Aesir

The Aesir are the gods of Norse Religion, a tribe of divine, supernatural beings who feature heavily in their myths and legends relating to life, death, the creation of the world, and the creation of humanity.

An exact definition of who the Aesir were is not precisely known, simply because it is challenging to make specific distinction. What we can say with relative certainty though, is that the Aesir are the children of the Allfather — Odin — the race that originates from him and his wife.

In the Gylfaginning chapter of the Prose Edda, composed, edited and compiled by Snorri Sturluson, in their city in the middle of the world known as Ásgard (while “men call it Troy”) Snorri states that this was the home of the tribe of gods and their families.

“[The Allfather’s] wife was called Frigg daughter of Fjörgvinn; and of their blood is come that kindred which we call the races of the Æsir, that have peopled the Elder Ásgard, and those kingdoms which pertain to it; and that is a divine race.” — Gylfaginning, IX, Prose Edda [1]

The Aesir gods are the blood of Odin, the Allfather, and his wife, Frigg.

The Ancestral Origins of the Aesir

The Aesir gods of Norse Religion appear to specifically be the tribe that descends from Odin and Frigg, their direct lineage who built and populated the ancient city of Elder Asgard.

What is curious, however, is that this distinction of the Aesir does not appear to extend to the ancestors of Odin and Frigg. Odin himself was of the Jotnar by blood, at least in part — the supernatural race somewhat inaccurately and also reductively translated as the “frost giants” who contrast the Aesir in Norse Religion.

Even though Odin has two brothers — the three sons of Borr — it is not clear whether Buri and Ve, and their potential projeny, are also considered to be Aesir. However, the Norse did consider Borr and his sons as gods.

The Homeland of the Aesir

It is said that in the middle of the world, the ancient gods, the sons of Borr — they who are the ancestors of the Aesir — created a great city in the middle of the world that is called Asgard by the gods.

However, according to the Norse, “men call it Troy.”^[1]

According to Norse Religion the location of the ancient city of the gods was no less than the ancient Greek city of Troy — home of King Priam and his son heroic son Hector, along with Paris — on the far western edgo of Anatolia where the Greeks settled.

Notes

Resources

1. Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist. IX, Gylfaginning, The Prose Edda. 1916 translation. <Read Online> Accessed 08 December 2024.