AEGIR (water)

ORIGIN Icelandic (Nordic). God of the ocean.

KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP Viking period (circa AD 700) but probably earlier, through to Christianization (circa AD 1100).

SYNONYMS none known.

CENTER(S) OF CULT none known but probably enjoyed sanctuaries along the west coast of Norway and elsewhere in Nordic region.

ART REFERENCES runic inscriptions; reliefs in metal and stone.

LITERARY SOURCES Icelandic codices; Prose Edda (Snorri); Historia Danica (Saxo).

A lesser known AESIR god of Asgard concerned with the moods of the sea and their implications for mariners. The river Eider was known to the Vikings as “Aegir’s Door.” Aegir is also depicted in some poetry as the “ale brewer,” perhaps an allusion to the caldrons of mead which were thought to come from under the sea (see also the Celtic deities DAGDA and GOBNIU). There are references in literature to Saxons sacrificing captives, probably to Aegir, before setting sail for home. Linked in uncertain manner to the goddess RAN he was believed to have sired nine children, the waves of the sea, who were possibly giantesses.