Myth
|
Thor was the son of Odin.
He also was the god of thunder, which was the main enemy of the
giants. He would smash their heads with his mighty hammer Mjollnir. To
wield this incredible weapon he needed iron gloves and a belt of strength.
Mjollnir would return to Thor's hand after being thrown and was symbolic
of lightning. Thor would ride around middle-earth in his wagon drawn by
two goats. He was foremost of the gods to the
common man, who would call on him to ensure fertility, and widely
worshiped. Hammer shaped amulets, a symbol of Thor because it was his
weapon, were worn about the neck well into the christianization of
Scandinavia. There are molds from that time, which contain both cross and
hammer shapes, side by side. Thursday is named for him and was
associated by the Romans with Jupiter, therefore also parallel to Zeus.
They were all the wielder of lightning bolts. Some claim that Odin is the
Norse equivalent to Jupiter / Zeus, however, one needs look not much
further than the name given to the fourth day of the week by the Romans
and then to its English equivalent to see that the ancients equated Odin
with Mercury / Hermes. Donar was an early version of Thor among
the Germans and the anglo-saxons worshiped a thunder god named Thunor.
|