which eye of Odin?
Which eye do you believe Óðinn sacrificed to gain a drink from Mímisbrunnr? And state why you think one way or the other.
[Detail from Madeline von Foerster's Odin Exchanging His Eye for Wisdom (oil, 2003).]
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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology, field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.
Odin bronze statuette from Lindby, Svenstorp, Skåne, Sweden shows left eye absent:
ReplyDelete[From The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.]
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Survive the Jive mentions that the Sutton Hoo helmet's left eye's garnet accent isn't gold backed, its darker depth implying a probable association with Odin's absent eye:
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Guillermo the IVth there are also examples where the right eye is missing on allegedly odinic representations. I doubt it mattered.
ReplyDeleteTom Rowsell: And since Odin could change his form (i.e. Bölverk to snake in Skáldskaparmál), odds are he could easily flip-flop missing eyes if he wanted. Yet, like Heathen Talk and others have pointed out, it seems we keep on asking, which might imply the arch-heathens would've asked the same question. Part of my bringing it up was to see if archaeology has a tally that has a majority result, and thereby get an FAQ-able answer. Would you know if someone's done a survey of Odinic representations that comes down one way or another?
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