On the Shapes of Gods

Historic Depictions of Ancient Germanic Deities
& the Imagery of Mimisbrunnr.info

Joseph S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info, 2021

Special thanks to Caroline Hoel, Giorgia Sottotetti, Denise Vast, and Lyonel Perabo for their assistance and thoughtful feedback during the development of the present resource. All errors are the author’s own.

Mimisbrunnr.info’s On the Shapes of Gods has two primary goals: First, to explain Mimisbrunnr.info’s approach to the original art that appears throughout the project and, second, to make the daunting and often confusing historical record’s depictions of ancient Germanic deities a little more approachable for artists, authors, and other creatives who wish to draw from it.

Before we dive in, this resources requires an important disclaimer: The archaeological record relevant to the present piece is truly massive. A comprehensive overview solely dedicated to depictions of Germanic deities and deity-like figures in the archaeological record would be much larger than On the Shapes of Gods. A fuller treatment would go into great detail about, say, the incredible animal style art so widely attested among the ancient Germanic language-speaking peoples including, for example, the mind-boggling Viking Age art styles. Importantly, an in-depth resource would go into detail on how the items here relate to objects and styles known among surrounding peoples (and trade networks). Nonetheless, it is our hope that the present resource serves as a useful starting point.

To aid readers, we’ve included links to museum digital collection catalogues and approachable English-language items wherever possible and built a separate resource for readers looking to browse museum digital collections here. Additionally, readers new to the topic of Germanic mythology—narratives featuring deities among the ancient Germanic peoples—will find Mimisbrunnr’s “Getting Started with Germanic Mythology” to be useful.

Contents

• Ancient depictions

  • Identifying deities

  • Wood

  • Stone

  • Metal

  • Other

  • Depictions of foreign deities

• Modern depictions

• Mimisbrunnr.info’s approach

  • Examples

• Further reading

• References

Ancient depictions

Objects identified by scholars as depicting ancient Germanic deities survive into the modern record with great diversity and over a wide span of time. The examples presented below are only a sample of the record.

Identifying Deities: Considering the Textual Record

Some depictions of deities bear inscriptions that identity the object as a depiction of a deity, either by way of runic or Latin inscription. Other depictions generally held to depict deities bear no such textual accompaniment. The latter examples make up the great majority of the record and scholars identify them by way of a few factors.

For example, a depiction may reflect a textual description of a deity, such as figures holding a hammer, or may be buried in a particular manner that indicates that a figure is a deity or deity-like figure, such as the so-called ‘pole gods’, large, imposing, and carefully placed in bogs. In any case, the criteria for inclusion in the present article is whether a depiction has been identified as a deity by experts in the field of ancient Germanic studies.

The ancient Germanic textual record tends to focus on associations—expressed in iconography—and physical features. In the textual sources that come down to us, physical descriptions of deities are rare, but deities are almost always associated with some kind of concept, often in the form of objects or animals. Consider the following examples:

• Iðunn (Old Norse): A goddess strongly associated with particular apples (see the Kvasir Symbol Database entry “Apple & Apple Tree”). She is additionally associated with the symbol of the nut, as she is transformed into the tree fruit when rescued by an entity in the form of an eagle.

• Kvasir (Old Norse): A being who grew from the saliva of the gods; the personified mead. After his murder, Kvasir’s blood became the Mead of Poetry. In a sense comparable to the more modern John Barleycorn of English folklore and long considered to descend from the same motif complex as the Vedic entity (and substance) Soma.

• Odin (attested in many ancient Germanic languages): Described in Old Norse sources as a wise and crafty god who lacks an eye (which he placed in the cosmic sacred tree-feeding well Mimisbrunnr for a sip of its waters); is associated with long beards; appears in various guises—often as an elderly wanderer—and is strongly associated with the raven, wolf, and eagle.

• Sif (Old Norse): A goddess known for her long golden hair and who we’re told may also be referred to as ‘earth, soil’ (who is other personified as another deity). Various scholars have seen the combination of Sif and Thor as depicting the meeting of heaven and earth for the purpose of crop growth (the sexual union of which is known in scholarship as hieros gamos).

• Skaði (Old Norse): A ferocious jötunn and goddess associated with wolves who skis along wintry landscapes, where she hunts her prey.

• Thor (attested in many ancient Germanic languages): A widely attested god and ultimately the personified thunder (the god’s name is literally ‘thunder’), Thor receives some of the most vivid descriptions in the record. In Old Norse sources, Thor is well-known for his intense eyes, an association with the color red, and—most of all—the crushing blows of his hammer, Mjǫlnir. Like similar deities among related peoples, Thor’s hammer has a long history as an emblem.

Additionally, some deities are clear personifications of astral bodies, such as the following:

• Ēostre (Old English); *Austrōn (Proto-Germanic; cf. Kroonen 2013: 43): A goddess and personification of the dawn.

• Sól (Old Norse) & Sunna (Old High German): A goddess and personification of the Sun.

