In Tacitus' Germania, regnator omnium deus (god, ruler of all) was a deity worshipped by the Semnones tribe in a sacred grove. Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. ... In the Roman era Germania was the Latin name for a geographical area that stretched from the west bank of the Rhine to a vaguely-defined eastern frontier with the forest and steppe regions of modern Russia and Ukraine. ... Sacred groves were a feature of the mythological landscape and the cult practice of Old Europe, of the most ancient levels of Scandinavian mythology, Greek mythology, Slavic mythology, in Rome and among Druidic practice. ...

Of all the Suevians, the Semnones recount themselves to be the most ancient and most noble. The belief of their antiquity is confirmed by religious mysteries. At a stated time of the year, all the several people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious awe in times of old. There by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. To this grove another sort of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and the power of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their original, that here God, the supreme Governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him. Germania 39, Gordon's translation

The description is often compared with a prose paragraph in the Eddic poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana II where a place called Fjöturlundr (grove of fetters) is mentioned. The Suebi or Suevi were a Germanic people whose origin was near the Baltic Sea . ... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ... The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. ... Helgi returns to Valhalla Helgi Hundingsbane was a hero in the Norse sagas, who appears in the Volsunga saga and in two lays in the Poetic Edda named Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II. // Earning his name and meeting a Valkyrie He appears to be the son of Sigmund and...

Helgi obtained Sigrún, and they had sons. Helgi lived not to be old. Dag, the son of Högni, sacrificed to Odin, for vengeance for his father. Odin lent Dag his spear. Dag met with his relation Helgi in a place called Fiöturlund, and pierced him through with his spear. Helgi fell there, but Dag rode to the mountains and told Sigrún what had taken place. Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, Thorpe's translation

Due to the resemblance between the two texts some scholars have identified the deity of the Semnones with an early form of Odin. Others suggest an early form of Týr may have been involved as he is the one to put fetters on Fenrir in Norse mythology. There is insufficient evidence for a certain identification. In Norse mythology, Sigrún was a valkyrie. ... For other meanings of Odin see Odin (disambiguation) Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the highest god in Norse mythology, he is often called the high one; but you somtimes all hear him being called The terrible one; and Norse paganism, like West Germanic Woden continuing Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz His... The 6th century Vadstena bracteate, showing a horse, a bird and a human head commonly identified as an early form of Scandinavian Odin. ... This article is about the musical group Týr, for the Norse god see Tyr. ... Fenrir may refer to: Fenrisulfr, a Norse mythological wolf. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ...

References

• Bæksted, Anders (1986). Goð og hetjur í heiðnum sið, Eysteinn Þorvaldsson translated to Icelandic. Reykjavík: Örn og Örlygur. p. 93. Favors Odin.
• Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1964). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin. p. 59 Favors Týr.
• Lindow, John (2001). Handbook of Norse mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. ISBN 1576072177.
• Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. 1993. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer. ISBN 0859913694. New edition 2000, ISBN 0859915131. p. 280. Favors Odin.
• Tacitus, Cornelius (translated by Thomas Gordon). Germania. Medieval Sourcebook edition
• Thorpe, Benjamin (tr.) (1866). Edda Sæmundar Hinns Froða : The Edda Of Sæmund The Learned. (2 vols.) London: Trübner & Co. Available online at http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/index.php

Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson, British antiquarian. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. ... Benjamin Thorpe (1782 - July, 1870) was an English Anglo_Saxon scholar. ...

Further reading

The following works are listed in Rudolf Simek's Dictionary.

• O. Höfler (1952). "Das Opfer im Semnonenhain und die Edda" (Edda, Skalden, Saga. Festschrift F. Genzmer) Heidelberg.
• R. W. Fischer (1963). "Vinculo ligatus" (Antaios 5).
• R. Much (1967). Die Germania des Tacitus. Heidelberg.
• J. de Vries (1970). Altgermanische Religiongeschichte. Berlin.