Bel (mythology)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2013) Part of a series on Religion in Mesopotamia Mesopotamian religion Primordial beings[show]Apsû & Tiamat · Lahmu & Lahamu · Anshar & Kishar · Mummu Seven gods who decree[show]Four primary (Anu · Enlil · Ki · Enki) · Three sky (Ishtar · Sin · Sama) The great gods[show]Adad · Anunnaki · Asaruludu · Ashnan · Enbilulu · Enkimdu · Ereshkigal · Inanna · Lahar · Nanshe · Nergal · Nidaba · Ningal · Ninkasi · Ninlil · Ninsun · Ninurta & his heroic mace · Nusku · Uttu Demigods & heroes[show]Adapa · Enkidu · Enmerkar · Geshtinanna · Gilgamesh · Lugalbanda · Shamhat · Siduri · Tammuz · Atra-Hasis Spirits & monsters[show]Good beings (Humbaba · Kingu · Kishar · Mamitu · Siris · Zu) · Evil beings (Asag · Edimmu · Hanbi · Kur · Lamashtu · Namtar · Pazuzu · Rabisu) Tales from Babylon[hide]Enûma Eliš · Atra-Hasis · Marduk & Sarpanit · Agasaya · Bel · Kingu · Mami · Nabu Other traditions Arabian · Levantine · Near Eastern religions v · t · e Part of the myth series on Fertile Crescent *Mesopotamian mythology Ancient Arabian mythology Ancient Levantine mythology Pre-Judaic Arabian gods Abgal Aglibol Allah Al-Qaum al-Lat, al-'Ilahat Astarte Atargatis (Syrian) Atarsamain Beelshamen Bel, Ba?l, Bel-Šamin Bes (Egypto-Arabic) Dhu'l-Halasa Dusares, Dhu Shara' El, Ilah (NW Semitic) Hubal Ištar, Athtar Malakbel Manat Manaf Nabu, Nebo Nasr Nergal Nuha Orotalt Ruda Shams, Samas Sin, Nanna-Suen Suwa' Theandrios ?Uzza Wadd Ya'uq Yaghuth Yarhibol Yatha demons v · t · e Bel (/'be?l/; from Akkadian belu), signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in Babylonian religion. The feminine form is Belit 'Lady, Mistress'. Bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. Linguistically Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Ba‘al with the same meaning. Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. This is now known to be incorrect; but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.[1] Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili 'Lady of the Gods' in Akkadian. Of course other gods called "Lord" could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god which Marduk was not. Similarly Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/El in Peraea is certainly most unlikely to be Marduk. W. H. D. Rouse in 1940 wrote an ironic end note to Book 40 of his edition of Nonnus' Dionysiaca about a very syncretistic hymn sung by Dionysus to Tyrian Heracles, that is, to Ba‘al Melqart whom Dionysus identifies with Belus on the Euphrates (who should be Marduk!) and as a sun god: ... the Greeks were as firmly convinced as many modern Bible-readers that the Semites, or the Orientals generally, worshipped a god called Baal or Bel, the truth of course being that ba'al is a Semitic word for lord or master, and so applies to a multitude of gods. This "Bel," then, being an important deity, must be the sun, the more so as some of the gods bearing that title may have been really solar. Bel is named in the Bible at Isaiah 46:1 and Jeremiah 50:2 and 51:44. BelenusFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the Romanian commune called Bölön in Hungarian, see Belin, Covasna. In Celtic mythology, Bel, Belenos (also Belenus) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul, and Celtic areas of Austria, Britain and Spain. He is particularly associated with Cornwall, West Cornwall being anciently called Belerion, the place of Bel. He was the Celtic sun god and had shrines from Aquileia on the Adriatic to Kirkby Lonsdale in England.[1][2] The etymology of the name is unclear. Suggestions include "shining one,"[3] "the bright one"[4] and "henbane god".[5] In the Roman period he was identified with Apollo.[1] There are currently 51 known inscriptions dedicated to Belenus, mainly concentrated in Aquileia and Cisalpine Gaul, but also extend into Gallia Narbonensis, Noricum, and far beyond.[4] Images of Belenus sometimes show him to be accompanied by a female, thought to be the Gaulish deity Belisama.[4] Today in Asturias, the God Belenus is still being worshipped, and many cultural and artistic works are dedicated to it. Asturians still feel respect for Belenos and it's very common to find inscriptions and representations of him all around the country. Epithets[edit]In ancient Gaul and Britain, Apollo may have been equated with fifteen or more different Celtic names and epithets (notably Grannos, Borvo, Maponus, Moritasgus and others).[1] The legendary king Belinus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain is probably also derived from this god. The name of the ancient British king Cunobelinus means "hound of Belinos". An epithet of Belenus may have been Vindonnus. Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at Essarois near Châtillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy. The sanctuary was based on a curative spring. Part of the temple pediment survives, bearing an inscription to the god and to the spirit of the springs and, above it, the head of a radiate sun-deity. Many votive objects were brought to the shrine, some of oak, and some of stone. Some offerings take the form of images of hands holding fruit or a cake; others represent the parts of the body requiring a cure. In many cases the pilgrims appear to have suffered from eye afflictions.[6] Teutorix has been suggested as an epithet of Belenus as borrowed into Germanic religion. Belenos A Celtic Deity, also known as Belen, Belenus, Belinus, Bellinus, Bélénos, Belennos, Belenos, Bel, Bilé: The Shining God Belenos is unsusual in Celtic belief, as this deity (under the various version of his name) is known throughout the Celtic world. He is also rememberd in place names and personal names throughout the Celtic lands. His symbols are the horse an wheel and his name means 'The Shining God'. He is one of the Celtic high gods, and is probably a solar deity. Synonyms: Belen, Belenus, Belinus, Bellinus Bélénos, Belennos, Belenos, Bel, Bilé Cym, Bryth, Gaul, Goi: The Shining God Posibly one of the most widespread of all the Celtic deities he is known from Italy (Cis-Alpine Gaul), Gaul, Britain and Ireland. In Britain the personal name Bellinus occurs at Binchester (Vinovia), County Durham a name derived from the god-form Belenus, the native Brythonic form of which would be Belenus. Traces of this name having been found at Maryport. To the continental Brython the Cult of Belenus possessed a particular status in that it is mentioned in a number of Classical Literary sources. Ausonius was a poet from Bordeaux, writing in the later 4th century AD and alludes to sanctuaries to Belenus in Aquitania. Tertullian talks of the cult of Belenus in the Norican Alps (Apologeticus 24,7); and Herodian mentions Belenus' worship at Aquileia in North Italy (History of the Empire after Marcus,8,3.6). In Ireland Beli is known as Bilé and is referred to as ‘The Father of Gods and Men’. The Celtic fire festival on the first of May, known as Beltane, (the fires of Bel) is probably derived from the name of this deity. Beltane fires were lit to encourage the sun's warmth. These fires also had restorative properties and cattle were herded between them before being loosed on the new spring pastures. From this it is likely that Beli was a fire deity, a patron of flame and the sun's restorative powers (which explains his classical association with Apollo). Originally he may have been a pastoral deity and in Cymric myth is associated with cattle, sheep and cropt. Though this may be because Beltane was the time that herds were moved to the high pastures. His symbols were the horse (as shown, for example, by the clay horse figurine offerings at Belenos' Sainte-Sabine shrine in Burgundy), and also the Wheel (as illustrated on the famous Gundestrup Cauldron). The Irish Bilé is a god of death and husband to Dana. In the tale of Lludd and Llefelys, the folk memory of Beli represents him as Belen o Lyn, son of Manogan and father to Lludd and Llefelys. Both Beli and Lludd lend their names to sites in London; Billingsgate and Ludgate, respecitvely. Beli's name is also found in the name of one of the most notable Brythonic chieftains before the Roman invasion, Cunobelinos (or, in Brythonic, Cunobel), the hound of Bel. In Gaulish mythology Belenus' consort was the goddess Belisama. It is unlikely, as some have suggested, that the Cymric deity Beli Mawr is etymologically related to Belenos, as though the migration of Brython to old and middle Cymric this is far more likely to yield the name Belen or Belyn. Indeed, this is the name which we see in the Cymric form (Cynfelen) of the Catuvellauni leader during the Claudian invasion of Britain, Cunobelinos (the hound of Belinos). Inded, the tribe name Catuvellauni itself means 'The Host of Belinos' and their most well-known leader Cassivellaunos' name means 'The Devotee of Belenos'. There is also the figure of 'Belen o Leyn' who figures in triad 62 0f the Trioedd Ynys Prydain and is preserved today in the place-name Tyddyn Belyn near Tudweilog on the Llyn Peninsula ELlSG. Rather, Beli Mawr is more likely derived from the name of the Gaulish deity Bolgios. Belenos' name is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements *belo- (bright/shining), the deicific particle -n- and the masculine ending -os. Thus Belenos is 'The Shining God'. One of the most worshiped gods in Celtic Mythology, just like his name which means “the shining one”; Belenus is the god of “light and sun.” He is the Celtic equivalent of Apollo, a sun god and associated with heat and healing. He is typically depicted with a heavy brow, large eyes, a thick moustache and his hair is usually shown in a corona that represents the rays of the sun. Healing springs are often associated with this god, tying in with the healing influence of the sun and of heat. Belenus was married to the Celtic goddess Belisama. Her name