Zalmoxis ( grc-gre, Ζάλμοξις) also known as Salmoxis (Σάλμοξις), Zalmoxes (Ζάλμοξες), Zamolxis (Ζάμολξις), Samolxis (Σάμολξις), Zamolxes (Ζάμολξες), or Zamolxe (Ζάμολξε) is a divinity of the Getae and Dacians (a people of the lower

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

), mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

in his ''Histories'' Book IV, 93–96, written before 425 BC.http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt According to

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...

' ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...

'', he was a learned philosopher, before whom two other learned men existed, by the names of Zeuta and Deceneus. In modern times, theories and debate on Zalmoxis's religion by such scholars as

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religiou ...

are influenced by considerations of

Romanian nationalism Romanian nationalism is the nationalism which asserts that Romanians are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Romanians. Its extremist variation is the Romanian ultranationalism.Aristotle KallisGenocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive ...

as well by pure historical interest.

Herodotus

writes about Zalmoxis in book 4 of his ''Histories'':

93. ... the Getae are the bravest of the Thracians and the most just. 94. They believe they are immortal forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being; some call this same divine being Gebeleizis. Every four years, they send a messenger to Zalmoxis, who is chosen by chance. They ask him to tell Zalmoxis what they want on that occasion. The mission is performed in the following way: men standing there for that purpose hold three spears; other people take the one who is sent to Zalmoxis by his hands and feet and fling him in the air on the spears. If he dies pierced, they think that the divinity is going to help them; if he does not die, it is he who is accused and they declare that he is a bad person. And, after he has been charged, they send another one. The messenger is told the requests while he is still alive. The same Thracians, on other occasions, when he thunders and lightens, shoot with arrows up in the air against the sky and menace the divinity because they think there is no god other than their own.

Herodotus asserts that Zalmoxis was originally a human being, a slave who converted the

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

to his beliefs. The Greeks of the Hellespont and the Black Sea tell that Zalmoxis was a slave of

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( grc, Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος, Pythagóras ho Sámios, Pythagoras the Samian, or simply ; in Ionian Greek; ) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His politi ...

, son of Mnesarchos, on the island of

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...

. After being liberated, he gathered huge wealth and, once rich, went back to his homeland. Thracians lived simple hard lives. Zalmoxis had lived among the wisest of Greeks, such as Pythagoras, and had been initiated into Ionian life and the

Eleusinian Mysteries The Eleusinian Mysteries ( el, Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Elefsina in ancient Greece. They are th ...

. He built a banquet hall, and received the chiefs and his fellow countrymen at a banquet. He taught that neither his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead would go to a place where they would live forever in complete happiness. He then dug an underground residence. When it was finished, he disappeared from Thrace, living for three years in his underground residence. The Thracians missed him and wept fearing him dead. The fourth year, he came back among them and thus they believed what Zalmoxis had told them. Zalmoxis may have lived much earlier than Pythagoras and was rumored either to be a divine being or from the country of the Getae.

"Now I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the tale about Salmoxis and his underground chamber; but I think that he lived many years before Pythagoras; and as to whether there was a man called Salmoxis or this is some deity native to the Getae, let the question be dismissed." —
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

Scholars have several different theories about this account by Herodotus the disappearance and return of Zalmoxis: * Herodotus is mocking the barbarian beliefs of the Getae. * Zalmoxis created a ritual of passage. This theory is mainly supported by

, who wrote the first coherent interpretation of the myth about Zalmoxis. * Zalmoxis is related to Pythagoras, stating that he founded a mystical cult. This theory may be found in Eliade's work. * Zalmoxis is a Christ-like figure who dies and is resurrected. This position was defended by Jean (Ioan) Coman, a professor of patristics and

Orthodox priest Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for ''bishop'' (''episkopos''), referring to a leader in local church congregations. In modern Eastern Orthodox usage, it is distinct from ''bishop'' and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (' ...

