According to the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturlesson, whose opinion was
the re-echo of ancient traditional beliefs, Odin and his eight sons and
four companions, twelve in all, were earthly kings and priests of a
sacerdotal caste, who had emigrated from Asia—perhaps from Troy—and who
conquered and ruled over various parts of Scandinavia and Northern Germany
where, after their death, they were regarded by the people as deities
(Chambers’ Encyclopædia).
O’Neil states “that Odin was named Mith-Odinn (Mid-Odin?) by Saxo
Grammaticus,” and quotes the following: “Odinn died in his bed, in Sweden,
and when he was near his death he made himself be marked with the point of
a spear and said he was going to Godheim” (Ingliga Saga). “The twelve
_godes_ or diar or drotnar of Odin were obviously cognate to our _god_ as
a name of a deity. They (or the priests who represented them) directed
sacrifices and judged the people, and all the people served and obeyed
them” (O’Neil I, p. 76).
A strange reality is given to Odin and his twelve “godes,” when it is
realized that at Mora, near Upsala, Sweden, there exists the ancient stone
throne on which the ancient kings of Sweden were crowned and this central
stone is surrounded by twelve lesser stones, just as the Irish
“Mound-chief” was surrounded by twelve idols.
While the above facts suffice to indicate that, in remotest antiquity, the
government of the state was vested in one supreme and twelve minor chiefs,
the following brief extracts from the Eddas reveal the cosmical beliefs of
the Norsemen: “In the cold north existed Niflheim in the middle of which
was a well from which sprang twelve rivers. In the south existed the warm
Muspelheim. There was a contention between both of these worlds.... The
union of heat and cold produced Oergelmer or Chaos, and the first human
being, Ymir. The revolving eye of the Norse world-millstone was directly
above Oergelmer and through it the waters flowed to and from the great
fountain of the Universe waters.” Ymir drew his nourishment from four
streams of milk proceeding from the mythical cow Aedhumla. Subsequently he
was slain by three divine brothers who carried his body to the _middle_ of
Ginnungagap, and formed from it the earth and the heavens ... of his skull
they formed the heavens, at each of the four corners of which stood a
dwarf, viz: Austri at the East, Vestri at the west, Northri at the north
and Suthri at the south.... When heaven and earth were formed, the chief
gods or Oesir, of whom there were twelve, met in the Centre of the world
and built Midgardr or Asgard, the yard, city or stronghold of the Middle
and of the Asen=the gods. It was situated on the Himinbiorg, or Hill of
Heaven, on the summit of which was the ash-tree, Yggdrasil, whose branches
spread over the whole world and tower over the heavens.
The following is from the prose Edda: “Then the sons of Bõr built in the
middle of the universe the city called Asgard, where dwell the gods and
their kindred, and _from that abode work out so many wondrous things both
on earth and in the heavens above it_. There is in that city a place
called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin is seated there upon his lofty throne, he
sees over the whole world.”
In the Eddas we find evidences that while Odin or All-fader was the ruler
of heaven, his powerful son Thor was “the ruler of Thrudheim and drove
through the world in a chariot and became the supreme god.”
The following facts, taken from Mr. Allen’s “Star-names,” established the
association of Thor with Polaris and the Ursæ. “In ancient times the
northern nations termed Ursa Major ‘the wagon of Odin, Woden or Wuotan,
the father of Thor.’(134) The Danes, Swedes and Icelanders also knew it as
Stori Vagn, the Great Wagon and as Karl’s Vagn; Karl being Thor, their
chief god of whom the old Swedish Rhyme Chronicle of Upsala says ‘... The
god Thor was the highest of them. He sat naked as a child, seven stars in
his hand and Charles’ Wain.’ ”
The “throne of Thor” or “Smaller Chariot,” was the name given to Polaris
(Ursa Minor) by the early Danes and Icelanders and their descendants still
call it the “Litli Vagn,” the little wagon. The Finns, apparently alone
among the northern nations of Europe in this conception, named Ursa Minor,
Vähä Otawa, the Little Bear. They, however, termed Polaris, Taehti, “the
star at the top of the heavenly mountain.”
