What are the connections and differences between Norse mythology and Greek mythology?

Contact: Cultural Preservation

Greek myths or legends mostly come from ancient Greek literature, including "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" in "Homer's Epic", Hercules Classics such as Theod's Works and Days and Theogony, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Norse mythology is a mythological system unique to Scandinavia. It was formed later than other major mythological systems in the world. The history of oral transmission of Nordic mythology can be traced back to 1-2 AD. century, it was first popular in places such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Around the 7th century AD, it spread to Iceland and other places with a group of immigrants heading north.

Differences:

1. The creation of heaven and earth and the origin of God

The Nordics, like the Greeks, believed that before there was heaven and earth, there was chaos, but after The Greeks said it was a great chaotic mass, where earth, water, and air were all mixed together without distinction. It was a formless, ignorant, and colorless dark chaotic mass called Chaos. It's very clear to the Nordic people.

On one side is the endless iceberg flowing from the infinite spring Hevergelmir, and on the other side is the Mespaners, the home of the fire giant Surdr. Muspells-heim, and in the middle is a deep black bottomless and endless valley, so the Nordics imagined a world of ice and fire.

2. Worldview

The Greeks thought that there were happier humans living in the north where they lived...The Nordics did not have such a beautiful vision of a paradise world. Their existence is very difficult. They have to fight endlessly with wind, snow, and ice to survive. Therefore, their world view is also serious and realistic. ...The realistic and hard-working Nordic people think more about themselves and less about things other than themselves or things that have little to do with them.

3. Natural phenomena

The Nordics, like the Greeks, also believed that the earth was created first, and then the dome-shaped sky covered it. They also believed that the sun and the moon were Driving a glorious car to patrol the sky every day. However, the second-generation sun god of the Greeks was the male god Helius, but in Northern Europe he became the goddess Sol; and the beautiful moon was the male god Mani in Nordic mythology. .

4. Zeus and Odin

Zeus, like Odin, is the father of the gods and the personification of the universe. Odin sits in Helletskjaar. The throne of my husband can see the whole world, just like Zeus in the temple on the top of Mount Olympus.

Odin's invisible spear, like Zeus's thunder hammer, is an invincible weapon. Giants or gods may die under these two weapons. The Nordic gods often drink goat's milk and eat wolf meat, just like the living people in Northern Europe, but the Greek gods only like to drink sweet wine and fragrant ointment, which is almost the same as a comfortable Greek. .

The twelve gods sit in Odin’s Hall of Valhalla (Valhalla) and often hold meetings to study the best way to govern the world and mankind; and on the cloudy top of Olympus in Greece, It is said that there are also twelve main gods there who are keeping an eye on the same thing.

5. Freya and Aphrodite

In terms of the goddesses of love and beauty, they are both daughters of the sea, both goddesses of love, and they both like giving. Beautiful flowers and fruits. Greek mythology says that Aphrodite was forced to marry the unlovable god of fire Hephaestus, awakening her virginal dream; Norse mythology also says that the gods once wanted to marry Freya to the frost giant Thrym, the leader of the army, gave up only because of the firm opposition of the goddess of beauty.

Extended information:

Greek mythology is the spiritual product of primitive clan society and the earliest literary form in Europe. It was produced approximately in the 8th century BC. It formed its basic scale based on the long-term oral transmission of ancient Greek aborigines and the use of myths from other countries that spread to Greece. It was later used in Homer's "Homeric Epic" and Hesiod. They were recorded in the "Theogony" and ancient Greek poetry, drama, history, philosophy and other works. Later generations organized them into the current ancient Greek mythology stories, which are divided into two parts: stories of gods and legends of heroes.

Greek mythology originated from the ancient Aegean civilization and is slightly similar to the Chinese Shang and Zhou civilization. They are the ancestors of Western civilization, with outstanding nature and extraordinary imagination. In those primitive times, they felt mysterious and incomprehensible about natural phenomena and human life and death, so they continued to fantasize and meditate.

In their imagination, everything in the universe is alive. However, after the Dorians invaded the Aegean civilization, they had to look outside to expand their living space because the Greek peninsula where they lived was overpopulated. At this time, they worshiped heroes and heroes, thus many national heroic stories in which humans and gods were intertwined were produced.

These stories of people, gods, and objects created by people have been quenched by time and are collectively called "Greek mythology" by historians. From the 11th to the 7th and 8th centuries BC, they were It’s called the “Age of Mythology.” Mythological stories were originally passed down orally, and it was not until the seventh century BC that the great poet Homer recorded them in the "Epic".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Greek Mythology (one of the Western mythological systems)

Baidu Encyclopedia-Norse Gods