All descriptions of these deities stem from where we find the vast majority of surviving narratives about deities in the Germanic cultural sphere, the North Germanic record (specifically Old Norse). However, comparative data shows that a surprisingly large amount of these associations extend deep into history, sometimes in some form or another as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology, in which case these associations would have been known to the ancient Germanic peoples since their inception as an identifiable speech community.

Throughout the archaeological record of the ancient Germanic peoples, one will quite frequently encounter human faces combined with animals. Depictions of birds are particularly common to find and one need not look far to encounter depictions of bird-like entities with human features, such as on one of the Golden Horns of Gallehus (discussed below). Throughout the Old Norse corpus, deities take the forms of birds. Examples include Freyja, Frigg, Loki, and Odin. One deity, Hœnir, may have himself been conceived of as a bird (as discussed in the first Godshapes entry here). It is therefore conceivable that depictions of animals may at times represent deities.

Finally, as outlined above here, an important question arises around personifications of water bodies, astral bodies, and substances such as soil. Depictions of the Sun, personified as a goddess among the early Germanic peoples, provides something of a hint: Consider the non-anthropomorphic depictions of the Sun as the focal point of the famous Nordic Bronze Age Trundholm Sun Chariot found in a bog in Denmark.

That said, if the deity was fully anthropomorphized in representations on material culture, there may also be no outside indication that the depiction is that of the personified Sun for the uninformed.

Wood

Wood is a renewable, highly malleable and—in many regions—highly available material. Under most circumstances, wood rapidly biodegrades and leaves no trace. In turn, although it is quite reasonable to suspect that the great majority of objects produced by humankind have been made from wood, very few of these items survive into the present day. Adding to its quick degradation, wood also makes for quick and easy fuel for fire, a constant need for humankind. As a result, wooden objects must survive both the ravages of decay and fire to make it to us today. As English folklorist Hilda Ellis Davidson puts it:

Wood seldom survives in the earth except in unusual soil conditions, as in the Alamannic cemetery of Oberflacht in West Germany, and the ship-grave at Oseberg in south Norway. In both these cases the rich variety, skilled craftsmanship and elaborate symbolism of the carving on the wooden objects found indicate how much may have been lost in other rich burials. (Davidson 1988: 9)

Most of what makes down to us today was clearly intentionally placed in these preserving environments. These types of objects are known as votive deposits and are widely known throughout the ancient world. To the benefit of modern researchers, it happens that such particular conditions exist in the cold peat bogs of Northern Europe, where many objects—and even human corpses, the so-called bog bodies—have been discovered. Some of these items include carved wooden figures that scholars have identified as depictions of deities.

These depictions are what scholars often refer to as ‘pole gods’, so named because they resemble poles. Pole gods can consist of little more than forked tree branches with hewn facial features and strongly emphasized genitals and some are quite large and imposing, well beyond the size height of a human being. As summarized by Austrian philologist Rudolf Simek (we’ve formatted this paragraph for display and added links):

There are numerous finds of anthropomorphic wooden figures made from forked branches, which may be anything from under one meter to over four meters high, as in Ejsbøl on Jutland. Unfortunately, this latter figure does not reveal its gender but was found in the context of the large weapon-booty sacrifices and may well have symbolized the god to whom these sacrifices were offered.

In the case of a sacrificial bog in Oberdorla in Thuringia, several crude wooden gods were found, some apparently designed to depict a female goddess, just as in the case of the three-meter-long (nearly 10 feet) figure from Forlev Nymølle, Jutland, no more than a forked branch crudely marked as female with a cut in the fork to represent the vulva. No less more obviously male is another figure from Broddenbjerg, Jutland, where a fourth branch forms an enormous erect penis on this figure.

In two examples, wooden pole gods turn up in couples, as in the tall and well carved figures from Braak near Eutin in Schleswig-Holstein (dating back to the early Iron Age or even late Bronze Age) or several much more symbolic carved gods from Wittenmoor in Lower Saxony. The former couple stood on a sacrificial site marked by many fires and Iron Age pottery, the latter protected a wooden causeway through a bog.

Some of these wooden idols seem to have been dressed in rich cloaks (Nydam; Rebild), and may have been painted as well, so we get the impression of wooden statues of gods, which were only rarely shaped in any detail, but impressed by their size or decoration. (Simek 2004: 78-79)

Such depictions have an ancient origin and are widespread—for example, they have much in common with the Ancient Greek xoana. Textual records of the beliefs of the ancient Germanic peoples revealed that they had a particular relationship with wood and trees; for example, they deemed themselves to have descended from trees, as we read in both early Germanic and much later North Germanic sources. For more discussion on this topic, see the Kvasir Symbol Database entry “Sacred Tree & Holy Grove” and English Wikipedia’s excellent article on the topic (with the rather unwieldy but admittedly necessary title “Anthropomorphic wooden cult figurines of Central and Northern Europe”).

