1.
Norse mythology
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The cosmos in Norse mythology consists of Nine Worlds that flank a central cosmological tree, Yggdrasil. Units of time and elements of the cosmology are personified as deities or beings, various forms of a creation myth are recounted, where the world is created from the flesh of the primordial being Ymir, and the first two humans are Ask and Embla. These worlds are foretold to be reborn after the events of Ragnarök, there the surviving gods will meet, and the land will be fertile and green, and two humans will repopulate the world. Norse mythology has been the subject of scholarly discourse since the 17th century, by way of comparative mythology and historical linguistics, scholars have identified elements of Germanic mythology reaching as far back as Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the modern period, the Romanticist Viking revival re-awoke an interest in the subject matter, the myths have further been revived in a religious context among adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. The majority of these Old Norse texts were created in Iceland and this occurred primarily in the 13th century. The Prose Edda was composed as a manual for producing skaldic poetry—traditional Old Norse poetry composed by skalds. Originally composed and transmitted orally, skaldic poetry utilizes alliterative verse, kennings, the Prose Edda presents numerous examples of works by various skalds from before and after the Christianization process and also frequently refers back to the poems found in the Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda consists almost entirely of poems, with some prose narrative added, in comparison to skaldic poetry, Eddic poetry is relatively unadorned. Numerous further texts, such as the sagas, provide further information, the saga corpus consists of thousands of tales recorded in Old Norse ranging from Icelandic family histories to Migration period tales mentioning historic figures such as Attila the Hun. By way of historical linguistics and comparative mythology, comparisons to other attested branches of Germanic mythology may also lend insight, wider comparisons to the mythology of other Indo-European peoples by scholars has resulted in the potential reconstruction of far earlier myths. Of the mythical tales and poems that are presumed to have existed during the Middle Ages, Viking Age, Migration Period, numerous gods are mentioned in the source texts. In the mythology, Thor lays waste to numerous jötnar who are foes to the gods or humanity, the god Odin is also frequently mentioned in surviving texts. One-eyed, wolf and raven-flanked, and spear in hand, Odin pursues knowledge throughout the worlds, Odin has a strong association with death, Odin is portrayed as the ruler of Valhalla, where valkyries carry half of those slain in battle. Odins wife is the powerful goddess Frigg who can see the future but tells no one, and together they have a beloved son, Baldr. After a series of dreams had by Baldr of his death, his death is engineered by Loki, and Baldr thereafter resides in Hel. Odin must share half of his share of the dead with a powerful goddess and she is beautiful, sensual, wears a feathered cloak, and practices seiðr. She rides to battle to choose among the slain, and brings her chosen to her afterlife field Fólkvangr, Freyja weeps for her missing husband Óðr, and seeks after him in far away lands
2.
Freyja
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In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, sex, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Along with her brother Freyr, her father Njörðr, and her mother, stemming from Old Norse Freyja, modern forms of the name include Freya, Freyia, and Freja. Freyja rules over her heavenly afterlife field Fólkvangr and there receives half of those that die in battle, whereas the other half go to the god Odins hall, within Fólkvangr is her hall, Sessrúmnir. Freyjas husband, the god Óðr, is frequently absent and she cries tears of red gold for him, and searches for him under assumed names. Freyja has numerous names, including Gefn, Hörn, Mardöll, Sýr, Valfreyja, Freyjas name appears in numerous place names in Scandinavia, with a high concentration in southern Sweden. Various plants in Scandinavia once bore her name, but it was replaced with the name of the Virgin Mary during the process of Christianization, rural Scandinavians continued to acknowledge Freyja as a supernatural figure into the 19th century, and Freyja has inspired various works of art. The name Freyja is transparently lady and ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic *frawōn, Freyja is cognate with, for example, Old Saxon frūa lady, mistress and Old High German frouwa. The theonym Freyja is thus considered to have been an epithet in origin, in the Poetic Edda, Freyja is mentioned or appears in the poems Völuspá, Grímnismál, Lokasenna, Þrymskviða, Oddrúnargrátr, and Hyndluljóð. Völuspá contains a stanza that mentions Freyja, referring to her as Óðs girl, Freyja being the wife of her husband, the stanza recounts that Freyja was once promised to an unnamed builder, later revealed to be a jötunn and subsequently killed by Thor. In the poem Grímnismál, Odin tells the young Agnar that every day Freyja allots seats to half of those that are slain in her hall Fólkvangr, while Odin owns the other half. In the poem Lokasenna, where Loki accuses nearly every female in attendance of promiscuity and/or unfaithfulness, the introduction to the poem notes that among other gods and goddesses, Freyja attends a celebration held by Ægir. Loki tells her to be silent, and says that he knows all about her—that Freyja is not lacking in blame, for each of the gods and elves in the hall have been her lover. She says that Loki is lying, that he is just looking to blather about misdeeds, and since the gods and goddesses are furious at him, he can expect to go home defeated. Loki tells Freyja to be silent, calls her a malicious witch, Njörðr interjects—he says that a woman having a lover other than her husband is harmless, and he points out that Loki has borne children, and calls Loki a pervert. The poem Þrymskviða features Loki borrowing Freyjas cloak of feathers and Thor dressing up as Freyja to fool the lusty jötunn Þrymr, in the poem, Thor wakes up to find that his powerful hammer, Mjöllnir, is missing. Thor tells Loki of his hammer, and the two go to the beautiful court of Freyja. Thor asks Freyja if she will lend him her cloak of feathers, Freyja agrees, Loki flies away in the whirring feather cloak, arriving in the land of Jötunheimr. He spies Þrymr sitting on top of a mound, Þrymr reveals that he has hidden Thors hammer deep within the earth and that no one will ever know where the hammer is unless Freyja is brought to him as his wife
3.