connects well with his, meaning 'summer bright'. She also shared his association with fire and light but lakes, rivers and crafts were also under her dominion. There is a Celtic Fire Festival called the Beltane (fires of bel) which is associated with this god, Belenus. Beltane fires were lit to encourage the sun's warmth. These fires also had restorative properties and cattle were herded between them before being loosed on the new spring pastures. From this it is likely that Belenus was a fire god, a patron of flame and the sun's restorative powers (which explains his classical association with Apollo.) Taber, Gillian. "Celtic Gods: Belenus." Helium. Helium, 01 June 2009. Web. 02 Dec. 2012. . The Kingdom Of The Sun In "Illustrert Vitenskap" # 02 (the Norwegian Science Illustrated), this year, there is an article about the Nordic religion of the Bronze Age by Flemming Kaul. It contains a number of dubious claims about the nature of our forefathers' religion. Strangely the archaeologists of our time always fails to see things in a wider context. They speak of the Norse religion of the so-called Viking era as if it has nothing to do with the Norse religion of the Bronze Age, and vice versa. Kaul claims the Bronze Age religion only became a thousand years old, before we enter what he calls a "dark" era when we no longer produce the symbols of the Bronze Age. Further he claims that a thousand years after the Scandinavian Bronze Age ends (around 500 before our time of reckoning) a completely different kind of religious pictures start to appear. Kaul claims he is only capable of finding a very few similarities between the religion of the Viking Age and the religion of the Bronze Age, and he mentions the horses that pull the Sun and the Moon across the sky, but adds that they only played a minor role in the Viking Age religion. Kaul also tries to recreate a Bronze Age ritual of the Sun by interpreting the symbols of that time. Although it is hard to argue against any person's imagination or fantastic recreations of something that belongs to the past I will question his claim that the men wore penis cases during these rituals. I will remind Kaul and everybody else that the large phalluses of some of the men in the rock carvings from this period are normally understood as symbols of fertility, and nothing more than that. With that said, if they wore these cases where are all the penis cases in the archaeological material? It puzzles me that this Kaul fails to see the obvious connection between the phalluses of the rock carvings and the phallus of Freyr in Viking Age art. And this brings me to my point and the purpose of this text; I wish to point out that the Bronze Age religion, the Iron Age religion and the Viking Age religion of the Norse-Germanic peoples are the same, (and indeed the same as the Stone Age religion of the Norse-Germanic peoples as well for that sake). The first everybody, including the so-called experts like Kaul, has to understand is that the Norse religion (the Indo-European religion) is not dogmatic. We have no ideas that we will stick to no matter how wrong they turn out to be, like the Judeo-Christian religions. This means that our religion changes as we changes, it develops as we develops and it develops as our culture develops. This is most evident in our supreme religious symbol, the symbol of the Sun. At first - in the Stone Age - it was only a circle, it then evolved into a circle with another circle inside as the Bronze Age drew closer, then a circle with another smaller circle and a cross (a Sun wheel), a circle with a cross (a Sun wheel), an incomplete circle with a cross (a hooked cross) and eventually a hooked cross (the symbol we know as the Hakenkreuz/Hakekors/Hooked cross/Fylfot cross/Thor's hammer, Swastika etc.). When the Iron Age began it had developed into the form we know today and was the most commonly used symbol in for instance the patterns of the clothes. Almost all clothes from that era have some sort of Hooked cross pattern. Another symbol that changed over the years was the hammer of Thor (Þórr). At first it was only a club, which we know best from the Greek branch of the Indo-European religion, more specifically from the myths about Herakles (a Greek name for a side of Þórr). Later it was described as an axe. The final version, the hammer, came even later and perhaps as late as in the early Viking Age. In the Bronze Age the Nordic peoples still perceived their forest deity, Viðarr (proto-Nordic WiduR), as a deity with horns. They sacrificed horned animals and viewed them as symbols of the wild and untamed nature, and thus a symbol of the wild forest god WiduR. In the Viking Age Viðarr - as he was called - had lost his horns. The Greek, Roman and Celt names for this same Indo-European deity are Pan, Faunus and Cernunnos respectively, and as we all know very well this god had horns. In other words the Bronze Age rituals, when the priests