THE ANCIENT MYTH OF WOTAN
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Wotan - Teutonic Mythology

Wotan was the supreme German god of war and wisdom. Depicted as a warrior sovereign, Wotan belongs to the Germanic paganism dating back to the 7th and 8th century, the time when the last Barbarian Invasions in the northern states of Europe caused the replacement of myths with Christian beliefs.

Opposite to other deities, it is believed that Wotan was a historic king whose human name was lost in time, hence he has not a religious counterpart like occurs with the gods of the Greek and Roman pantheon, although, he is also referred to as Odin in the Norse Mythology.

Wotan, who loved the wild hunt, became god after his death and eventually was named the supreme God of the Germanic according to archaeological evidence. Wotan acquired wisdom after he hung himself to understand the nature of people.

His action granted him knowledge and the ability to travel between the human and the netherworld. This ability identified him as carrier of the dead among the Anglo-Saxons, who called him Woden; name later derived as Wednesday, the day consecrated to Wotan and associated to Mercury, the Roman messenger of Jupiter, or Hermes and Zeus in the Greek Mythology.

Wotan did not live in the Valhalla as Odin, but among the men and the dead alternately. However, in the 19th century Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered the construction of a Walhalla Temple in Regensburg, Germany, to honor Wotan and other Germanic mythic figures inspired in the Norse Valhalla.

Wotan's religious status as supreme God is also described in the Sagas, the Iceland's literature that depicts folklore and myths of the north and West German cultures of the Middle Ages. There is also a brief reference of Wotan described in the Nibelungenlied, (The Song of the Nibelungs), an epic poem belonging to the Middle-High German.

In modern times, Wotan was also named God of the Third Reich, during the period of time when Adolph Hitler ruled the Nazi party. Today the mythical Wotan continues supporting New Age and Pagan Rites of the Third Millennium.

 

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