Comparisons of mythological “End of Days”

I was rather disappointed to find that Greek mythology does not have a definitive way their Gods and Goddesses meet an end. After spending a great deal of time researching the parallels between Greek and Norse mythology I began to see the pattern in the ways they differed and the ways they were similar. It became more and more apparent as to the nature of the different civilizations view of their Gods.

 

As I stated before, the Gods of each civilization had very different attributes and traits that were associated with them. The Greeks were not only immortal, but spent their time in a fantastical manner. The Norse Gods knew the end was coming, and it was considered to be their fate to all day in glorious combat. True Vikings could not go to Valhalla unless they died in combat, or looked upon the face of the person who would be executing them. It had little to do with moral association and had more to do with glory and victory. Opposed to the Greeks who had a more traditional view of the after life where the bad went to the underworld or Tartarus, and the good went to a Heavenly place.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Arrival_at_Valhalla.jpg

My research for a means of the Greek Gods ceasing to be powerful led me to Hellenistic Rationalization. The Roman civilization appropriated the Greek mythology seeing as they didn’t have one of their own, but they wanted to modernize it by combining gods to seem more reasonable. For instance they wanted to base the Gods off of historical figures and heroes rather than just idealized God figures. This Roman idea is much closer to the Norse belief of heroes over Gods. As time progressed and Christian influence took a strong hold, the Greek Gods “lost power”. The only explanation I found in regards to the Greek Mythological “end” was when the Gods receive less worship and attention, they fade away.

 

To contrast this with a definitive End of Days story, the Norse mythology builds up to the end with every event of the Ragnarok. The Ragnarok was the predetermined end of the Germanic Norse Gods. It was the whole basis of the idea behind the fact that the Norse Gods were more mortal than god, but were only Godlike based on their accomplishments and glory. The event was the way the Norse believe the world was reborn, almost like the Christian Ark story, but with much more blood shed. The Ragnarok marked the end of the old world and the rebirth of the new world.

The battles that occurred during the Ragnarok were the essential battles of good verse evil. The Norse Gods such as: Odin, Thor, and Freyja, along with the “heroic dead”, or warriors who died in glorious combat and were welcomed into Valhalla battled against the forces of evil. On the side of the evil you had the frost giants led by the traitor to the gods Loki, as well as the unworthy dead who came from Hel. So essentially it was a giant battle of Gods versus monsters and zombies. 

The story is an incredibly tragic one, where the Gods all knew the outcome before they began, but part of their culture was to fight despite the impending doom. The majority of the Gods perish during the battle on the Vigrid Plain, but the Gods who did survive were generally considered minor ones. Odin, the king of the Gods met his demise when he was consumed by the father of the Wolves Fenrir, a beast so monstrous they had him bound when he was young. In order to avenge his father, his son Vioarr allowed Fenrir to bite down on his arm, so he could his other to slay him in close quarters.

Ultimately the forces of good triumph, at a great cost to their ranks. Legends say two humans survived by hiding inside the world tree Yggdrasil, and they were the ones who repopulated after the world was devestated. 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology#Hellenistic_and_Roman_rationalism

http://pechpet.blogspot.com/2012/10/hellenistic-and-roman-rationalism.html

http://www.ancient-mythology.com/norse/ragnarok.php

http://www.viking-mythology.com/ragnarok.html

Comparing Odin and Zeus

The more research that I have done into the subject of comparing Greek and Norse mythology, the more I find that for every difference there are just as many similarities. For every Greek god of a certain aspect, or physical description, there is a Norse God, or gods of similar likeness. While the Greek gods tend to have a select few aspects/powers/traits they are known for, the Norse gods tended to have a great deal of aspects, and often times there were multiple gods of the same traits. The two major deities I will be addressing in this post are the undisputed ruler of the gods Odin, and Zeus. While they are not the first gods of their cultures, they are the champions who overcame a major struggle in order to become the strongest.

Zeus:

 

http://moviewriternyu.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/zeus.jpg

Zeus is the god of lightning, rain, storms, justice, law, and morals. It makes it very fitting for him to be the ruler of the gods based on his aspects alone, but his individual creation story rivals the brutality and absurdity of Norse mythology.

Zeus was the youngest son of the ruler of the Titans Cronus, and his mother Rhea. When prophecy foretold of Cronus’ youngest son over throwing him in the future Cronus decided it would be in his best interests if he swallowed his first five children in order to avoid the prophecy. When Zeus was born his mother could not bear to witness another child  being consumed by Cronus, so she tricked him into eating a rock instead. As prophecy told Zeus later returned to rescue his consumed siblings and take revenge on his father. Following this, Zeus led the war against the Titans, and ultimately banished them to a place even lower than Hell.

 

http://worldhumanities.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/goya_saturn.jpg

Zeus is almost always depicted as a middle aged man with a great beard, and is almost always in the throwing position clutching a bolt of lightning. He was capable of shifting into the form of other creatures, and would generally use this to harass woman and cause mischief among the mortals. In addition to being a ladies man in the mortal realm, he also is the father of quite a few Greek gods.

