The earliest written sources include literature by Roman writers such as Julius Caesar, Strabo, and Tacitus during the 1st-century AD. Later Latin-language sources emerged including Getica by Jordanes and History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon.
Works of Old Norse literature were mostly written down in the Icelandic Commonwealth during the Middle Ages. The most important source is the Poetic Edda which contains poems like Völuspá describing the beginning and end of the world.
Odin and his two brothers raised the Earth from the sea and found tree trunks named Ask and Embla whom they created into the first human couple. This account contrasts with other myths where Odin creates the world from the body of the giant Ymir.
The chief god of the Aesir is Odin associated with war seiðr witchcraft and wisdom while Thor is his popular son who wields hammer Mjölnir. Other significant Aesir include trickster god Loki Heimdallr reported in Rígsþula to have fathered three classes men and Týr god associated with war.
Legendary creatures appearing in Germanic mythology include dísir fylgjur draugar dwarfs elves and jötnar goblins giants trolls dragons. These supernatural beings populate the mythological framework alongside human-like deities to explain natural phenomena or moral lessons.