It is striking how clearly, in Scandinavia, the Middle is associated with
a sacred mountain and tree, the world axis, a heavenly city, an enthroned
central god, and with Polaris, Ursa Major and the idea of eternal
circumpolar rotation expressed by the wain eternally wheeled around the
throne of Thor. To any one imbued with the ideas set forth above, the
signification of the Scandinavian, Druidic, New Year festival, the name
for which was “the wheel” (yule, yeol, yeul, hjol, hiugl, hjul), must
clearly appear as the date on which the complete circuit of the Ursæ
around the pole, was ceremonially registered. It is obvious that this
could best be expressed by a circle being drawn around the swastika or
cross, to which the fourth arm would be added, completing thus the
registration of the four seasons, marked by the opposite positions assumed
by the Ursæ at nightfall. It is well known that the wheel-cross, swastika,
triskeles and S-figure constitute, with the winding serpent and the tau,
named Thor’s hammer, the main symbols of ancient Scandinavia (see fig. 13,
p. 29 and fig. 38, p. 119). I venture to point out how obviously Thor’s
hammer symbolizes the union of the Above and Below, the heaven represented
by the horizontal line resting on the perpendicular support, symbolizing
the sacred pole, column, mountain and tree intimately associated with
Polaris, the world axis.
As a suggestion only, I venture to point out how, the old Norse name for
star being tjara and for tree=tar, the rôle of the tree in Druidic cult
would be fully accounted for, the initiated only being aware that it was
but a rebus symbol of the secret or hidden star-god Polaris.
It can readily be seen how natural or artificial elevations and erected
stones, trees, staffs or poles must have been used as means of determining
the positions of the Ursæ at the public celebration of the Yule festival
and that the ceremony of kindling of new fire was observed at the time
when the “wheel” was supposed to begin its new annual revolution.
Reflection clearly shows that pole-star worship must have taken a stronger
hold upon the ancient inhabitants of Scandinavia and their descendants,
the seafaring Vikings, than upon any other nation. We are compelled to
admit that the recognition that Polaris formed the centre of axial
rotation and the middle of the sky, would have impressed itself most
profoundly upon observers stationed in the latitude where winter darkness
prevailed and the pole-star appeared to be nearly overhead. Under such
conditions the association of the opposite positions of the Septentriones
with directions in space, _i. e._, the cardinal points, would be most
striking.
What is more: the re-appearance of the sun, after the long darkness of a
northern winter, must have established the idea of a fixed relationship
between certain positions of Ursa Major and the solstitial position of the
sun. It may indeed be said that the observation of the solstices and
equinoxes was forced upon the inhabitants of the north as nowhere else on
the globe and that it may perhaps be therefore designated as the
birthplace of primitive astronomy.
The origin of the idea of an all-pervading duality and the chains of
association which linked Light and the Sun to air and water, and to the
male element, whilst Darkness and the Nocturnal Heaven became connected
with earth, fire and woman, are clearly accounted for in the circumpolar
regions only, where the year divides itself into a period of light in
which independent and roaming out-door life was possible, and a period of
darkness during which family life, in underground fire-lit dwellings, was
compulsory. If fathomed, the mind of the Eskimo to-day may possibly reveal
the germs of identical associations of ideas, for it would seem as though
existence in the polar regions would infallibly stamp them indelibly upon
the consciousness of all living creatures, until they unconsciously
pervaded their entire being and even affected the structural organization
of the human brain.(135)
The tendency to believe that the human race must have spent its infancy
near the pole and received there an intellectual stamp, which could not
have been conveyed to it so clearly in any other latitude, is undoubtedly
encouraged by the opinion of various authorities, that “all forms of life
must have originated at the pole, this having been the first habitable
portion of our world.” This view is exhaustively treated in William
Fairfield Warren’s “Paradise Found, the cradle of the human race at the
North Pole” (Boston, 1885), to which I refer the reader and which contains
much valuable data which I would have incorporated in the present
investigation had I had earlier access to the volume. It would seem as
though Warren’s conclusions were in perfect accord with the conclusions
arrived at by some leading palæontologists, geologists and botanists,
concerning the distribution of life on the globe. These are conveniently
summarized in the article on “Distribution” in the Encyclopædia
Britannica, from which the following detached excerpts are made for the
benefit of the reader.
