Zalmoxis

thumb|A [[Thracian tomb painting at the Aleksandrovska Grobnitsa (Bulgaria), which possibly depicts Zalmoxis, or a servant assisting him on a hunt.]]

Zalmoxis is a divinity of the Getae and Dacians (a people of the lower Danube), mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories Book IV, 93–96, written before 425 BC.

He is said to have been so called from the bear's skin (ζάλμος, zalmos) in which he was clothed as soon as he was born.

According to Jordanes' Getica, he was a learned philosopher, before whom two other learned men existed, by the names of Zeuta and Deceneus.

Herodotus

Herodotus writes about Zalmoxis in book 4 of his Histories:

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; [2] 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

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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 Mircea Eliade, 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, who was a friend of Mircea Eliade and published in Eliade's journal Zalmoxis, which appeared in the 1930s.

, given in both Ynglingsaga and Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, 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 predates Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. 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 claims that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic 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 (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 Jordanes, 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 is said, in the brief epitome of his Magicus given by Diogenes Laertes, to have compared Zalmoxis with the Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. Some authors assume Zalmoxis was another name of Sabazius, the Thracian Dionysus, or Zeus. 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 Plato'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). 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.

Celsus, in the fragments of his work against Christianity preserved by Origen, denounces the followers of Zalmoxis as amongst those who "practise such juggling tricks, in order to deceive their simple hearers, and who make gain by their deception".

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.

A third group of scholars believe that the Getae, like other Indo-European peoples, were polytheistic. They draw on ancient authors such as Diodorus Siculus, who states that the Getae worshipped Hestia 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 (c. 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. 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:

Notes

References

Primary sources

Herodotus. Histories, Book IV. 93-96
Herodotus. Histories, History of Herodotus, Book IV. 94
Jordanes. Getica. V.39
Strabo. Geographica, VII. 3. 5
Plato. Charmides, 156-158
Apuleius. 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
Journey to the Land of the Cloud Rovers - slideshow of Dacian fortresses and the Getae - Requires Shockwave Player.