Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who was the most powerful Norse god?
Thor, a founding member of the superhero group the Avengers, often battles his evil adoptive brother Loki, a Marvel character adapted from the Norse god of mischief. He is among Marvel's most powerful superheroes. Many recurring characters in his stories are based on Norse Mythology. Apart from this main superhero, Marvel features a number of characters based on him.
Greek version- Prometheus and Zeus
In the Greek version, the god Prometheus confronts is in fact the main head of the patriarchal pantheon, Zeus, who is almost always viewed in a positive light, as the loving All-Father, as the wise ruler of all, etc. The tale of Prometheus is one of the few instances where he is viewed negatively. Zeus guards the fire to keep humanity down, because he knows that once humanity has fire, it can make weapons, and progress, leading eventually to an ability to overthrow his rule. In some versions he also reasons that humanity is better off in ignorance and backwardness, without fire, often symbolized by its destructive nature contrasting its use for industry.
During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, a high king over the other kings. The decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825. The kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, briefly making Egbert the first king to reign over a united England.
Supreme was introduced in issue #3 of Rob Liefeld's "Youngblood" limited series as a flip book story before he was spun off into his own series. His history varied; at one point, he was an angel of vengeance who quoted the Bible to justify his actions. At other times, such as when he defeated the Norse god Thor and took his mystical hammer Mjolnir, Supreme considered himself a god. Although the most powerful being in the Liefeld universe, he had his share of defeats: he was killed in the cross-title "Deathmate Black" series (published by Image and Valiant Comics), lost his powers in "Extreme Prejudice", and was killed by Crypt in "Extreme Sacrifice".
Denmark had always threatened Swedish naval dominance in the Baltic Sea, and even during the reign of a tactical genius such as Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish navy remained somewhat inferior to their southern adversaries. The "Vasa" was built in a response to this, and was the most heavily armed warship of its time. But the "Vasa" did not pass its maiden voyage and sunk in 1628, leaving Sweden without its most powerful vessel and causing financial problems within the naval ministry. No expenses had been spared decorating the warship, and many tonnes of gold and bronze statues were now very difficult to salvage. Instead of relying on a naval power of his own, Gustavus sought to ally with the dominant Protestant naval powers in Europe (namely England and the Dutch Republic). But a strong navy was not considered important by the king – it was on land that the battles against Catholicism would be fought and not in the small Baltic Sea. The concept of "Dominium Maris Baltici" was not a primary goal for Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, as it was overshadowed by the struggle to protect Protestantism. Nevertheless, Sweden did possess a quite powerful naval force compared to most adversaries other than Denmark – the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire both had inadequate naval forces to stop a Swedish landing of troops in northern Germany, and only Denmark was granted immunity against this.
Asmodeus (; , "Asmodaios") or Ashmedai (; , "ʾAšmədʾāy", Ashema Deva; see below for other variations) is a "king of demons", or in Judeo-Islamic lore the king of the earthly spirits (shedim/jinn), mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist. In the Binsfeld's classification of demons, Asmodeus represents Lust. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends; for instance, in the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon.
The Christianization of Scandinavia as well as other Nordic countries and the Baltic countries, took place between the 8th and the 12th centuries. The realms of Scandinavia proper, Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Sweden is an 11th or 12th century merger of the former countries Götaland and Svealand), established their own Archdioceses, responsible directly to the Pope, in 1104, 1154 and 1164, respectively. The conversion to Christianity of the Scandinavian people required more time, since it took additional efforts to establish a network of churches. The Sami remained unconverted until the 18th century. Newer archaeological research suggests there were Christians in Götaland already during the 9th century, it is further believed Christianity came from the southwest and moved towards the north.
Croatian tribes were like other Slavs polytheists - pagans. Their worldview intertwined with worship of power and war, to which raised places of worship, and demolished those of others. These worships were in contrast to Christianity, and conflict when Christianism became official ideology among the Slavs. The White Croats at the earliest historical sources are mentioned as pagans, and they were similar to the inhabitants of Kievan Rus' who also received Christianity late (988). Slavs often related places of worship with the natural environment, like hills, forests, and water. Some argue that Przemyśl was their as well as Slavic bishops capital in the 9th-century because there were uncovered foundations of a round chapel and palace made of cut stone. According to Nestor, Vladimir the Great in 980 raised on a hill near his fort pantheon of Slavic gods; Perun, Hors, Dažbog, Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh, but as he converted to Christianity in 988 one of the probable reasons Vladimir attacked Croats in 992 was because they didn't want to abandon their old beliefs and accept Christianity. Some scholars derived Croatian ethnonym from the Iranian word for Sun - "hvar". Paščenko argued possibility that in the ethnonym of the Croats could be seen archaic religion and mythology - the worship of the Slavic solar deity Hors (Sun, heavenly fire, force, war), which is of Iranian origin.
