Thor
Thor was the Norse god of thunder, not tobe confused with the god of storms. Thor is often compared to Herakles in hisfunction in the Norse society as well as his basic personality. Thor washot-tempered and unpredictable in the same way as Herakles. Thor was also knownfor his incredible appetite for food and drink. He was the strongest of the godsand served as their protector and defender. Mortal people also invoked Thor forprotection from evil and destruction. He is also seen as bringing fertility tothe fields and happiness in marriage. This happiness in marriage has to do withhis long marriage to Sif whom he seemed to love very much. He defended her onseveral occasions. Thor was married twice: first to Iarnsaxa and second to Sif.He had 3 sons and 1 daughter from these 2 marriages. He did not kill any of hisfamily. In this respect he is nothing like Herakles who was promiscuous anduncaring towards his wives. Herakles did not seem to take as much interest inhis women as Thor seems to in his wives. [ To learn more about Herakles and hisrelationship with women, go to Herakles and Women page.]
Thor has three important weapons at hisdisposal: a girdle that increases his strength, iron gauntlets that allow him tocontrol his hammer better, and his hammer, Mjolnir, which creates lightning whenthrown against stone and thunder when thrown through the air. Thor is alwaysseen in action; he is forever on one quest or another. His greatest battle waswith the Midgard serpent. He did not defeat the serpent, but it is predictedthat at the end of the world, he will die in battle with it.Sacrifices were also offered to Thor to prevent plagues and famine. Thiscan be compared to Herakles’ association with healing (Hallam 1996).
Thor is noted for his great size andstrength. As a baby, Thor demonstrated his strength to the gods by lifting andthrowing 10 loads of bear skins. He was raised and taught by foster parents.Though Thor was generally good-tempered, he could fly into awful rages thatthreatened to destroy everything in their paths. Thor is known as a patron godof the peasants and the lower classes. He is seen as an underdog. Like Herakles,he is not quite a god. He cannot join the gods in their land by crossing thebridge because his great heat would burn it down. Therefore, Thor had to wadeacross the river itself to take his place in the Asgard, a great judgement hallof the gods (Guerber 1895).
Thor was alsoworshipped extensively and proved to be a great challenge to Christianity.Children were baptized in his name and the sign of Thor was placed on them (thissign is similar to the sign of the cross). He also wore a halo of fire, hiselement. Replicas of his hammer were used to bless funeral pyres, associatinghim with death and cremation. The Yule-tide was Thor’s biggest festival andour modern Christmas now takes its place (Guerber 1895). Thor was Christ’sbiggest adversary (Davidson 1964).
In myth,Thor’s biggest adversaries were the frost giants of the North. He was alwaysgoing into battle with them, much in the same way that Herakles was always afterthe Centaurs or some other beasts. Thor once tried to kill a giant that had cometo the gods as a guest. This equates to Herakles throwing one of his own houseguests off the roof, only the gods prevented Thor from killing the giant(Guerber 1895).
Herakles wasonce in servitude to Queen Omphale. He is rumored to have dressed as a womenwhile in her court. Though the situation with Thor is not exactly the same, Thoronce dressed as a woman. One of the frost giants stole his hammer throughdeceit. Thor went to retrieve it. The giant agreed to trade the hammer forFreya’s hand in marriage. Freya was the goddess of love and beauty and refusedthe idea of marriage to a giant. Thor and his companion dressed as Freya and herlady and deceived the giant. They did retrieve the hammer and then killed thegiant and his company (Guerber 1895).
Another notablecharacteristic that Herakles and Thor share is the attitude in which the commonpeople treated them. Both characters are tinged with an element of comedy. Theirappetites alone are of comic proportions (Davidson 1964).
Thor is thecharacteristic hero of the Vikings. His enemies are quickly killed. More imagesof Thor exist than of any of the other gods. Huge statues are devoted to him. Hegave guidance to the people in difficult times and was there for the well-beingof the community. Thor is often compared to Indra because of several resemblingcharacteristics. Donar, one of Thor’s predecessors, was thought to resembleHerakles more than Thor himself. Germans began to praise Herakles before battleas their new hero. Thor is also equated with Zeus/Jupiter (Davidson 1964).(MAC)
Davidson, H.R. (1964). Gods and Mythsof Northern Europe. London: Penguin Books.
Hallam, Elizabeth; general editor (1996). Godsand Goddesses: A Treasury of Deities andTales From World Mythology. New York: MacMillan.
Guerber, H. A.(1895). Myths of Northern Lands.New York: American Book Company.
