thumb|300px|Menglöð sits with the nine maidens, including Eir, on [[Lyfjaberg (1893) by Lorenz Frølich.]] In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy") is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in skaldic poetry, including a runic inscription from Bergen, Norway from around 1300. Scholars have theorized about whether these three sources refer to the same figure, and debate whether Eir may have be
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Attestations
- ''Poetic Edda''
- ''Prose Edda''
- Skaldic poetry and runic inscription
- Theories
- Notes
- References
thumb|300px|Menglöð sits with the nine maidens, including Eir, on [[Lyfjaberg (1893) by Lorenz Frølich.]] In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy") is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; and in skaldic poetry, including a runic inscription from Bergen, Norway from around 1300. Scholars have theorized about whether these three sources refer to the same figure, and debate whether Eir may have been originally a healing goddess or a valkyrie. In addition, Eir has been compared to the Greek goddess Hygieia.
==Attestations==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eir” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.