Editing Asgard (section)

==Interpretation and discussion==
Cosmology in Old Norse religion is presented in a vague and often contradictory manner when viewed from a naturalistic standpoint. Snorri places Asgard in the centre of the world, surrounded by Midgard and then the lands inhabited by {{lang|non|jötnar}}, all of which are finally encircled by the sea. He also locates the homes of the gods in the heavens. This had led to the proposition of a system of concentric circles, centred on Asgard or Yggdrasil, and sometimes with a vertical axis, leading upwards towards the heavens. There is debate between scholars over whether the gods were conceived of as living in the heavens, with some aligning their views with Snorri, and others proposing that he at times presents the system in a Christian framework and that this organisation is not seen in either Eddic or [[skaldic poetry]]. The concept of attempting to create a spatial cosmological model has itself been criticised by scholars who argue that the oral traditions did not form a naturalistic, structured system that aimed to be internally geographically consistent. An alternative proposal is that the world should be conceived of as a number of realms connected by passages that cannot be typically traversed. This would explain how Asgard can be located both to the east and west of the realm of men, over the sea and over Bifröst.{{sfn|Heide|2014|pp=103–104,125–127}}

It has been noted that the tendency to link Asgard to Troy is part of a wider European cultural practice of claiming Trojan origins for one's culture, first seen in the ''[[Aeneid]]'' and also featuring in [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s [[Historia Regum Britanniae|''Historia regum Britanniae'']] for the founding of [[Great Britain|Britain]].{{sfn|Fontenrose|1983|p=56}}