powerful fellow with his hammer Mjølner - he is associated with thunder, lightning, storms and strenght and with his chariot pulled by two goats.Thor is a democrat, Odin an aristocrat,  Odin takes care of the upper class, while Thor is a popular guy. A thing is missing around Odin by those who describe him, namely the humour, of which Thor has got enough. There are lots of myths and anecdotes about Thor. He was the strong and faithfull protector of the Viking-farmer, and  he is the brawler among the giants, who are always goals of his  wielding hammer.

Thors Hammer, wiki

Thor fishing, runestone, Hørdum kirke, Jutland.GB

The thunder was rolling when Thor swept above the clouds with his goat chariot. He was humorous and ready for fight when he stepped forward with his hammer in his hand, but there was one thing he missed. He was neither cunning or sly. The giants, who knew about witchcraft, often brought him into trouble. The Nordic Vikings composed many colourful and entertaining adventures about the deeds of this favorite god: He fetches the mighty beer kettle by the giants, he fetches his stolen hammer, he goes fishing for the Midgard serpent by himself,  he experiences the strangest events when visiting the king of the giants, Udgardsloke, where he is escorted by the sly Loke.

runes on a lanse, wiki

Viking farmers Faroe islands , wiki

Thor could be extremely tempered but he soon was reconciled. The Viking-farmer understood him and liked him. Thor brought entertainment into the evenings by the fireplace, but he was more than that, he was  also very important to the farmer, except for Norway, since he was the protector of the harvest and the wellfare of the farming. He was an agricultural god and played a central role in daily life and was often considered to be more necessary than Odin himself, this seemed to appear in a report from Adam of Bremen, who told that Thor's figure, and  not Odin's, took the middle place in Uppsala Temple, where three main gods were placed for worship, Odin, Thor and Frej  Thor could also be summoned at the weddings to give the bride fertility, and when the runestones had to get protection from a god, it was Thor and not Odin who had to "vi the runes" (to inaugurate). It is also characteristic that when the heathen Nordic people found a sign to put up against the Christian cross  they chose Thor's hammer, not Odin's spear. Thor was a more common god than Odin, he was summoned by all kinds of people besides the farmer, by smith, fisher, captain of the sea. He was much more close to life and confidential to Everyman than the incomprehensible and distant and dangerous Odin.


Tyr as Asagod is a  much more pale character than Odin and Thor, he is brave and frank, he loses one hand when the the Fenris wolf has to be tied, and he fights during Ragnarok

Tyr and the Fenris wolf. wiki

with the Hellhound Garm itself. The Nordic people tells not much more about him.

work of Tacitus, wiki

Those three Asagods are not new in the religious belief of the Germanic people,  they are all mentioned with Roman names in the famous book about the Germans by Tacitus, written about year 100 A.C.. Odin is Mercury, Thor is Hercules, Tyr is Mars. It is said about Mercury that he is the supreme Germanic god, and humans are sacrificed only to him. Odin has in common with the Roman Mercury and the Greek Hermes that he is the leader of the dead and appears with a cloak, a broadrimmed hat and a spear (staff) - or else there is not much alike between the two gods, and it is probable that the capacity of savagery and demonic capriciosity, which characterizes Odin - but is missing in Mercury -  is due to the East Germans neighbouring to the wild Asian nomads, who overturned Europe in the Migration period. Together with the Gothic culture stream from the areas of the Black Sea towards the North.this Mongol-like Odin-figure might have reached Sweden and from here the rest of Scandinavia.

Baby Hercules, strangling a snake, wiki

To translate Thor into Hercules suits well, but it does not explain the thunder and the lightning hammer. Thor must be an ancient acgriculture god and thunder god. Also Tyr is only partly covered by his Roman partner Mars, whose Nordic name Tyr, Tir, Ti is related to the Roman Jupiter,  the Greek Zeus, the Indian Dyaus. It is not known how old these threesome gods of the Germans are. Maybe not that very old. Cæsar says that the Germanic people worshipped the powers of nature: fire, sun, moon. The Germanic people named three weekdays after three gods:  tirsdag: Tyr, onsdag: Odin, torsdag, Thor. 

