The Horned Viking Spear Dancer of Odin
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Viking and Anglo-Saxon artwork often includes a man with bird shaped horns. The horned dancer also appears in Robert Egger's film The Northman. This mysterious figure is known as the horned man or the weapon dancer. The motif shows up in various different contexts and over a huge geographic range and timeframe - from early Anglo-Saxon England to Viking age Russia. It is commonly associated with the cult of the Nordic god Odin or the Anglo-Saxon god Woden and with extraordinary shamanic rituals as I shall explain in this video.
Sources:
Mortimer, Paul, 'What Colour a God's Eyes' (2018)
Oehrl, Sigmund, 'Horned ship-guide - an unnoticed picture stone fragment from Stora Valle, Gotland' (2016)
Oehrl, Sigmund, 'DOCUMENTING AND INTERPRETING THE PICTURE STONES OF GOTLAND' (2017)
This channel depends on your support:
Patreon: / survivethejive
SubscribeStar: www.subscribes...
Telegram: t.me/surviveth...
Crypto: bit.ly/3ysmtvk
Art:
Horned spear dancers by Hungerstein
/ hungerstein_sketchbook
WAINEs and Odin art by Christian Sloan Hall
www.deathlord....
Music in order:
Theme song - Wolcensmen - Sunne
Torulf - Freja
Xurious -Steppe expansion
Stark Von Oben - Praetorian Germanicus
Bark sound productions - Vrm
Borg - The choosing ceremony
Borg - The Leaf King returns
Some may say "based" , "based on what?" says the normie , based on Odin
Hail Wotanaz
This was an especially professional and well edited video. Better than anything the History channel is putting out
I thought history channel stopped focusing on real history many years ago...
@@xephy89 Lets not dis History channel,
he does what he does with what he has.
Yep, thats survive the jive for you.
Wishing everyone much merriment as we welcome in the First of May!
Happy Walpurgisnacht.
Good Beltane
this is why i donate on Patreon - give this man a few quid lads!
After watching this video I joined you!!
Richard Spencer despises Jazz. And rightly so
The last reigning German Kaiser Wilhelm II. was famous for wearing an eagle-helmet instead of the Pickelhaube! Unconscious tradition? Wilhelm, like William, means determination (will) for defence! It derives from Old Saxon/Old Lower German: willio (will/determination) and helm (helmet, defence) or Halm (haulm/blade of grass, upright).
Wow, that's a connection I never thought of. He also liked to dress as historical figures in general.
The Kaiser sometimes wore a German cavalry officer's uniform, with an eagle on top of the helmet instead of a spike. Imperial Russian cavalry helmets were very similar, except the eagle had two heads. I was wondering about a connection to the double-headed eagle, used by Tsarist Russia, and before that by the Byzantine Empire, but that apparently only started to be used in medieval times, being a (possibly unconscious) revival of a device sometimes used in ancient Anatolia and in Mycenaean Greece.
@@dashinvaine
The HRE and subsequently a lot of German and Dutch heraldry also used the double headed eagle which probably was a bigger influence
@@dashinvaine And quite a few of the slavic countries also has eagles in their flags or national symbols, and often double headed. So I belive this is a belive-system that goes back to, maybe when the germanic and slavic people still was the same people. Of course, I could be miles of also :)
the king, the kaiser and the tsar, all from the same family tree.., back when there was knowledge of the past, which now is almost occult
The Northman brought me back to this gem.
Near my home in old Frisian land, we have discovered a pin with this particular depiction of Wodan.
are there any images of it online?
@@Survivethejive It is on display at the archeological depot, huis van hilde in Castricum, the Netherlands. I took a photo of it and wrote a small article about it on Facebook.
@@Survivethejive m.facebook.com/groups/399408820154099?view=permalink&id=2787798424648448 here is a link.
If you need more material on this subject runer.ku.dk/AdvSearch.aspx translate the site to English and search for Bracteate.
that's him officer that's the hornt
You really dug deep to show us all the available evidence, great work!
If you follow the argument made by Kris Kershaw in her thesis on Odin and the Männerbund, the motif of the weapon-dancer flanked by wolfheaded men falls neatly into place. I think we can reasonably assume that the horned spear-dancer may be a person impersonating Odin/Wodanaz in a ritualistic context connected to some form of warrior-cult.
So do I!
Great book. I think that's a very reasonable assumption.
🤔🥰
Hugin and Munin fly OUT every day - the mind searching. The horned god motif has them turned INWARDS - thought and memory united in the singularity of perception that is the state of odr.
Perfect timing, there’s a scene in the Northman trailer that has a reference to this
Happy Walpurgisnight!
