Norse versus Greek Mythology - Essay Example

Norse vs. Greek Mythology From the beginning of human existence, mankind has worked to understand the meaning behind our elevated awareness and the other mysteries of life. For most civilizations, these answers were discovered through the development of myths or established theology. This was necessary because they didn’t have the technology or natural science background recent societies have had to explain these phenomena in more empirical ways. Most of the early civilizations attributed the forces of their lives to the capricious whims of a number of gods, each with their own specialties and personalities. This meant that some gods were more likely to be forgiving while others might be able to provide extraordinary help in a given area. This also opened up the possibility of, the need for, a godly hierarchy in which there are greater and lesser gods as well as several demigods or half gods. A comparison of gods and cultures can be very illuminating regarding the values and needs of the people. Two major cultures that had a great deal in common despite great differences in climate and need were the Greeks and the Norse. Overall, the Greeks and the Norse placed importance on the same elements of life. Both societies believed in the idea of fate represented by three women although they had different names for them. In Norse mythology, these women were collectively called the Norns and were considered demi-goddesses. They were named Urd (fate), Verdandi (necessity) and Skuld (being) and had the primary duty of caring for Yggdrasil, the world tree (Lindemans, 1998). However, there is also evidence that they might have served a greater purpose by appearing to assist with childbirth and help establish the course of the individual’s future. The Greeks called them simply the Fates and they were more directly linked with the lives of mankind. Again considered demi-gods, these women were called Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos (Saunders, 2009). Clotho was responsible for spinning the thread of life which tends to associate her with birth and beginnings. Lachesis determined the length of the yarn, which translates to the determination of the present. Atropos has the duty, though, of making the final cut. Although they are considered lesser goddesses, they have power over everything that lives, including the other gods and goddesses. Thus, it can be deduced that both of these cultures had a great deal of respect for the concept of fate, both held these deities in an almost separate realm from the world of humans and even other gods and both cultures had a fundamental belief in predetermination. Both cultures had specific ideas regarding how the world was created that reveal the degree to which the cultures differed from each other. In the north, people had the idea that the world as they knew it was forged for them out of supreme struggle and vicious contention. According to Norse legend, the world began in a frozen state on one side and in fire on the other side of a large chasm. When these two elements met, they created Ymir who was nourished by a cow named Audhumbia, born from the same combination of fire and ice. The cow fed on the ice and this created Bur who was the grandfather of the Aesir and Ymir who was father of the frost giants (Gill, 2009). Bur had a son named Borr and Borr had a son named Odin who was recognized as the ruler of the gods by the Norse. Odin killed Ymir which also had the effect of killing most of Ymir’s frost giants and Odin created the earth, or Midgard, out of Ymir’s dead body. Also from Ymir’s body sprouted the tree of life, Yggdrasil, which supported the universe and connected the three worlds. The Greeks had a different, gentler worldview. According to their legend, the world was formed when a lonely goddess named Eurynome shared relations with either Ophion, a large snake, or the North Wind depending on the legend and subsequently gave birth to Eros, the god of love. The earth itself, Gaia, was created out of Eurynome’s happiness as she danced to create a place to play, separating land from water and sea from sky, which was named Uranus (Elliott, 2004). Gaia and Uranus parented the Titans which were a race of giants. One of these giants, Chronos, fathered as many as six children, most of whom he swallowed in order to prevent a prophecy that foretold he would be overthrown by his own child. The only child not swallowed was Zeus, who was preserved thanks to the interference of Gaia. Zeus eventually returned as a grown man to confront Chronos, tricked his father into throwing up his other children and all six were able to overthrow him. Because Zeus had set them free, he retained power over them and organized the universe the way he wanted, assigning the others to their respective realms. Although one society had a conception of a universe created out of love and joy and the other perceived it as something struggling for survival from its earliest beginning, there are many similarities between these two stories. A significant difference that illustrates the relative merits of the genders exists in the curious absence of women in bringing forth any of this early life in the Norse legend as compared to the central importance of the female for the Greeks. However, both legends have the universe starting from a point of nothingness, both involve a race of giants coming into existence before the race of then-present gods and both owe gratitude and fealty to the contemporary gods for having wrested the world of order and man from the cold and cruel grasp of the selfish giants. In both legends, it is the contemporary leader of the gods – Odin or Zeus – who overthrew a giant in order to win his position. This god and his wife are both more powerful in their abilities than the pantheon of gods who serve under them, each of which govern a different part of the world – one over the sea, one over the sky, etc – or experience – love, war, etc. Although these gods didn’t share the same degree of power as Odin or Zeus, they did serve as a kind of check to the primary god’s power. Especially in Greek tradition, these gods would often band together to question the god’s decisions and behavior, forcing more equitable conditions for the mortals in most cases. These characteristics are revealed through the stories that these cultures have left behind such as those of Homer or Hesiod and the Gylfaginning. These differences may be due in large part to the different climates they lived in. The Northern countries were characterized by very cold temperatures that made survival difficult. One had to be always aware and prepared if one was to survive. These tremendous drops in temperature could make it difficult to grow crops which often sent the Norsemen questing for new lands where the icecaps were advancing (Jones, 2001). The North Seas are notorious as well for their turbulent weather, featuring sudden, severe storms that could quickly and easily swamp a boat, particularly when it was the smaller style boats used by the Vikings. In the summers, they received too much sunlight and the oceans again grew difficult. As a result of their increasingly harsh climate, these people naturally had a darker outlook on life and their gods reflected this outlook. The Greeks, on the other hand, lived in a pleasant climate, full of plenty of warm sun and bountiful waters. They were not blessed with rich soils and thus had to depend to a great extent upon trade agreements with their neighbors, but were again fortunate in that they were able to do so with the help and support of their expert seamanship (Rymer, 2008). As a result, this society developed a much more forgiving pantheon of representatives. These differences in social outlooks are also reflected in their stories. Many of the Norse tales regarding the gods center upon war, battling evil and a great deal of death. These are reflected in many of their stories, including the epic of Beowulf. In contrast, the Greeks had stories that might also end with a great deal of bloodshed, but this was usually instigated by concerns of love. While both these societies have many similarities in their philosophies, there are as many differences. The Norse, constantly struggling to survive in a harsh and unpredictable climate, developed a pantheon of gods that reflected this harsh environment, placing a great deal of value on battle and fighting while largely removing the female from the important equations. The Greeks, on the other hand, developed a group of gods with a great deal more forgiveness and play to them. Parties and lovemaking were as important or perhaps more important than fighting and warfare while relationships between mortals and gods seemed to exist on more equal footing, enabling the human to bargain or talk his way out of trouble or solicit the aid of other gods to act on their behalf. While both groups had similar values and fundamental beliefs, they were undeniably influenced by their environment and social position in the greater world. Works Cited Elliott, Daphne. “Greek Creation Myths.” Encyclopedia Mythica. (2004). June 27, 2009 Gill, N.S. “Creation of the World – Norse Mythology on the Creation of the World.” About Ancient Classical History. (2009). June 26, 2009 Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Lindemans, Micha F. “Norns.” Encyclopedia Mythica. Pantheon. (1998). June 26, 2009 < http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/norns.html> Rymer, Eric. “Greek Climate and Physical Geography.” History Link. (2008). June 26, 2009 < http://historylink102.com/greece3/climate-geography.htm> Saunders, Chas & Peter A. “Fates.” Greek Mythology. Godchecker. (2009). June 26, 2009 < http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/greek-mythology.php?deity=FATES> Read More