, who was a friend of Mircea Eliade and published in Eliade's journal ''Zalmoxis'', which appeared in the 1930s. This last theory precisely parallels the legend of the universal king Frode, given in both ''Ynglingsaga'' and ''

Gesta Danorum ''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...

'' of

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...

, particularly ''Ynglingsaga'' 12 and ''Gesta Danorum'', in which Frode disappears into the earth for three years after his death. It is difficult to define the time when a cult to Zalmoxis may have existed. It is only certain that it antecedes Herodotus. Some scholars have suggested that the archaic doctrine of Zalmoxis points to a heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans, but this is difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate.

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

claims that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book '' Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED On ...

approach to healing body and soul (psyche), being thus used by Plato for his own philosophical conceptions.

Religion of the Getae

Strabo in his ''Geography'' mentions a certain Deceneus (Dékainéos) whom he calls a "magician". According to Strabo, king

Burebista Burebista ( grc, Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61BC to 45/44BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area loca ...

(82–44 BC) hired Deceneus, who had been in Egypt, to "tame" his people. As a sign of the people's obedience, they consented to destroy all their wines as ordered by Deceneus. The "reform of Deceneus" is the interpretation by the 6th-century bishop and historian

, who includes the Getae in his history of the Goths (as assumed ancestors of the Goths). Jordanes describes how Deceneus taught the Getae philosophy and physics. Even if it is more probable that Jordanes interjected his own philosophical knowledge into the text, many modern Romanian authors consider that Deceneus was a priest who reformed the religion of the Getae, changing the worship of Zalmoxis into a popular religion and imposing strict religious rules, such as the restriction of wine consumption. Jean Coman deems this prohibition as the origin of the dietary restrictions followed by the modern Orthodox Church during Lent. According to Iamblichus (280-333 AD), "for instructing the Getae in these things, and for having written laws for them, Zalmoxis was by them considered as the greatest of the gods."

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

is said, in the brief epitome of his ''Magicus'' given by Diogenes Laertes, to have compared Zalmoxis with the

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n Okhon and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

. Some authors assume Zalmoxis was another name of

Sabazius Sabazios ( grc, Σαβάζιος, translit=Sabázios, ''Savázios''; alternatively, ''Sabadios'') is the horseman and sky father god of the Phrygians and Thracians. Though the Greeks interpreted Phrygian Sabazios as both Zeus and Dionysus, repr ...

, the Thracian

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...

, or

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

. Sabazius appears in Jordanes as Gebelezis. Leaving aside the suffixes ''-zius/-zis'', the root ''Saba-'' = ''Gebele-'', suggesting a relationship of the name of the goddess Cybele, as "Cybele's Zeus". Mnaseas of Patrae identified Zalmoxis with Cronos, as does Hesychius, who has "". In

's writings, Zalmoxis is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation. Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesych).Znamenski, Andrei A. ''Shamanism'' His realm as a god is not very clear, as some considered him to be a sky-god, a god of the dead, or a god of the Mysteries. Lactantius (an early Christian author, c. 240–320 AD), referring to the religion of the Getae, provides an approximate translation of Julian the Apostate's purported quotation of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

"We have conquered even these Getai (Dacians), the most warlike of all people that have ever existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zalmoxis who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change their location and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey."

Zalmoxian religion

The "Zalmoxian religion" is the subject of a scholarly debate that has continued since the beginning of the 20th century. According to some scholars, such as Vasile Pârvan, Jean Coman, R. Pettazzon, E. Rohde and Sorin Paliga, since ancient sources do not mention any god of the Getae other than Zalmoxis, the Getae were monotheistic. However, Herodotus is the only ancient author who explicitly states that the Getae had only one divinity. The sending of a messenger to Zalmoxis and the fact that Getae shot arrows towards the sky have prompted some authors to believe Zalmoxis was a sky god, but his journey into a cavern has led others to suggest that he was a chthonic divinity. A third group of scholars believe that the Getae, like other Indo-European peoples, were

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...

. They draw on ancient authors such as Diodorus Siculus, who states that the Getae worshipped

Hestia In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia (; grc-gre, Ἑστία, meaning "hearth" or "fireside") is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In myth, she is the firstborn ...

as well as Zalmoxis.

