Talk:Odin/Archive 1

Which eye

Anyone know: Which eye?

The left.

• The right is the eye generally imagined to be the one he plucked from his head although afaik there is no source which corroborates this either way. Sjc 05:52, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

• I'm not aware of any written accounts that describe one eye or the other. The only evidence I found was a statue excavated from a Swedish site, depicting his right eye missing:

http://home.enter.vg/arildhaugesruner/figur-odin.htm

This statue is authentic; however, this isn't completely ironclad. That it is supposed to be Odin is only a surmise drawn by the archaeologists. My understanding is that the backbone of the legend did not specify; thus, it became a matter for individual skalds and--in the case of physical depictions--craftsmen to determine. JoomTory 16:39, 17 Jun 2005

Gangleri

• Halló! It seems that Gangleri is a Disambiguation. I have written somthing about this at the German equivalent to User:Gangleri see w:de:Benutzer:Gangleri#.C3.9Cber_mich. Hope to get a GNU picture showing the ca. 750 year old original drowing from where [1] was remade.
• At the .pdf file [2] is a list of Odins names. Search for "er nú teljast í Óðinsheitum" and look at the following list. Regards Gangleri 06:36, 2004 Oct 2 (UTC)

The left eye

It is said that it was his left eye.

The left hand has always been associated with irrationality. Thus, we can say that Odin sacrified his passions and other irrational things to acquire knowledge and wisdom, which is totally acceptable, since the path of science and knowledge means, for anyone who chooses it, sacrifice and hard work.

Odin and the Church (Dab)

this section badly needs revision. It should give some historical perspective, citing important missionaries (Adam von Bremen, Columban,...) etc. dab 11:59, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC) did some of that myself. [[User:Dbachmann|dab (T) ]]

Wodan (Dab v Wiglaf)

I also suggest disambiguation of Wodan/Woden from Odin. Of course the gods are (closely) related, but there are differences. The Woden article woudl concentrate on Anglo-Saxon traditions, and the Wodan/Wothan one on German ones. dab 12:13, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

When I appeared at Wikipedia, I merged the Wotan article with the Odin article. These are my reasons:

1. If in the 8th century, a Thuringian, a Dane and an Anglo-Saxon would have discussed their gods, they would hardly have understood Woden, Wotan and Odin as different gods.
2. The beliefs varied naturally from century to century and from region to region. The beliefs in Odin were regionally alive as late as 19h century Sweden. Any disambiguation would have to be done solely on linguistic form.
3. Some of the separate articles on Wotan, Woden, Guodan, Odin and Oden would have very scant information. Last time I checked the German Wikipedia article on Wotan, most of the information came from Norse mythology, which is a strong argument against creating a separate article for Wotan.--Wiglaf 21:47, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Having checked the German article, it appears that the Germans have merged the Wotan article into the Odin article.--Wiglaf 21:54, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I understand, and agree. In this case, however, how do we discuss the differences between the (no doubt very similar) traditions? Do I start a "Woden" section in this article? [[User:Dbachmann|dab (T) ]] 22:07, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I think such a subsection would be a great idea.--Wiglaf 22:11, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Woden/Wotan deserve a subsection if only because much of the Odin story is linked to Sturlson and the Prose and Verse Edda which are later and much more developed myths (I think the word is synthesised)and reflect the longer 'presence' of Odin, where Woden was left behind in the 9th century. Information on he mythology of Wotan and Woden of the periods when they were gods rather than memories is scant but the fact that this knowledge is known to be lost should be mentioned.

I suggest reference to The Lost Gods of England, Brian Branston as a source for info on Woden. GDL 27-1-2005

Odin's origin (Tokle, Dab, Anon)

There is a people living by the Sea of Azov calling themselves Odin.

Snorre Sturlasson's "Heimskringla" (translating to something like the globe where we live) claims that Odin was a historical figure hailing from this community Snorre uses the word Ashov and places it somewhere around the Sea of Azov. According to Snorre Odin lead his people through Germania (they were forced away from their homelands by a roman expedition), fighting several battles with the locals, and eventually settled down in Scandinavia as the ruling class.

In Thor Heyerdahl's "Jakten på Odin : på sporet av vår fortid" (The hunt for Odin: tracking our past) this idea is explored, though the findings of this expedition were scarse, they seem to point towards this as a plausible Origin of Odin.

There is also a lake in present day Turkey, south of the caucassus called Lake Van. Van being the name of the rival tribe of gods in norse mythology. This would also point towards the plausibility of this interpretation.

sure, we are referring to this. read the article, and see The search for Odin. dab (ᛏ) 16:15, 25 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I think I read in "the Lost Gods of England", or maybe another book, that having the Aesir originate in Asia was the result of a false etymology by Snorri. And turning pagan deities into historical figures was one acceptable way for Christian writers (Snorri again) to write about them- Hermes Trismegistos, the Egyptian god Thoth, was popularly believed to have been a proto-Christian sage. Otherwise, an orthodox Christian (with small 'o') would have to believe that the deities were all guises of the devil.