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A page from Adam's famous book: "Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church" which starts the description of the geography of Denmark (red initial P).
Adam of Bremen (born ~1050 to 1081/1085) was one of the foremost historians and early ethnographers of the medieval period. Adam is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church). In this he included a chapter mentioning the Norse outpost of Vinland, and was thus the first continental European to write about the New World.
Photo online at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utdrag_ur_Gesta_Hammaburgensis_ecclesiae_pontificum.jpg
Adam of Bremen (born ~1050 to 1081/1085) was one of the foremost historians and early ethnographers of the medieval period. Adam is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church). In this he included a chapter mentioning the Norse outpost of Vinland, and was thus the first continental European to write about the New World.
Photo online at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utdrag_ur_Gesta_Hammaburgensis_ecclesiae_pontificum.jpg
The 3 Main Swedish Folk Deities of 1000 CE Were Life God Thor, Fate God Oden, and Emotion God Frigg
The 3 Main Swedish Folk Deities of 1000 CE Were Life God Thor, Fate God Oden, and Emotion God Frigg
Adam of Bremen in Book 4 of his History of the Archbishops of Hamburg 1075-1080 CE Says This about the 3 Main Norse Deities of His Time
Adam of Bremen in Book 4 of his History of the Archbishops of Hamburg 1075-1080 CE Says This about the 3 Main Norse Deities of His Time
(July 8, 2023, updated April 12, 2025) While Adam of Bremen took every opportunity to disrespect Paganism by exaggerating animal and human sacrifices but he still provides good information on the folk culture of the time. This culture was a mix of older Druid culture preserved in the runic texts and the more recently arrived Indo-European culture. Adam of Bremen says this:
Chapter 26: Now we shall say a few words about the superstitions of the Swedes. That folk has a very famous temple [134] called Uppsala, situated not far from the city of Sigtuna and Björkö. In this temple, [135] entirely decked out in gold, the people worship the statues of three gods in such wise that the mightiest of them, Thor, occupies a throne in the middle of the chamber; Wotan (Odin) and Frikko (Frigg) have places on either side. The significance of these gods is as follows: Thor, they say, presides over the air, which governs the thunder and lightning, the winds and rains, fair weather and crops. The other, Wotan -that is, the Furious--carries on war and imparts to man strength against his enemies. The third is Frikko, who bestows peace and pleasure on mortals. His likeness, too, they fashion with an immense phallus. But Wotan they chisel armed, as our people are wont to represent Mars. Thor with his scepter apparently resembles Jove. [136] The people also worship heroes made gods, whom they endow with immortality because of their remarkable exploits, as one reads in the Vita of Saint Ansgar they did in the case of King Eric.
Chapter 27: For all their gods there are appointed priests to offer sacrifices for the people. If plague and famine threaten, a libation is poured to the idol Thor; if war, to Wotan; if marriages are to be celebrated, to Frikko. It is customary also to solemnize in Uppsala, at nine-year intervals, a general feast of all the provinces of Sweden. From attendance at this festival no one is exempted Kings and people all and singly send their gifts to Uppsala and, what is more distressing than any kind of punishment, those who have already adopted Christianity redeem themselves through these ceremonies. The sacrifice is of this nature: of every living thing that is male, they offer nine heads with the blood of which it is customary to placate gods of this sort. The bodies they hang in the sacred grove that adjoins the temple. Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims. Even dogs and horses hang there with men. A Christian told me that he had seen 72 bodies suspended promiscuously. Furthermore, the incantations customarily chanted in the ritual of a sacrifice of this kind are manifold and unseemly; therefore, it is better to keep silent about them. (Then Breme adds this: Feasts and sacrifices of this kind are solemnized for nine days. On each day they offer a man along with other living beings in such a number that in the course of the nine days they will have made offerings of seventy-two creatures. This sacrifice takes place about the time of the vernal equinox.
The Akkadian phrases behind the deity names are:
"Thor" is the Akkadian phrase D'.R (Di'u Ru) meaning "The manifester of eagle-vultures" in which the eagle-vultures edit the connections of the life network which bring the life powers to earth.
"Wotan" is the Akkadian phrase U'.T.AN (U'a Tu Anu) meaning "The fate-curse of astrology-magic from considerations" in which "considerations" are the focused emotions of emotion magic.
Frigg is the Akkadian phrase PR.IG.G (Paru IGu Gi) meaning "The emotional-coercion of the heavenly-body's energy" in which the word igu literally means the "eyes-of-fate."
So what this folk culture has done is to simplify the Druid pantheon by taking out the layers of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm and leaving the 2 main powers classes. The Druid motion power class was always subdivided into sources from the night sky's heavenly bodies which defined fate and the inner emotions of people. Here these sub-divisions have been raised to power classes of their own.
Document online at: http://germanicmythology.com/works/uppsalatemple.html
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