Tiwaz- Germanic GodDeity
Also known as: Tiw and Ziu
Description
Tiwaz was the sky god before Wodan claimed the role. Germanic soldiers carved his rune on sword blades and dedicated an altar to him at Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall, calling him Mars Thingsus, god of the legal assembly. His mythology faded with Wodan's rise, but his name endured in Tuesday.
Mythology & Lore
The Old Sky God
Tiwaz's name descends from Proto-Indo-European *Dyēus, the shining sky. Before the Migration Age, Germanic peoples placed him at the head of their divine order. Tacitus, writing in 98 CE, saw them sacrifice to a god he called Mars. The identification fits Tiwaz: he was the god invoked before battle and at the legal assembly. By the time anyone recorded Germanic beliefs in detail, Wodan had risen above him. What stories once belonged to Tiwaz are gone.
Mars Thingsus
The clearest evidence of his cult comes from a third-century altar at Housesteads fort on Hadrian's Wall, dedicated to "Mars Thingsus" by Germanic soldiers serving in the Roman army. Thingsus connects Tiwaz to the þing, the legal assembly where oaths were administered and disputes settled under divine witness. These soldiers, far from home, carved his name into Roman stone and paired it with Roman Mars. They knew him as the god who watched over binding agreements and decided the outcome of wars. The altar survives at the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The Rune and the Day
The rune ᛏ in the Elder Futhark bears the god's name. Its shape is an upward-pointing arrow, and it appears carved on weapons in archaeological finds, presumably invoking his favor in battle. The Old English Rune Poem remembers him: "Tiw is a guiding star; well does it keep faith with princes."
Tuesday descends from Old English Tīwesdæg, Tiw's day, the Germanic substitution for Latin dies Martis. German Dienstag preserves his name as well. A god whose mythology has otherwise faded entirely lives on in the name of a weekday.
Relationships
- Equivalent to