Persphone & Freya - the similarities
Both Persephone (greek) & Freya were taken from Heaven & sent to
a darker, but not necessarily evil, place.
If Gullveig is really another name for Freya, then was Gullveig's name changed
to Freya upon her arrival in the house of the Gods of Aesir?
If this speculation is true, this draws a strong parallel between Freya &
Persephone; as Persephone's name was originally Kore, but it was changed
upon her arrival in the Underworld.
Both Freya & Persephone are goddesses of Death & both are hailed
as queens of their realm.
- the differences
Changes in name & relation to death is where the similarities between
these two goddesses ends. Persephone is not shown to be as powerful
. Freya wages wars & makes strong decisions that affect the world.
Persephone does none of these things. This may simply imply that the
Norse people held their women in higher esteem than the Greeks.
Freya is not shown as being distraught over the exchange of herself as
a peace offering, nor is there a mother sorrowfully morning for her.
In fact, Freya embraces her transition to become
Queen of the Aesir.
There are, of course, physical differences to be noted:
Persephone, pictured to the right, is truly an autumn queen. Her hair
is either dark or
sometimes red. Her eyes too would be dark. This is a strong
contrast to Freya's blonde
hair, pale skin & blue eyes. If Freya is Barbie, then Persephone
is definitely Midge.
Also to be noted is that Persephone is a moon goddess. Freya is often
associated with the
sun (although many neo-pagan religions may try to classify her as
a moon goddess; that is a false classification). This is a drastic
difference providing for two completely different sides of a coin.
One seeing death as dark (Persephone), the other seeing death as light (Freya).
This may give us a glimpse as to how the Norse viewed death as opposed to
how the Greeks viewed the afterlife.
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