wore horned helmets to symbolize the forest god, are just older forms of the same religious practice of the Iron and Viking Age. Just because they stopped wearing their horned helmets it does not mean it is a different religion. From the Norse-Germanic mythology we learn that Óðinn's (Woutan's) grandfather is the Sky God - named Búri, Tuisto or Tuiscon. This god represented the sky and his two palms the Sun and the Moon. His wife was the Earth Goddess, called Erþô (Jörð). These are the two proto-deities of our race. The further back in time we go the more basic description of this divine couple we will find. In the beginning they were alone. As our culture grew more complex and educated we developed our religious perspectives as well. We started to give names to the different sides of nature. We gave birth to the sons and daughters of the Sky God and the Earth Goddess and we named them. In the Bronze Age we had a large pantheon, including both Woutan (Óðinn) and Þonariôn/ÞunraR (Þórr), AlgiR and Filþina, Nerþus and Fairguni and most of the other well (or better) known deities. The role of Woutan was different though from the role he would be given later in history. Tuisto (Týr) would still be the most important god for some time and Woutan was only a god of the dead and mystical initiation. In truth though they were all just personifications of different sides of the one Sky God and Earth Goddess. By the time the Viking Age began these deities had changed somewhat, both in regard to their importance and to their role in our society, but some of them had been developed even further. Our Nerþus had developed into both a male and a female deity, called Njörðr and Njerð, Woutan was no longer just a god of death and mystical initiation, but of eloquence, wisdom and war as well, etc. Our religion changed, our religion developed, but it was still the same religion built on the same ideals! The ship and the horse, the snake and the sun, the axe/club/hammer and the phallus have always been important symbols in our religion, whether we talk about the older or the younger forms. Kaul claims though, in his article, that he sees no connection between the religion of the Bronze Age and the mythology of the Viking Age. Well, first of all I must stress that the Edda is hardly a representation of the religion of the Viking Age. The myths yes, but not the religion. If we want to know how our forefathers practiced their religion in the Viking Age we have to check the historical sources and - more important - the folk traditions in the Germanic countries. To the great frustration of the Judeo-Christians we never stopped practicing our religion. We renamed our gods and called them "Saints" or "God" or "Jesus" or whatever instead, but we never gave up the religious practice. This is evident by the fact that close to 99% of all traditions and holidays and feasts of today have roots in our own Pagan culture. Hardly any tradition or religious feast has actually anything to do with Judeo-Christianity, be it Easter, Yule (Christmas), Saint Hans (summer solstice), Halloween or whatever. The religious practice has developed since the Viking Age though, and today we bring oranges as symbols of the Sun when we celebrate Easter in the mountains, we bring whole trees inside in the Yule tide instead of just some branches, we burn enormous bonfires during the celebration of the summer solstice instead of many small fires along the coast (to create the impression of Brísingamen, the necklace of Freyja), we let our kids dress up as scary creatures instead of smearing ashes on our bodies and walking around as living dead to scare and punish those who deserve it (and call it Halloween, "å gå Julebukk") etc. Although we still celebrate all the Pagan feasts we no longer know why we do this. This the Judeo-Christians succeeded in destroying, and thus they managed to destroy our meaning of life as well, but that is another subject. My point is that I find it hard to understand why someone like this Flemming Kaul fails to see this and why he and his colleges propagate something that is obviously wrong. We - the AHF - seek to revive the Pagan consciousness in our people. We wish to make people celebrate our holidays for the right reasons and with the knowledge of why and what they do. We wish to revive the spirit of the past and our people's will to live in a natural fashion. We seek knowledge about how they celebrated our holidays in the past, so that we can better understand our holidays today. Flemming Kaul and his colleges obviously have different motives for studying our religion as it was in the past. Claiming the Bronze Age religion only became a thousand years old before it was replaced by "darkness" is ludicrous and it also is an attempt to undermine our work to revive our spirit. By doing this they want to make everybody believe that the Viking Age religion, the belief in Óðinn and Valhalla etc., was just some "fix idea" that was born in a time when they suddenly saw the need for such a religion. They want to make us all believe that Judeo-Christianity is older than our Pagan religion and by doing so justify the existence of this "oh-so-old" (Jewish) faith and at the same time try to ridicule our talk about the age-old religion of our blood. I am sorry, but I will not tolerate this attempt to continue the rape of our race and our culture, our religion and everything that is ours. We will speak the truth to the people, we will revive our religion - that is just as old as our very race - and we will bring back Baldr after this thousand year long spiritual Ragnarök. We have found the gold of the past in the green grass, we have found the trails our forefathers walked and the spirit they lived for. In the previous century they called this return of Baldr National Socialism. Today we call him Odalism. The Kingdom of the Sun has returned, to crush the Judeo-Christian Empire of Darkness! Hail the Return of Baldr! Heil og Sael! Varg Vikernes In the archaeological record of tenth century Scandinavia, there is evidence for the proliferation of small metal amulets representing Mjollnir, the magical hammer of the god Thor. Thor's hammer is recognised as one of the most distinctive religious symbols of the heathen Norse, and for a time was the chief rival of the Christian cross among the peoples of Medieval Scandinavia and Iceland. It was celebrated in Scandinavian mythology as the primary defence of gods and men against destruction at the hands of the fearsome frost-giants. Art, archaeology and folklore attest to the remarkable endurance of the hammer symbol, from the Bronze Age to the present day, not only as a significant religious motif, but also as a powerful ritual device, closely associated with the cult of Thor. The vast majority of the more than forty Thor's hammer amulets known date from the late tenth and early eleventh centuries and were found primarily in Denmark, south-eastern Sweden and southern Norway, in those areas particularly subject to strong Christian influence. It seems quite likely that the popularity of these amulets came about as a heathen response to the crucifixes worn by increasing numbers of Christians in Scandinavia. Indeed, some of the early crucifixes are quite similar in design to the hammer, and in one example from Foss in southern Iceland, features of both are incorporated into the overall design. Graves have been found with hammers and crosses side by side and from Jutland, Denmark, there is a stone mold from which both hammers and crosses could be cast, indicating a certain level of acceptance of both religious symbols, perhaps in the interest of spiritual pragmatism. There are examples in literature of this blending of traditions, like that of Helgi the Lean, from Landnamabok, who had been raised a Christian, but who "called upon Thor for seafaring and difficult decisions, and matters he considered of greatest importance". Also from Landnamabok is the case of Einar Thorgeirsson, who with a group of other settlers, claimed land in north-eastern Iceland by setting up at three points an axe (counterpart of the hammer) for Thor, an eagle for Odinn, and a cross for Christ. Sometimes there even appears to be some confusion of Christian and heathen practice, as in the case of King Hakon the Good of Norway, who had been obliged to drink from a bowl of sacrificial ale: "The king took it and made the sign of the cross over it. Then said Kar of Gryting, 'Wherefore does the king so? Will he even now not sacrifice?' Sigurd the Jarl answered, 'The king does as all do, who trust in their skill and strength; he blesses the bowl in the name of Thor, and makes the sign of the hammer over it before he drinks'. However, despite the strong Christian influence on the development of the hammer as a religious symbol, it is evident that the imagery, meaning and function of the hammer were entirely heathen. Thor's hammers of many different styles are known, from simple shapes in iron or bronze to elaborately crafted works of silver with staring eyes and bearded faces, sometimes suspended on rings and twisted chains. The rings are miniature versions of those kept in the temples of Thor, upon which oaths were sworn and contracts were sealed, so that the wrath of Thor would fall upon those who broke their agreements. The chains, made of twisted wire and sometimes ending in monstrous heads, recall Jormangand, the Midgard Serpent, the monstrous offspring of Loki, whose coils encircle the world, and with whom Thor does battle in a famous episode from Hymiskvida, a scene which is found carved on a memorial stone from Altuna, Sweden, and another stone found under Gosforth Church, Cumberland. Many other memorial stones incorporate hammer designs, such as one example from Stenkvista, Sweden, which shows a hammer hanging from a thong-like serpent design. Often the stones bear runic inscriptions