北欧 or Scandinavian mythology 是身体 错误 的 北日耳曼人民, stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Scandinavian folklore of the modern period. The 最北端 的扩展 日耳曼神话 and stemming from Proto-Germanic folklore, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition.

The source texts mention numerous gods, such as the hammer-wielding, humanity-protecting thunder-god 托尔, who relentlessly fights his foes; the one-eyed, raven-flanked 神 奥丁, who craftily pursues knowledge throughout the worlds and bestowed among humanity the 符文字母; the beautiful, seiðr-working, feathered cloak-clad goddess 弗雷雅 who rides to battle to choose among the slain; the vengeful, skiing goddess Skaði, who prefers the wolf howls of the winter mountains to the seashore; the powerful god Njörðr, who may calm both sea and fire and grant wealth and land; the god 弗雷, whose weather and farming associations bring peace and pleasure to humanity; the goddess 伊敦, who keeps apples that grant eternal youthfulness; the mysterious god 海姆达尔, who is born of nine mothers, can hear grass grow, has gold teeth, and possesses a resounding horn; the 约通‘s son, the god 洛基, who brings tragedy to the gods by engineering the death of the goddess 弗里格‘s beautiful son 巴尔德;和 numerous other deities.

Most of the surviving mythology centers on the plights of the gods and their interaction with several other beings, such as humanity and the 约特纳尔, beings who may be friends, lovers, foes, or family members of the gods. The cosmos in Norse mythology 由 九界 that flank a central sacred tree, Yggdrasil的. Units of time and elements of cosmology are personified as deities or beings. Various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being 伊米尔, and the first two humans are 问和Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of 仙境传说 when an immense battle occurs between the gods and their enemies, and the world is enveloped in flames, only to be reborn anew. There the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and 两个人 will repopulate the world.

Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century, when key texts attracted the attention of the intellectual circles of Europe. By way of 比较神话 和 历史语言学, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. During the modern period, the Romanticist 维京复兴 re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, and references to Norse mythology may now be found throughout modern popular culture. The myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism.

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Norse mythology is primarily attested in dialects of 老北欧人，以 北日耳曼语 spoken by the Scandinavian people during the European 中世纪 and the ancestor of modern 斯堪的纳维亚语言. The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in 冰岛, where the oral tradition stemming from the pre-Christian inhabitants of the island was collected and recorded in manuscripts. This occurred primarily in the 13th century. These texts include the 埃达散文, composed in the 13th century by 斯诺里·斯特鲁森，并 诗意的埃达, a collection of poems from earlier traditional material anonymously compiled in the 13th century.

 埃达散文 was composed as a prose manual for producing Skaldic poetry—traditional 老北欧人 poetry composed by 斯卡尔兹. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes 代词诗, 肯宁斯, and several metrical forms. The 埃达散文 presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the 诗意的埃达。 该 诗意的埃达 consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, and this poetry—Eddic poetry—utilizes fewer 肯宁斯. In comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned.

 埃达散文 特征层 euhemerization, a process in which deities and supernatural beings are presented as having been either actual, magic-wielding human beings who have been 神化 in time or beings 妖魔化 途经 基督教神话. Texts such as 海姆斯林格拉, composed in the 13th century by Snorri and 盖斯塔·达诺鲁姆（Gesta Danorum），由 拉丁语 by 萨克斯语法 in Denmark in the 12th century, are the results of heavy amounts of euhemerization.Numerous further texts, such as the 萨加斯, provide further information. The saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories (冰岛人的萨加斯），以 Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as 匈奴阿提拉 (legendary sagas). Objects and monuments such as the Rök runestone 和 Kvinneby amulet 特点 runic inscriptions—texts written in the 符文字母, the indigenous alphabet of the Germanic peoples—that mention figures and events from Norse mythology.Objects from the archaeological record may also be interpreted as depictions of subjects from Norse mythology, such as amulets of the god Thor’s hammer 姆约尼尔 found among pagan burials and small silver female figures interpreted as 女武神 or dísir, beings associated with war, fate or ancestor cults. By way of 历史语言学 和 比较神话, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology (such as the 老高德语 Merseburg Incantations) may also lend insight. Wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. The best surviving norse manuscript, is the saga of Beowulf.Only a tiny amount of poems and tales survive of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, and before. Later sources reaching into the modern period, such as a medieval charm recorded as used by the Norwegian woman Ragnhild Tregagås—convicted of 巫术 in Norway in the 14th century—and spells found in the 17th century Icelandic Galdrabók 魔典 also sometimes make references to Norse mythology. Other traces, such as 地名 bearing the names of gods may provide further information about deities, such as a potential association between deities based on the placement of locations bearing their names, their local popularity, and associations with geological features.

Gods and other beings

members of the gods. Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. As evidenced by records of personal names and place names, the most popular god among the Scandinavians during the Viking Age was Thor the thunder god, who is portrayed as unrelentingly pursuing his foes, his mountain-crushing, thunderous hammer 姆约尼尔 in hand. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, and is wed to the beautiful, golden-haired goddess 希芙.

神 奥丁 is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, 狼 – 和 乌鸦-flanked, with spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds. In an act of self-sacrifice, Odin is described as having hanged himself upside-down for nine days and nights on the cosmological tree Yggdrasil的 to gain knowledge of the runic alphabet, which he passed on to humanity, and is associated closely with death, wisdom, and poetry. Odin is portrayed as the ruler of 阿斯加德, and leader of the 阿斯族. Odin’s wife is the powerful goddess 弗里格 who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, 巴尔德. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his impending death, his death is engineered by 洛基, and Baldr thereafter resides in 海尔, a realm ruled over by an entity of the same name.

Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess, 弗雷雅. She is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain and brings her chosen to her afterlife field 民谣. Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in faraway lands. Freyja’s brother, the god 弗雷, is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts, and in his association with the weather, royalty, human sexuality, and agriculture brings peace and pleasure to humanity. Deeply lovesick after catching sight of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, Freyr seeks and wins her love, yet at the price of his future doom. Their father is the powerful god Njörðr. Njörðr is strongly associated with ships and seafaring, and so also wealth and prosperity. Freyja and Freyr’s mother is Njörðr’s sister (her name is unprovided in the source material). However, there is more information about his pairing with the skiing and hunting goddess Skaði. Their relationship is ill-fated, as Skaði cannot stand to be away from her beloved mountains, nor Njörðr from the seashore. Together, Freyja, Freyr, and Njörðr form a portion of gods known as the 瓦尼尔. While the Aesir and the Vanir retain distinct identification, they came together as the result of the Aesir–Vanir War.

While they receive less mention, numerous other gods and goddesses appear in the source material. (For a list of these deities, see 日耳曼神灵列表.) Some of the gods heard less of include the apple-bearing goddess 伊敦 and her husband, the skaldic god Bragi; the gold-toothed god 海姆达尔，出生于 nine mothers; the ancient god TYR, who lost his right hand while binding the great wolf 芬里尔; and the goddess 杰芬, who formed modern-day 新西兰, 丹麦.

Various beings outside of the gods are mentioned. 精灵 和 小矮人 are commonly mentioned and appear to be connected, but their attributes are vague and the relation between the two is ambiguous. Elves are described as radiant and beautiful, whereas dwarfs often act as earthen smiths. A group of beings variously described as 约特纳尔, thursar及 巨魔 (in English these are all often 蒙面的 作为“巨头“) frequently appear. These beings may either aid, deter, or take their place among the gods.The 规范, dísir，以及前面提到的 女武神 also receive frequent mention. While their functions and roles may overlap and differ, all are collective female beings associated with fate.