Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology artwork
World History Encyclopedia

Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology

  • 23:54
  • September 18th 2020

Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology written by Joshua J. Mark and narrated by DW Draffin: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1305/nine-realms-of-norse-cosmology/


Find it on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/TheStudyofAntiq…ddleAges/featured


If you like our audio articles, please support us by becoming a member or donating to our non-profit company:

- www.ancient.eu/membership/

- www.ancient.eu/donate/

- www.patreon.com/ahe


Norse cosmology divided the universe into nine realms. The center of the universe was the great world-tree Yggdrasil and the nine realms either spread out from the tree or existed in levels stretching from the roots down and, marginally, side-to-side. Earlier Norse works (known as Eddic and Skaldic poetry) assume a knowledge of the cosmology and do not bother much with descriptions of locations or, in some cases, even specifics of what the realms were like and, because of this – and the fact that Norse religion had no written scripture – some of the realms are less clear than others.

World History Encyclopedia

We are a non-profit organization publishing the world's most-read history encyclopedia. Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

We are always looking for volunteers who wish to lend a voice to our articles. You can find out about how to apply as a narrator and we also have a list of most needed narrations.