Getting aboutGods often travel long distances, and they do so swiftly and efficiently, even
as pedestrians. In several of the Hittite mythological texts gods are said to
complete a journey 1-anki, an adverb formed from the numeral 1 and in such
contexts understood to mean ‘at one go’, as if with one enormous step.^107 In
Vedic literature Vishnu is celebrated for the three cosmic strides with which
he traverses the universe, the third taking him to a transcendental region.^108
In Homer Poseidon crosses the sea from Samothrace to Aigai in four giant
strides, and Hera springs from peak to peak to reach Lemnos from Olympus.
Pindar lets Apollo get from Delphi to Thessaly in a single step.^109
Some gods have special footwear that makes it even easier. Several times in
theSong of Ullikummi, and in at least one other Hittite text, a god or his
messenger, on starting a journey, puts the swift winds on his feet as shoes.
Zeus’ messenger Hermes puts on ambrosial, golden sandals that carry him
over earth and sea with the speed of the winds, and so does Athena on one
occasion.^110 Snorri (Skáldsk. 35) relates that Loki too had shoes that enabled
him to run over air and water.
More often gods ride horses, or travel in vehicles drawn by horses or by
some other creature.^111 Indra, Varuna, and other Vedic deities go in chariots,
as in the Iliad do Hera with Athena, Iris with Aphrodite, Zeus, and Poseidon,
and in the Hymn to Demeter Hades. Odin and other Norse gods ride horses;
Thor drives in a car drawn by goats. The Irish Lug has his horse Aenbarr, who
is as swift as the wind and crosses the sea as easily as the land. The Slavonic
Sve ̨tovit rides a horse, as do the Latvian Sons of God.
Or again, as gods generally have the ability to transform themselves into
bird or animal form,^112 they sometimes fly down from heaven, or back up to
(^107) Hoffner (1998), 50, 53, 58, 86, translated as ‘in one stage’.
(^108) Macdonell (1898), 37–30; Oldenberg (1917), 229–33; Hillebrandt (1927–9), ii. 316–20;
Oberlies (1998), 219 f.
(^109) Il. 13. 20 f.; 14. 225–30; Pind. Pyth. 3. 43. Cf. also [Hes.] Scut. 30–3, and West (1997), 113,
where two Ugaritic texts are also cited.
(^110) Hoffner (1998), 57–62, 86; Il. 24. 340–2=Od. 5. 44–6; Od. 1. 96–8.
(^111) Cf. Grimm (1883–8), 328 f., 1381 f. Lists of Indian and Nordic gods’ steeds are given in
Br
̇
haddevata ̄ 4. 140–2, Grímnismál 30 (which is the source of Gylf. 15), and the fragment from
Þórgrímsþula quoted in Skáldsk. 58.
(^112) Cf. Grimm (1883–8), 1380 f., 1385 f.; J. A. MacCulloch, Celtic Mythology ( (Boston 1918)
London 1992), 56 f. Animal transformations play a particular role in myths where a deity has
sexual congress: Praja ̄pati and his daughter have intercourse as a stag and doe (Aitareya Bra ̄h-
man
̇
a 3. 33); Vivasvat and Saran
̇
yu ̄ as a horse and mare (Ya ̄ska, Nirukta 12. 10); Boreas became
a horse to impregnate the mares of Erichthonios (Il. 20. 224); Kronos mated with Philyra as a
horse, as did Poseidon with Demeter Erinys; Zeus made love to Europa as a bull, to Leda as
a swan, to Nemesis as a goose; Loki took the form of a mare to seduce the stallion Svaðilfœri
(Gylf. 42).
152 3. Gods and Goddesses