containing the formula "Thur uiki..." (from ON Thor vigja) or "May Thor hallow...", found in such compositions as "May Thor hallow this memorial", or "May Thor hallow these runes", or even "May Thor, the Almighty God, take to himself the body which lies under this stone". Earlier Thor's hammer amulets are known, primarily from Anglo-Saxon graves in Kent which date to the sixth or seventh centuries, although these would still correspond to a similar period of growing Christian influence amongst the largely heathen Anglo-Saxons. The evidence for the great antiquity of the hammer as a religious device lies in its close relationship with the axe. Many Viking Age graves contain axes deposited alongside hammers or crosses, and axe amulets, many of which are virtually indistinguishable from hammers, have been found throughout the Baltic area dating from the Viking Age back to much earlier periods. Bronze Age (c1600-450 BCE) rock carvings abound with axe and hammer wielding figures, mirrored by a number of bronze figurines with axes and horned helmets found at Grevens Vinge, Denmark, most of which are now lost and only known from drawings made in 1778. These examples attest to the importance of the axe, the prototype of the hammer, as a cultural and religious symbol long before the advent of iron metallurgy, as does a richly decorated bronze axe-head from Vasteras, Sweden, which is far too massive for ordinary use. The swastika is also closely connected to Thor's hammer and it is found as a prominent motif in Scandinavian art from Bronze Age rock carvings to Iron Age brooches, from Migration period swords and scabbards to Anglo-Saxon cremation urns, and so on to the Viking Age and beyond. In Iceland a form of swastika called a Thorshammar was used until recent times as a magical device to detect thieves. It is noteworthy that the majority of Thor's hammer amulets were found in hoards and house-sites rather than graves, perhaps as a dedication to Thor, but more likely as a measure of protection from thieves. The etymology of the name Mjollnir is uncertain, but it is probably related to ON mala "grind", or molva "crush", with possible cognates in the Russian molnija or Welsh mellt, which both refer to "lightning". Both concepts, crushing and lightning, are entirely consistent with what we know of Thor and his use of this mighty weapon. Scandinavian mythology is replete with the exploits of Thor with his hammer, and these myths provide the foundation of what we know of both the properties and functions of Mjollnir, especially in conjunction with those of Thor himself. From the thirteenth century text of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, there is an account of the magical forging of Mjollnir by dwarves at Loki's instigation: "Loki Laufeyjarson had done this for love of mischief: he had cut off all Sif's hair. And when Thor found out, he caught Loki and was going to break every one of his bones until he swore that he would get black-elves to make Sif a head of hair out of gold that would grow like any other hair. After this Loki went to some dwarfs called Ovaldi's sons, and they made the head of hair and Skidbladnir and the spear belonging to Odinn called Gungnir. Then Loki wagered his head with a dwarf called Brokk on whether his brother Eitri would succeed in making three precious things as good as these were. And when they got to the workshop, Eitri put a pig's hide in the forge and told Brokk to blow and not stop until he took out of the forge what he had put in. And as soon as he left the workshop and the other was blowing, a fly settled on the latter's arm and nibbled, but he went on blowing as before until the smith took his work out of the forge, and it was a boar and its bristles were of gold. Next he put gold in the forge and told Brokk to blow and not stop the blowing before he came back; he went out. And then the fly came and settled on his neck and nibbled twice as hard, but he went on blowing until the smith took from the forge a gold ring called Draupnir. Then he put iron in the forge and told him to blow and said it would turn out no good if there was any pause in the blowing. Then the fly settled between his eyes and nibbled his eyelids, and when the blood dripped in his eyes so that he could not see, he snatched at it with his hand as quick as he could while the bellows was on its way down and swept the fly away. And then the smith came back, saying it had come close to everything in the forge being ruined. Then he took from the forge a hammer, then handed over all the precious things to his brother Brokk and told him to take them to ¡sgard and fulfil the wager. And when he and Loki produced the precious things, the Aesir took their places on their judgement seats and the decision uttered by Odinn, Thor and Freyr was to be final. Then Loki gave the spear Gungnir to Odinn, the head of hair that was to be Sif's to Thor, and Skidbladnir to Freyr, and