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Thesis about norse and greek mythology
The Influence of Norse Mythology on The Modern World
The Influence of Norse Mythology on The Modern World
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Creation: The Nine Worlds
In the beginning of time, there was no soil and no sky. The Only thing that existed was the Ginnungagap, the abyss. (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/ginnungagap.html) The Frost from Niflheim and the flames from Muspelheim came toward each other until the met in Ginnungagap. And from the flames and Frost, it created Ymir, the only living being and first of the godlike giants. Ymir was able to produce asexually and when Ymir sweated more giants were born.
As the frost melted a cow by the name of Audhumbla emerged from it. Audhumbla nourished Ymir with her milk. And because of that she was nourished by salt-licks in the ice. As she licked the ice she uncovered Buri, the first Aesir tide of gods. Buri then had a son named Bor, then he married Bestla, daughter of the giant Bolthorn. Then the two had a child that was half-god, and half-giant. His name was Odin, who became chief of the Aesir gods. With Odin and his two brothers, Vili and Ve, the understood that they needed to be a different view of Odin rather than three absolutely distinct beings.
Later, Odin, Vili, and Ve came together and defeated Ymir and started constructing the world from Ymir's corpse. The ocean was created from his blood while the soil was from his skin and muscles they grew vegetation from his hair and the clouds were formed from his brain while the sky was created from his skull. Four dwarves, Austri, Vestri, Norori, and Suori, held up Ymir's skull above Earth. Then the gods formed the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, from a pair of tree trunks and a fence was built around their home in Midgard to protect them form giants. (http://norse-mythology.org/tales/norse-creation-myth/).
Then came the nine worlds. The first of them, Ni...
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...with a cursed ring, Andvarinaut. Hreidmar was later killed by Fafnir and Regin for the ring. (http://www.viking-mythology.com/dwarfs.php?PHPSESSID=768be0d3610dde3e03e9584049dde65b#hreidmar).
Works Cited
Højbjerg, Martin. “The Nine Worlds in Norse Mythology”. Norse Mythology. Copyright 2011-2014. http://www.viking-mythology.com/theNineWorlds.php N, Chris. “The Nine Worlds of the Norse Mythology”. Shrine To The Gods of Asgard. http://asgardian.shrine.angelfire.com/the-nine-worlds-of-the-norse-cosmology.html Halvorsen, Ingrid. “Norse Mythology”. Norse Mythology. Copyright 1998-2014. http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/mythology.html McCoy, Dan. “Vanaheim”. Norse Mythology for Smart People. Copyright 2012-2014. http://norse-mythology.org/cosmology/the-nine-worlds/vanaheim/ “Alfheim”. Encyclopedia Mythica. Copyright 1997-2002
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/alfheim.html
The Iceland saga, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, written in the 1300’s, represents about 1000 years of oral traditions. The remarkable similarities between this saga’s main character and Beowulf’s main character are just too astounding to dismiss as mere coincidences.
Crucial to the epic of Sigurd is the presence of Odin. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that this tale is weaved with threads from each of Odin’s most divine characteristics: war, wisdom, death, and ecstasy. Only Odin is there to see this epic through from beginning to end. Indeed, it was Odin who set the events in motion. It could reasonably be asserted that despite the favor shown towards Sigurd, Odin knew of Sigurd’s eventual downfall and the downfall of his family. When Odin set the world in motion, he knew what events would transpire and that he would be there to see them through.
Beowulf, hero of the Geats, never backs away from away from an opposing force. Hrothgar, king of the Danes, is victorious in a battle. To celebrate, Hrothgar creates a mightier mead-hall for his warriors to celebrate. Many sounds of joy rings throughout the kingdom. Enough noise to aggravate a lurking demon, Grendel. Grendel bears the curse of Cain; the curse where God punished Cain for slaying his own brother. Night
These two are all tangled together, so Shu, god of air, pushed them apart. After Odin and the other gods slew Ymir in the Norse creation myth, Ymir’s huge body formed the earth, his blood the sea, his flesh became the land, his bones made up the mountains, and his hair made the trees. Odin and the other gods formed the sky with Ymir’s skull by holding it up with four large pillars. In the beginning of the Enuma Elish creation, it mentions how the two gods, Apsu and Tiamat, made the sweet water sea and the salt water sea. After a war that killed Tiamat’s army, the god Marduk raised half of Tiamat’s body to form the sky and the other half to form the earth.
How is the word myth used popularly? In today’s society, myths are more commonly referred to as a story that is known amongst a group that may or may not have any truth or validity to it. These type of stories have been told from one generation to another generation with a common theme every time it is said or repeated. I remember growing up my older sister would scare us younger kids with the urban myth of Candyman. This was during a time before I even knew about the movie, and for her, it was a way to scare us kids out of our wits. She would tell us about this story of a slave who returns from the dead as a ghost who was in search of revenge and could only be summoned by saying his name five times while facing a mirror.