Another well-known example of an anthropomorphic carving is one found in the center of a peat bog in Rude Eskilstrup, Denmark. Difficult to date, this is notable for its detail and the fact that it wears a necklace (readers can view the figure here). English folklorist Hilda Davidson succinctly describes the figure as following:

[The figure] depicts a seated male figure with an arresting bearded face and large eyes, wearing a cloak and a threefold neck-ring in the style of the post-Roman period, [he] holds some unidentified square object in his lap. Such a figure could represent either a Celtic or a Germanic deity, and it has been suggested that the seated figure in the cloak is Wodan, but there is no clear indications of this. (Davidson 1998: 17)

A variety of other wooden objects have been found that scholars have suspected may depict deities, particularly the god Odin (who Davidson refers to above as Wodan) due to intentional emphasis on a single eye. Other objects are also thought to depict deities in wood, like a curious one-eyed figure depicted pillar standing in the Hegge stave church in Norway. The earliest known stave churches are themselves likely continuations of earlier structures in the region, which may fall under the parameters of “temples” (see for example discussion in Simek 1993: 310-312 but note that the archaeological record has now far-superseded many of Simek’s observations in this entry).

Textual sources indicate that the North Germanic peoples depicted traditional folk narratives on a variety of wooden objects. Skaldic poems featuring such descriptions include Ragnarsdrápa (attributed to Bragi Boddason), Húsdrápa (attributed to Úlfr Uggason), and Haustlöng (attributed to Þjóðólfr of Hvinir). Each consists of a highly skilled traditional poet (a skald) reciting an ornate and stylized retelling of narratives depicted on the objects (an example of ekphrasis). Ragnarsdrápa and Haustlöng both describe images on a shield while Húsdrápa describes images depicted on panels in a home.

Stone

Scholars have also identified depictions of deities in stone. Stone degrades at a far lower rate than wood, particularly when buried, but it’s also an in-demand material for construction—stone objects may be broken down and repurposed for a variety of purposes by humans. As a result, while it is highly likely that wooden objects make up the vast majority of historic depictions of deities, more stone objects have been identified by scholars as depicting ancient Germanic deities than wooden objects.

The oldest of these depictions stem from the Nordic Bronze Age (around 1700–500 BCE). These take the form of stone carvings known as petroglyphs. Petroglyphs feature defined and often repeated symbols and motifs. One such motif is a figure (or figures) holding a hammer-like object, which scholars have long identified as a precursor to the deity we call Thor, whose name is identical to the common noun ‘thunder’.

Among the carvings in Litsleby, Sweden, another well-known and life-size figure (and therefore enormous when compared to most other Bronze Age carvings) wields a spear. This figure, sometimes called the Litsleby Man (Swedish Litslebymannen) or the Spear God (Swedish Spjutguden) is frequently interpreted to be a deity and the presence of the spear on the particularly emphasized statue of this figure has led to many scholars and viewers interpreting this figure as a Bronze Age precursor to the god Odin, who in much later texts is strongly associated with this weapon (for a little discussion, see discussion from the Underslös Museum and various images on Wikimedia Commons).

Dating from around the first to fifth centuries CE, archaeologists have discovered numerous depictions of seated trios of women from stone, referred to in Latin inscriptions as the Matres and Matronae and often just referred to as the Mothers in modern scholarship. These objects functioned as altars and bear specific iconography and symbolism that include baskets of apple-like fruits (see the Kvasir Symbol Database entry “Apples & Apple Tree”) and other vegetation, and flanked by dogs and depicted with objects like diapers. As summarized by Simek:

[The Ancient Germanic peoples] in the first half of the first millennium venerated a large number of local female deities, which in the Germanic areas conquered by the Roman army led to a Roman style cult of these Germanic (and similarly Celtic) goddesses. These matres or matronae were approached by partly Romanized members of the early Germanic tribes such as the Ubians or the Frisians or personal or familiar needs, vows made to them, and after the fulfillment of the vow, a stone altar with an inscription and frequently a picture of three seated women in relief was set up. (Simek 2004: 81)

The names of these deities refer to locations, groups of peoples, water bodies (like rivers and springs), and the general concept of giving. (Ibid.) These depictions are undoubtedly an extension of the widely attested groups of goddess-like female deities found in later textual sources, sometimes also appearing in trios (three and multiples of three are important numbers in Germanic paganism). These entities are variously described in North Germanic sources as the norns, valkyries, and/or dísir, with the latter two forms occurring in West Germanic sources as well.

Another object relevant to this section is the so-called Rossland God (Norwegian Rosslandsguden), consisting of a head carved from stone. Norwegian archaeologist Eirik Storesund operates the web-based project Brute Norse (and who Mimisbrunnr.info interviewed in 2018) for which he has produced an excellent video essay about this depiction that readers can find here.

Later, standing stones bearing runic inscriptions—runestones—and similarly erected stones without inscriptions but featuring images—picture stones—also provide a rich source for objects potentially depicting deities. Wikimedia Commons has a nice collection of these stones that readers can find here. While many images featured on these stones are quite mysterious, some stones clearly depict deities and even narratives known to us, right down to a small detail found in the Prose Edda retelling of the deity. These depictions can be found on the Altuna Runestone in Sweden, the Hørdrum stone in Denmark, and the Gosforth Cross in England, all from the Viking Age.