“The general result arrived at is that the great northern continents
represent the original seat of mammalian life and the regions of its
highest development.... The tertiary fauna of North America, compared with
that of Europe, exhibits proofs of a former communication between the two
northern continents both in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, but
always, probably, in rather high latitudes. This is indicated both by the
groups which appear to have originated in one continent and then to have
passed across to the other and also by the entire absence from America of
many important groups which abounded in Europe (and _vice versa_)
indicating that the communication between the two hemispheres was always
imperfect and of limited duration.... On the other hand, the marked
continuity of the Northern Flora (with only a gradual east and west change
in the arctic regions, but with an increased divergency southwards)
requires it to be treated as a whole, although it has long been divided
into that of the old and new world by the severance of North America from
Northern Asia and by the barrier to an interchange of vegetation in the
upheaval of the Rocky Mountain range. The old and new world divisions of
the flora which, no doubt, began to diverge from the mere influence of
distance, have now had that divergence immensely increased by
isolation.... Large American genera (of the intermediate flora) have sent
off offsets into Eastern Asia which, gradually diminishing in number of
species and sometimes slightly modifying their character, have spread over
the whole of Asia and invaded almost every part of Europe.... With regard
to the arctic alpine flora, Hooker found that, estimating the whole arctic
flora at 762 species, arctic East America possessed 379 of which 269 are
common to Scandinavia. Of the whole flora 616 species are found in arctic
Europe and of these 586 are Scandinavian and this leads Hooker to the
striking observation that ‘the Scandinavian flora is present in every
latitude of the globe and is the only one that is so.’ According to
Bentham, Scandinavia, which would, according to older rules, have been
termed the centre of creation for the arctic regions, may now be termed
the chief centre of preservation within the arctic circle owing, perhaps,
to its more broken conformation and partly to that warmer climate ...
which was, during the glacial period a means of preservation of some
colder species which were everywhere expelled or destroyed.... We may
infer that, towards the close of the Tertiary epoch, the continuous
circumpolar land was covered with a vegetation also largely composed of
identical plants, but adapted to a warmer climate. As the climate became
less warm there would commence a migration southwards which would result
in the modified descendants of these plants being now blended with the
vegetation of central Europe and the United States. As the glacial period
gradually advanced, the tropical plants will have retreated from both
sides towards the equator followed in the rear by the temperate
productions and these by the arctic. When the climate of the earth again
ameliorated, the migration took place in a reverse direction and in this
way mountain ranges became the havens of refuge for the fragments of the
original arctic flora which were exterminated on the lowlands. An
indication of the great antiquity of the arctic alpine flora is afforded
by the fact of its absence in the comparatively modern volcanic mountains
of France.... If it be granted that the polar area was once occupied by
the Scandinavian flora and that the cold of the glacial epoch did drive
this vegetation downwards ... in arctic America ... where there was a free
southern extension and dilatation of land for the same Scandinavian plants
to occupy, these would multiply enormously in individuals....”
The following remarkable results of recent botanical research will be
found to be of profound interest to investigators and to support the
foregoing conclusions. Amongst the many important discoveries of hitherto
undescribed species of plants, made by the distinguished botanists Mr.
Stephen Sommier and Dr. Emile Levier during their expedition in the
Caucasus mountains, in 1890, was that of a species of fungus named
_Exobasidium discoideum_ Ell., which was found growing on the
_Rhododendron flaro_ L. This fungus was submitted to Prof. P. Magnus of
Berlin, who pronounced it to be the identical Exobasidium which has been
found growing on the _Azalea viscosa_ L. in New Jersey, U. S. A. The
following is the authoritative statement of Prof. P. Magnus which appears
in Messrs. S. Sommier and E. Levier’s Enumeratorio plantarum caucas: acta
horti petropolitani, vol. XVI. St. Petersburg, 1899.
“The occurrence of the identical species of fungus on two closely related
plants, which respectively grow in the Caucasus and in North America and
are missing in intermediate countries, deserves our deepest interest....
These plants are relics of the Tertiary period, during which North America
and Europe still formed a continuous floral area. While the plants, on
which the fungus grew, differentiated into two closely related species, in
two at present widely separated but formerly connected radii of
distribution, the parasitical Exobasidium remained outwardly unaltered.
This is exactly like the case of another fungus, _Uromyces glycyrrhizæ_,
which I have described and explained in the ‘Berichten der Deutschen
Botanischen Gesellschaft’ (Bd. VII, 1890, S. 377-384). _Exobasidium disc._
is also a parasitical fungus which has been growing on the parent form of
_Rhododendron viscosum_ and _Rhododendron flavum_ ever since that period
when North America and Europe were continuous and possessed the same
flora.”
I am also indebted to Professor Magnus and to Dr. Levier for the following
names of closely allied species of plants which are found in America and
Asia only, it being particularly noticeable that it is in Asia Minor and
the Caucasus mountains that the relatives of the American species are most
frequently met with.
