Norse Mythology vs. Greek Mythology Essay

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Norse Mythology vs. Greek Mythology

There are many mythologies in the world, and all of these have things in common as well as differences. A very popular mythology would be Greek mythology, Which many people know about it or at least know of it. Another not as popular mythology is Norse mythology; Norse mythology is the religion of the Norse people. The Norse people are the ancient people of northern Europe (Scandinavia, Iceland, Denmark, Northern Germany etc.) (World Book 259). A major difference between Norse mythology and Greek mythology are both cultures views of the after life and what happens there. In Greek mythology there is one allotted place for people to go after death and once they are there they stay there for all
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They don't appear to have any noticeable differences. The Vanir are referred to as "lesser" gods and are usually viewed as gods and goddesses of fertility. The Aesir are more of your standard gods and goddesses with a supreme god or goddess and other gods and goddesses with standard roles (i.e. sea, music/poetry or art, war, wisdom, beauty, etc). Valkyries are spirits that choose the wariors that go to Valhalla and take them their. There isn't much information on Valkyries other than them being the spirits that choose and guide the select few to Valhalla. There are only twenty-three of them. The Jotnar were created originally from the first Jotnar (Ymir). Ymir was killed by Odin and Odin created Midgard (land of humans) from his body. Ymir was created from the collision of Niflheim and Muspellheim (land of fog, ice, and cold) in the beginning; from the sweat from his armpits were created the first two frost giants, male and female, and from them came the rest of the frost giants; from his leg came also another male giant. The Jotnar were known to mate with both the Aesir and Vanir. In Greek mythology the gods didn't mate with the titans. Also the nymphs were sometimes referred to as daughters of the gods where as the Álfar, Svartálfar, and Valkyries were not. (Keenan 54) Finally, Ragnarok, or the end of the world, is the biggest difference between Norse mythology and most all mythologies including Greek. Ragnarok is the