Holy video production, Batman! Tom this is stellar!
The "Bändertanz", "Maibaumtanz" has weapon dancing pagan origin in germanic and celtic culture.
In the south german area (Austria, Bavaria, Suisse,...) there are a lot of those in various forms even today visible, and might it be only in the traditional clubs on villages, where young people dance together and also around the Mai-tree.
I really like your new effects and intro. Good job explaining this topic. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Interestingly the double headed eagle is also found in ancient illyrian, thracian and dacian artworks, often times with a swastika. This seems to have been a very important symbol to the indo-european peoples and continued beeing so in the medieval period (byzantine empire and HRE) up to today (for example in albania, montenegro, serbia)
The byzantine and holy Roman eagle comes from the Roman empire not the illyrians. And so do the balkan countries, they come from the byzantine empire
@Jotaro97 but it sounds like it
The dancing spear god reminds me of Lugh (Celtic spear god) who was known to dance in battle, also I believe Indra had a similar motif
Bryan ❤️
Not Indra, but Rudra. Rudra mixed with Indus valley elements and became Shiva. Shiva (Rudra) also carried a spear, granted one with three heads, and is called the king of dancing.
@@vtheawesome yes, Indra is more like Thor, or Heracles
I want more of this horned guy. I need one or both O'them shirts.
Nice work.
Very interesting! I wonder what those English finds are all about. I wonder if their similarity in size and design suggests they had a consistent practical function. I wonder if there is an Anglo-Saxon horse riding technology expert anywhere who might have an idea about them as tack.
You're the man, Tom! Great work!
Really enjoyed this latest upload. lots of similar stuff being found at metal detecting rallies up and down the country .
Great video; I could watch these all day.
Tom can talk about paint dry and make it sound fascinating
Very interesting. Odin is expression of wisdom, strength and foresight. The depictions are beautiful and easy to recognize. The mystery close to unsolvable. The tale never ending. Yet here we are in awe. Letting it grow in each of us.
By Huginn & Muninn, this is excellent! 💐
Yesssss, I've been looking into this! Thanks a lot dude.
Great video as usual Tom! I’m proud to be a patron. Hail Odin!
Very interesting as usual! I especially liked the concept of the thought and the mind coming out from Odin's head in shape of the ravens.
Thank you!
HAIL ODIN!!
Teutonic Resistance TV Hail
And Death to Yahweh! Down with the Hyksos and Khazars!!
Hail Odin!
So are you a teutonic knight or a pagan?
The two birds probably corelate to Ida and Pingala from the yogic system. A risen kundalini. The connection with horns is possible because actual horns probably often had such meaning as well, because of their fractal texture.
I've been loving your videos for about a year now sir. Very well spoken and well researched! Hail to Odin, and hail to you!
Absolutely great job thanks. Really explains from top to bottom the all relation between cultural creed (conscience believe) and crafts of a group of people in a particular time.
I was unsubscribed to this channel without me knowing. UA-cam did this. Don't worry I resubscribed and liked the video. I just thought you should know that UA-cam is unsubscribing people from your channel. Btw it was a great video, I really wanted to learn more about Odin, thanks for making this video.
Thanks for the Channel it's just what I was looking for. Very informative.
Maybe the Vikings used it as an ancient bottle opener
Haha. You beat me to this comment. They had to crack open the ale and mead bottles somehow!
@@leroyyancer3930 you can take credit for that
LOL Yeah for their Ale.
I didn't know they used corks like we do to seal their mead horns tight.
Excellent as always. Great compilation of artefacts. I think ‘Odinic Weapon Dancing Priest’, although a tad unwieldy, sums this symbol up… well that’s how I like to think of my pendant replica.
wonderful stuff Tom.
cool, you learn something new every day.
No views. 12 likes. Based.
Also, "hornt man"
In my language a horned man is a man who has the wife/girlfriend who betrays him with other men.
@@candylandi5351 found the Spanish/ Portuguese speaker
@@12SPASTIC12 Italian
A+ content. Will be snagging one of those shirts.
This is very interesting, I was just reading about eagles on everything throughout history & the deeper meaning of them.
there were two birds
black we know
whispered in my ear
as if to sow
the truth, the lies
the in between
give me a hug neath the mun
by the inn
that holds our doom.
enjoyed. thank yew
Thanks gare
Unrelated to this video, but I just want to say I watched The Wicker Man the other day based on your praise for the film and it was outstanding! Thanks for the recommendation.
Some of the most beautiful art of all time.
