Norse Mythology: Gods, Cosmos, and Sources

Norse mythology’s scope and origins

Norse mythology is the body of myths associated with the North Germanic peoples of Scandinavia. It developed from Proto-Germanic folklore and Old Norse religion, describing gods, supernatural beings, heroes, the structure of the cosmos, creation, death, and the destruction and renewal of the world. Although rooted in pre-Christian beliefs, the mythology continued in Scandinavian folklore after Christianization and remains influential in modern culture and Germanic Neopaganism. Most surviving accounts were recorded in medieval Iceland, especially in the 13th-century Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson and the anonymously compiled Poetic Edda. Additional evidence comes from skaldic poetry, sagas, runic inscriptions, archaeological objects, place names, and later folk traditions. Because these sources were written after the pagan period and were often shaped by Christian authors, scholars reconstruct earlier traditions by comparing them with other Germanic and Indo-European mythologies.

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Historical development and Christianization

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