THE SCENE: There is a consistent, if little known, traditional story that Odin was once forced to abdicate his crown (and Godhood) after dishonoring himself, and was replaced by an imposter. Here, Saxo Grammaticus recounts his version of the myth.
THE TEXT: But the gods, whose chief seat was then at Byzantium, seeing that Odin had tarnished the fair name of godhead by divers injuries to its majesty, thought that he ought to be removed from their society. And they had him not only ousted from the headship, but outlawed and stripped of all worship and honour at home; thinking it better that the power of their infamous president should be overthrown than that public religion should be profaned. Fear was in their souls, death before their eyes, and one would have supposed that the fault of one was visited upon the heads of all.
So, not wishing Odin to drive public religion into exile, they exiled him and put one Oller in his place, to bear the symbols not only of royalty but also of godhead, as though it had been as easy a task to create a god as a king. Also, to omit no circumstance of greatness, they further gave his the name of Odin, trying by the prestige of that title to be rid of the obloquy of innovation. For nearly ten years Oller held the presidency of the divine senate; but at last the gods pitied the horrible exile of Odin, and thought that he had now been punished heavily enough; so he exchanged his foul and unsightly estate for his ancient splendour; for the lapse of time had now wiped out the brand of his earlier disgrace.
Thus Oller was driven out from Byzantium by Odin and retired into Sweden. Here, while [Oller] was trying, as if in a new world, to repair the records of his glory, the Danes slew him. The story goes that he was such a cunning wizard that he used a certain bone, which he had marked with awful spells, wherewith to cross the seas, instead of a vessel; and that by this bone he passed over the waters that barred his way as quickly as by rowing.
– Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus, 12th Century AD
[Image Credit: Odhin by Johannes Gehrts