Etymology

A number of etymologies have been given for the name. In his ''Vita Pythagorae'', Porphyrius (3rd century) says that he was so named because he had been wrapped in a bearskin at birth, and ''zalmon'' is the Thracian word for "hide" (). Hesychius (ca. 5th century) has () as a Phrygian word for "foreign slave". The correct spelling of the name is also uncertain. Manuscripts of Herodotus' ''Historiae'' have all four spellings, viz. ''Zalmoxis'', ''Salmoxis'', ''Zamolxis'', ''Samolxis'', with a majority of manuscripts favouring ''Salmoxis''. Later authors show a preference for ''Zamolxis''. Hesychius quotes Herodotus, using ''Zalmoxis''. The ''-m-l-'' variant (''Zamolxis'') is favoured by those wishing to derive the name from a conjectured Thracian word for "earth", . Comparisons have also been made with the name of Zemelo and Žemelė, the Phrygian and Lithuanian goddess of the earth, and with the Lithuanian chthonic god Žemeliūkštis.Alexandrescu, Petre. "La nature de Zalmoxis selon Hérodote". In: ''Dialogues d'histoire ancienne'', vol. 6, 1980. pp. 119-120 (footnote nr. 1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/dha.1980.1403; www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1980_num_6_1_1403 The Lithuanian word ''Žalmuo'' means "corn shoot" or "fresh grass". ''Žalmokšnis'' is another possible form of it. The ''-l-m-'' variant is admitted to be the older form and the correct form by the majority of Thracologists, as this is the form found in the older Herodotus manuscripts and other ancient sources. The ''-l-m-'' form is further attested in Daco-Thracian in ''Zalmodegikos'', the name of a Getic King; and in Thracian , 'hide', and , 'hide' (PIE ''*kel-'', 'to cover'; cf. English ''helm''). The other name for Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, is also spelled Belaizis and Belaixis in Herodotus manuscripts. According to Mircea Eliade:

In popular culture

The Romanian rock band Sfinx worked from around 1975 through 1978 on ''Zalmoxe'', a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

LP, with lyrics by poet Alexandru Basarab (actually a pen name for Adrian Hoajă), which retold the story of Zalmoxis. The dinosaur '' Zalmoxes'' is named after the deity.

Notes

References

Primary sources

. '' Histories'', Book IV. 93-96 *

. '' Histories'', History of Herodotus, Book IV. 94 *

. ''

''
V.39
* Strabo. '' Geographica''
VII. 3. 5
*

. '' Charmides''
156-158
*

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

. ''Pro Se De Magia (Apologia)''
2.26
* Diodorus Siculus. '' Bibliotheca historica''
94.2
* Porphyry, ''Life of Pythagoras''
14

Secondary sources

* Dana, Dan. ''Zalmoxis de la Herodot la Mircea Eliade. Istorii despre un zeu al pretextului'', Polirom, Iași, 2008 * Eliade, Mircea. ''Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God'', Univ of Chicago Press, 1972, 1986 * Hansen, Christopher M., “A Thracian Resurrection: Is Zalmoxis a Dying-Rising God who Parallels Jesus?” ''Journal of Higher Criticism'' 14.4 (2019), pp. 70–98. * Kernbach, Victor. ''Miturile Esenţiale'', Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucharest, 1978 * Popov, Dimitar. ''Bogat s mnogoto imena'' (''The God with Multiple Names''), Sofia, 1995 * Venedikov, Ivan. ''Mitove na bulgarskata zemya: Mednoto Gumno'' (''Myths of the Bulgarian Land: The Copper Threshing Floor''), Sofia, 1982

External links

*
"History" by Herodotus, about Zalmoxis

- slideshow of Dacian fortresses and the Getae - Requires Shockwave Player. {{authority control Ancient Greek shamans Dacian gods Life-death-rebirth gods Paleo-Balkan mythology People whose existence is disputed Thracian gods Year of death unknown