Source: Johannes Brøndsted Vikingerne, Nordiske Guder, Gyldendal 1960. 

photo wikipedia

photo: Hørdum kirke, runestone; GB

Ancient Belief in the North.

Ancient Belief.

The ancient belief in the gods were the attempts of humans to explain the mighty powers of nature and life. They felt dependent and wanted to be on good terms with these powers. During Stone Age they sacrificed to creatures which they believed lived in nature, in trees, in water streams and in fire. In Bronze Age was invoking the heavenly phenomenons especially in force. The god of thunder,Thor was considered a god who kept an eternal fight against the trolls which destroyed the crop and sent diseases. The gods were worshipped in the open, especially in sacred groves where the sacrificial feasts were celebrated. In the same place people had thing meetings and from this origin came thing places like Lund in Scania and Ringstedlund at Zealand.

During Iron Age the gods were of a more personal character. People built gudehuse/Hov = temples and carved the pictures of the gods in wood. The significance of the gods was more like a relation to the people. The god Thor became a guardian of human life in all forms and not least of the peace in the things and the sepulchral monuments, he killed the evil vætter (demons) with his stone hammer Mjølner .The young Balder became a special good too.The west German tribes worshipped another god whose fame spread stronger and stronger to the North. This was Odin , and elderly man, always hunting on wild travels, riding the storm horse. In the storm he takes the souls from the dead along to the dark land of the dead, Hel, which becomes a sinister and disgusting woman, or they are brought to Valhal, the valley of the those killed in the war. He is the god of those killed in the war "Valfader and the giver of victory" and he was therefore especially envoked by warriors. In this way every nature force was invented into a good and supernatural human. The reasonable friendly gods were called Aser.



In fjeldene/the mountains lived the huge misanthropic jætter (giants), in lesser rocks and stones lived the little dwarfs, the finest of all blacksmiths. In the meadows lived elves and fairies. In lakes, water streams, everywhere lived supernatural vætter which humans had to beware of.

But also dead people did live. They returned to the surviving, especially at night and weighed heavily upon them and scared them in their dreams. In the ancient language it was not called "I dream" - it was called "I dream me", i.e. "it weighs heavily upon me". When a father died the son had to give him jewels, a horse and a ship with him in the grave hill where the dead now had to live. He had to bring sacrifices at the grave so the dead would not grow angry and injure him. From all these spirits in the hills, in the air, from ghosts and dreams wise men and women could find out secrets and legends, make magic and be fortune tellers. They were sitting out in the open on sacred nights mostly on cross roads to receive messages from the spirits.



The Nordic people knew of no special priesthood. The worldly chief herse (the leader of the district, the earl or the king were at the same time a sacrificial priest.) The sacrifice was always bloody , animals as a rule, sometimes humans, prisoners of war or trælle (slaves). The Blot (sacrifice) took place in sacred places , in a holy grove or a temple, a hov. The blood was spread on the walls of the temple or over the crowd. Then there was a feast and the drinking horns were emptied sending a message to the gods about the wish for a good harvest and luck in war etc. Sometimes people gathered from big areas for the big Fællesblot (common blot) , either when spring came or when summer ended - and especially in midwinter, when the sun Freyr returned promising light, warmth and fertility.

A Greek historian Prokopios from the 500s tells much about the North. He knew the tribe of the Danes upon the Jutland peninsula and says that the finest sacrifice in their opinion was the very first prisoner of war. They sacrificed to the highest god(Odin) and they did not just sacrifice the prisoner, they also hang him in a tree or threw him upon thorns or tortured him in other ways. Songs and legend tell about the god's/aserne's fight against the jætterne (giants)- especially during the Viking Period there was a rich poetry describing the gods, which is preserved by the Icelandic people in den ældre Edda and den Yngre Edda.

photo 2005/2006 grethe bachmann