Odin - myth or fact?

[Sigurd]

First of all, this is the one subject I have always wanted to discuss. I didn’t reply at once because I wanted to see if there were other patrons here with strong opinions. It seems that there is.
It seems PseRamesses that you used Snorre’s Kringla Heimsins in your postulation; this has never been popular with today’s scholars and historians. The reasons for this are as we discussed in the Varangian thread. The truth is however that the Nordic and western community has all reasons to believe Snorre made it all up. They have no point of reference as the Eastern community has. I have on several occasions read how the Eastern community wonders about how Snorre got his information. Never once have they accused him for making stuff up like the western community has.

Snorre are amongst other things accused of being a Christian scholar trying to belittle the Norse mythology by humanize the Norse Gods and put them back on earth were they never belonged. They accuse him of inventing the peoples of As and Van in the fictitious lands of Asaland and Vanaland. The Eastern historians asked rather; where did he get such knowledge. They know that there were such people in the areas that Snorre describes, namely in the Caucasian area, and the city of the As (Asov) lay by Tanais and it still does. Thor Heyerdahl did some digging there and lo and behold ancient Viking artifacts were found, older than any found in Scandinavia. The unmistakably ring pin (ringnål), belt pin (beltespenner) and the long sword all typical artifacts found in Viking graves. What is significant is that these are dated to the first and second century AD much older than any found in Scandinavia or North Europe.

Snorre also wrote Edda which is another and more mythological approximation towards Odin and the history of the Gods, but it also gives many clues to the real story. They all however speak of Roman expansion into the area of the As people. Odin prophesies that his heritage will rule the Northern world and gathers his people and moves North West.
When Thor Heyerdahl visited the people of As in Aserbajdsjan they showed him a Latin inscription in a rock which read:

IMP DOMITIANO
CAESARE AVC
CERMANIC
L∙IVLIVS
MAXIMVS
LAC XII∙FVL

This is in Latin:
Imperator Domitiano
Caesare Augusto
Germanicus
Lucius Iulius
Maximus Centuri
Legionis XII Fulminatae

In clear text this reads: Under the rule of emperor Domitian Germanicus, Lucius Iulius, the foremost centurion of the 12th legion ‘Fulmintara’.
No dates here but historical knowledge will help. The Emperor Domitian received the title Germanicus in 84 AD and after his death in 96 AD it was decided by the senate that all his statues and inscriptions mentioning his name should be destroyed. This means that the inscription found in Gobustan was inscribed between 84 AD and 96 AD.

The Edda says that Odin didn’t stop until he came to the place which now is called Saksland. There he settled for a while and made himself Lord of a greater part of that country. He put three of his sons to rule there. They where: Vegdeg, Beldeg and Sige. According to Snorre these three brothers ruled the nations: Estern Saksland, Vestfalen and Frankland. Some might say that we have only Snorre’s word for it. But to the contrary two very old manuscripts in Britain will verify a part of this. I am thinking of the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. One of them, the Winchester manuscript, gives the genealogy of King Alfred the Great. It was written in 890 AD. Another is the Canterbury manuscript from around 11th century.
If we compare the Winchester manuscript, the Canterbury manuscript and Snorre’s Edda we get interesting results:

These are the royal lines and they all have an Odin/Woden character. Obviously it is the same man we are talking about.
There is so much to say about this but I’ll hold off for now.