Ragnarok (the twilight of the gods). Title: The history of the devil and the idea of evil: from the earliest times to the present day. ATLA monograph preservation program. Author: Paul Carus. Publisher: Open Court, 1899. Original: from Harvard University. Digitized: Nov 28, 2007. Length: 496 pages. Image by Johannes Gehrts (1855 – 1921)
The most remarkable feature of Teutonic mythology is the conception of doomsday or Ragnarok (the twilight of the gods), boding a final destruction of the world, including all the gods. At present the powers of evil are fettered and subdued, but the time will come when they will be set loose. Loki, the Fenris wolf, the Midgard serpent, and Hel, with their army of frost giants and other evil beings, will approach.
Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, will blow his horn, and the Asas prepare for battle. The combat on the field Vigrid will be internecine, for the Asas are to die while killing the monsters of wickedness whom they encounter, and the flames of Muspil will devour the wrecks of the universe.
The world had a beginning, it therefore must come to an end; but when the world is destroyed a new heaven and a new earth will rise from the wreck of the old one, and the new world will be better than the old one. Leifthraser and his wife Lif (representing the desire for Life and potential Life) remained concealed during the catastrophe in Hodmimer's grove and were not harmed by the flames. They now become the parents of a new race that will inhabit the new abode, called Gimel (the German Himmet), and among them will be found Odhiu with his sons, Thor, Baldur, Fro, and all the other Asas.
This Image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1924 are now in the public domain.
This file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris in this case Johannes Gehrts (1855 – 1921), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31 of that year.
No comments:
Post a Comment