We have now presented the mythological Odin as based on the inscrutable
phenomena of nature, and have given some hints in regard to the ethical
or anthropomorphic element contained in each myth. Our next subject will
be Odin’s wives, their maid-servants, his sons, etc.; but before we
proceed to them we will give a short outline of the historical Odin, as
he is presented in the Heimskringla of Snorre Sturleson by Saxo
Grammaticus and others. Mr. Mallet, the French writer on Northern
Antiquities, has given a synoptical view of all that these writers have
said about the wanderings and exploits of this famous person, and we
will make an abstract from him.
The Roman Empire had arrived at its highest point of power, and saw all
the then known world subject to its laws, when an unforeseen event
raised up enemies against it from the very bosom of the forests of
Scythia and on the banks of the Tanais. Mithridates by flying had drawn
Pompey after him into those deserts. The king of Pontus sought there for
refuge and new means of vengeance. He hoped to arm against the ambition
of Rome all the barbarous nations, his neighbors, whose liberty she
threatened. He succeeded in this at first, but all those peoples, ill
united as allies, poorly armed as soldiers, and still worse disciplined,
were forced to yield to the genius of Pompey. Odin is said to have been
of this number. He was obliged to flee from the vengeance of the Romans
and to seek, in countries unknown to his enemies, that safety which he
could no longer find in his own.
Odin commanded the Asas, whose country was situated between the Pontus
Euxinus and the Caspian Sea. Their principal city was Asgard. Odin
having united under his banners the youth of the neighboring nations,
marched toward the west and north of Europe, subduing all the peoples he
met on his way and giving them to one or other of his sons for subjects.
Many sovereign families of the North are said to be descended from these
princes. Thus Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs who conquered Britain
in the fifth century, counted Odin in the number of their ancestors. So
did also the other Anglo-Saxon princes, as well as the greater part of
the princes of Lower Germany and the North.
After having disposed of so many countries and confirmed and settled his
new governments, Odin directed his course toward Scandinavia, passing
through Holstein and Jutland. These provinces made him no resistance.
Then he passed into Funen (Denmark), which submitted as soon as he
appeared. In this island he remained for a long time and built the city
of Odense (_Odins-ve_, Odin’s sanctuary), which still preserves in its
name the memory of its founder. Hence he extended his authority over all
the North. He subdued the rest of Denmark and placed his son Skjold upon
its throne. The descendants of Skjold continued for many generations to
rule Denmark, and were called Skjoldungs.
Odin, who seems to have been better pleased to give crowns to his
children than to wear them himself, afterwards passed over into Sweden,
where at that time ruled a prince by name Gylfe, who paid him great
honors and even worshiped him as a divinity. Odin quickly acquired in
Sweden the same authority as he had obtained in Denmark. The Swedes came
in crowds to do him homage, and by common consent bestowed the title of
king upon his son Yngve and his posterity. Hence sprung the Ynglings, a
name by which the kings of Sweden were for a long time distinguished.
Gylfe died and was forgotten; Odin acquired lasting fame by his
distinguished rule. He enacted new laws, introduced the customs of his
own country, and established at Sigtuna, an ancient city in the same
province as Stockholm, a supreme council or tribunal, composed of twelve
judges. Their business was to watch over the public weal, to distribute
justice to the people, to preside over the new worship, which Odin had
brought with him into the North, and to preserve faithfully the
religious and magical secrets which that prince deposited with them. He
levied a tax on every man throughout the country, but engaged on his
part to defend the inhabitants against all their enemies and to defray
the expense of the worship rendered to the gods at Sigtuna.
These great acquisitions seem not, however, to have satisfied his
ambition. The desire of extending further his religion, his authority,
and his glory, caused him to undertake the conquest of Norway. His good
fortune followed him thither, and this kingdom quickly obeyed a son of
Odin named Sæming, who became the head of a family the different
branches of which reigned for a long time in Norway.
After Odin had finished these glorious achievements he retired into
Sweden, where, perceiving his end to draw near, he would not wait for a
lingering disease to put an end to that life which he had so often and
so valiantly hazarded in the battle-field, but gathering round him the
friends and companions of his fortune, he gave himself nine wounds in
the form of a circle with the point of a lance, and many other cuts in
his skin with his sword. As he was dying he declared he was going back
to Asgard to take his seat among the gods at an eternal banquet, where
he would receive with great honors all who should expose themselves
intrepidly in battle and die bravely with their swords in their hands.
As soon as he had breathed his last they carried his body to Sigtuna,
where, in accordance with a custom introduced by him into the North, his
body was burned with much pomp and magnificence.
Such was the end of this man, whose death was as extraordinary as his
life. It has been contended by many learned men that a desire of being
revenged on the Romans was the ruling principle of his whole conduct.
Driven by those enemies of universal liberty from his former home, his
resentment was the more violent, since the Goths considered it a sacred
duty to revenge all injuries, especially those offered to their
relations or country. He had no other view, it is said, in traversing so
many distant kingdoms, and in establishing with so much zeal his
doctrines of valor, but to arouse all nations against so formidable and
odious a nation as that of Rome. This leaven which Odin left in the
bosoms of the worshipers of the gods, fermented a long time in secret;
but in the fullness of time, the signal given, they fell upon this
unhappy empire, and, after many repeated shocks, entirely overturned it,
thus revenging the insult offered so many ages before to their founder.
The Sagas paint Odin as the most persuasive of men. Nothing could resist
the force of his words. He sometimes enlivened his harangues with
verses, which he composed extemporaneously, and he was not only a great
poet, but it was he who taught the art of poetry to the Norsemen. He was
the inventor of the runic characters, which so long were used in the
North. This marking down the unseen thought that is in man with written
characters is the most wonderful invention ever made; it is almost as
miraculous as speech itself, and well may it be called a sort of second
speech. But what most contributed to make Odin pass for a god was his
skill in magic. He could run over the world in the twinkling of an eye;
he had the command of the air and the tempests, he could transform
himself into all sorts of shapes, could raise the dead, could foretell
things to come, could by enchantments deprive his enemies of health and
strength and discover all the treasures concealed in the earth. He knew
how to sing airs so tender and melodious, that the very plains and
mountains would open and expand with delight; the ghosts, attracted by
the sweetness of his songs, would leave their infernal caverns and stand
motionless around him.
But while his eloquence, together with his august and venerable
deportment, procured him love and respect in a calm and peaceable
assembly, he was no less dreadful and furious in battle. He inspired his
enemies with such terror that they thought they could not describe it
better than by saying he rendered them blind and deaf. He would appear
like a wolf all desperate and biting his very shield for rage, he would
throw himself amidst the opposing ranks, making around him the most
horrible carnage, without receiving any wound himself. Such is the
historical Odin of the North, such was, in other words, the great
example that the Norsemen had to imitate in war and in peace.