THE SCENE: The passage below – which discusses the origin of Odin-worship – demonstrates that medieval minds were not entirely bereft of critical thinking.
THE TEXT: Othin died in his bed in Sweden. But when he felt death approaching he had himself marked with the point of a spear, and he declared as his own all men who fell in battle. He said he was about to depart to the abode of the gods and would there welcome his friends. So then the Swedes believed that he had gone to the old Asgarth and would live there forever. Then the belief in Othin arose anew, and they called on him. Often, the Swedes thought, he revealed himself before great battles were fought, when he would give victory to some and invite others to come to his abode. Both fates seemed good to them.
Othin was burned after his death, and this burning on the pyre of his body took place with great splendor. It was people’s belief that this higher the smoke rose into the sky, the more elevated in heaven would he be who was cremated; and [therefore] a man [was considered] the nobler, the more possessions were burned with him.
– The Saga of the Ynglings, Snorri Sturluson, 13th Century AD
[Image Credit: Mahalah Moore]