announced the features of the precious things, that the spear never stopped in its thrust, the hair was rooted in the flesh as soon as it came on to Sif's head, and Skidbladnir had a fair wind as soon as its sail was hoisted, wherever it was intended to go, and could be folded up like a cloth and put in one's pocket if desired. Then Brokk brought out his precious things. He gave the ring to Odinn and said that every ninth night there would drip from it eight rings equal to it in weight. To Freyr he gave the boar and said that it could run across sky and sea by night and day faster than any horse, and it never got so dark from night or in worlds of darkness that it was not bright enough wherever it went, there was so much light shed from its bristles. Then he gave Thor the hammer and said he would be able to strike as heavily as he liked, whatever the target, and the hammer would not fail, and if he threw it at something, it would never miss, and never fly so far that it would not find its way back to his hand, and if he liked, it was so small that it could be kept inside his shirt. But there was this defect in it that the end of the handle was rather short. Their decision was that the hammer was the best out of all the precious things and provided the greatest defence against frost-giants, and they decreed that the dwarf had won the stake." This story provides the basic properties of Mjollnir, namely that it would never break, it would never miss its target, and it would always return to Thor's hand, much like a boomerang. However, this is by no means the limit of Mjollnir's capabilities. The crushing power of Thor's hammer is demonstrated in the tale of Utgardar-Loki, also from the Snorra Edda, wherein Thor meets a cunning giant named Skrimir and three times lands mighty blows on Skrimir's head while he is sleeping. Each time, the giant wakes up and asks if a leaf, an acorn or a twig has fallen on his head, but later the giant reveals himself as Utgardar-Loki and explains that he had used magic to deceive Thor, and that those hammer blows had been directed onto a nearby hill, which now had three new square-shaped valleys. The association with lightning is found in a number of episodes. It is mentioned explicitly in Thor's encounter with Hrungnir, who had challenged Thor to a duel and arranged to meet him in Giantland. As Hrungnir stood ready, he all at once saw lightning and heard great claps of thunder, then Thor appeared in his ¡s-rage, and threw his hammer from a great distance. Hrungnir threw his own whetstone club in return, but when it collided with Mjollnir, it broke into many pieces, and the hammer hit Hrungnir in the head and shattered his skull, which was also made of stone. Lightning is implied by a similar encounter with a giant called Geirrod, who threw a lump of molten iron at Thor. This time, by Loki's connivance, Thor did not have Mjollnir with him, but all the same he caught the molten iron with a pair of iron gauntlets and threw it back, and it crashed through an iron pillar, through Geirrod, through the wall behind him, and deep into the earth. The relationship between Thor and his hammer draws obvious parallels with other Indo-European sky-gods, most notably Indra, Zeus and Jupiter, who all had the thunderbolt as their primary weapon. It is important to note that this similarity was not lost on medieval writers, either, many of whom identified Thor with Jupiter, as well as Thor's hammer with Jupiter's sceptre. Thor was the son of Odinn and Jord, symbolically heaven and earth, as were those other sky gods, and he ruled over all the features of the atmosphere, not just storms, thunder and lightning, but also the life-giving rains and the winds that carried ships across the seas. However, it is Thor's use of Mjollnir that rids the world of monsters and giants, and protects the homes of both gods and men, and this is his primary function. There is another side to Thor's use of Mjollnir, though, and that is as a device of consecration and magical power. When Thor was on his way to Utgardar-Loki, he stopped at a farmhouse and made a meal for his hosts of the two goats, Tanngniost and Tanngristnir, who drew his chariot. In the morning, he gathered the bones and skins of the goats, raised his hammer and blessed the skins, whereupon the goats were restored to life. Also, as part of the funeral ceremony for the slain Baldr, Thor hallows the funeral pyre with Mjollnir. The implication of this, especially in relation to the runic inscriptions from memorial stones, is that Thor's protection continued beyond death. In the comic poem Thrymskvida, Thor is obliged to disguise himself as Freyja in bridal veil, with Loki as bridemaid, to be married to the giant Thrym, in order to retrieve his hammer, which had been stolen by the giant. When, as was custom, the hammer is laid in the bride's lap to consecrate the marriage, Thor takes up his hammer and kills Thrym and all the