The Norsemen were the Germanic peoples who spread, in very early times, from the Baltic and Central Asia to the north, to the lands we now call Scandinavia. Their mythology is rich in tales of valour, that tell of gods and heroes, monsters, dragons, trolls and witches, and are rooted in the prehistoric religion of the Germanic peoples.

We know almost nothing about the early origins of these people - except that they came from the east at some very early, with beliefs very similar to that of Persia, Greece and Rome. In the centuries preceding Christ, they had spread across northern Europe, occupying a vast area from southern Scandinavia, Jutland, the Baltic, and the plains from the Rhine to the Vistula. Though the tribes frequently went to war against each other, they retained a common culture, tradition and beliefs. They also spoke a common language, which is now extinct. However, the Germanic tribes had no knowledge of either writing or architecture, and no records of any kind, written or archaeological, remain from this period. Whatever is known about their religion has been deduced from the later beliefs of different branches of the Germanic peoples. It is only when they came into conflict with the Romans that we find written records about them. At this time, they were divided into three broad groups: first, the Goths, who had spread from the Vistula east to the Black Sea and formed a distinct group with its own language; then the West Germans, who spread to the Danube and Bohemia in the south, to the Rhine in the west, and later to the British Isles in the north-west; and finally the third group, that spread north to Scandinavia and also had its own separate language. This last group came to be known as the Norse - or North - men. Over time, the three groups developed unique identities as they came into contact with new peoples and adapted to the lands where they settled, modifying their language, their way of life, and even their religious beliefs.

The most reliable information about the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples relate to the Norsemen and comes from the remarkable collection of ancient poems contained in two 13th-century books commonly distinguished as the Prose, or Younger, Edda and the Poetic, or Elder, Edda, and collectively referred to as just the Edda. Together with the Icelandic sagas (short historical narratives), the songs of the minstrels, and other historical chronicles, the Edda give a comprehensive picture of the gods of the Norsemen.

Here are some fascinating tales from Norse mythology for you to read.