While composed in Iceland in the 13th century from earlier traditional items, the Prose Edda also neatly explains otherwise entirely obscure depictions on picture stones distant in time and place. For example, the Prose Edda tells readers that the god Baldr’s ship funeral was attended by a being a female jötunn—difficult to describe other than ‘god-like beings’—named Hyrokkin, who arrived holding serpent reins and on a wolf.

A figure meeting exactly this description appears on one of the image stones of the Hunnestad Monument in southern Sweden. This image is pictographically similar to a stone from Gotland, Sweden, the so-called “Snake Witch” image, that is several hundred years older and which features a pigtailed and open-legged figure holding serpents. Numerous other stones offer potential depictions of deities or deity-like entities but are beyond the scope of the present resource.

Metal

Of all the materials listed here, metal is by far the most complicated, resource-intensive, and expensive material with which to work. Its production requires both wood and stone, and under the right conditions, metal can remain in relatively good condition for thousands of years. Yet metal—and in particular ‘precious’ metal like gold—has long been a prime target for grave robbers, who have historically hoped to melt these objects down or sell them on the black market.

The incredible Golden Horns of Gallehus make for a great example. Dating from around sixth century CE and discovered in Southern Jutland, these objects are exactly what they sound like: Two long horns made from sheet gold. One of the two horns features a Proto-Norse Elder Futhark runic inscription. One horn is larger than the other and both are ornately decorated with enigmatic depictions of various entities. While a few of the figures depicted on the horns seem to be connected with other depictions known from elsewhere in the archaeological record, the great majority of the horns’ motifs are otherwise unknown and feature remarkable anthropomorphic depictions of part-animal entities alongside various animals, many of them serpentine. One figure has three heads while two others are horned, another is part horse.

The horns have repeatedly attracted thieves and it is due to theft that the originals are no longer with us. In 1802 in Copenhagen, a local thief stole the horns and melted them down into various objects. Since then, even copies of the horns have attracted thieves: Thieves stole bronze copies from the Moesgaard Museum in 1993 and silver copies from the museum Kongernes Jelling in 2007. Both were recovered shortly thereafter.

During the same era (around 400-600 CE), the Roman Empire poured a tremendous amount of gold coins into Central and Northern Europe. The ancient Germanic peoples in these areas converted the coins to jewelry, which are known today as bracteates. The coins were extensively modified by local artists, who converted the depictions on the coins to their own preferences, sometimes with runic inscriptions. Scholars suspect many bracteates from this era depict Germanic deities, some more clearly than others.

A bracteate found on the island of Funen in Denmark makes for a particularly fine example and is widely interpreted as depicting Odin, his horse, and a raven. The Elder Futhark inscription on the bracteate mentions the name ‘High’—one of Odin’s various names in later North Germanic material—and the widely-attested magical word (or formula) alu. (For general discussion on bracteates, see Lindow 2001: 84-86 and, more dated, Simek 1993: 43-44.)

During the 8th century, the use of bracteates appears to have transitioned into a new type of metal depiction, peculiar gold foil figures (often called gullgubber or similar). These small stamped gold foil objects generally depict individuals making marked gestures as well as embracing couples. They may be nude or clothed and some bear weapons. While archaeologists have discovered thousands of examples of these objects in what is today Norway, Sweden, and especially Denmark, the purpose of these objects and what they depict—almost always consisting of thin gold—remain a mystery. Like votive objects placed in bogs, they appear to have been intentionally buried or otherwise placed in non-visible spaces. Whatever their purpose or function, scholars have long suspected that these items depict deities and use and production of gullgubber appear to have fallen out of use with the Christianization of the region. (For overviews with images, see Hedeager 2015: 129-147 and Helmbrecht 2013: 9-12)

Numerous metal objects identified by scholars as depicting valkyries have also been discovered. The most consistently depicted motif from this group of objects features a woman with braided hair presenting an object that often appears to be a drinking horn. Examples include this bronze object from Nygård, Denmark and a similar silver object from Birka, Sweden. This motif is found in a variety of places: It’s on one of the Golden Horns of Gallehus (see right side of the the second band from the top here), the Tjängvide image stone (in front of Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse—detail), and the later U 1163 in Uppland.

Other objects frequently interpreted to be valkyries are fully armed. Perhaps the most spectacular example is a fully three-dimensional object from Hårby, Denmark depicting a highly detailed and stylized woman holding a sword and a shield. Readers can find images of the object from the National Museum of Denmark here.

Other examples include a variety of figures found around Tissø, Denmark, viewable here—one of which features a truly remarkable figure holding what appears to be hair and featuring jagged teeth—and another as a silver fibula from Galgebakken, Denmark, viewable here. Whether these figures should really be considered ‘valkyries’ and not goddesses, some of whom are described as armed and ferocious, is a matter worth considering further.