giants in his house. Hallowing the bride appears to be an ancient practice indeed, if the interpretation of a particular Bronze Age rock carving, depicting a large figure holding a raised hammer or axe over two smaller figures, is correct. Even long after the conversion to Christianity, in certain parts of Norway and Sweden it continued to be the custom for a groom to carry an axe at the wedding, to give him mastery and to ensure a fruitful union; and in Germany it was thought lucky for the bride if there was a thunder-storm during the wedding ceremony. Even up to the turn of this century, prehistoric stone axes and fossils were called "thunder-stones" or "thunder-weapons" in Denmark and kept as charms against disaster, hidden in cupboards, walls or floors. They were expected to keep away not only fire and lightning, but also trolls, witches and rats, and they could be used to ward off disease and make medicines, to keep milk from going sour, to guard horses from harm in their stables, and to protect unchristened children in their cradles - as in heathen times the hammer had been used to accept a new-born child into the community. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, German soldiers could buy these "thunder-stones" from the chemist to give themselves protection from bullets. In the nineteenth century in Argyllshire, there was a custom called the "Thun'er Spell", in which a piece of wood tied to a cord was whirled through the air, much like a bull-roarer, and this would secure immunity from lightning. The Saami (Lappish) people of the far north of Scandinavia remembered Thor as Horagalles, from ON Thor Karl, or "Old Man Thor", depicted him with hammer and swastika, and used hammers of carved reindeer antler to beat drums to help the Saami shamans induce their ecstatic trances. Saxo Grammaticus, writing in the twelfth century, tells of Magnus Nilsson, who in his Christian zeal took from a temple of Thor in Sweden many large bronze hammers which had been used to imitate the crashing of thunder. Thor was also known as Oku-Thor, or "Driving-Thor", for his chariot, pulled by his goats, also made thunder as it travelled across the sky; and it is said there was an image of Thor in his chariot at Thrandheim which would make the noise of thunder as it was pulled along. The cult of Thor had gained in popularity through the Viking Age, so that by the tenth century, he was venerated above all other gods in most parts of Scandinavia. Unlike the grim and aristocratic Odinn, Thor was a god of the people, and a friend of landowner and peasant alike. Thor was patron of justice, his oath-ring could seal any contract, the Althing assembly of Iceland was opened on Thor's day (Thursday), and the judge's gavel or auctioneer's hammer undoubtedly owes its origin to the hammer symbol of Thor's might and authority. Thor was seen as a protector, defending the old order of the heathen landowners and petty nobles from the predations of the land-grabbing, power-hungry and zealously Christian Kings of Norway. Wearing the sign of the hammer, then, was not just a symbol of one's trust in Thor, it was also an instrument of his protection. In conclusion, it must be recognised that Thor's hammer Mjollnir was far more than just a symbol to the heathen Norse. It carried the power of Thor with it, moreover, it represented the focus of Thor's power, the thunderbolt before which nothing could stand. As a ritual device, it offered Thor's power as a force for the protection of everything a good heathen held dear; hallowing births, marriages, and deaths; binding oaths, securing property, and consecrating land. As a weapon, Mjollnir defended the world of men and the community from the forces of darkness and chaos which ever threatened to overwhelm them. As a tool, the hammer gave Thor's power to tame the elements. When Christianity came to Scandinavia, Thor stood for the maintenance of the old ways in the face of Christian oppression, and as Steinunn, a tenth century Icelandic poetess described it, he challenged the upstart Christ to a duel. Mjollnir was ranged against the cross, and as much as the cross influenced the development of the hammer, so the hammer left its mark on the symbolism and use of the cross in medieval Scandinavia, and the mighty thunderclap of that duel still echoes through the ages. Daniel Bray Sydney University & Rune-Net IrminFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Irmin Look up Irmin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Irmin may be Old Saxon irmin "strong, whole", maybe also "strong, tall, exalted" (Old High German ermen, Old Norse jormun, Old English Eormen), from Proto-Germanic *erminaz, *ermenaz or *ermunaz, in personal names (Armin, Ermanaric, Ermenbald, Ermenbert, Ermenfried, Ermenhard, Ermelinda, Erminia, Ermintrude, Emma) An alleged Germanic deity in some currents of Germanic Neopaganism, see Irminenschaft Imipramine, by the trade name Irmin