the vengeance of the Romans; and to go seek in countries unknown to his enemies, that safety which he could no longer find in his own. His true name was Sigge, fon of Fridulph; but he assumed that of Odin, who was the Supreme God among the Scythians: Whether he did this in order to pass among his followers for a man inspired by the Gods, or because he was chief-priest, and presided over the worship paid to that Deity. We know that it was usual with many nations to give their pontiffs the name of the God they worshipped. Sigge, full of his ambitious projects, we may be assured, took care to avail himself of a title so proper to procure him respect among the people he meant to subject.
Odin, for so we shall hereafter call him, commanded the Ases, a Scythian people, whose country must have been situated between the Pontus Euxinus, and the Caspian sea. Their principal city was Asgard[1]. The worship there paid to their
- ↑ The teftimony of the Icelandic annalists is confirmed by that of several ancient authors, of whom it is not likely that they had any knowledge. Strabo places a city named Asburg in the very same country. L. 2. Pliny speaks of the Aseens, a people seated at the foot of mount Taurus. L. 6. c. 17. Ptolemy calls them Asiotes. Stephen of Bysantium intitles them Aspurgians [ Aspurgitani. ]