Zeus is the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, the children of sky god Ouranos and elder goddess Gaea (also known as "Mother Earth"). His father Cronus rose to power in the dimension which later became known as Olympus, after fatally wounding his own father Ouranos. As he lay dying, Ouranos prophesied that one of the children of Cronus would overthrow him in turn, so Cronus ate each of his children as they were born. His wife Rhea hid Zeus, their sixth child, on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia, and tricked Cronos into eating a stone instead of the infant Zeus. There Zeus grew to adulthood and then plotted his revenge on Cronus. Zeus, out of revenge, went down to Tartarus and freed his siblings Hades, Hestia, Hera, Poseidon, and Demeter, all now grown to adulthood, as well as the three Cyclopes, and the three hundred-handed giants called Hekatoncheries, which he had also imprisoned. The Cyclopes gave the three gods their respective weapons (Zeus' thunderbolt, Poseidon's trident, and Hades' Helm of Darkness) and taught Zeus how to wield his energy-manipulating powers, and Zeus led his allies in a ten-year war against Cronus and the Titans. After winning the war, Zeus imprisoned Cronus and most of the male Titans in Tartarus. Zeus drew lots with his brothers Hades and Poseidon, and became supreme ruler of the Olympian gods, their dimension and the sky. Zeus married Hera, but engaged in many relationships with goddesses and mortal women alike, angering his jealous wife. Some of his children from these unions were gods, and joined the Olympian pantheon, while others were mortals such as Helen of Troy and the hero Hercules who eventually became a god.
Draken Harald Hårfagre () is a large Viking longship built in the municipality of Haugesund, Norway. "Draken Harald Hårfagre" brings the seafaring qualities of a warship from the old Norse sagas to life. It is a ship that combines ocean-crossing sailing capabilities with a warship's use of oars.
While some Swedish areas had Christian minorities in the 9th century, Sweden was, because of its geographical location in northernmost Europe, not Christianized until around AD 1000, around the same time as the other Nordic countries, when the Swedish King Olof was baptized. This left only a modest gap between the Christianization of Scandinavia and the Great Schism, however there are some Scandinavian/Swedish saints who are venerated eagerly by many Orthodox Christians, such as St. Olaf. However, Norse paganism and other pre-Christian religious systems survived in the territory of what is now Sweden later than that; for instance the important religious center known as the Temple at Uppsala at Gamla Uppsala was evidently still in use in the late 11th century, while there was little effort to introduce the Sami of Lapland to Christianity until considerably after that.
In the early days of Angkor, the worship of Vishnu was secondary to that of Shiva. The relationship seems to have changed with the construction of Angkor Wat by King Suryavarman II as his personal mausoleum at the beginning of the 12th century. The central religious image of Angkor Wat was an image of Vishnu, and an inscription identifies Suryavarman as "Paramavishnuloka," or "he who enters the heavenly world of Vishnu." Religious syncretism, however, remained thoroughgoing in Khmer society: the state religion of Shaivism was not necessarily abrogated by Suryavarman's turn to Vishnu, and the temple may well have housed a royal lingam. Furthermore, the turn to Vaishnavism did not abrogate the royal personality cult of Angkor. by which the reigning king was identified with the deity. According to Angkor scholar Georges Coedès, "Angkor Wat is, if you like, a vaishnavite sanctuary, but the Vishnu venerated there was not the ancient Hindu deity nor even one of the deity's traditional incarnations, but the king Suryavarman II posthumously identified with Vishnu, consubstantial with him, residing in a mausoleum decorated with the graceful figures of apsaras just like Vishnu in his celestial palace." Suryavarman proclaimed his identity with Vishnu, just as his predecessors had claimed consubstantiation with Shiva.
Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus, the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titanomachy against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame, symbolized by a wreath of laurel leaves (bay leaves).
Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings, with one of the most famous being the "Winged Victory of Samothrace". Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena, and is thought to have stood in Athena's outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon. Nike is also one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins. After victory at the Battle of Marathon, Athenians erected the Nike of Callimachus.
