ABSTRACT
DURING the period when the ancient Goths were pagans, as my most dear brother and predecessor, Johannes Magnus, archbishop of Uppsala, distinctly states at the beginning of his History, they had three gods who were honoured with deepest reverence. Of these the first was the mighty Thor, who was worshipped sitting in the middle of a cushioned couch, flanked on each side by two other deities, Odin and Frigga. Thor, they say, rules in the air, thundering and lightening, controlling winds, clouds, and fair weather, having under his care all the fruits and crops of the earth, and removing plagues. The second, Odin, meaning ‘the strong one’, holds sway over wars, affording men help against their foes. 1 2 He was set at the right hand of Thor himself, and his reputation was of such splendour that all peoples cherished him exactly as if he were a light granted to the world, and there was no place on earth, as Saxo testifies, which did not submit to the might of his godhead. 2 3 Frigga, the third, regulated peace and pleasure. Her image also shamelessly flaunted its sex and for this reason was worshipped among the Goths as Venus was among the Romans; she keeps Friday, Venus’s day, sacred to herself even into our own times. She was painted with a sword and a bow: these weapons meant that in those lands either sex was always perfectly ready to take up arms. Thor, however, was depicted with a crown and sceptre and with twelve stars, since people thought there was nothing of equal worth that could be compared to his grandeur. He held jurisdiction over one day in the week, and indeed over the first month of the whole year, which we now call January. 3 4 Odin is certainly sculptured in arms, as Mars was among the Romans by a similar superstition of the heathens, and he took for himself a day which has been dedicated to his memory for all time. 4 5 Since in his lifetime he attained the honour of godhead throughout Europe because he yielded to none in the art of war, men believe this is why the Goths maintained (as Dio the Greek, Ablabius, and Jordanes testify) that Mars, whom antiquity regarded as the god of war, was the first-born among them, as the poet also states: Father Gradivus, guide of Getic arms.
Three gods
Thor the thunderer
Odin the warrior
Frigga the peace-maker
Three lesser gods
Venus Frigedag
Each sex armed
12 stars
Torsdag
Odens dag
Mars, god of war
