page_title: Sól (Norse mythology)
section_title: Poetic Edda
hierarchical_section_title: Sól (Norse mythology) / Norse attestations / Poetic Edda
caption_attribution_description: English: The chariot of the sun being pursued by wolves. The list of illustrations in the front matter of the book gives this one the title The Chariot of the Sun.
context_page_description: Sól or Sunna is the Sun personified in Norse mythology. One of the two Old High German Merseburg Incantations, written in the 9th or 10th century CE, attests that Sunna is the sister of Sinthgunt. In Norse mythology, Sól is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.
  In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda she is described as the sister of the personified Moon, Máni, is the daughter of Mundilfari, is at times referred to as Álfröðull, and is foretold to be killed by a monstrous wolf during the events of Ragnarök, though beforehand she will have given birth to a daughter who continues her mother's course through the heavens. In the Prose Edda, she is additionally described as the wife of Glenr. As a proper noun, Sól appears throughout Old Norse literature. Scholars have produced theories about the development of the goddess from potential Nordic Bronze Age and Proto-Indo-European roots.
context_section_description: In the poem Völuspá, a dead völva recounts the history of the universe and foretells the future to the disguised god Odin. In doing so, the völva recounts the early days of the universe, in which:
  Benjamin Thorpe translation:
  The sun from the south, the moon's companion,
  her right hand cast about the heavenly horses.
  The sun knew not where she a dwelling had,
  the moon know not what power he possessed,
  the stars knew not where they had a station.
  Henry Adams Bellows translation:
  The sun, the sister of the moon, from the south
  Her right hand cast over heaven's rim;
  No knowledge she had where her home should be,
  The moon knew not what might was his,
  The stars knew not where their stations were.
  In the poem Vafþrúðnismál, the god Odin tasks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir with a question about the origins of the sun and the moon. Vafþrúðnir responds that Mundilfari is the father of both Sól and Máni, and that they must pass through the heavens every day to count the years for man:
  Mundilfæri hight he, who the moon's father is,
  and eke the sun's;
  round heaven journey each day they must,
  to count years for men.
  "Mundilferi is he who began the moon,
  And fathered the flaming sun;
  The round of heaven each day they run,
  To tell the time for men."
  In a stanza Vafþrúðnismál, Odin asks Vafþrúðnir from where another sun will come from once Fenrir has assailed the current sun. Vafþrúðnir responds in a further stanza, stating that before Álfröðull (Sól) is assailed by Fenrir, she will bear a daughter who will ride on her mother's paths after the events of Ragnarök.
  In a stanza of the poem Grímnismál, Odin says that before the Sun (referred to as "the shining god") is a shield named Svalinn, and if the shield were to fall from its frontal position, mountain and sea "would burn up". In stanza 39 Odin (disguised as Grimnir) says that both the Sun and the Moon are pursued through the heavens by wolves; the Sun, referred to as the "bright bride" of the heavens, is pursued by Sköll, while the Moon is pursued by Hati Hróðvitnisson.
  In the poem Alvíssmál, the god Thor questions the dwarf Alvíss about the Sun, asking him what the Sun is called in each of the worlds. Alvíss responds that it is called "sun" by mankind, "sunshine" by the gods, "Dvalinn's deluder" by the dwarves, "everglow" by the jötnar, "the lovely wheel" by the elves, and "all-shining" by the "sons of the Æsir".
caption: The Chariot of the Sun by W. G. Collingwood
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