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ancient polytheism:
Egyptian Overview
Norse Overview
War Deities
Underworld Deities
Odin, for example, the god of the underworld (in charge of leading the honorably slain to his kingdom), was a very honorable character of the mythos. Thor, the god of war, showed strong traits of honor and bravery. The stories throughout the religion portray the gods as acting out of honor and courage, as a direct result of the strongly war-torn and passionate lives of the Norse peoples. When the religion developed, the region was virtually constantly engulfed in inter-settlement conflicts, so the traits of bravery and honor surfaced very strongly in the religion.
As a direct result of the regional circumstances surrounding the birth and development of the Norse religion, many of the gods are strongly related, and have evolved from different meanings from their original selves. For example, Odin served as a war deity to the more intelligent and thoughtful warriors of the lands, while Thor also filled the role of war deity, but to the lower soldiers. The great emphasis on war and battle to the Norse peoples surfaced through this representation of war by two deities. Also, as time progressed, some gods took on different meanings or realms from their original stances. For example, late in the era of the ancient Norse religion, Thor's worship lost much of its significance, as evidenced by the satirical stories of Thor that surfaced late in the period. This happened because as the people became more intelligent, the brutish persona of war became less important, and Thor's worship greatly declined. Furthermore, one can see the rise of Christ in the late era of Norse polytheism, as stories were written depicting Thor as the warrior of Christ, defending the great Norse religion against Christ's advance, which was taken as an attempt at dismantling the religion. Unfortunately, even Thor was no match for Christ, and the ancient Norse religion faded from practice.
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