Odinn

Óðinn has long been a highly-debated figure with regard to his gender and sexuality. While some have interpreted him as a strictly masculine being, others have argued him to be queer, with caveats surrounding how this affected his role as a deity. I use a queer theoretical framework to firstly streamline my interpretation of Óðinn's gender, and set this within both a cultural context and a queer context. I then turn my attention to the context of the warrior hall. I demonstrate that the interpretation that this was a strictly masculine space is based in scholarly bias, primarily argued by Otto Höfler as part of his work for the National Socialist German Workers' Party (or Nazi Party), and has not since been sufficiently critically challenged. After reassessing the primary material to demonstrate the gender dynamics of the warrior hall, I then demonstrate that, by blurring boundaries and queering his gender, Óðinn acts in a way that mediates between the roles of men and women within the culture of the hall. Riassunto: Tradizionalmente Odino rappresenta una figura problematica e ampiamente dibattuta, soprattutto quando si considera la sua identità di genere o la sua sessualità. Sebbene molti abbiano letto l'identità di Odino in termini strettamente mascolini, altri hanno proposto un'interpretazione queer, sottolineando come questo aspetto possa aver avuto una grande influenza sul suo ruolo di divinità. In questo articolo la figura di Odino verrà inquadrata nel contesto teorico della Queer Theory, per delineare una prima interpretazione dell'identità di genere della divinità, situandola all'interno del corrispettivo contesto culturale e del contesto queer. L'articolo si concentra successivamente sulla dimensione spaziale della sala dei guerrieri, il Valhalla. Si dimostrerà che l'interpretazione di questo spazio sociale come prevalentemente maschile e mascolinizzante, a lungo tempo prevalente nella critica, è dovuta a un vizio interpretativo che risale a Otto Höfler, che si occupò del tema come parte del suo lavoro per il Partito Nazista, e che da allora non è stato esaminato criticamente a sufficienza. Dopo un'approfondita rilettura delle fonti primarie, riconsiderando le dinamiche di genere in 1 MA in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies from the University of Iceland (2018). Independent scholar.

The cult surrounding the complex and seemingly core Old Norse deity Óðinn encompasses a barely known group who are further disappearing into the folds of time. This thesis seeks to shed light upon and attempt to understand a motif that appears to be well recognised as central to the worship of this deity but one rarely examined in any depth: the motivations for, the act of and the resulting image surrounding the act of human sacrifice or more specifically, hanging and the hanged body. The cult of Óðinn and its more violent aspects has, with sufficient cause, been a topic carefully set aside for many years after the Second World War. Yet, with the ever present march of time, we appear to have reached a point where it has become possible to discuss such topics in the light of modernity. To do so, I adhere largely to a literary studies model, focusing primarily upon eddic and skaldic poetry and the consistent underlying motifs expressed in conjunction with descriptions of this seemingly ritualistic act. To these, I add the study of legal and historical texts, linguistics and contemporary chronicles. I further include the results of modern archeology and toponymy, with additional examples drawn from directly related and comparative time periods and cultures.

The primary chapters first assess Óðinn in connection with men and specifically, trees. These three elements (god, worshiper and object) can be seen to link into the overarching motif and practice of hanging, as observed in theophoric places-names of Scandinavia. It then follows to link the deity and the motif and practice of hanging more specifically, through close analysis of the gods’ own hanging and how that related to, or created, ritual practice. It is also essential to understand how methods of execution were understood in the Viking Age and as such, evaluate hanging’s social reputation in order to bring the effects of cultic practice into Viking reality.
Through contemporary poetic and historical examples, I examine the method and academically suggested motivations for this practice and by highlighting the specific factors of proper death, reputation, personal honour and essentially, lasting memory, find that the two do not match. Lastly, I examine the social response to death and the importance of entering the afterlife correctly and additionally, being left to rest peacefully. With hanging lying in direct opposition to this belief, it is possible to show that the practice of hanging, dedicated to Óðinn, is not a sacrifice of an individual to a war deity, but a multipurpose wartime sacrifice of knowledge as well as performing the role of highly destructive and dangerous political and social weapon.

This document is available in an edited/adapted format as the Kindle ebook entitled "The Deathly Gallows".

This thesis is a study of the cult of Óðinn as it seems to have evolved within the newly emerging warrior-based aristocracy of southern Scandinavia during the centuries prior to the Viking Age. By approaching sources critically and focusing on archaeological evidence, it looks specifically at how the deity developed within the said milieu and at the uses his cult may have served for those who worshipped him. It subsequently seeks to address other related questions such as when Óðinn came to become associated with warrior-kings in Scandinavia, where this seems to have occurred, and how it might have happened, including an examination of the social and political influences that might have been involved in the development. By means of this process, the study attempts to provide contextual insight into the relationship that seems to have existed between rulers and religion in pre-Christian southern Scandinavia. As is well known, the later medieval literary sources often portray Óðinn as being the ultimate sovereign, ruling over other gods and earthly rulers alike. This thesis attempts to shed some new light on the centuries prior to these accounts, offering a model of an earlier manifestation of the god who would become the “alfǫðr”.

From: Vikings and their Enemies ed. Dr Katrina Burge, (Viking Research Network: Melbourne, 2008).

On Good Friday, 23 April 1014, the forces of Brian Boru High King of Ireland moved into formation on the field of Clontarf, on the northern bank of the River Liffey outside the  Norse-ruled town of Dublin. At the age of seventy-three, Brian Boru was elderly, and his forces were commanded by his son and heir Murchad. The town was defended by a Norse/Leinster alliance, headed by Sigtryggr silkiskegg (Silkbeard), king of Dublin and including Irish of the Leinster province, led by their own king, Maél Mórdha. Among Sigtryggr’s allies was Sigurðr, jarl of the Orkneys, and, through his Irish mother, a kinsman of the Leinster king. Sigurðr and his Orkney men fought under the raven banner.

At the battle, an ominous role is ascribed to the raven banner of the Norse forces. Banners played a prominent role in warfare from ancient to early modern times. They
were symbols of leadership and enabled warriors to follow their leader, and also to show whether the leader was still in the fight. They also provided a target for the opposing forces, who would seek to destroy the leader and the standard. This paper will seek to explore the sources and context of the raven banner, and show that the description of the raven banner is consistent with mythological ideas strongly connected to the chief god of the Norse world, Óðinn.

This article seeks to outline a less uncertain form of comparative religious and cultural reconstruction than has traditionally been done. The weakness of traditional comparative reconstruction is that it is difficult to determine which cultural elements are (historically linked) cognates and thus acceptable as a basis for the reconstruction. In many cases, however, this problem can be minimized by limiting the comparison to elements that constitute the semantic side of formally related words. If the words are linked formally, their meanings are linked, too, even across large time spans and geographical areas. Therefore, it is possible to make much of the many word clusters that have quite simple and thus quite certain formal sides while having semantic sides that are complex and thus rich in information. This is an etymological kind of reasoning, but one that focuses on the semantic side of it rather than the formal side.

Se presenta un análisis de las Cosmologías germánicas intentando mostrar elementos que eran coherentes a la tradición común de los pueblos germánicos, y elementos que se desarrollaron únicamente en las distintas regiones. Se muestra el desarrollo histórico de algunos elementos de la creencia germánica y se presenta una aproximación filológica a las fuentes.

The Cross and the Hammer focuses on the impact of Christianity on established Norse religious traditions. Within the framework of Entanglement Theory, images of Thor's Hammer and the Christian Cross trace changes in material culture during the process of Christianization.