Gulltoppr

"Golden mane", "Golden top." One of the steeds the Æsir ride each day when they go to their tribunal at Yggdrasil, according to Grímnismál. Snorri Sturluson in Gylfaginning assigns Gulltoppr to Heimdallr. He later adds that the god rode the steed to Baldr's funeral pyre. This Snorri seems to base on a stanza from Úlfr Uggason's Húsdrápa, although Heimdallr's horse is here not mentioned by name:

His steed the lordly Heimdallr
Spurs to the pyre gods builded
For the fallen son of Odin,
The All-Wise Raven-Ruler.

In Skáldskaparmál Heimdallr is periphrased as Possessor of Gulltoppr. The name also appears in a list of horses enumerated in the Rhymes of Þorgrímr.

References

Sources

  • Grímnismál, 30.
  • Gylfaginning, 15, 27, 49.
  • Skáldskaparmál, 2, 8, 57.