Spectacular new find of Odin sculpture!

[Osweo]

Jamt's post here amazed me:
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10756

A sculpture of the Allfather on his throne with his Ravens! Unbelievable...

Thulsa Doom found the pic.

Shitty translation, but enough for the English monoglots ;

For the first time ever -from the period itself...

Sensational discovery of Odin Figure

For the first time ever, a figure of supreme god Odin Aesir, seated on his throne with the ravens Hugin and Munin has been found - it happened in Gl. Lejre southwest of Roskilde, writes Dagbladet Roskilde.

The idea of Aesir god Odin on his throne with the two ravens Hugin and Munin, who fly out across the world to return and tell about what they've seen, comes exclusively from the sagas. Or so it has been until now.

Roskilde Museum could yesterday afternoon aperture up to the probably biggest sensation in the museum's story: A small silver figure of just two centimeters that depicts Odin as the ruler on his throne with two ravens on separate armrests.

Unique find
The discovery is completely unique and will attract much attention from experts and historians worldwide.

- It's not size that matters, smiled amateur archaeologist Tommy Olesen, who is a veterinarian in Osted but searches the rich soils around Gl camps with his metal detector in his spare time.

Just two inches high is the small, unique figure of Odin, but with amazing detail. Tommy Olesen took the figure 2 September, close to the big Lejrehal recently excavated in Gl camps, and he got the honor of unveiling the showcase at Roskilde Museum, where the little figure is now enthroned.

Big Crowds
There was a variety of people at the unveiling yesterday at the Roskilde Museum, and museum director Frank Birkebæk said it only happens once or twice in your life - if one has a long enough career - that the earth opens up and reveals something of such outstanding artistic quality.

Curator Tom Christensen, who has led the archaeological excavations of the camps for the last 20 years, still has difficulty getting his arms down:

- The moment I saw the picture, I knew we had a sensation. There is simply no such an artefact of Odin as the ruler on the throne. It is Odin as the ruler and not warrior, that we see here. And hereby affirm that stand in the sagas about Odin. Here's the proof! It's amazing, "said Tom Christensen.

Approximately 900 years old

The figure comes to all appearances from approx. 900 years ago, the Viking Age. The staff at the Roskilde Museum places special emphasis on finding the place.

The Camps are in medieval chroniclers and saga literature known as the Danes first fabled royal seat. And the discovery of Odinfiguren underpins the vision of the camps as a royal site.

[Cato]

Hail Alfather!

[Thulsa Doom]

Quote from a blog

She's wearing a floor-length dress. And a shawl. And four finely sculpted bead strings. This is a standard depiction of an aristocratic lady of the later 1st Millennium. The Lejre figurine is a direct counterpart to the Aska pendant (below), which is universally understood as the effigy of a goddess. The high seat is Odin's, allright. But the occupant is most likely Frigga or Freya. Or maybe, just maybe, Thor in drag during the hammer reclamation mission. That is so cool! This find will mess with everybody's mind!

Source

[Cato]

Bollocks. Odin was known to have put on woman's garb when it suited his fancy- such as when he played with seidr.

So, that's Hlidskjal, there's Hugin and Munin, who only come to Odin iirc, but it's not Odin? Let me do my best Jabba impersonation.

Hohohohoho.

[Osweo]

The assumed identity is indeed worth debating. Was Odin envisaged in some sort of robe, reflecting his peculiar divine nature, rather than the clothes of the human aristocrats of the day? Perhaps the dress of Constantinople might even have influenced a sculptor wishing to portray a being more powerful even than the Roman Emperor?

I see the things around the chin as a beard, myself. It's very small, so we shouldn't expect too much detail, but it's the easiest thing in the world to portray a female - where is the bust on the figurine?! I would like to see it from other angles, of course (as with any bust... ).

What do yous think we're looking at on the body? Chain mail? Beads?

It's hard to find parallels for comparison, but here's a chessman from several generations later:

[Ulf]

Atop the tallest of earth's peaks dwell the gods of earth, and suffer not man to tell that he hath looked upon them. Lesser peaks they once inhabited; but ever the men from the plains would scale the slopes of rock and snow, driving the gods to higher and higher mountains till now only the last remains. When they left their old peaks they took with them all signs of themselves, save once, it is said, when they left a carven image on the face of the mountain...

HPL