Question: Odin associated with Athena?

[crossfire]

I've heard about Odin being associated with Hermes, and can see the reason behind that. Recently, I've heard a connection drawn between Odin and Athena. Is there anything to this?

Thanks.

 

[Sees]

There are some similar areas/specialities associated but I don't know of anything specifically mentioned between the two of them.

There are accounts/artifacts pointing to Germanic peoples going on pilgrimage to parts of Greece supposedly to make offerings to a specific Goddess...think likewise with Celts - might actually be related to that. Would need to really look into it more.

 

[Maponos]

I'm very weak in the field of Germanic mythology, but I know Odin is associated with wisdom, but isn't he also associated with owls as well?

 

[Nietzsche]

I've heard about Odin being associated with Hermes, and can see the reason behind that. Recently, I've heard a connection drawn between Odin and Athena. Is there anything to this?

Thanks.

Odin's association with Mercury/Hermes is largely to do with the culture of the people who recorded the first 3rd party accounts. Specifically they were either Romans or from civilizations that traced their direct lineage back to Rome. They described the Gods in terms their cultures(and largely they themselves) would get. Mercury/Hermes was used for Odin due to Mercury's role as a psychopomp, something that leads the dead to the other side. But only that regard. Most of the texts go to length to explain that the "Mercury of the North" did not share Mercury's role in regards to be a "lesser" god.

 

[Jainarayan]

but isn't he also associated with owls as well?

Ravens.

Like Athena, Odin is a god of wisdom and war, but a different type of war. Athena, is a goddess of defensive, righteous and strategic war. The Hindu god Kartikeya (Murugan) is also a god of defensive and righteous war. However, Odin is a god of the battlefield, the battle-slain, and war for his own purposes and agenda.

 

[crossfire]

Any connection to Odin giving up his eye for wisdom and Athena springing from Zeus's forehead?

(If this needs to be moved to Comparative religions, please let me know.)

Thank you.

 

[1137]

Isn't Odin like a dark loner god who underwent suffering to bring humanity magic runes?

 

[GoodbyeDave]

If we look at the interests and characteristics of Athena, they include
> practical wisdom
> protection of cities
> craftsmanship
> personal relationships with heroes
> war

I don't see this as having much in common with Odin.

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

Yes, both are deities associated with warfare and wisdom. But in many other ways, they are opposites. Athena is a patron and a paragon of civilization and refinement. Odin is strangely more like Dionysos in that he is a wild, ecstatic mad god who transgresses cultural boundaries of propriety and even gender (tho in a subtler way than Dionysos). Those two gods couldn't seem farther apart from a casual glance; scratch under the surface and there are many parallels. There are also parallels with Hermes (both are travelers and psychopomps) and even Apollo somewhat (both are associated with rats, wolves and ravens; both are healers tho it's a way more talked about aspect of Odin).

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I don't really see the resemblance. Comparing Odin and Dionysus or Hades would make more sense.

 

[Riverwolf]

Yeah... kinda with everyone else, here. Athena's kinda been on the sidelines of my life ever since I first knew about her; if I ever became a Hellenic, she'd be my IMMEDIATE go-to. I've never gotten to know her super-personally, but just from what little I've seen of her, compared to what I've experienced directly with Woden, they're COMPLETELY different Gods.

Isn't Odin like a dark loner god who underwent suffering to bring humanity magic runes?

I'm not entirely sure if it was to bring the Runes to us, or to ultimately keep them for himself (and maybe shared among his favorites).

But I'm not sure he's entirely a "loner". Introvert, sure, but he's also been the leader of the Wild Hunt.

Any connection to Odin giving up his eye for wisdom and Athena springing from Zeus's forehead?

Uh... not that I know of? I honestly don't even see a loose connection here.

 

[crossfire]

Any connection to Odin giving up his eye for wisdom and Athena springing from Zeus's forehead?

<...>
Uh... not that I know of? I honestly don't even see a loose connection here.

Anima--born from within whose development is associated with wisdom.

 

[Riverwolf]

Anima--born from within whose development is associated with wisdom.

??? I'm afraid I don't follow.

Something to remember is that Woden's "wisdom" isn't the sort that we typically think of in the West. Just going off of the many questioning contests in Eddic poetry, "cunning" or "wit" is probably closer to the sort of "wisdom" associated with Woden.

 

[crossfire]

??? I'm afraid I don't follow.

Something to remember is that Woden's "wisdom" isn't the sort that we typically think of in the West. Just going off of the many questioning contests in Eddic poetry, "cunning" or "wit" is probably closer to the sort of "wisdom" associated with Woden.

I associate Athena with Zeus's Jungian Anima and Hephaestus with Hera's Jungian Animus. I was wondering if Odin's "eye in the well" and resulting wisdom was a parallel to Anima development.

 

[Riverwolf]

I associate Athena with Zeus's Jungian Anima and Hephaestus with Hera's Jungian Animus. I was wondering if Odin's "eye in the well" and resulting wisdom was a parallel to Anima development.

I'd think that would first require anima itself to even have a Northern equivalent reflected in the surviving Lore, and I'm not familiar enough with anima, in either the original Roman sense or the Jungian, to say whether it does or not.

And in any case, it might have been a good idea to state that Jungian context from the get-go, because us polytheists, especially the so-called "hard" polytheists, typically just take the Gods as they are. Hence our confusion.

 

[crossfire]

I'd think that would first require anima itself to even have a Northern equivalent reflected in the surviving Lore, and I'm not familiar enough with anima, in either the original Roman sense or the Jungian, to say whether it does or not.

And in any case, it might have been a good idea to state that Jungian context from the get-go, because us polytheists, especially the so-called "hard" polytheists, typically just take the Gods as they are. Hence our confusion.

That was where my line of thinking went when someone else equated Athena to Odin. (It was my trying to connect the dots. Sorry if it wasn't clear.)

 

[Riverwolf]

That was where my line of thinking went when someone else equated Athena to Odin. (It was my trying to connect the dots. Sorry if it wasn't clear.)

It's all good.

If you don't mind, where did you read this equation of the two?

 

[crossfire]

It's all good.

If you don't mind, where did you read this equation of the two?

Someone else said it. It wasn't in a published article, or anything. That's why I asked about it.

 

[Riverwolf]

Someone else said it. It wasn't in a published article, or anything. That's why I asked about it.

Ah...

Could very well have been someone's UPG or MUS.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

There are also parallels with … Apollo somewhat (both are associated with rats, wolves and ravens; both are healers tho it's a way more talked about aspect of Odin).

I seem to remember that Puhvel in his Comparative mythology claimed an old Indo-European god showed up as Odin, Apollo, and Rudra (the Vedic precursor of Śiva).

Curing and causing (with arrows) disease: Apollo and Rudra.
Wearing a hat: Rudra and Odin.
Non-standard number of eyes: Rudra and Odin.
Prophecy: Apollo and Odin.
Mice or rats (or moles?): all three.