_Platanus occidentalis_: North America.
_Platanus orientalis_: Asia Minor.
_Liquidambar styraciflua_: North America.
_Liquidambar styraciflua_: Asia.
_Rhododendron viscosum_: North America.
_Rhododendron flavum_: Caucasus Mts.
_Rhododendron maximum_: North America.
_Rhododendron ponticum_: Causasus Mts.
Professor Magnus has, moreover, recently pointed out that the fungus
Uropyxis, which is a widespread American species and grows in Mexico, has
a representative in Manchuria. In his monograph on Uropyxis, Professor
Magnus enumerates further species of fungi which occur in America and Asia
only and are missing in other portions of the world (P. Magnus, Berichten
der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft, Jahrgang 1899. Band XVII, Heft 3).
Referring the reader to Professor Edward S. Morse’s trite article, Was
Middle America peopled from Asia? (Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly,
November, 1898), I cite, from this, the following authoritative
statements: “From the naturalist’s standpoint the avenues have been quite
as open for the circumpolar distribution of man as they have been for the
circumpolar distribution of other animals and plants, down to the minutest
land snail and low fungus. The ethnic resemblances supposed to exist
between the peoples of the two sides of the Pacific may be the result of
an ancient distribution around the northern regions of the globe.”
The very remarkable survival of certain plants and fungi, dating from the
Tertiary period, in two such widely sundered countries as Asia Minor and
North America, certainly finds a curious and striking parallel in the
analogy of the cosmical ideas and social organization of Babylonia and
Assyria with those of Mexico.
What is more: A cosmical scheme, attributable to a prolonged observation
of natural celestial phenomena, such as could best have been carried on in
circumpolar regions, has been shown to be as widespread as the
Scandinavian flora which “is present in every latitude and is the only one
that is so.”
Many of my readers will doubtless be inclined to explain the identity of
cosmical and religious conceptions, social organization, and architectural
plans shown to have existed in the past between the inhabitants of both
hemispheres, as the result of independent evolution, dating from the
period when primitive man, emerging from savagery, was driven southward
from circumpolar regions, carrying with him a set of indelible impressions
which, under the influence of constant pole-star worship, sooner or later
developed and brought forth identical or analogous results.
Those who hold this view may perhaps go so far as to consider the
possibility that, before drifting asunder, the human race had already
discovered, for instance, the art of fire-making and of working in stone,
had adopted the sign of the cross as a year-register, and evolved an
archaic form of social organization. To many this view may furnish a
satisfactory explanation of the universal spread of identical ideas and
the differentiation of their subsequently independent evolution.
On the other hand, another class of readers may prefer to think that,
while both hemispheres may have originally been populated by branches of
the same race, at an extremely low stage of intellectual development,
civilization and a plan of social organization may have developed and been
formulated sooner in one locality than in another, owing to more favorable
conditions and thence have been spread to both continents by a race, more
intelligent and enterprising than others, who became the intermediaries of
ancient civilization.
The great problem of the origin of American peoples lies far beyond the
scope of the present work and its final solution can only be obtained at
some future day by the joint coöperation of Americanists and Orientalists.
On the other hand certain incontrovertible facts which throw light upon
the question of prehistoric contact have been coming under my observation
during my prolonged course of study and the presentation of these may
advance knowledge by acting as a stimulus to discussion, inquiry and
research by learned specialists.
For ready reference I submit the following tabulated record of the widely
sundered countries in which are found, applied to the governmental scheme,
the same cosmical divisions, respectively consisting of four, seven and
thirteen parts, the group being invariably associated with the idea of an
all-embracing One, constituting the Four in One, Seven in One and Thirteen
in One. It is superfluous to add that, in each country enumerated, the
existence of more or less distinct traces of an ancient pole-star worship
and the cult of the sacred Middle, the Above and Below and Four Quarters,
_i. e._, the four, seven and thirteen directions in space, have been
recorded in the preceding pages. Important additional facts, acquired by
reference to Hewitt’s Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times, to which my
attention was directed by Mr. Stansbury Hagar, and to other valuable
works, will be found included in the following summary.
It would be of utmost assistance to me in my future researches and I would
regard it as a personal favor if specialists would draw my attention to
any deficiencies they may detect, and inform me of the latest results of
their individual investigations bearing upon the subjects under
consideration.