Gwodan/Frea [gothic-l] Odin / Religions

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Troels,
I'd like to add that the Langobards who took over in Italy after
the Goths, had an old legend about their god Gwodan and his
wife Frea, where Frea helped them to win a victory over the
Vandals when they still lived in their old homeland. Since
the Langobards were neighbors to the Vandals while they still
lived on the lower Elbe, where Tacitus places them, this must
have occurred before the Vandals started wandering South,
That is before the Vandals under Rhaus and Raptus
appeared in Dacia in 170/171 in the time of Marcus Aurelius.
Therefore, we can say that this Langobard legend of Wodan and Frigg
can be dated to the 2nd century at the latest.
The legend is sound like a true legend to me.
The names Gwodan and Frea agree too well with the
the later Icelandic names that we find in the Edda.
Paulus also goes on to identify Godan/Wodan with
Mercurius, and adds that all Germanic peoples once
worshipped this god. But that it was a long time ago,
and not in Germania but in Greece. So we see a conception
of an Eastern Wodan already in Paulus' "Historia".

Best regards
Keth



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