One may encounter various corrective ‘facts’ about the Viking Age in meme form from time to time. One of those ‘facts’ is horned helmets were unknown to the Viking Age Scandinavians and related peoples, just another modern invention. This isn’t exactly true. A very widespread series of depictions featuring figures with ‘horns’ that terminate into what appear to be bird heads occurs throughout the ancient Germanic record. The Portable Antiquities Scheme hosts an excellent image of one such example from Anglo-Saxon England here and here’s another from Ribe, Denmark at the National Museum of Denmark. These motifs are connected to depictions of a wolf-headed figure, such as on one of the four Torslunda plates discovered in Sweden.

The most thorough and accessible discussion in recent years on topic is an English language MA thesis by scholar Nicolai Lanz for the University of Iceland (Lanz 2021) (although the present author disagrees with Lanz’s assessment regarding the identity of the figure and sides with the many scholars who have deemed this motif as likely to generally depict the god Odin.)

Again, it’s important that we bear in mind the limitations of the archaeological record: As German scholar Michaela Helmbrecht puts it, “What survived until today – and was found – is just a minor part of what once existed, and any conclusions must be checked against these circumstances” (Helmbrecht 2013: 24). Indeed, one can’t help but wonder how many objects have been plundered from grave sites or found by chance and taken to be melted down over the centuries. There’s no way to know how many ancient masterpieces have been lost to the kiln.

The Rällinge statuette is another object that has attracted a significant amount of attention. This Viking Age bronze figurine features a seated figure gripping his pointed beard. Adding to the figure’s general focus on ‘pointedness’, the figure also wears a pointed beard and has an erect penis. The Rällinge statuette was discovered in Södermanland, Sweden and scholars have frequently interpreted it as depicting the god Freyr due to a comparable description by 11th century writer Adam of Bremen. Whatever its identity, the figure shares motifs with the Broddenbjerg Man discussed above.

This object is comparable to the Eyrarland Statue found in Iceland, another Viking Age bronze figurine that is similarly seated, bearded, and wearing a pointed hat. However, rather than his beard, this figure holds a peculiar object with both hands and is not depicted with an erect penis. Due to the ready interpretation of the object as a depiction of Mjöllnir, Thor’s hammer, this object has frequently been identified as a depiction of the extremely popular god Thor.

The discovery of another figurine, the so-called Odin from Lejre, caused quite a splash upon its discovery in 2009. Dated to around 900 CE, this figurine depicts an enthroned figure flanked by two birds. The throne is quite stylized, featuring what appears to be wolf heads, and the figure is wearing female clothing. Lejre is an extremely important location in the history of the region and such a find at this site is quite remarkable. Much of this figure closely aligns with literary sources: The throne is readily interpretable as the throne of Odin, Hliðskjálf, and the birds as the ravens Huginn and Muninn. The wolf-like heads are therefore easily interpreted as Geri and Freki, Odin’s wolves. However, the figure seated on the throne appears to be female. As various scholars have noted, this object may well be better interpreted as depicting the wise goddess Frigg, well attested as Odin’s wife as far back as the early Germanic period.

Other

Other materials are yet rarer. Cloth tapestries make for a great example—very few of these survive into the modern era for analysis and all examples are fragmentary. Notable examples include the Överhogdal tapestries, which depict an enormous sacred tree, frequently identified as Yggdrasil (German archaeologist Sven Knippschild has a great piece on this at Roter Geysir here); and the Oseberg tapestry fragments, found with the Oseberg burial. Scholars have long suspected both feature depictions of deities. Less well-known are the Viking Age Mammen textile fragments, which also feature anthropomorphic figures (the National Museum of Denmark provides illustrations and photographs of the fragments here).

Images representing gods or deity-like entities may also be found on other objects. Carved from whale bone and featuring Old English runic text, the so-called Franks Casket is a particularly famous example. The object features imagery from a variety of sources: Foundational scenes from Roman and Christian folklore (the motifs of Romulus and Remus suckling the wolf and the Nativity of Jesus) mingle with well-known Germanic legendary material (Wayland the Smith). The object also features a depiction of what appear to be three hooded women weaving, often identified as the norns (see for example Lindow 2001: 244) and so an extension of the Mothers discussed above. Readers can view the casket at the British Museum’s website here.

Amber makes for another example. The Baltic Sea is quite famous to this day for its amber and a variety of anthropomorphic figures carved from the material have been discovered in the region. Some of these figures may have been intended to depict deities. Examples include this partial figure from Fedet, Denmark of what appears to be a man gripping his beard and another depicting a human head from Frederikshavn, Denmark.

Depictions of Foreign Deities:
INterpretatio germanica?

Archaeologists have found numerous depictions of foreign deities—images of gods produced by other peoples—in graves, hoards, and other deposits connected to the ancient Germanic peoples. A depiction of Buddha seated above a lotus flower discovered in a buried Viking Age hoard makes for a famous example. This depiction was manufactured in India centuries earlier—the eighth century CE—before making its way to the soil of what we today know as Mälaren, Sweden.

