Odin at Lejre?
This Viking-Age figurine has already provoked quite a lot of interest on the net. Jonas Wellendorf brought it to my attention on norrønt.no; it’s also been discussed in posts at Norse and Viking Ramblings and The Viking Rune. But is it really Odin, as people have already claimed?
Roskilde Museum is confident that this 2cm-high silver artifact represents Odin on his throne with his two ravens. It was found at Lejre, although not as part of the main excavations there.
It now probably won’t be long before the hall-complex at Lejre is claimed to be the prototype for Valhalla as well as for Beowulf’s Heorot … but how convincing do you find the identification with Odin? Do you have an alternative explanation for this intriguing little icon? Do you agree with Martin Rundkvist that it’s in fact a female figure–Freyja perhaps? Let the speculation begin!
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As it seems, very important is Dr. Rundkvist’s observation that the left eye of the person depicted on the throne is damaged. It would be interesting to map the surface with a laser scanner, as this was done with Torslunda helmet plate in the Stockholm Archaeological Research Laboratory. On the plate the right eye (the left one on the resulting helmet plate) was removed with a sharp instrument. This fact was important in proving the identification of the image as that of Odin’s (or a ritual dancer representing Odin). If Lejre figurine represents Odin in a female dress, this is certainly puzzling.
[...] at this figurine, recently pulled out of the ground at Lejre, puts me in mind of Ruth Hill, who, when she’s talking about the way race was understood by [...]
I think that it could, in fact, be Odin. The birds on either side could be Ravens which were a representation of Odin. I find it very feasible but as with ALL artwork, we will probably never know for sure what the artist was representing
I have another theory. Perhaps it’s a volva’s fetish, intended to represent the volva as taking Odin’s place in the spirit world while performing her seidh. The high seat and the ravens mean that she has assumed the same power as Odin to receive messages through her spirit guides.
I was suddenly assailed by the idea of Odin on a high-seat practising Seidhr, but then my mind reminded me that the reference to cross dressing exists on priests in Uppsala and not as a specific element that caused the accusations of unmanliness with regards to the practice of Vanir magic by men.
I’ll go with Brandi’s comment: without an author’s tag naming the work, we may never know for sure what the artist was representing. The two birds say Odin (assuming they’re ravens), but what looks like a dress says Freya or Frigg. Or maybe other goddesses one can think of. And is that a necklace?
If you take into account that there are two ravens or birds sitting on the high-seat, then you could claim that it is Odin with a woman’s frock on.
But looking at the dress, the necklace … and the figurine as a whole, I would agree with Martin Rundkvist and say that it is a woman (perhaps Freyja or Frigg).
Dr Rundkvist compares this figure to the Aska pendant, which is unambiguously feminine — the ornamentation around the neck/chest (the ‘necklace’) seems to have been worked in similar fashion on both pieces.
If we accept that the dress/ornament of the figure is female, we’re left with two iconographic incongruities: the ravens (an Odinic symbol) and the missing eye (an Odinic symbol). I can therefore see why the ‘Odin in drag’ theory has gained some traction, since we know that he had a feminine aspect. However, if we just had a woman with ravens, we might think of a valkyrie, i.e. a female figure connected with Odin but not a hypostasis of Odin. The ‘missing eye’ is not totally conclusive to me — it looks as thought the left eye has been modelled, although it lacks the detail we find in the right eye. It could have been damaged — deliberately or accidentally. The ‘valkyrie’ interpretation perhaps suffers in that we might not associate these figures with sitting on a throne.
Still, I’m going to vote for ‘valkyrie’ anyway, but I’m also wondering if we might look for non-mythological explanations for the Lejre object. Could it just be a high-status lady, sitting on a stylized chair, whose eye has been scratched off? There is a tendency to interpret any ambiguous find as being a religious object, even when we have absolutely no context for it. And there are surely dangers in explaining a Viking-Age Danish object by recourse to myths that are only found in 13th-century Icelandic texts?
Hi Chris … I like your little idea of the statue representing a woman of high status. Maybe that’s all it is and because of ageing the statue got a bit damaged causing it to look like the figure only has one eye. Maybe that woman liked birds or was (if we have to go along with the religious aspect of the statue) a follower of Odin …
No one has commented on the “hungry doghs/wolves” carved into the chair/throne.
They appear to be eating something.
Dogs / Wolves, plus Birds/ravens plus a damaged left eye, all appear to add up to a representation of Odin
Looks like a female dress, but ravens and wolves point to the direction of the Old One Eye…we can speculate, but it is likely we will never know for sure.
[...] more here. See the Roskilde Museum’s page [...]
It may be worthwhile comparing this newly found figure with another Danish figure that has been around for more than a century. I am thinking of the wooden statue from Eskildstrup, which is now in the National Museum in Copenhagen. This figure can be seen in a 3D animation on this adress:
http://oldtiden.natmus.dk/udstillingen/aeldre_jernalder/guder_i_jernalderen/traemanden_fra_rude_eskildstrup/
There are similarities between the two, which may have an impact on the interpretation of “Odin from Lejre”. In both cases you see a person sitting in pretty much the same position. In both cases the person is wearing a long dress and a huge necklace. However, there is one clear difference. The statue of Eskildstrup is provided with a moustache and probably a beard and must be interpreted as a male figure. Considering this I do think that the strong symbolism of the throne, the ravens and probably the damaged eye makes it likely that “Odin from Lejre” really was an amulet of Odin. /clm
[...] http://oldnorsenews.org/2009/11/odin-at-lejre/ [...]
Mrs Odin?ie Frigg,queen of the Aesir,or Heimdall keeping watch for Odin on his throne?Harald fairhair after the barbers when he became overlord of Norway?
Odin himself?Or another theory one side ugly ,madame Hel in Niflheim?
ITs LOKI.Loki was a HE/SHE And maskaraded as the other Gods and animals,The christens stole Loki AS Lucifer to discredit the old history.They never had an original Thought.