Ship
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Historically, a ship was a sailing vessel with at least three square-rigged masts and a full bowsprit. Ships are generally distinguished from boats, based on size, shape, Ships have been important contributors to human migration and commerce. They have supported the spread of colonization and the trade, but have also served scientific, cultural. After the 16th century, new crops that had come from, Ship transport is responsible for the largest portion of world commerce. As of 2016, there were more than 49,000 merchant ships, of these 28% were oil tankers, 43% were bulk carriers, and 13% were container ships. Military forces operate vessels for naval warfare and to transport and support forces ashore, the top 50 navies had a median fleet of 88 surface vessels each, according to various sources. There is no definition of what distinguishes a ship from a boat. Ships can usually be distinguished from boats based on size and the ability to operate independently for extended periods. A legal definition of ship from Indian case law is a vessel that carries goods by sea, a common notion is that a ship can carry a boat, but not vice versa. American and British 19th Century maritime law distinguished vessels from other craft, ships and boats fall in one legal category, a number of large vessels are usually referred to as boats. Other types of vessel which are traditionally called boats are Great Lakes freighters, riverboats. Though large enough to carry their own boats and heavy cargoes, in most maritime traditions ships have individual names, and modern ships may belong to a ship class often named after its first ship. The first known vessels date back about 10,000 years ago, the first navigators began to use animal skins or woven fabrics as sails. Affixed to the top of a pole set upright in a boat and this allowed men to explore widely, allowing for the settlement of Oceania for example. By around 3000 BC, Ancient Egyptians knew how to assemble wooden planks into a hull and they used woven straps to lash the planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams. Sneferus ancient cedar wood ship Praise of the Two Lands is the first reference recorded to a ship being referred to by name, the ancient Egyptians were perfectly at ease building sailboats. A remarkable example of their skills was the Khufu ship. Aksum was known by the Greeks for having seaports for ships from Greece, a panel found at Mohenjodaro depicted a sailing craft
4.
Stone ship
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The stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a ship. The ships vary in size and were erected from c.1000 BC to 1000 AD. Stone ship were a burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Northern Germany. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship and they are often found in grave fields, but are sometimes far from any other archaeological remains. Ship settings are of varying sizes, some of monumental proportions, the largest known is the mostly destroyed Jelling stone ship in Denmark, which was at least 170 m long. In Sweden, the size varies from 67 m to only a few metres, inside, they can be cobbled or filled with stones, or have raised stones in the positions of masts. The illusion of being ships has often been reinforced by larger stones at the ends, scattered examples are found in Northern Germany and along the coast of the Baltic States. Excavations have shown that they are usually from the part of the Nordic Bronze Age, c.1000 BC –500 BC or from the Germanic Iron Age, the Vendel Period. One puzzling feature is that sometimes occur at the base of a barrow. 800 m north of Bække there is a 45 m ship which dates to the Viking Age. Under the southern mound in Jelling, Denmark, which is associated with Queen Thyra, remains of a giant Viking Age stone ship have been found, by far the largest known, kerteminde fjord, Denmark, a 20 m ship which dates to the Viking Age. An approximately 80 m ship of 28 stones, the ship was cleared in 1921 by a landowner, but some local people interested in history succeeded in saving the stones. The highest concentration of well-preserved stone ships, altes Lager near Anklam, Western Pomerania, Germany. The stone ships date back to the 9th century, ales Stones is a stone ship in southernmost Sweden. It is 67 m long and 19 m wide, Anundshög double stone ship at Anundshög has a total length of 100 m and one of the ships is 25 m wide. In the same there are several smaller stone ships. Askeberga stone ships is Swedens second largest stone ship, measuring 55 m in length and it is, however, the most remarkable one as it is made of 24 enormous boulders, weighing about 25 tonnes each. The stone ship at Blomsholm near Strömstad in Bohuslän measures more than 40 m in length, the bow and stern are about 4 m high
5.