The First Viking Age in Ireland began in 795, when Vikings began carrying out hit-and-run raids on Gaelic Irish coastal settlements. Over the following decades the raiding parties became bigger and better organized; inland settlements were targeted as well as coastal ones; and the raiders built naval encampments known as longphorts to allow them to remain in Ireland throughout the winter. In the mid 9th century, Viking leader Turgeis or "Thorgest" founded a stronghold at Dublin, plundered Leinster and Meath, and raided other parts of Ireland. He was killed by the High King, Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid, which was followed by several Irish victories against the Vikings and the seizure of Dublin in 849. Shortly after, a new group of Vikings known as the Dubgaill ("dark foreigners") came to Ireland and clashed with the earlier Viking settlers, now called the Finngaill ("fair foreigners"). The wavering fortunes of these three groups and their shifting alliances, together with the shortcomings of contemporary records and the inaccuracy of later accounts, make this period one of the most complicated and least understood in the fledgling city's history. In 853 a Viking warlord called Amlaíb (, possibly Olaf the White) arrived and made himself king of Dublin. He ruled along with his brothers Ímar ("Ívarr", possibly Ivar the Boneless) and Auisle ("Ásl"). For the next fifteen years or so, they used Dublin as their base for a series of campaigns against Irish kingdoms. During these conflicts they briefly allied themselves with several Irish kings. The Dublin Vikings also carried out a number of raids in Britain at this time. The deaths of Ivar (c.873) and Olaf (c.874) were followed by internecine conflict among the Vikings. Although intermittent warfare between the Vikings and the Irish continued, these inner conflicts weakened the Viking colonies and made it easier for the Irish to unite against them. In 902, Cerball mac Muirecáin, king of Leinster, and Máel Findia mac Flannacáin, king of Brega, launched a two-pronged attack on Dublin and drove the Vikings from the city. However, in 914 the Vikings now known as the Uí Ímair (House of Ivar) would return to Ireland, marking the beginning of the Second Viking Age.
The Gokstad ship is a 9th-century Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. It is currently on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.
It is the largest preserved Viking ship in Norway.
For example, Jenny Strauss Clay argues that Homer's poetic vision centers on the reign of Zeus, but that Hesiod's vision of the primordials put Zeus and the Olympians in context. Likewise, Vernant argues that the Olympic pantheon is a "system of classification, a particular way of ordering and conceptualizing the universe by distinguishing within it various types of powers and forces." But even before the Olympic pantheon were the Titans and primordial gods. Homer alludes to a more tumultuous past before Zeus was the undisputed King and Father.
The story is based on the Greek mythological tale of Europa and the bull, where the white bull is the king of the Greek gods, Zeus, in disguise. Zeus, the sky and thunder god of the Olympic pantheon, often wore a disguise when romantically pursuing mortal women, so as to avoid the eye of his wife and sister, Hera.
Edward the Elder was succeeded by his son Æthelstan, who Simon Keynes calls the "towering figure in the landscape of the tenth century". His victory over a coalition of his enemies – Constantine, King of the Scots, Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of the Cumbrians, and Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin – at the battle of Brunanburh, celebrated by a famous poem in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", opened the way for him to be hailed as the first king of England. Æthelstan's legislation shows how the king drove his officials to do their respective duties. He was uncompromising in his insistence on respect for the law. However this legislation also reveals the persistent difficulties which confronted the king and his councillors in bringing a troublesome people under some form of control. His claim to be "king of the English" was by no means widely recognised. The situation was complex: the Hiberno-Norse rulers of Dublin still coveted their interests in the Danish kingdom of York; terms had to be made with the Scots, who had the capacity not merely to interfere in Northumbrian affairs, but also to block a line of communication between Dublin and York; and the inhabitants of northern Northumbria were considered a law unto themselves. It was only after twenty years of crucial developments following Æthelstan's death in 939 that a unified kingdom of England began to assume its familiar shape. However, the major political problem for Edmund and Eadred, who succeeded Æthelstan, remained the difficulty of subjugating the north. In 959 Edgar is said to have "succeeded to the kingdom both in Wessex and in Mercia and in Northumbria, and he was then 16 years old" (ASC, version 'B', 'C'), and is called "the Peacemaker". By the early 970s, after a decade of Edgar's 'peace', it may have seemed that the kingdom of England was indeed made whole. In his formal address to the gathering at Winchester the king urged his bishops, abbots and abbesses "to be of one mind as regards monastic usage . . . lest differing ways of observing the customs of one Rule and one country should bring their holy conversation into disrepute".
