The Great God Odin Flashcards
Remember Óôinn (now mispronounced as Odin) is stemming from the Old Norse word oôr which translated into?
“mad” in the double sense of “angry” and “out of one’s mind”
How is Odin normally depicted?
- With his spear Gungnir (that never misses)
- His two wolves Geri and Freki (“Hungry and “Greedy”)
- His two ravens Huginn and Muninn (“Thought” and “Memory”) that bring him daily news of the world.
Odin is a god with many names, which points to?
His complex character as well as to the fact that the Odin we know is a build-up, the result of many accumulated historical deposits.
Some scholars say that Odin is a relative latecomer to the Norse pantheon, to that earlier on he was not the highest god. Who would be the highest Nordic god etymologically?
Tyr, whose name is a cognate of Zeus, the highest Greek god.
How did Odin rise to be considered the “top god”?
The expansion of Norse civilisation society of chieftains to a more stratified centralised monarchy. Odin was not the most popular god (quantitatively speaking), but he was the patron god if the leading strata of society, which ensures his leading position is Asgard. This May have been of particular importance to Snorri’s conspicuous focus on, and preference for, Odin.
Snorri’s bias for Odin?
Snorri provides more information about Odin than about all other gods.
In part, a reflection of the change from a tribal society to (centralised and hierarchical) kingdoms. Odin is the patron saint or god of kings. Asgard’s hierarchy becomes a political model.
Side note for biologists, regarding Odin’s animal companions?
Some biologist have pointed out that the close connection between wolves and ravens is grounded in the symbiotic relationship between wolf packs and flocks of ravens in the wild.
Odin, who after all has lost one eye, depends on companion animals for orientation; the combination of Odin/ravens/wolves is a kind of distributed cognitive system.
Odin is known as untrustworthy, uncaring, unrestful, clever, determined and highly completive. The “Allfather” and the leader of the Norse Pantheon, a position similar to …? (2)
- Zeus in Greek mythology
- Jupiter in Roman mythology
If Odin the “Allfather” is associated with Zeus and Jupiter why is terms of weekdays is he associated with (Wednesday) Mercury/Hermes?
Like Mercury/Hermes Odin is a god related to the spheres of communication and messages (e.g. he discovers writing), and like Mercury/Hermes, he is sometimes associated with the dead as a god who guides them from this life to the next. In a way, the “Grey Wanderer” Gandalf from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings ia a positive take on Odin.
What is Jacob Grimm’s vet influential but incorrect theory for Odin’s afterlife?
Odin/Wotan’s rise is indicate of Germanic religion anticipating Christian monotheism.
But the aborted evolution into monotheism caused a split into the “good” Odin/Wotan (as in Gandalf) and an evil demon who leads “The Furious Host” across the stormy night skies (a.ka.a the legend of the “Wild Hunt”)
