As we’ve mentioned more than a few times in the past here on the River Voyages blog, Viking River Cruises is certainly a line which means business when it comes to christening new ships. The Viking Longships as the line calls them, are at the forefront of its ever-expanding river cruise fleet and are the line’s newest and most state-of-the-art vessels. To prove the point, this month sees a further eight launch. Fittingly, each of these Longships is named after a famous figure from Norse mythology but how much do we actually know about these legendary personalities? Keep your eye on the River Voyages blog, as we’re going to work through the names of these famous Vikings alphabetically.
In this first blog in what will be a recurring series, I’m going to look into the history of Aegir, who gave his name of course to the Viking Longship Aegir.
Who was Aegir?
The word ‘Aegir’ is old Norse for ‘sea’ and indeed, in Norse mythology, Aegir is a sea giant who is god of the ocean and king of all the sea creatures. Giants are a feature of Norse mythology though in some ancient texts, Aegir is not described as a giant but as something older. That’s probably something to do with his godly status, because not all giants were in fact gods.
More about Aegir
Aegir was a bit of a party man it seems and had a reputation for organising great get-togethers for the gods. For one such party, he brewed ale in a huge cauldron with the help of his daughters. Clearly a family enterprise then. In fact, Aegir fathered no fewer than nine daughters with his wife Ran, the sea goddess and they’re known as the nine billow maidens. As for Aegir, he’s the son of the giant Fornjotr; an ancient king of Filand according to Norse mythology whose brothers were Logi and Kari – the fire and wind giants respectively. Aegir has two servants; Fimafeng and Eldir, but neither of these two (as yet) has given their name to a Viking Longship.
Interesting facts
A number of gods were related to giants by marriage but this didn’t stop them often being depicted as being at war with the gods. Indeed, in Ragnarok, the collective term used in Norse mythology to describe a cataclysm of future events, it’s said that the giants storm the gods’ celestial home Asgaard to do battle with them.
It seems there’s some confusion when it comes to Aegir. In one piece of ancient poetry – Skaldskaparmal – it’s stated that he is the same person as the sea giant Hler. Another – Lokasenna – states holds that he’s also known as Gymir, though it appears that in these historic writings, there’s sometimes confusion when it comes to giantish names.
