1. Norse Mythology

2. Who were the Norsemen?
Ancient Scandinavians, traveled primarily from Germany to
Norway
Denmark
Sweden
Vikings traveled long distances between 800 and 1066 A.D. to raid and plunder and also to trade with people from other countries; they searched for a better life.

3. Norse Mythology Recorded mostly in Iceland around 13th Century AD
Told orally for centuries prior
Never written down fully until after arrival of Christianity
Used Rune stones to document some of the myths in Runes
Christianity brought Paganism in
Norse regions to an end in 1000 A.D.

4. How Did Norse Mythology Come to Us?
Snorri Sturluson
Icelandic poet and historian
Wrote down myths in 1220 A.D. (Prose Edda)
Left quite a bit unexplained since the myths were written 200 years after Christianity in Iceland
Poetic Edda
Author unkown

5. Norse Mythology Characteristics
Germanic/ Scandinavian settlers faced:
Long, cold winters and short growing seasons
Poor harvests
Lack of medical knowledge
Violent civilizations
Norse myths depict an oppressive environment and unrelenting fate.
Norse people’s lives are predetermined, and they must accept their destinies.

6. Gods and Humans Norse gods possess human characteristics
Felt human emotions, fought, married, loved, etc.
Rarely interact with humans
Only interact with gods and giants (with rare exception)
They were NOT immortal
Gods and humans are both doomed to die in Ragnarok (the last great battle/ doom of the gods)

7. Other Norse Creatures
Elves: inhabited woods/streams; could be helpful or mischievous
Dwarves: lived underground since they could not stand daylight; light turned them to stone
Trolls/ Giants: Large and dangerous; lived in mountains

8. Norse Gods Divided into two categories:
Vanir: fertility gods; important to farmers
Aesir (ee-sir): warriors; worshipped by fighting men and kings

9. Chief Aesir Gods
Odin (Woden):  the god of war, death, poetry and wisdom
Thor: god of thunder and bringer of justice and order

10. Chief Vanir Gods
Frey and Freya: Twin brother and sister. God/goddess of fertility
Njord: god the sea and the winds and guarded ships and seafarers/ god of fertility
Nanna: the moon goddess; wife of Balder (Aesir)

11. Yggdrasil: The Tree of Life
Giant ash tree above
nine different worlds and
held them in place.
Had three huge roots that reached each of three levels
Upper
Middle
Lower

12. Level 1: Asgard Home of the Aesir gods
Each had a magnificent hall of his/her own
Odin: Valhalla
Connected to Midgard by a rainbow bridge called Bifrost

13. Level 2: Midgard
Earth, inhabited by humans, giants, dwarves, and elves
Surrounded by ocean
Within the ocean lived Jormungand (giant sea-serpent)
body circled around the earth and took his own tail in his mouth.

14. Level 3: Niflheim The Land of the Dead
Gloomy
Icy and snowy; eternal darkness
Ruled by Hel, the queen of the dead
Nine-day trip from Midgard to reach Niflheim
guarded by Garm, a bloodstained dog

15. Texts The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe
The Theft of Idun’s Apples
The Death of Balder
The Theft of Thor’s Hammer
Odin’s Search for Wisdom
The Twilight of the Gods
“The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe,” Page Pg. 208