Odin:

Odin shares many parallels to Zeus’s creation story, as well as physical and supernatural traits. Like Zeus, Odin is the god of storms and lightning (less so than Thor his son), but in addition has a rather extensive list of attributes to him. He is also the god wisdom, magic, learning, He is generally depicted as an older man with a full beards and long hair, in addition he is general depicted as missing one of his eyes. Odin carries a spear named Gungnir, which cannot miss it’s target, this is a parallel to Zeus’s lightning bolt.

Odin is the son of Bor, son of Buri, who was born from a cow on back of Ymir’s the Titan. Like Zeus, Odin is the direct descendant of the Titans, and when Ymir eventually turned evil, Odin and his two brothers killed Ymir in order to create the world of man and gods alike. Following the creation of the world, the three brothers created human man from drift wood on the shore.

http://online.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses/2304/public/lesson01/Odin.jpg

A contrast between the Greek and Norse gods apparent in Odin’s story, is that the Norse gods were not all knowing, and had mortal limitations when it came to intellect and wisdom. Odin took these limitations and found ways using his might and wit to overcome them and become the most powerful of the Norse gods. In order to achieve more wisdom, Odin sought out the well of Mimir beneath the world tree Yggdrasil  and as a sacrifice to the all knowing Mimir he had to cut out his own eye. Odin has shamanistic qualities, like Zeus’s ability to shape shift into animal forms, he is capable of commanding animals. Odin has two ravens who are his eyes and ears on the mortal realm, named Hugin and Munin (thought and desire respectively.)

sources:

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Ni-Pa/Norse-Mythology.html

http://www.witchbook.net/blogs/entry/Norse-and-Greek-Gods

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/norsemyth/a/aa081799Norse.htm

Creation Stories

Despite the vast time difference between Greek and Norse culture, there are still many parallels that can be drawn between their gods and deities. The vast majority of the gods between the cultures share a parallel with a specific corresponding god in both appearance and role as a god. Arguably the Norse gods were derived from incarnations of the Greek gods they resemble, but there is enough of a difference between the mentality of the nature of the Norse gods to differentiate them.

The Greek gods tended to be more civil and flamboyant, they were immortal and were depicted in a dreamlike way. The Greeks wanted to move away from the barbaric world, and used their gods to depict a world that was fantastical and civilized. The Greek creation story involves the gods not creating the universe, but the universe creating the gods themselves. This was a sharp contrast to the Norse creation story, where neither god nor man occurred first, but the Jotun, or giants were created first. The Norse gods were descendants of the first giant, and ultimately slew the first Jotun Ymir and from his body they created the earth, sky, and heaven. The lands created from the Jotun are known as Midgard (Earth), Asgard (Heaven), and the Norse version of Hell, Hel. From Ymirs body came the ash tree Yggdrassil, the tree of life. It’s limbs supported the levels of the world reaching all the way down to Hel, and through its body it carried water through the world. In addition to creating  the world from Ymir’s body, the blood that flowed from his corpse killed the remaining frost giants, hence why we don’t have giants today.

The Greek gods spent their time in Mount Olympus which was their equivalent to Heaven, it was formed after the Gods defeated the Titans in the Titan Wars. Time spent in Olympus for the gods was a cheerful and all around enjoyable place, because the gods were Immortal and had nothing to fear. The Greek gods spent their time drinking and meddling with the forces of nature and humanity. Yet again this was another sharp contrast to the Norse beliefs. Asgard was a dismal place full of sorrow and dread. The Gods of Norse mythology were not immortal in the sense that the Greek gods were. While they were definitively more powerful than humans, the Norse Gods were not only able to die, but knew the end was coming to them and Asgard itself. 

The idea behind the Norse ideal god was very much different than the Greek idealized god or goddess. A Greek God can never know true exhilaration or the dangers of being a hero. Because all Greek gods have their victories essentially assured for them, there was no sense of danger present. Norse Gods know they are vulnerable, and with each victory they become true heroes, ultimately having a tragic downfall in the end battle of good vs. evil. Norse Gods had to prove their heroism based on accomplishment rather than being born an immortal hero.

The essentials of Greek and Norse Mythology.

In order to draw a comparison between Greek and Norse mythology, you first have to look at the cultures that created them. The two civilizations could not have been any more different in terms of the way they lived, and the gods they created to worship, they also were civilizations that were rather far apart in terms of time. The gods they created were fundamentally different, starting with the Greeks, they created their gods to serve as a means to reject barbaric horrors. The Greek gods were all near perfect and immortal, with each god serving a task in addition to them all being interrelated.

Norse mythology is a very sharp contrast, with a long time period in between the two civilizations, there were a lot of cultural changes in the world. The world went through the dark ages and emerged a very gloomy place. Norse mythology definitively shows this in it’s myths, were unlike the Greeks, their gods were not only mortal, but were intended to die. They were warriors who fought to create their legend, opposed to the Greeks who were created to be legend.