Due to the scarcity of sources and the origin of the Germanic gods over a broad period of time and in different locations, it is not possible to reconstruct a full pantheon of Germanic deities that is valid for Germanic religion everywhere; this is only possible for the last stage of Germanic religion, Norse paganism. People in different times and places would have worshiped different individual gods and groups of gods. Placename evidence containing divine names gives some indication of which gods were important in particular regions, however, such names are not well attested or researched outside Scandinavia. The following section first includes some information on the gods attested during the Roman period, then the four main Germanic gods *Tiwaz (Tyr), Thunraz (Thor), *Wodanaz (Odin), and Frijjō (Frigg), who are securely attested since the early Middle Ages but were probably worshiped during Roman times, and finally some information on other gods, many of whom are only attested in Norse paganism.
Roman-era Germanic gods with Roman names from
Bonn. This god may be a Romanized version of Thor. The Roman authors Julius Caesar and Tacitus both use Roman names to describe foreign gods, but whereas Caesar claims the Germani worshiped no individual gods but only natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, and fire, Tacitus mentions a number of deities, saying that the most worshiped god is
Mercury, followed by
Hercules, and
Mars; he also mentions
Isis,
Odysseus, and
Laertes. Scholars generally interpret Mercury as meaning Odin, Hercules as meaning Thor, and Mars as meaning Tyr. As these names are only attested much later, however, there is some doubt about these identifications and it has been suggested that the gods Tacitus names were not worshiped by all Germanic peoples or that he has transferred information about the
Gauls to the Germans. The Germani themselves also worshiped gods with Roman names at votive altars constructed according to Roman tradition; while isolated instances of Germanic bynames (such as "Mars Thingsus") indicate that a Germanic god was meant, often it is not possible to know if the Roman god or a Germanic equivalent is meant. Most surviving dedications are to Mercury. Female deities, on the other hand, were not given Roman names. Additionally, the Germanic speakers also translated Roman gods' names into their own languages () most prominently in the Germanic
days of the week. Usually the translation of the days of the week is dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE; however, they are not attested until the early Middle Ages. This late attestation causes some scholars to question the usefulness of the days of the week for reconstructing early Germanic religion.
Alcis (c. 600), proposed to represent Germanic
divine twins. Tacitus mentions a divine pair of twins called the
Alcis worshipped by the
Naharvali, whom he compares to the Roman twin horsemen
Castor and Pollux. These twins can be associated with the Indo-European myth of the
divine twin horsemen (Dioscuri) attested in various Indo-European cultures. Among later Germanic peoples, twin founding figures such as
Hengist and Horsa allude to the motif of the divine twins; Hengist and Horsa's names both mean "horse", strengthening the connection. In Scandinavia, images of divine twins are attested from 15th century BCE until the 8th century CE, after which they disappear, apparently as a result of religious change. Norse texts contain no identifiable divine twins, though scholars have looked for parallels among gods and heroes.
Nerthus In
Germania, Tacitus mentions that the
Lombards and
Suebi venerated a goddess,
Nerthus, and describes the rites of the goddess in some detail. At their center is a ceremonial wagon procession. Nerthus's cart is found on an unspecified island in the "ocean", where it is kept in a
sacred grove and draped in white cloth. Only a priest may touch it. When the priest detects Nerthus's presence by the cart, the cart is drawn by
heifers. Nerthus's cart is met with celebration and peacetime everywhere it goes, and during her procession no one goes to war and all iron objects are locked away. In time, after the goddess has had her fill of human company, the priest returns the cart to her "temple" and slaves ritually wash the goddess, her cart, and the cloth in a "secluded lake". According to Tacitus, the slaves are then immediately drowned in the lake. The majority of modern scholars identify Nerthus as a direct etymological precursor to the Old Norse deity
Njörðr, attested over a thousand years later. However, Njörðr is attested as male, leading to many proposals regarding this apparent change, such as incest motifs described among the Vanir, a group of gods to which Njörðr belongs, in Old Norse sources.
