page_title: World
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: World / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: English translation of the Prose Edda from 1847, by Oluf Olufsen Bagge. Text below the image: "Baxter...ton Square". Full text (see other version or the-public-domain-review.imgix.net): "Baxters Patent Oil Printing 11 Northampton squareYggdrasil, The Mundane Treesee p. 492",from a plate included in the English translation of the Prose Edda by Oluf Olufsen Bagge (1847) Description below from Flickr consulted January 3, 2020: Oluf Olufsen Bagge (1780-1836), Yggdrasil, Prose Edda, 1847 Danish engraver b Copenhagen; d Copenhagen? Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central to Norse cosmology and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the wyrm (dragon) Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.
context_page_description: The world is the Earth and all life on it, including human civilization. In a philosophical context, the "world" is the whole of the physical Universe, or an ontological world. In a theological context, the world is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred spheres. "End of the world" scenarios refer to the end of human history, often in religious contexts.
  The history of the world is commonly understood as the history of humanity spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present. In terms such as world religion, world language, world government, and world war, the term world suggests an international or intercontinental scope without necessarily implying participation of every part of the world.
  The world population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, the world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies or countries, especially in the context of globalization. Terms such as "world championship", "gross world product", and "world flags" imply the sum or combination of all sovereign states.
context_section_description: Mythological cosmologies often depict the world as centered on an axis mundi and delimited by a boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar. In some religions, worldliness (also called carnality) is that which relates to this world as opposed to other worlds or realms.
caption: Yggdrasil, a modern attempt to reconstruct the Norse world tree which connects the heavens, the world, and the underworld.
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