The figures’ posture strongly resembles an antlered figure depicted on a remarkable vessel discovered in a peat bog in Denmark. This object, the known as the Gundestrup Cauldron, is dated to around the first century BCE and is thought to have been manufactured somewhere to the southeast of Denmark, perhaps in Thrace. Scholars interpret the seated antlered figure here as Cernunnos, ‘the horned (antlered) one’, a well-known Celtic deity. Here he is surrounded by animals. This precious object’s intentional placement in a peat bog reveals that it was highly valued, a votive object.

It’s reasonable to wonder whether the Germanic peoples who encountered these objects interpreted them as deities of their own because this appears to have been common practice among the ancient Germanic peoples and some (if not all) of their neighbors. This process is known as interpretatio (‘interpretation’) and the local interpretation of foreign Roman deities as native Germanic deities provided six out of seven weekday names that almost all extant Germanic languages use today: The ancient Germanic peoples adopted to Roman days of the week but interpreted the deities mentioned their as their own (and so, for example, ‘Mercury’s Day’ became ‘Odin’s Day’, or Wōden in Old English and so Woden’s-Day—modern English Wednesday).

For example, consider the Gundestrup Cauldron. It would appear that kingship was associated with antlers at an early period among the ancient Germanic peoples and potentially also the early Germanic deity *Ingwaz (on this topic, see Kvasir’s Symbol Database entry “Antlers & Stag” here). Perhaps, as with their the weekday names, the early Germanic community who came into possession of the cauldron also interpreted it as depicting a deity of their own.

Various depictions of deities from Rome have been found among the ancient Germanic peoples. Rather than melt them down and form them into something new, as in the case of a small bronze statuette of the Roman goddess Juno. Did the ancient Germanic peoples see in this depiction a goddess of their own, perhaps Frigg or Freyja?

Modern depictions

In the modern era, it’s rare to see depictions of deities that are not drawn from the North Germanic record. Rather than directly influenced by the literary or archaeological record, these depictions often result from the influence of some level of intermediary influence. In the history of depictions of Germanic deities, one particular influence has historically reined supreme, namely Richard Wagner’s (d. 1883) tremendously influential depiction of Germanic deities as a component of his Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle (premiered 1876). Tremendously influential is if anything an understatement—it is difficult to assess the colossal impact Wagner’s work has had on the arts and the artist’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ (with accompanying Wagnerian valkyrie imagery) continues to appear in western modern popular culture.

Modern depictions tend to have more in common with historic depictions of Classical entities than how deities appear depicted in the ancient Germanic record. For example, costumer and stage designer Carl Emil Doepler's work for Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen opera cycle sees valkyries sporting winged helmets, evidently an influence from Classical depictions of deities such as Hermes and/or helmets bearing birds and wings are known from the Celtic archaeological (as discussed above, depictions of bird-helmets are known among the ancient Germanic peoples but they tend to resemble horns). Wagner’s ring cycle costuming was undoubtedly a big influence on Marvel Comics’s characterization of the Norse gods and in particular Thor, first occurring in the 1962 comic book Journey into Mystery #83.

Similarly, the goddess Freyja, while commonly depicted in regions such as Scandinavia in popular culture such as Peter Madsen’s Valhalla comic books or the Danish national anthem (composed by Adam Oehlenschläger in 1819), has essentially been deleted out of Anglosphere depictions. Much as in Wagner’s ring cycle, which deletes Freyja out of existence and merges her into Iðunn, Freyja receives comparatively little attention in American media.

Not all depictions in the modern era bear the mark of Wagnerian influence. The most monumental depiction of a North Germanic deity today stands in Copenhagen, Denmark: The Gefion Fountain is a large statue depicting its namesake, the goddess Gefjon, and her oxen sons by Anders Bundgaard as part of a highly visible fountain (Gefionspringvandet, 1908). In what we today call Norse mythology, Gefjon is the creator of Zealand, the island where the city of Copenhagen would later sprang up, and here she is depicted in a naturalistic and Classically-influenced style.

Not far from here, one can encounter a sculpture of a valkyrie, a female ‘chooser of the battlefield corpses’, by Stephan Sinding (Valkyrie, 1908). In this depiction, the valkyrie appears astride a shrieking horse, her hair blowing in the wind, nude but for a bellowing cloak, screaming, and preparing to launch a spear. This furious and timeless image makes for a very different depiction of the valkyrie than what one can find in Wagnerian productions. It’s not difficult to find many other such depictions of deities and entities from North Germanic folklore alongside Greek deities, topics and figures from Christian folklore, and secular subjects.

Far across the globe, one can find other depictions of Norse deities, in the case of the present study’s second example in the city of Portland, Oregon. This region of the United States, the Pacific Northwest, draws from extensive Scandinavian influence ultimately stemming from heavy Scandinavian migrations to the region during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Portland contains two notable depictions of North Germanic deities: A depiction of the god Thor and one of the wise and mysterious being Mímir. These are decidedly different than the examples from Copenhagen highlighted above in that they are highly abstract and not at all naturalistic. The first of the two pieces is Thor by Melvin Schuler (1977). Consisting of copper nails hammered on redwood and richly textured, the piece invokes the image of a pillar, the thundering sound of a striking hammer, and the ‘god-nails’ (Old Norse Reginnaglar) mentioned in the Old Norse record (for a little discussion on these objects, see Simek 1993: 262-263).

