Chief of the gods and the ruler of the universe in Norse mythology. The German form of his name is Woden or Wotan. The name Wednesday is derived from Woden’s day. In mythology Odin was the son of the frost giant Bor and the giantess Bestla. Odin’s sacred bird is the raven, and his principal weapon is the spear. He is depicted as tall, bearded, and one-eyed, having exchanged an eye for wisdom. In pre-Christian Scandinavia the Odin cult appears to have included human sacrifice which involved hanging the sacrificial victim from a tree.