Back to Black Sea History Month
Near the site where the Black Sea and the Aegean meet (often considered the boundary between Asia and Europe) grew up the polis of Perinthos, originally a Samian colony. Many roads met here, and it had...
View ArticleDionysos who casts his net
Speaking of Byzantion, a couple interesting inscriptions have been found dating from the period of Emperor Hadrian. The first (IByzantion 37) reads: When Hadrian Caesar was official of the sacred (i.e....
View ArticleThe Little Bear brings Wealth to his people
In nearby Kyzikos in ancient Mysia there was an especially relevant Bacchic association: To Good Fortune. Auxanon, banker of the city and secretary of the foremost Bacchic Kynosoureites, set up the...
View ArticleFortunate Healer
Funny. I was just talking about fish, and I come across this inscription from Olbia: Those belonging to the group of seven who take care of the offering receptacle (thēsauros): Herodotos son of...
View ArticleOlbian Iatros
His face is pale, like fish belly and bone, and the moon reflected in a well, like mushrooms that grow in a ring. His hair falls in yellow braids, run through with black feathers and bird bones tiny,...
View ArticleThe Old Man of the Sea
I’ve been wondering why ships, storms and fish keep coming up over the last couple weeks. I mean, it’s been fun teasing out this Dionysian thread (especially since most folks – scholars and devotees...
View ArticleHow Ursa Minor came to be
In the previous post I mentioned that I wasn’t sure how Óðr became the son of Njörðr because I’ve been given contradictory elements of a couple different stories and I need to do some more research as...
View ArticleThe History of the Sword
The sword which Óðr recovers from the boulder placed over his mother’s grave has an interesting history. It means literally Vör’s “walking-stick” or “divining rod”, from the Old High German pfal...
View ArticleA correction necessitating an apology
I would like to apologize for inadvertently misrepresenting the Goddess Vör in my post The History of the Sword. I wasn’t really familiar with her beyond Snorri’s brief mention in the catalogue of the...
View ArticleWelcome to Wine Land
I was watching a documentary this afternoon that suggested the Christianization of Norway and its dependencies pushed worshipers of the Old Gods to Greenland and later Vínland. Looking for verification...
View ArticleYou don’t need to be a spákona to see that
It’s funny. The entire time I’ve been a polytheist I’ve had friends and romantic partners who venerated the Norse deities, and my interest in Scandinavian literature even predates that. (There’s a...
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Hail Stuffo, long may you be remembered!
I came across an obscure Germanic deity I have a hunch is related to Óðr, and possibly even his son. This guy: The God’s name is Stauff or Stuffo, and he operated a popular oracle at Stuffenberg...
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May the names of Boniface and his associates stink through all eternity
Saint Boniface, like most of his delusional ilk, had a profound death-wish which the Heathens of Frisia graciously helped him fulfill. From Butler’s Lives of the Saints: This apostle of so many...
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Boniface, by the way, is the inventor of the Christmas Tree
From the BBC: According to one legend the famous Devon Saint, St Boniface, was the creator of the very first Christmas tree. In the early part of the 8th century, St Boniface was sent into Germany as...
View ArticleSpain is a little confused
Spain is a little confused, it seems. Saint Boniface Day is in June, not February.
View ArticleBut stranger still is lost Carcosa
Along the shore the cloud waves break, The twin suns sink behind the lake, The shadows lengthen In Carcosa. Strange is the night where black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies, But...
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