Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 edition. Excerpt: ... section iil the religious creed of the scandinavians. chapter I. the scandinavian deities. Prologue. "whether Odin or Thor, the former of whom responding also to the names of Woden and Wodan, is entitled to preeminence of rank in the Scandinavian pantheon, is a question which has not heretofore been clearly determined. While the opponents of Thor concede to his friends that it is common to find in the popular creed of the mythologies of antiquity, that the god of thunder--as Thor or Jupiter, is represented as the chief of the celestial powers, and that he may therefore, as it is contended by his advocates, have been the supreme god of the Teutonic race, during its residence in Asia, they insist that it is a well-ascertained fact that in the more recent or historical times, all the tribes of these people regarded Odin as the father of the gods; and that in Can) the Eddaic Poems, he is invariably portrayed in this exalted capacity. Let us therefore proceed briefly to investigate the claims of the respective parties. Adam of Bremen mentions the statues of the divine triad, Odin, Thor, and Frey, placed one above the other in the temple of Upsal, in the same order in which their prototypes are here enumerated. This priority of position evidently implies a superiority of Odin over Thor. According to another version of the same subject, the images of the Teutonic trinity were placed in such a relation to each other, that Thor occupied the middle, Odin the right, and Frey the left side of him; a grouping which seems to attach the most weight to Thor. The most solemn judicial oath among the Scandinavians, administered within the sacred altar-ring, was taken in the nam