Beowulf, the bravest of all warriors, set sail to the distant land of the Danes. He heard of the terror that came upon the kingdom and he went in attempt to allow the people to be reassured. The Geats waited 14 years before stepping up and offering a hand to king Hrothgar. Beowulf was able to do this, not just because the omens were good but because the Danes were their allies and he wanted to help a suffering kingdom. At nightfall, on the day he landed on the shores, Beowulf witnesses what has been terrorizing the kingdom, a monster called Grendel killed people and took over the mead hall. Beowulf killed the monster by tearing his arm off of his body. Through the killing of the monster, order was restored in the Danish kingdom once again. “A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering forced on Hrothgar’s helpless people by a bloodthirsty fiend.” (Raffel 830-833).
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.
True to the namesake of the film, Thor is the protagonist. The biggest change Thor faces in this film is that he now a clean-shaven blonde instead of a bearded red-head. Aside from physical appearances, Thor’s personality as a god is similar to the Thor in Norse mythology. As exemplified in the Lay of Thrym, Thor travels to Jotunheim with Loki and several other gods, although this time he is not dressed as a woman and he carries Mjolnir with him. In the film, Loki appears to act as a voice of reason by attempting to deescalate Thor’s impending anger towards the Giants recent trespassing into Asgard. Despite there being a supposed truce between Laufey, leader of the Giants, and Odin, Thor does not condone the Giant’s actions and wishes to wage war. This parallels Loki’s sentiments at the end of Lokasenna where he states, “I will go outside for you alone, because I know that you will fight [or kill]” (Acker 180), demonstrating Thor’s impulsiveness and perceived violent
Each of their gods made the mountains, stars, animals, humans, oceans, moon, and the planets. The only thing that was not made by all three was the sun, because that is Begochiddy. So in the stories that the tribes had made their gods not only breed creation but, in two of the stories they caused destruction and chaos through thievery and impatience which are the same traits that people have in today's world. The communities must have thought that the gods looked like humans and acted like humans but, also have supernatural powers to help create the world around
In Genesis, god created merely by speaking. It was god who created the heavens and earth also known as cosmos. Water was already pre-existent matter; everything else was created by god. It all began when god spoke in the darkness and said let there be light and there was light. God saw that the light was good. During the day there would be light, and the darkness would be at night. By the second and third day, god created a firmament (dome) which separated the waters from the waters. God called the firmament heaven and said that all the waters under heaven should be gathered as one allowing for dry land to appear. This created one place for the water and another place for dry land. It was the dry land that beca...
In the movie Thor the title character is cast out of Asgaurd by his father and returns by proving himself worthy of his power and his father’s thrown. Similarly, the Odyssey is about Odysseus’ long journey back to his kingdom after the Trojan War. Thor and the Odyssey are very alike; but great hardship and historical literature reveals a contrast.
Beowulf: The title character and hero. He is first the prince of the Geats and becomes their King. He is often referred to as the son of Edgetheow.
One parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is that they both begin with a God or Gods being created from the universe. The creation of the Greek world began when Eros(cupid) sprang from the great, shapeless mass of chaos and was later followed by Gaea(Earth), Erebus(darkness), and Nox(night). These later deities would become the ancestors of all other Greek Gods and Goddesses.(Footnote pg 56 The Literature and Mythology of Ancient Egypt) Similarly in Egyptian mythology, Ra came into being, and gave life to other Gods, “After I had come into being as the only God, there were three gods aside from me[Shu, Tefnut, and Nun].”(Kaster 56) Eventually, Shu and Tefnut begot Geb and Nut, who in turn created Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Creation by universe is a common factor in both Greek and Egyptian creation stories.
The Norse story of creation begins with nothing but chaos and darkness. Then the elemental fires of Muspelheim combined with the ices of Nifheim caused the giant Ymir to emerge. As Ymir began to sweat, more giants were born. As more of the ice melted away a giant cow emerged and she uncovered the god, Buri. Buri then had a son named Bor who
In most cases, the Norse Viking Age is recorded to have officially began in 793 AD with the first recorded raid through to 1066 AD, ending with the Battle of Hastings. However, these dates vary upon scholars. The Battle of Hastings wasn't exactly the end of the Viking Age, because the Norse were spread out across Europe and Viking raids continued to take place in other locations. With that said, dating the conclusion of the Viking Age is fairly generic because Viking raids were sporadic in many locations and when one area was under control, another area was being raided. Additionally, because Viking raiders weren't unified efforts and most Norsemen tended to 'vikingr' (raid) at their own whim. This places the conclusion of the Viking Age at approximately the beginning of the 12th Century-ish. This is also about the time when Norse and other Kingdoms were becoming increasingly solidified and more able to repel Viking incursions. This was also around the time when the Christianization of Northern Europe and Norse dominated lands began to take a firmer hold. So dating the exact end of the Viking Age is vague at best.