From the seventh century, the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, resulting in the appearance of two dialect areas, Old West Norse (Norway and Iceland) and Old East Norse (Denmark and Sweden). Most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway. A change that separated Old East Norse (Runic Swedish/Danish) from Old West Norse was the change of the diphthong "æi" (Old West Norse "ei") to the monophthong "e", as in "stæin" to "sten". This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read "stain" and the later "stin". Also, a change of "au" as in "dauðr" into "ø" as in "døðr" occurred. This change is shown in runic inscriptions as a change from "tauþr" into "tuþr". Moreover, the "øy" (Old West Norse "ey") diphthong changed into "ø", as well, as in the Old Norse word for "island". This monophthongization started in Jutland and spread eastward, having spread throughout Denmark and most of Sweden by 1100.
By the end of the Third Age, the Sceptre of Annúminas was over 5,000 years old and was accounted the oldest surviving artefact in Middle-earth made by Men. On Midsummer's Eve of 3019, Elrond brought the Sceptre of Annúminas to Minas Tirith and presented it to Aragorn, King Elessar, symbolising his kingship over Arnor as well as Gondor.
Leif was the son of Erik the Red and his wife Thjodhild, and the grandson of Thorvaldr Ásvaldsson, and distant relative of Naddodd, who discovered Iceland. He was a Viking in the early days. His year of birth is most often given as c. 970 or c. 980. Though Leif's birthplace is not accounted for in the sagas, it is likely he was born in Iceland, where his parents met—probably somewhere on the edge of Breiðafjörður, and possibly at the farm "Haukadal" where Thjóðhild's family is said to have been based. Leif had two brothers, whose names were Thorsteinn and Thorvaldr, and a sister, Freydís.
"Hammer of the Gods" is an empire-building game with a focus on military strategy. The goal of the game is to build an empire through expansionism while completing a set of goals that are specified by the gods of Norse mythology. The game is won when a player completes the quest of Odin, the highest god in the Norse pantheon. Upon starting the game, each player chooses to control one of four races: human, elf, troll, or dwarf. Each race has unique characteristics for military units, and each is presented with a different hierarchy of gods which set different goals to meet. When the player meets each of these goals, the gods will present the player with a reward at the end of that turn. These rewards vary in nature, and can include powerful military units, magical flying ships for fast transportation, or higher income from conquered towns, to name a few examples.
Central to accounts of Norse mythology are the plights of the gods and their interaction with various other beings, such as with the jötnar, who may be friends, lovers, foes or family members of the gods. Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. As evidenced by records of personal names and place names, the most popular god among the Scandinavians during the Viking Age was Thor, who is portrayed as unrelentingly pursuing his foes, his mountain-crushing, thunderous hammer Mjölnir in hand. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, and is wed to the beautiful, golden-haired goddess Sif.
Numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts such as the hammer-wielding, humanity-protecting thunder-god Thor, who relentlessly fights his foes; the one-eyed, raven-flanked god Odin, who craftily pursues knowledge throughout the worlds and bestowed among humanity the runic alphabet; the beautiful, seiðr-working, feathered cloak-clad goddess Freya who rides to battle to choose among the slain; the vengeful, skiing goddess Skaði, who prefers the wolf howls of the winter mountains to the seashore; the powerful god Njörð, who may calm both sea and fire and grant wealth and land; the god Frey, whose weather and farming associations bring peace and pleasure to humanity; the goddess Iðunn, who keeps apples that grant eternal youthfulness; the mysterious god Heimdall, who is born of nine mothers, can hear grass grow, has gold teeth, and possesses a resounding horn; the jötunn Loki, who brings tragedy to the gods by engineering the death of the goddess Frigg's beautiful son Baldr; and numerous other deities.
Brian quickly established himself as the most powerful ruler in Munster, defeating the Norse of Limerick in 977 and the Eóganachta the following year. Having gained control over Munster, he tried to extend his authority by raiding Osraige in 982 and 983, and also, according to the annals of Innisfallen, entering an alliance with the Norse of Waterford, with the intention of attacking Dublin. There was such an attack, but Brian does not seem to have been involved – instead it was Domnall Claen of Leinster who was allied with Ivar of Waterford, and they were defeated by Glúniairn and Máel Sechnaill.