University of Helsinki
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The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available, around 36,500 students are currently enrolled in the degree programs of the university spread across 11 faculties and 11 research institutes. As of August 1,2005, the University complies with the structure of the Europe-wide Bologna Process and offers Bachelor, Master, Licenciate. Admission to degree programmes is determined by entrance examinations, in the case of bachelors degrees. It has been ranked a top 100 university in the according to the 2016 ARWU, QS. The university is bilingual, with teaching officially provided both in Finnish and Swedish, generally speaking, however, the university is monolingual Finnish, as courses taught in Swedish are very few and far apart. Teaching in English is extensive throughout the university at Master, Licentiate, remaining true to its traditionally strong Humboldtian ethos, the University of Helsinki places heavy emphasis on high-quality teaching and research of a top international standard. It is a member of various prominent international university networks, such as Europaeum, UNICA, the Utrecht Network, the first predecessor of the university, The Cathedral School of Åbo, was presumably founded in 1276 for education of boys to become servants of the Church. It was the university founded in the Swedish Empire, following Uppsala University. The second period of the Universitys history covers the period when Finland was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, as Finland became part of the Russian Empire in 1809, Emperor Alexander I expanded the University and allocated substantial funds to it. In the capital the primary task of the University was to educate the Grand Duchy’s civil servants, the University became a community subscribing to the new Humboldtian ideals of science and culture, studying humanity and its living environment by means of scientific methods. The Alexander University was a centre of life that promoted the birth of an independent Finnish State. The great men of 19th century Finland, Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Elias Lönnrot, in the 19th century university research changed from being collection-centred to being experimental, empirical, and analytical. The more scientific approach of the university led to specialisation and created new disciplines, as the scientific disciplines developed, Finland received ever more scholarly knowledge and highly educated people, some of whom entered rapidly evolving industry or the government. The third period of the universitys history began with the creation of the independent Republic of Finland in 1917, once Finland gained her independence in 1917 the University was given a crucial role in building the nation state and, after World War II, the welfare state. Members of the community promoted the international relations of the new state. Furthermore, they were involved in national politics and the struggle for equality. In the 20th century, scholarly research at the University of Helsinki reached the level of the European elite in many disciplines. I, virtanen and the Nobel Prize in Medicine shared by Professor Ragnar Granit
6.
Baldr
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Baldr is a god in Norse mythology, who is given a central role in the mythology. His precise function is, however, disputed and he is often interpreted as the god of love, peace, forgiveness, justice, light or purity, but he was not directly attested as a god of such. He is the son of Odin and the goddess Frigg. His twin brother is the blind god Höðr, jacob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology identifies Old Norse Baldr with the Old High German Baldere, Palter, Paltar and with Old English bealdor, baldor lord, prince, king. Old Norse shows this usage of the word as an honorific in a few cases, as in baldur î brynju and herbaldr, both epithets of heroes in general. Grimm traces the etymology of the name to *balþaz, whence Gothic balþs, Old English bald, Old High German pald, all meaning white, but the interpretation of Baldr as the brave god may be secondary. Baltic has a word meaning the white, the good, in continental Saxon and Anglo-Saxon tradition, the son of Woden is called not Bealdor but Baldag and Bældæg, Beldeg, which shows association with day, possibly with Day personified as a deity. This, as Grimm points out, would agree with the shining one, white one. Grimms etymology is endorsed by modern research, according to Rudolf Simek, the original name for Baldr must be understood as shining day. One of the two Merseburg Incantations names Baldere, but also mentions a figure named Phol, considered to be a byname for Baldr and this interpretation is linked to the presupposition that the figure in question is a companion of Wodan, the upper god. In a different interpretation, phol is just another form of folon mentioned in the next line, in the Poetic Edda the tale of Baldrs death is referred to rather than recounted at length. Among the visions which the Völva sees and describes in the known as the Völuspá is one of the fatal mistletoe, the birth of Váli. Yet looking far into the future the Völva sees a vision of a new world. The Eddic poem Baldrs Dreams mentions that Baldr has bad dreams which the gods then discuss, Odin rides to Hel and awakens a seeress, who tells him Höðr will kill Baldr but Vali will avenge him. In Gylfaginning, Baldur is described as follows, Apart from this description Baldr is known primarily for the story of his death and his death is seen as the first in the chain of events which will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarök. Baldr will be reborn in the new world, according to Völuspá and he had a dream of his own death and his mother had the same dreams. Since dreams were usually prophetic, this depressed him, so his mother Frigg made every object in every realm vow never to hurt Baldr, all objects made this vow except mistletoe. When Loki, the mischief-maker, heard of this, he made a spear from this plant