Happy May Day jivey, good video usual. I’m spending the day up at Scuthamers Knob, making votive offerings and meditation on the barrow. Good day fellow thegns of Wessex and of England
I spent many a night sleeping there as a teenager! You may see some of my graffiti carved on a tree near the barrow
Thank you Tom
I imagine the Longman of Wilmington also fits this image - as archaeology suggests he may have once had horns.
people have said so before but this is disputed
@@Survivethejive - Yes I understand, the age of the Longman is often questioned. Either way this article may still be of interest to you - www.jstor.org/stable/1259852?seq=1
The Swiss broach that appears early on in the vid shows a figure which particularly looks like the Long Man if Wilmington.
There is a part of a Vendel helmet showing a mounted warrior with two birds above which has been interpreted as Odin and his two ravens. The horse has only four legs though, and the two birds have different type of beaks and represent thus not likely the same type of bird, (the ravens Hugin and Munin). Perhaps the two birds are a reference to the kenning "birds of wound", i.e. arrows and spears, that fly towards the enemy and the rider simply is an anonymous warrior.
It might have been explained already, but another Vendel helmet with the little head between the eyes could depict Odin, with that head placed on the facial protection it looks like a torso with streched arms," the hanging god".
Such a great video and yes those Anglo-Saxon helmets just wow
Interesting video as always. I hadn't been aware the "weapon dancer" motif was found outside England and Scandinavia. I have the imagery from the Torslunda helmet plate tattooed on my back.
Great video!
Odin has two eyes he just sacrificed one physical one for a metaphysical one.
Great video
Amazing artistry on these helmets
They should show this stuff in history classes. Much better than the crap they teach you in schools and universities.
Yes, Survive the Jive and related channels should be shown in schools
Just got two Raven God shirts. One a tank top. Nice artwork.
Prepare to be mobbed by ladies
@@Survivethejive thanks, it is a damn good shirt
I'm commenting again! Have you ever heard about the Shug Monkey? It's in the folk lore of my area. An East Anglian Tale!
This year no 1st May celebrations here in Italy because of the Chinese Flu... 1st time after long time! So sad but at least I found something interesting to watch.
They tell you not to run with blades in your hand, but they never said not to dance with them
The new camera looks great, Tom!
Same camera since last summer
@@Survivethejive Well, either way it looks great.
Very interesting video!!!
Could be there's a Siberian/Sarmatic/indoueuropean shamanic relationship!!!
A lot about this idea makes sense. The spears, the ravens/eagles, the ulvhethnar/berserkir friends.
Having two people representing Odin dancing together seems at first to be a bit odd, but maybe it represents tribes coming together as equals to pursue a common goal, each maintaining their their own Father Christmases, as it were, who are shown in the act of a cooperative ceremony.
I guess it could also be that these don't all represent Odin (or people representing Odin), per se, but some or all could instead be vorthir (wardens), who were supposed to follow all people in their lives and help them in their times of need. Maybe these took on some attributes of Odin, as they're also associated with sacred trees and death... like the Jul Tomptar who help Father Christmas and have come to share many attributes. I could be forgetting something, but afaik, Odin isn't represented in any sources as appearing like the gods in the Iliad, to guide the spears of favoured warriors. On the other hand, that's exactly the kind of thing that vorthir would be responsible for.
To offer a different opinion: I think it's probably a stretch to necessarily equate all pairs of birds from Scandinavian and Germanic culture as Odin's ravens. These paired creatures are just a subset of a much broader category of paired creatures that I would say is very common in ornament throughout much of Eurasia in ancient and early medieval times. Take a look at some of these examples:
Category of its own
spanning many civilisations
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Animals
Urnfield (contentious here, but just putting it out there that imo these characteristic sword guards are a simple rendering of a pair of animal heads)
myarmoury.com/talk/files/urnfield8matrix.jpg
Minoan
www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_a/illustr/knossos_sword_hilts.jpg
Mycenaean
benedante.blogspot.com/2017/08/mycenaean-sword-hilt.html
i.imgur.com/f1tuine.jpg
Greek
dam-13749.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/hb_37.11.8-.17_av3.jpg
www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253133?rpp=30&pg=1&ft=lion+bracelet&pos=16
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_bracelets_with_snakes_at_the_National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Athens_on_1_June_2018.jpg
Achaemenid
i.pinimg.com/originals/63/67/cf/6367cfa12d380eb0fae8ffc411ee69ac.jpg
i.redd.it/ky0u0q26bpty.jpg
i.pinimg.com/564x/d2/e7/78/d2e778bc53b6612eda0ebf29c06d2eb8.jpg
3.bp.blogspot.com/-X9x940i46A8/UJJQTOi0cSI/AAAAAAAANZI/aAZ3xwMMuoQ/s640/DSCN5069.JPG
Scytho-Sarmatian
pbs.twimg.com/media/CP2SsW9VEAAOjl4?format=jpg&name=900x900
nomadic.org.uk/masterpieces-of-ancient-eurasian-art/sword-in-a-gold-scabbard
pbs.twimg.com/media/D3t8A3QWsAAFgMK?format=jpg&name=medium
www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/3479077
www.edgarlowen.com/b4904.jpg
i.pinimg.com/564x/89/f6/b1/89f6b1fa516221606802dde7dca0d546.jpg
myarmoury.com/talk/files/dag.scyth.4thbc.triangularg_103.jpg
(I could go on forever!)
