Essay Archive - Gylfaginning: Creation and Odin
Gylfaginning: Creation and Odin
"He made heaven and earth and skies and everything in them." "But his
greatest work is that he made man…" (from "Gylfaginning" in Snorra Edda)
While this quote exemplifies how people came to be, it is only a simplification of the world’s creation. The start of life on Earth came about in a most complex, and in some respects a peculiar, fashion. The world started out as two regions: Muspell, the bright and hot region in the south and Niflheim, the icy cold northern region. The two regions met at a cosmic void called Ginnungagap. From the spring in the north, Hvergelmir, flowed man....
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