OSLO – The Viking god Odin may have been a real king who lived in what is now southern Russia 2,000 years ago, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl said in a controversial new book on Thursday. In „The Hunt for Odin“, Heyerdahl says his archaeological digs by the Sea of Azov in Russia backed evidence in 13th century sagas written by Snorre Sturlason that Odin was more than a myth.

Heyerdahl, who won worldwide acclaim with his 1947 voyage across the Pacific on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft, said Odin was a king who lived around Azov before being driven out by the Romans and taking his followers to Sweden. Ancient metal belt holders, rings and armbands dating from 100-200 AD found in excavations around the mouth of the Don River were almost identical to Viking equivalents found in Gotland, Sweden, some 800 years later, he said.

Snorre‘s stories about Odin, viewed as the king of the gods in Norse mythology, portrayed him as fighting battles. By contrast, Snorre treated Thor, the god of thunder, as a mythical hammer-wielding figure riding through the air. And he said that many of the place names in Snorre‘s sagas matched the ancient Greek names for places around the Sea of Azov, such as Tanais. Heyerdahl‘s digs with a team of Scandinavian and Russian archaeologists uncovered skeletons and ancient metal objects.

Some Norwegian historians have criticised Heyerdahl‘s findings as based on insufficient evidence, saying that Odin‘s name originated from the Germanic name Wotan. One likened Heyerdahl‘s quest for Odin to digging for the Garden of Eden. Heyerdahl, whose exploits also included risking his life on the Ra reed vessels crossing the Atlantic to show that the ancient Egyptians could have done so, said he doubted that the book would silence sceptics. „I don‘t think so,“ he said.

Reuters