La Tène
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silver_torque.jpg
Pictish
www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/scabbard-sword-chape/132906
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Ninian%27s_Isle_TreasureDSCF6212.jpg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Ninian%27s_Isle_TreasureDSCF6202.jpg
It's past my bedtime, so I'm not going to expand the brief list or add any strictly Scandinavian or Germanic stuff, but you get the idea. These paired bird heads are part of a bigger picture of zoomorphic ornament, in which paired animals are common.
In the days of Odin's worship, pairs of ravens (or other battlefield scavengers eg. eagles and wolves) would of course have been associated with Odin. However, the motif is very likely to predate any such association and it continued with other paired animals long after said association, so it's not the case that the objects were necessarily produced in reverence for Odin, but rather, that a reverence for Odin was attached to a pre-existing reverence for animals, especially predators, which is very apparent in Scytho-Sarmatian art in particular. A warrior might commission a brooch with a pair of eagles because he is inspired by them and the fact that they're associated with Odin may be secondary - ie. the warrior may favour Odin because Odin likes eagles too, rather than liking eagles because he likes Odin, though of course it could also be the other way around.
I'd also add that Scandinavian/Germanic birds of prey aren't really always found in twos. Just google "Germanic + buckle + eagle" to find countless examples of unpaired bird ornaments. The famous raven banner had just one raven.
As for the specific format that's found with a pair of zoomorphic heads at the bottom end of a migration period fibula or buckle, I'm not convinced that those are all avian. Though many clearly are, many others seem to have ears and in general look a lot more like the heads found in contemporary representations of ungulates, especially horses.
BTW: Some archeologists have speculated that the wolf headed dancing warriors were actually berserks (or ulfhednar)
Yes that seems likely
Great video, very informative, i would just like to suggest a video on king Penda of Miercna rīce, i think his story is great and not spoken about much,
Impressive research! Well done good sir, well done indeed.
Good video Tom. I love the artwork of our forefathers. Hail Woden.
The horniest version of Oden.
I'm honestly surprised you didn't mention the connection between Wodan and Rudra, in this case specifically the similarities between the dancing Shiva and the horned weapon dancer
The connection people like Dumezil and Kershaw have identified between Shiva-Rudra and Odin is interesting but should not be forced. Shiva nataraj is a late form of representation with specific symbolism absent here and with a specific meaning which doesn't apply here
Happy 1st of May Tomasu.
Great timing, mate! The trailer for Assassin's Creed Valhalla was just revealed (it featured Odin)
Great video, getting a shirt!
Quality
Scaled down, but had my bonfire
As someone who has spent time in Denmark, Sweden and Norway...I remember all of them telling me NO VIKINGS had HORNS on their helmets....BUT they also said Horns dated from BEFORE....the Viking time .........
Full moon 🌕 tonite! Off to my monthly pilgrimage to the top of a wooded knob to build a fire 🔥 & give thanks 😊 to Woden.
Wow. Just fascinating.
Before halfway into the video, I already shared it on FB groups.
Thanks Kevin
Odin is called Allfather and considered the ancestor of many European tribes and royal houses, including the Langobards. ... The Norse deity Odin has some parallels with the founder of Jainism, Adinath...
Aesir-Asura correspondence is the relation between æsir, an Old Norse word meaning "gods" (the plural of the singular word áss "god") and ásuraḥ, a Sanskrit word referring to certain warlike and aggressive demons. Also related is the Avestan word ahura, found as the title of the god Ahura Mazda.
Odin as raudhir is probably rudhra, the bird horned imagery is shared by the pashupathinatha in India who is shiva, the alfadhirhaitir contains many names shared by shiva and bodhenaz. Leading of wolves and animals is shared again by raudhir as ulfroegnir and by rudhra as pashupathinatha.
The horns, to me, almost resemble a torque going over the figures head.