Similarly abstract, Mimir by Keith Jellum (1980) is a bronze and concrete sculpture that has undoubtedly confused nearly everyone who has stumbled upon it. As the Smithsonian American Art Museum Art Inventories Catalog puts it, the piece consists of “decorative obelisk with a mask mounted at the top. The mask has a cone-like nose and tusks. It wears a layered breastplate with shoulder pads”.

The artist describes the sculpture’s head as “part fish, part space creature”, certainly an accurate way of putting it. The piece is intentionally abstract and no doubt projects mystery and wonder to those who unexpectedly encounter it.

Mimisbrunnr.info’s approach:
About The Art of Mimisbrunnr.info

The original art found throughout the Mimisbrunnr.info project is the product of two artists: Rim Baudey and Estel*la Juventay in collaboration with Joseph S. Hopkins, Mimisbrunnr.info Project Lead. The production of original art for a scholastically-oriented project is unusual: In fact, it’s safe to say that there are few projects similar to Mimisbrunnr.info. Consider the following aspects of the site’s visual approach:

• Ancient texts & archaeology: The Mimisbrunnr.info’s approach to depicting deities hinges primarily on drawing from the textual record. The North Germanic record in particular brims with evocative imagery associated with deities, sometimes in quite unexpected ways. Deities all have associations and Mimisbrunnr.info’s artists invoke these associations by way of iconographic elements contained in depictions of deities. For example, like the Continental Germanic Mothers attested early in the ancient Germanic record who bear baskets of similar-looking fruit, the goddess Iðunn is associated with apples, and so Mimisbrunnr.info depicts her with them.

Mimisbrunnr.info draws from the textual record in other ways. For example, Arabic-speaking traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan describes his encounter with the Rus’, in his Risala, which dates from the 10th century CE. Early in their history, the Rus’ were a Viking Age North Germanic people who Ibn Fadlan describes as heavily tattooed with ‘tree patterns’. He also provides an extremely rare first-person account of Rus’ clothing, folk beliefs, and rituals, much of which closely aligns with the broader textual record. Readers can compare translations of some of the most notable passages of Ibn Fadlan’s Risala touching on these topics here.

Whether decorative or punitive, tattooing has by all indications always been a common practice among humankind, including in Europe. (For discussion on ancient tattooing, including in Europe, see for example Norman 2011, Tsiafakis 2015, and Dinter & Khoo 2019.) Combined with the tattoo-like markings on the Viking Age Rällinge Statuette—discussed further below—Mimisbrunr.info has used this description to inform some depictions of deities that appear within the project.

• Timelessness: In all visual decisions, Mimisbrunnr.info aims to visually communicate a sense of timelessness. Like related genres of folklore, myth—which for the purpose of this resource let us define as ‘narratives about deities’—often occurs in a sort of liminal space, a distant and undefined time.

In myth, time is a flexible and often vague topic that can be circular rather than a straight line. For example, the famous Old Norse poem Vǫluspá is cyclic in structure and content. In Vǫluspá, ends mirror beginnings: People come from trees only to return to them and descend from them again; the earth suffers devastating pollution, fires, and floods, only to be reborn green and fertile. Game pieces appear and reappear as signifiers of a time ‘reset’. The ancient Germanic record also references cyclic concepts such as reincarnation. This approach to time in myth is, appropriately enough, sometimes referred to as mythic time. (For accessible—albeit increasingly dated—discussion on this, see Lindow 2001: 39-45.)

To date, the art of Mimisbrunnr.info attempts to reflect this notion of timelessness by generally avoiding material culture that can be dated to any particular era. In turn, the project generally represents deities by way of naturalistic depictions of human bodies draped in furs and other ‘natural’ fabrics in temperate landscapes.

• Animism & personification: As is common throughout the world, the Ancient Germanic record features strong elements of animism: In its most simplified form, the notion that objects and substances we today often consider ‘inanimate’ are in fact ‘animate’ or ‘alive’ in a sense, such as bodies of water.

  Straightforward examples of animism occur throughout the record but are particularly transparent when, for example, bodies of water are personified as entities, including deities. (For more discussion on this topic, see the Kvasir Symbol Database entry “Water, Water Body, & Ship”, 2021).

  All depictions for the site are informed to some extent by the concept of animism and aspects of personification, attempting to some extent mirror representations of deities as they comes down to us today.

Mimisbrunnr.info tailors its original depictions of deities to the demands of the project’s platform. For example, depictions in the ancient Germanic record frequently place emphasis on genitals, often in an explicitly sexual manner. This appears to indicate some notion of virility, strength, and power on the part of the deities, but such depictions on a public-facing resource such as Mimisbrunnr.info cause the website problems with factors such as search engine optimization and indexing due to contemporary moral standards. In turn, Mimisbrunnr.info’s depictions of deities necessarily meet these requirements.

