Note 57 — CANTO XV. THE VANER.[55]

The circumstance of Niord being given as a hostage to the Asar pleads in favour of the hypothesis I have already given, namely, that Niord and his children Frey and Freya were Assyrian or Persian divinities, adopted by the Asar, and incorporated in their religion. Frey, the son of Niord, typifies the sun at the winter solstice, and the festivities of the new year in the pagan time were instituted to do him honour. His father Niord presides over the winds and waves; but Balder also typifies the sun (at its highest elevation), and Ægir is the god of the sea. The fact is, that in the Scandinavian mythology there are two sun-gods and two gods of the sea. The explanation of this seeming incongruity is not difficult. Among the Asar, Balder was the sun god, and Ægir the god of the sea; but among the Vaner, Niord was the god of the winds and waves, Frey typified the sun, and his sister Freya the moon. When the political alliance took place between the Asar and the Vaner, the former adopted some of the divinities of the latter, and in consequence of this amalgamation, Niord, Frey and Freya received suitable posts in the Gothic pantheon. It is remarkable, that among the ancient Egyptians the sun was called Phré. Among the Greeks, Bacchus often typified the sun, and by the Romans he was called Liber, which has exactly the same meaning as the word Frey, viz. free.