S3E22 - Ragna Rok and Heyerdahl’s Odin

In this episode Chris brings us a bit of Opinion Scholarship on a recurring theme in world mythology--that of the War of the Gods. He discusses the strange idea of two distinct races of gods that come into conflict with one another. The ancient Greeks have the Titans and Olympians, the Bible has it's Angels and Demons, Zoroastrianism has Ahura Mazda and Ahriman and the Hindu's have the Devas and Asuras. The one left out of this list, comes from the Scandinavian north, from the Norse--the Aesir and Vanir--and this makes up the meat of the discussion. We examine the 21st century ethnographer--Thor Heyerdahl--and his theory surrounding the origin of the Norse in Azerbaijan, Odin as a historical person and the "war of the gods" as a battle between waring tribes.

Enjoy ;)