Matronae from
Nettersheim, location of a Roman-style temple that was built over an older location for burnt offerings. Collectives of three goddess known as
matronae appear on numerous votive altars from the Roman province of
Germania inferior, especially from Cologne, dating to the third and fourth centuries CE. The altars depict three women in non-Roman dress. About half of surviving matronae altars can be identified as Germanic because of their
bynames; others have Latin or Celtic bynames. The bynames are often connected to a place or ethnic group, but a number are associated with water, and many of them seem to indicate a giving and protecting nature. Despite their frequency in the archaeological record, the matronae receive no mention in any written source. The matronae may be connected to female deities attested in collectives from later times, such as the
Norns, the
disir and
valkyries;
Rudolf Simek suggests that a connection to the disir is most likely. The disir may be etymologically connected to minor Hindu deities known as
dhisanās, who likewise appear in a group; this would give them an Indo-European origin. Since
Jacob Grimm, scholars have sought to connect the disir with the found in the Old High German
First Merseburg Charm and with a conjecturally corrected place name from Tacitus; however, these connections are contested. The disir share some functions with the Norns and valkyries, and the Nordic sources suggest a close association between the three groups of Norse minor female deities. Further connections of the matronae have been proposed: the Anglo-Saxon pagan festival of ("
night of the mothers") mentioned by Bede has been associated with the matronae. Likewise, the poorly attested Anglo-Saxon goddesses
Eostre and
Rheda may be connected with the matronae.
Other female deities , Netherlands in 1647. Besides Nerthus, Tacitus elsewhere mentions other important female deities worshiped by the Germanic peoples, such as
Tamfana by the
Marsi (
Annals, 1:50) and the "mother of the gods" () by the
Aestii (
Germania, chapter 45). In addition to the collective , votive altars from Roman Germania attest a number of individual goddesses. A goddess
Nehelenia is attested on numerous votive altars from the 3rd century CE on the Rhine islands of Walcheren and Noord-Beveland, as well as at Cologne. Dedicatory inscriptions to Nehelenia make up 15% of all extant dedications to gods from the Roman province
Germania inferior and 50% of dedications to female deities. She appears to have been associated with trade and commerce, and was possibly a
chthonic deity: she is usually depicted with baskets of fruit, a dog, or the prow of a ship or an oar. Her attributes are shared with the Hellenistic-Egyptian goddess
Isis, suggesting a connection to the
Isis of the Suebi mentioned by Tacitus. Despite her obvious importance, she is not attested in later periods. Another goddess,
Hludana, is also attested from five votive inscriptions along the Rhine; her name is cognate with Old Norse Hlóðyn, one of the names of
Jörð (earth), the mother of Thor. It has thus been suggested she may have been a chthonic deity, possibly also connected to later attested figures such as
Hel,
Huld and
Frau Holle.
Post-Roman era *Tiwaz/Tyr . The god *Tiwaz (
Tyr) may be attested as early as 450–350 BCE on the
Negau helmet. Etymologically, his name is related to the Vedic
Dyaus and Greek
Zeus, indicating an origin in the reconstructed Indo-European sky deity *
Dyēus. He is thus the only attested Germanic god who was already important in Indo-European times. When the days of the week were translated into Germanic, Tyr was associated with the Roman god
Mars, so that (day of Mars) became "Tuesday" ("day of *Tiwaz/Tyr"). A votive inscription to "Mars Thingsus" (Mars of the
thing) suggests he also had a connection to the legal sphere. Scholars generally believe that Tyr became less and less important in the Scandinavian branch of Germanic paganism over time and had largely ceased to be worshiped by the Viking Age. He plays a major role in only one myth, the binding of the monstrous wolf
Fenrir, during which Tyr loses his hand.
*Thunraz/Thor Thor was the most widely known and perhaps the most widely worshiped god in
Viking Age Scandinavia. When the days of the week were translated into Germanic, he was associated with
Jupiter, so that ("Day of Jupiter") becomes "Thursday" ["day of Thunraz/Thor"]). This contradicts the earlier , where Thor is generally thought to be Hercules. Textual sources such as
Adam of Bremen as well as the association with Jupiter in the suggest he may have been the head of the pantheon, at least in some times and places. Alternatively, Thor's hammer may have been equated with Jupiter's lightning bolt. Outside of Scandinavia, he appears on the
Nordendorf fibulae (6th or 7th century CE) and in the
Old Saxon Baptismal Vow (9th century CE). The
Oak of Jupiter, destroyed by
Saint Boniface among the
Chatti in 723 CE, is also usually presumed to have been dedicated to Thor. Viking age runestones as well as the Nordendorf fibulae appear to call upon Thor to bless objects. The most important archaeological evidence for the worship of Thor in Viking Age Scandinavia is found in the form of
Thor's hammer pendants. Myths about Thor are only attested from Scandinavia, and it is unclear how representative the Nordic corpus is for the entire Germanic region. As Thor's name means "thunder", scholars since
Jacob Grimm have interpreted him to be a sky and weather god. In Norse mythology, he shares features with other Indo-European thunder gods, including his slaying of monsters; these features likely derive from a common Indo-European source. In the extant mythology of Thor, however, he has very little association with thunder.
