(c. 500 BCE – 1200 CE)

1) Identity & Scope

• Names: Germanic paganism; Old Norse religion; Anglo-Saxon heathenry; Continental Germanic cults.
• Scope: Scandinavia, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden; Anglo-Saxon England; continental Germanic regions (Frisia, Saxony, Alemannia, Bavaria).

2) Historical Context

• Roots: Late Bronze/early Iron Age North European cults.
• Peaks: Roman Iron Age → Viking Age (c. 800–1100).
• Decline: Christianization c. 8th–12th c.; survivals in folklore and law custom.

3) Sources of Evidence

• Texts: Poetic Edda, Prose Edda (Snorri), skaldic verse; sagas; Anglo-Saxon laws; Tacitus’ Germania; Adam of Bremen.
• Archaeology: bog deposits; ship burials (Oseberg, Gokstad); cult buildings (hof); amulets (Mjölnir); runestones.
• Onomastics: place-names (-vi/-hof), weekday theonyms; runic inscriptions.

4) Pantheon & Supernatural Beings

• Æsir/Vanir: Odin/Wodan, Thor/Donar, Tyr/Tiw, Freyr, Freyja, Frigg, Njord, Baldr, Heimdall.
• Other beings: valkyries, disir, landvættir, elves (álfar), dwarfs, jötnar.
• Anglo-Saxon/Continental reflexes: Woden, Thunor, Tiw; regional cult emphases.

5) Cosmology & Myth

• World order: Ginnungagap; Yggdrasil with nine worlds (Ásgarðr, Miðgarðr, Jötunheimr, Hel, etc.).
• Cycles: creation from Ymir; doom of the gods (Ragnarök) and renewal.
• Mythic themes: fate (wyrd/urðr), oath-binding, gift-exchange, poetic mead, theft of Mjölnir.

6) Ritual & Practice

• Blót (sacrifice) of animals (and earlier, sometimes humans); communal feasts; toasts (symbel).
• Seiðr and spá (magic, prophecy); útiseta (night-watch outside for contact with spirits).
• Oath-swearing on ring or weapons; vow offerings; ordeal.
• Seasonal rites tied to Yule, winter nights, harvest.

7) Sacred Space & Material Culture

• Spaces: sacred groves (vé), outdoor stone altars (hörgr), cult halls (hof); thing-sites.
• Objects: oath-rings, Mjölnir pendants, god-images, wagons; ships as ritual/sepulchral media.
• Icon sets: sun wheels, serpents, birds of Odin, boars of Freyr.

8) Religious Specialists & Institutions

• Priests/hosts: goði/gyðja (chieftain-priests in Icelandic model).
• Seeresses: völva (staff-bearing prophetess); ritual leaders for seiðr.
• Kings as cult heads (sacral kingship at Uppsala); law-speakers at þing with ritual roles.

9) Social Function & Law

• Tight bond of cult and polity: feasting, gift-economy, oath networks.
• Legal-religious overlap at assemblies; sanctuary boundaries; outlawry as sacral exclusion.
• Taboos on kin-slaying, perjury; hospitality norms with sacral weight.

10) Death & Afterlife

• Modes: cremation (Early Iron Age) → inhumation; grave goods; ship burials; mound cult.
• Realms: Valhöll (Odin’s chosen), Fólkvangr (Freyja), Hel (common dead), Rán (sea-dead).
• Ancestors: mound-sitting dead; draugar (restless) vs honored forebears.

11) Symbolism & Cultural Expression

• Symbols: Mjölnir, raven pair (Huginn/Muninn), wolves, boar, spear (Gungnir), ship, sun-wheel; knot and gripping-beast styles.
• Media: skaldic poetry, runic carving, wood/metal art; ritual music and procession.
• Numbers: 3 and 9 recur (trials, nights, worlds).

12) Contact & Transformation

• Roman contacts: interpretatio (Mercury=Odin, Jupiter=Thor); trade cults (Matronae in Rhineland).
• Christianization: staged by kings and missions (Ansgar, Olaf Tryggvason, Olaf Haraldsson); temple destructions; churches on cult sites.
• Syncretism: runestones with crosses; saints overlay on local holy places; Yule → Christmas.
• Revivals: modern Ásatrú/Heathenry/Forn Siðr; reconstruction from philology, archaeology, and law codes.