''Almáttki áss'' (the almighty '' áss'' "god") is an unknown Norse god evoked in an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic legal oath sworn on a temple ring, mentioned in ''

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...

'' (

Hauksbók Hauksbók (; 'Book of Haukr') is a 14th-century Icelandic manuscript created by Haukr Erlendsson. Significant portions of it are lost, but it contains the earliest copies of many of the texts it contains, including the '' Saga of Eric the Red''. ...

268).

Attestations

The reference in ''Landnámabók'' is found in a section describing the old heathen laws for how one should swear legal oaths:

Theories

The identity of this divinity has given rise to much speculation.

Thor

The identification with

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

is by far the most common. The adjective "almighty" applies particularly well to him and he had a prominent position by the time of the settlement of Iceland.

Ullr

The ''almáttki áss'' can be identified with

Ullr In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a Æsir, god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in ear ...

for in ''

Atlakviða ''Atlakviða'' (''The Lay of Atli'') is one of the heroic poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. One of the main characters is Atli who originates from Attila the Hun. It is one of the most archaic Eddic poems, possibly dating to as early as the 9th cent ...

'' (30) Gudrún mentions the oaths Gunnar sworn by Ullr's ring.

Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author ...

theorizes that this hypothesis was in contradiction with the insignificance of the cult of Ullr.Simek (1996).

Odin

The expression could also refer to

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

, represented in much of the Old Norse corpus as the most important god of the Norse pantheon.

Týr

Rudolf Simek also suggested that the ''almáttki áss'' might be

Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...

. Even if this god was little known in Iceland, the oath was a legal one and Týr was historically linked to law (cf. Mars Thingsus).

Christianity

Finally, as the oath was transmitted by a Christian author, the could have a Christian meaning.

John Lindow John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature. Biography John Lin ...

thus suggested that maybe the author "meant the 'almighty áss' to be a noble pagan anticipation of the new religion that was to come". Régis Boyer shares this opinion, underscoring that the word "almáttki" is nowhere else to be found in a pagan context.Boyer (2000).

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary

* *

Secondary

* ''Livre de la colonisation de l'Islande selon la version de

Sturla Þórðarson Sturla Þórðarson ( ; ; 29 July 1214–30 July 1284) was an Icelandic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century. Much academic debate is dedicated to evaluating his life, bias as an historian of medieval Ice ...

(Sturlubók)''. Traduit de l'islandais ancien, annoté et commenté par Régis Boyer. Turnhout: Brepols, 2000. Miroir du Moyen Âge. . * Lindow, John.
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
'. New York:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2002. . * Simek, Rudolf. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1996. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Almattki ass Æsir Norse gods Open problems Thor Odin