*Wodanaz/Odin , found in a sixth-century Alemannic grave. The back features the Runic inscription ''''''. Either it represents the naming of three gods: Odin, Thor, and an unknown "Logathore"; or it may be a renunciation of the gods Odin and Thor. Odin (*
Wodanaz) plays the main role in a number of myths as well as well-attested Norse rituals; he appears to have been venerated by many Germanic peoples in the early Middle Ages, though his exact characteristics probably varied in different times and places. In the Germanic days of the week, Odin is equated with
Mercury ( [day of Mercury] which became "Wednesday" ["day of *Wodanaz/Odin"]), an association that accords with the usual scholarly interpretation of the and is also found in early medieval authors. It may have been inspired by both gods' connections to arcane knowledge and the dead. The age of the cult of Odin is disputed. The earliest clear reference to Odin by name is found on a C-bracteate discovered in Denmark in 2020. Dated to as early as the 400s, the bracteate features a
Proto-Norse Elder Futhark inscription reading "He is Odin’s man". Archaeological evidence for Odin is found in the form of his later
bynames on Runic inscriptions found in Danish bogs from 4th or 5th century AD; other possible archaeological attestations may date to the 3rd century CE. Images of Odin dating to the late migration period are known from
Frisia, but appear to have come there from Scandinavia. In Norse myths, Odin plays one of the most important roles of all the gods. He is also attested in myths outside of the Norse area. In the mid-7th century CE, the Franco-Burgundian chronicler
Fredegar narrates that "Wodan" gave the
Lombards their name; this story also appears in the roughly contemporary
Origo gentis Langobardorum and later in the
Historia Langobardorum of
Paul the Deacon (790 CE). In Germany, Odin is attested as part of a divine triad on the Nordendorf fibulae and the second Merseburg charm, in which he heals Balder's horse. In England, he appears as a healing magician in the
Nine Herbs Charm and in
Anglo-Saxon genealogies. It is disputed whether he was worshiped among the Goths.
*Frijjō/Frigg The only major Norse goddess also found in the pre-Viking period is
Frigg, Odin's wife. When the Germanic days of the week were translated, Frigg was equated with
Venus, so that ("day of Venus") became "Friday" ("day of Frijjō/Frigg"). This translation suggests a connection to fertility and sexuality, and her name is etymologically derived from an Indo-European root meaning "love". In the stories of how the Lombards got their name, Frea (Frigg) plays an important role in tricking her husband Vodan (Odin) into giving the Lombards victory. She is also mentioned in the Merseburg Charms, where she displays magical abilities. The only Norse myth in which Frigg plays a major role is the death of Baldr, and there is only little evidence for a cult of Frigg in Scandinavia.
Other gods , recorded in the 900s CE. The Charms mention Woden (Odin), Balder (Baldr) Frija (Frigg), the idisi (possibly the disir) and other gods. The god
Baldr is attested from Scandinavia, England, and Germany; except for the Old High German
Second Merseburg Charm (9th century CE), all literary references to the god are from Scandinavia and nothing is known of his worship. The god
Freyr was the most important fertility god of the Viking Age. He is sometimes known as Yngvi-Freyr, which would associate him with the god or hero *
Ingwaz, the presumed progenitor of the
Inguaeones found in Tacitus's
Germania, whose name is attested in the
Old English rune poem (8th or 9th century CE) as Ing. A minor god named
Forseti is attested in a few Old Norse sources; he is generally associated with the Frisian god Fosite who was worshiped on
Helgoland, but this connection is uncertain. The Old Saxon Baptismal Formula and some Old English genealogies mention a god
Saxnot, who appears to be the founder of the
Saxons; some scholars identify him as a form of Tyr, while others propose that he may be a form of Freyr. The most important goddess in the recorded Old Norse pantheon was Freyr's sister,
Freyja, who features in more myths and appears to have been worshiped more than Frigg, Odin's wife. She was associated with sexuality and fertility, as well as war, death, and magic. It is unclear how old the worship of Freyja is, and there is no indisputable evidence for her or any of the vanir gods in the southern Germanic area. There is considerable debate about
whether Frigg and Freyja were originally the same goddess or aspects of the same goddess. Besides Freyja, many gods and goddesses are only known from Scandinavia, including
Ægir,
Höðr,
Hönir,
Heimdall,
Idunn,
Loki,
Njörðr,
Sif, and
Ullr. There are a number of minor or regional gods mentioned in various medieval Norse sources: in some cases, it is unclear whether or not they are post-conversion literary creations. Many regional or highly local gods and spirits are probably not mentioned in the sources at all. It is also likely that many Roman-era and continental Germanic gods do not appear in Norse mythology. ==Places and objects of worship==