For me, is the representation of virility and connection with gods, also the words horn and horny are related.
The Long Man of Wilmington holds what appear to be two spears. Wow, is he a depiction of Odin?
Positive comment for the algorithm.
This was so fascinating and cool! The Wolf/Eagle Iconography, the recurrence of 2, 2 spears, 2 heads, is is possible this is a reference to the East and the West Roman Empires?
The double headed eagle came much later and I have wondered whether this symbol was influenced by earlier Germanic pagan ones
@@Survivethejive It will have made more sense if they were both ravens rather than eagles.
Could it be reasonable to interpret the birds as representing Thought and Memory as Odin's ravens do?
and duality in a sense
Noble Wolf yes yes all gods are toothless allegories and in fact transsexual
Exactly that I reckon.
Interesting video, are there any relations/connections to the dancing shiva? Or I would presume Rudra would be closer to woden. I am probably wrong tho haha. Please edumacate me.
Connected, rather than related. Metaphysically.
There are mythic parallels between rudra-shiva and odin as dumezil recognised but since this weapon dancer relates to an actual cultic dance which has no equivalent among shaivites of which i am aware, i can't see any connection here
@@Survivethejive I'm sure you'd know, but isn't it reasonable to assume that the dancing Shiva is just a vestigial remnant of ancient Rudra worship? That is to say that a similar practice may have been observed by ancient Aryans who worshipped Rudra, and was eventually lost to time as Rudra became Shiva
Watching this as a play through a Norsca campaign in Warhammer. Feels barbarian man.
Excellent vid, and yes great merch, I already have the Aryan invasion tee, will have one of these definitely
Just a thought on the boat and figure at the end. Wasn't Wade aldo associated with such?
And wasn't the Ides/Idisi associated with the dead and conveyancing their souls to an island?
Þankaz Tom!
Never forget “hornt man”
could the two ravens/horns be inspired by the winged hat worn by hermes in later depictions?
No i think it was just a development of the duel bird motif i showed
@@Survivethejive i think this horned man motif is an interesting connection though because Cernunnos had them similarly and was associated with other forms of the Gaulish Mercury.
It (or the bird connection in general) could be one of their reasons for identifying the two as the same.
Sir please make a video about ancient egpytian and mesoptomian pepole about thier genetics
(Uuden) Odin is the Sun ☀️
Odin is a ring
Odin is everything
Odin has always been
Odin will always be
Odin is the All Father
...Ancient Norse poem.
That is not ancient
Survive the Jive
Well, paradise time was 100,000,000 yrs, ice time was 50,000,000 yrs, after ice time has been 10,036 yrs. this poem is from Paradise time so that’s pretty old dude, I’d say it’s ancient.
SOURCE: Ior Bock (The Bock Saga)
I suppose it is also possible that Odin with one eye is later development, perhaps. As in, Woden had two eyes and Odin later progressed to have one? What are your thoughts Tom?
At the beginning he had 2 eyes, then he gave one eye to Mimisbrunn so he became the one-eyed God.
Hi Jive; have you read the Phoenix Journals mostly written by one called Hatonn? He may have been THE Odin...
Is this where someone got the idea that Vikings had horned helmets?
No, that comes from old oprahs. But there are cultures where wearing a horned helmet, represented a shaman, chief, or ritual dances. Plains indian warriors would wear buffalo horned headresses for the belief it would make you faster and manlier. Whereas a feathered headress represented a warchief or tribal chief. But back to what i first said. Viking horned helmets only come around in the late 1800s by "nationalistic" germans.
No, that idea came from the realm of epic coolness (fuck realism, horned and winged helmets are chad as fuck)
I think it possibly could have been
There may be a connection to the bronze age sea peoples, who did appear to have horned helmets, misidentified finds or smth
Gerlach and Gesalec are linked names with the lake god.
Is it possible that this is a conflation of both Odin and Lugh? Lugus was a well known Gallic deity, and his conceptualization might have ended up making it up into the Northern reaches where the natives absorbed some of Lugus' traits. Lugh is frequently associated with the spear, and he's also associated with Crows. He's also partenered with Rosmerta, a woman who carries a divine ritual drink, which might also explain the consumption of intoxicants. Both are interpreted as Mercury through Interpretatio Romana, with all three associated with the arts (dancing being an art).
Ive always wondered why the wodenistic figure usually has a spear pointing into its foot? Sonetimes by himself, or by figures dancing beside woden.
I'm actually frustrated about that kingsworthy Woden Head it was dug up at a known Anglo Saxon graveyard then sold on for profit into someone's private collection. should really have been left in its context not dug up by some graverobber