Examples

The process for art on Mimisbrunnr.info usually starts with a conceptual sketch or a brief description of what a piece may need. This sketch or description often comes from the site’s project lead, Joseph S. Hopkins. The site’s artists then execute a design based on the description or in response to a sketch, eventually yielding the finished pieces one can find throughout the site.

Ymir & Ár Var Alda

From left to right: One of various concept sketches from Joseph S. Hopkins, the completed Ymir image by Estel·la Juvanteny for Mimisbrunnr.info, and a print flyer by Joseph S. Hopkins advertising the Ár Var Alda reading circle, all from 2019. Ár Var Alda was originally a reading circle at the University of Georgia’s Department of Germanic and Slavic studies, which led to the creation of the Mimisbrunnr.info project.

Ymir is a primordial being mentioned throughout North Germanic myth who was carved up by a trio of gods and whose corpse formed the cosmos. This is an extremely ancient motif complex known among various Indo-European peoples (and non-Indo-European peoples). Readers can find a solid write up about this figure on English Wikipedia. For this piece, Catalan artist Estel·la Juvanteny worked from a sketch provided by Joseph S. Hopkins and developed the above logo for the revived Ár Var Alda. This image draws inspiration from a well-known early stanza of the Old Norse poem Vǫluspá. Readers can find more information about the reading circle here.

Mimisbrunnr.info articles

The above images are all by Kazakh artist Rim Baudey for Mimisbrunnr.info, completed for the project between 2019 and 2021. From left-to-right, top row to bottom row, they are as follows:

• a. Njǫrðr, a deity strong associated with bodies of water (top left)

• b. The hands of the three norns smearing a white substance on the central sacred tree Yggdrasil as described in the eddic poem Vǫluspá

• c. The gathered six gods of Merseburg Charm II

• d. The Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán (personified waves)

• e. The ferocious jǫtunn and goddess Skaði

• f. The creation of the first two humans (Ask and Embla) from wood by a trio of gods

• g. A stylized depiction of the six gods of the Merseburg Charm II

• h. The goddess Iðunn with the jǫtunn Þjazi (in the form of an eagle)

• i. A bellowing stag, representing the antler-wielding god Freyr

• j. The god Odin wandering distant landscapes

• k. The personified mead Kvasir

• l. Another depiction of the goddess Iðunn, here holding a basket of apples (bottom right)

Further reading

Collections and guides to Germanic art can be tough to find. It seems that most of these volumes go into press for a limited period before fading into obscurity. However, with a little digging, one can find a variety of handsome, fully-illustrated editions with excellent accompanying commentary. Consider the following items:

• Carver, Martin. 1998. Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings? University of Pennsylvania Press.

• Graham-Campbell, James. 2013. Viking Art. Thames & Hudson. Publisher website.

• Megaw, J. V. S. 1970. Art of the European Iron Age: A Study of the Elusive Image. Harper & Row.

More contemporarily, artist Jonas Lau Markussen has produced some accessible guides to the topic of Viking Age art specifically:

• Markussen, Jonas Lau. 2019. The Anatomy of Viking Art. Self-published. Publisher website.

References

• Davidson, H. R. Ellis. 1988. Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe. Syracuse University Press.

• Dinter, Martin T. & Astrid Khoo. 2019. “‘If Skin were Parchment…’: Tattoos in Antiquity” in S. T. Kloß, editor. Tattoo Histories: Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing, p. 85-102. Routledge. Viewable online at Academia.edu.

• Hedeager, Lotte. 2015. “For the Blind Eye Only? Scandinavian Gold Foils and the Power of Small Things” in Norwegian Archaeological Review 48:2, p. 129-151.

• Helmbrecht, Michaela. 2013. “Figures, Foils and Faces - Fragments of a pictorial world. Anthropomorphic images from the Vendel period and Viking Age found at Uppåkra” in Birgitta Hårdh, Lars Larsson (ed.). Folk, fä och fynd. Uppåkrastudier 12, p. 9-31. Acta Arch. Lundensia Ser. in 8, No. 64. Viewable online at Academia.edu.

• Kroonen, Guus. 2013. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Brill.

• Lanz, Nicolai Gabriel. 2021. The Enigma of the Horned Figure. Horned Figures in Pre-Christian Germanic Societies of the Younger Iron Age. MA thesis. University of Iceland. Viewable online at Academia.edu.

• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press.

• Norman, Carmilla. 2011. “The Tribal Tattooing of Daunian Women” in European Journal of Archaeology 14, p. 133-156. Viewable online at Academia.edu.

• Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Boydell & Brewer Ltd.

• Simek, Rudolf. 2004. "Early Germanic Culture and the Conversion to Christianity" in Brian Murdoch & Malcolm Read, editors. Early Germanic Literature and Culture. Camden House.

• Tsiafakis, Despoina. 2015. “Thracian Tattoos” in Dietrich Boschung, Alan Shapiro, & Frank Waschek, editors. Bodies in Transition: Dissolving the Boundaries of Embodied Knowledge. Morphomata. Viewable online at Academia.edu.