120 MYTHOLOGY god of mischief, ordered Hodr, the blind god of winter, to slay Baldur with a twig of it. Loki thought to escape by plunging into the sea and changing into a salmon, but was caught in a net, and bound till the judgment day. Hodr was killed by Bali, Odin's son. The wolf Fenris, the progeny of Loki, bit off the hand of Tyr, the god of war and athletic sports, and was also bound, and on the judgment day he will be slain by Vidarr, the god of twilight, next in strength to Thor. The serpent of Mid- gard (which is the middle world, between Mus- pelheim and Niflheim, and formed from Ymir's body) was thrown by Odin into the sea, where it grew so large as to encircle the whole world ; as was also Hel, a goddess half black and half blue, who lived upon the brains and marrow of men'. On Midgard was Asgard, the dwelling of the Asa race, namely, Odin and the twelve ^Esir: Thor, Baldur, Freyr, Tyr, Bragi, Hodr, Heimdalr, Vidar, Vali, Ullr, Ve, and Forseti. The gods and goddesses lived apart, the former in the mansion called Gladsheim and the lat- ter in Vingolf . In Valhalla Odin caroused with dead heroes, and was waited upon by Oskmey- jar or Valkyries. Freyr, whose attributes are not clearly defined, is called by Dasent the god of rain, sunshine, and fruits, whom Gridr cap- tivated with her beauty. Iduna, the wife of Bragi, the god of poetry and eloquence, dwelt iii the lower world, where she was custodian of the golden apples with which the gods re- juvenated themselves. Ullr was god of the chase, and Mimir of wisdom and knowledge. Heimdalr is the watchman of the bridge Bi- frasta, that leads to the lower world, and his horn will give the signal for the great battle of the gods at the end of time. In the article EDDA are some additional details of the my- thological conceptions of the Scandinavians. The mythology of the Germans is built upon the same foundation as that of the Scandinavi- ans, and many portions of it are identical. The principal deities are the same. Wuotan, or Wo- tan according to the Low Germans, is the Odin of the North. The atmosphere and the heavens are subject to him, and on him depends the f ruitfulness of the earth. He takes pleasure in the brunt of battle and in the excitement of the chase. He rides upon a white horse, and his gigantic form is robed in a large dark mantle. Donar, the Scandinavian Thor, the god of storms, swings a heavy hammer or a thunder- bolt. He is the giver of increase, and the fruits of the field, the cattle, and wedlock are under his protection. The Tyr of the Norse finds a counterpart in the Tui or Saxnot of the Saxons, the Ziu of the Swabians, and the Eru of the Bavarians. His symbol is the sword ; he is the god of war, but originally he was a god of heaven. Fro, who seems to have answered to Freyr, unites various not well defined mytho- logical attributes. Baldur or Phol, who was principally worshipped in Thuringia, is a youth- ful warrior, and somewhat connected with the blessings of the season of spring. The Frisians MYTILENE gave him a son named Fosite, the Forseti of Norse mythology. The goddess called Ner- thus by Tacitus, which name was subsequently corrupted into Hertha, whom the Franks wor- shipped as Holda or Holle, the Bavarians as Perchta, and the Low Germans as Fria or Frigg, appears to have been known first to the early inhabitants of the island of Kiigen in the Bal- tic. Her attributes are those of kindness and motherly care. She presides over the blessings of wedded life, house, and field, and rules the and of the dead. For the minor deities of
- he Germanic races, rather of a legendary than
of a mythical character, see FAIRIES. See also DEMONOLOGY. See Creuzer, SymboliTc und My- thologie der alten Voider (3d ed., Leipsic, 1837- '44) ; Keightley, " Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy" (2d ed., London, 1865) ; Preller, Ro- mische Mythologie (2d ed. by Kohler, Berlin, 1865) ; Leitschuh, Die EntsteJiung der Mytho- logie und die Entwickelung der griechischen Religion (Wiirzburg, 1867) ; Baring-Gould, " Origin and Development of Religious Belief " (London, 1869-'70) ; George W. Cox, " The Mythology of the Aryan Nations" (London, 1870); Schomann, GriecMsche AltertMmer (3d ed., Berlin, 1871-'3) ; Preller, Griechische Mythologie (3d ed. by Plew, Berlin, 1872 et seq.} ; Kirchner, Grundrisse der Mythologie und Sagengeschichte der Griechen und Romer (Gera, 1872); Gubernatis, "Zoological My- thology" (London, 1873); Murray, "Manual of Mythology " (London, 1873) ; Petiscus, Der Olymp, oder Mythologie der Griechen und Ro- mer (Leipsic, 1873) ; Delaunay, Moines et Si- ~bylles dans Vantiquite judeo-grecque (Paris, 1874) ; Kroon, Mythologisch woordenboek (Arn- heim, 1874 et seq.*) ; Holtzmann, Deutsche My- thologie (Leipsic, 1874) ; Lenormant, La magie chez les Chaldeens (Paris, 1874); Schrader, Ishtar (Berlin, 1874) ; "Records of the Past: Translations of Assyrian and Egyptian Monu- ments" (London, 1874 et seq.} ; and Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums (4th ed., Leipsic, 1874). MYTILME, or Mitylene (anc. Leslos), an island of the Grecian archipelago, belonging to Tur- key, separated from the coast of Asia Minor by a strait from 7 to 10 m. broad ; area, 276 sq. m. ; pop. previous to the Greek revolution, 60,000, since reduced to less than 40,000. On the south it is indented by two deep bays called Ports Oaloni and lero, the former extending to the centre of the island. Both have very narrow mouths, and expand as they stretch inland. The surface is diversified by wooded hills and beautiful plains ; the soil is fruitful, and the climate salubrious, but the means of irrigation are imperfect. The principal prod- ucts are olives, wine, fruit, silk, cotton, and pitch. The chief town is Castro, or Mytilene, on the E. coast, which receives considerable business as a port on the steamboat route to Constantinople. The principal merchants are Greeks. The town was considerably damaged by an earthquake in 1867. The ancient Lesbos
