#Odin | Matthew Morgera

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.)