Old Norse and Ancient Sumerian Myths: Monstrous Gods and Divine Beasts
Of all the old folk religions, ancient paganisms, there have been tales of great gods, some glorious and mighty, others lowly and sly. Many qualities have been attributed to these gods, including anthropomorphic traits. These ancient belief systems also had great beasts, some majestic, others vile and disgusting, terrible to behold. Tales of demons abound, creatures that lurk about, waiting to pounce. And then there are the great beasts which are the servants of the gods themselves. However, in some cases, tales exist of beings who are both monster and god—divinities with monstrous qualities, whether it be enormous powers, bodies of grotesque or strange shape, and with personalities which go beyond the human levels of anger, vengeance, and cruelty.
Many religions have these “god monsters,” but two will be named. In the Old Norse and Ancient Sumerian religions, divinities were never considered monsters, but were anthropomorphic figures. However, though these gods were based on human figures and human nature, they carried many traits that humans may consider monstrous. Some were the offspring of giants while others were powerful in magic, able to change their forms at will. Still others sometimes viewed in the forms of chimera-esque beasts with vast powers.
In the Norse religion, there exists a relatively large pantheon of gods. Many of these gods have traits which can be considered monstrous. During the creation of the universe, the first living being to appear was a giant named Ymir. He was formed in Ginnungagap, an empty space between Muspell, a fiery region in the south, and a snowy, cold region in the north. The giant Ymir appeared where the cold and heat met in Ginnungagap. He emerged from the melting ice and was sleeping. The first man and woman grew from under his left arm, while the race of frost giants were begotten by his two feet. The giant Ymir was rarely, if ever, considered a god by the Norse peoples, but from him, all peoples but the line of Buri came forth. Buri and his descendents were beings who were uncovered from the ice by a great cow named Audhumla who licked the melting ice blocks for nourishment. Buri begat Bor and Bor begat Odin, Vili, and Ve, the first of the gods, who slew Ymir and used his body to form Midgard, the world of men.
Giants are common in many religions, and in almost all religions which have tales of giants, the giants are objects of fear. Judeo-Christian lore speaks of giants, as do both Scottish and Irish lore. Where Norse religions have Ymir and his descendants as giants, the Sumerian religion speaks of Tiamat, who is a giant goddess who is slain and the earth is made from her body. The Norse religion and the Sumerian seem to have a parallel in the fact that the human world was made from the remains of a giant being.
In the Norse religion, the giants are the enemies of the gods. There seem to be several instances, however, where giants are not enemies. The Aesir god Loki was actually a giant. His father was the giant Farbauti and is mother was the giantess Laufey. He was adopted as the foster brother of Odin. This example, however, is not an example of a friendly giant. Loki is known as the trickster, and sometimes even as the enemy of the Aesir, yet he is counted among their numbers. Occasionally he helps the Aesir, and other times, he works against them. On one occasion, he caused the death of the god Balder by the hands of the blind god Hoder. It is also said that he will lead the army of giants, the enemies of the Aesir, in Ragnarok.
There are a few other full-blooded giants among the gods as well. Aegir, the god of the sea, is also a giant. Also among the race of giants are the god Mimir and the goddesses Skadi, Sigyn, Gerd, Jord, and Rind. All of the descendants of the giant Fornjost became gods of the forces of nature. Logi, also known as Loki, is known as a god of fire. His brother Ler, also known as Aegir, is the god of the sea. The last of Fornjot’s sons was named Kari, the god of the wind. Kari had a son named Frosti, meaning frost, and Frosti had a son named Snjo, meaning snow. The line continues in like manner. It was thought that giants must be the gods of nature, because nature is so wild, and occasionally harmful, that it is characteristic of giants, since giants are rarely on good terms with the Aesir.
The Norse lore becomes a bit confusing when it is seen that the Aesir treat the giants as enemies and try to kill them, considering that many of the Aesir are giants themselves. Even Odin, the Allfather, was half giant. His father Bor married the frost giantess named Bestla and she was his mother. Odin’s sons Tyr and Thor were both born as a result of Odin mating with giantesses. With all of this in mind, it seems that perhaps all of the Norse gods are god monsters.”
Another type of Norse god monster will be termed as “divine beasts.” Loki is the father of three terrible divine beasts. The eldest child is a son named Fenrir. Fenrir is a ferocious wolf whom only Tyr had courage enough to feed. The Aesir realized that Fenrir would be serious trouble for him, so they bound him up. Fenrir escaped his binds in Ragnarok and causes chaos. He will fight Odin and eat him, but Odin’s son Vidar avenged his father’s death by killing Fenrir. The next child of Loki is Jormungandr, the venom-spitting World Serpent. When he was found by the Aesir, he was cast into the sea of Midgard, where he grew so large, he fully encircled all of Midgard. He is the classic enemy of Thor. The last of Loki’s children is Hel, a grotesque hag. From the waist up, she was a beautiful, healthy woman. However, from the waist down, her skin appeared to be decayed and greenish-black. She was thrown into the underworld Niflheim and ordered her to watch over the dead.
While the Old Norse tradition is anthropomorphic, the Ancient Sumerian tradition is much more anthropomorphic. The Sumerian gods were usually depicted as human forms, merely having superhuman powers. This being the case, there are fewer clear examples of god monsters in the Sumerian tradition. However, in old writings, certain gods have been referred to as certain animals. Nergal, the god of the underworld, was known as “the bearer of pointed horns,” and was referred to as a lion. Enki, considered a supreme god, was said to have been begotten by a wild bull and was called a dragon. Nannar, a god of fertility, was said to be a bull with a beard the color of lapiz lazuli. These can all be considered examples of divine beasts in the Sumerian tradition. Also among the divine beasts of Sumerian tradition is the Bull of Heaven, spoken of the epic of Gilgamesh.
In the Ancient Sumerian religion, there were other gods with monstrous qualities. It is said that when Marduk was created, he was given four huge eyes, four massive ears, and fire erupted from his mouth when he spoke. Because of his perfection, he faces the giant goddess Tiamat in battle and defeats her. After killing her, he used her body to make the world. Marduk saved the lives of the other gods and was made their king. Marduk was not only strangely formed, but also had a monstrous strength greater than even that of the other gods.
In the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “monster” has several definitions. One of the definitions listed is, “anything of vast or unwieldy proportions.” This definition can be applied to the size of the gods’ statures in the Norse pantheon and also to Tiamat’s stature as well. The same definition can be applied to the vast power of all of the gods in both pantheons. The depictions of the gods may vary greatly in any religion, but with the power that the gods are said to wield, all gods can be considered god monsters.
-Victor Sloan, c.2011
NOTE: I did NOT plagiarize this essay. I have the full version on my computer with citations and bibliographical information in the Turabian style. I merely removed all of the citations to make it more difficult for other people to take my work :P
