Detail of the main fresco of the Aleksandrovo kurgan. The figure is identified with Zalmoxis.

Zalmoxis (Greek Ζάλμοξις, also known as Salmoxis, Σάλμοξις, Zamolxis, Ζάμολξις, or Samolxis Σάμολξις) was a legendary social and religious reformer, regarded as the only true god by the Thracian Dacians (also known in the Greek records as Getae Γέται). According to Herodotus (IV. 95 sq.), the Getae, who believed in the immortality of the soul, looked upon death merely as going to Zalmoxis, as they knew the way to become immortals. The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... main chamber fresco The Aleksandrovo kurgan is a Thracian Bulgaria, dated to ca. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... The Thracians were an Indo-European people, inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Bulgaria, Romania, northeastern Greece, European Turkey and northwestern asiatic Turkey, eastern Serbia and parts of Republic of Macedonia). ... Dacian kingdom during the reign of Burebista, 82 BC The Dacians (Lat. ... The Getae (Γέται, singular Γέτης; Getae) was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria, especially near modern Dobruja and in the Muntenian plain. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the Celine Dion song, see Immortality (Celine Dion song). ...

Etymology

A number of etymologies have been given for the name. Diogenes Laertius (3rd century-4th century ad) claimed that Zalmoxis meant "bear skin". In his Vita Pythagorae, Porphyrius (3rd century) says that zalmon is the Thracian word for "hide" (τὴν γὰρ δορὰν οἱ Θρᾷκες ζαλμὸν καλοῦσιν). Hesychius (ca. 5th century) has zemelen (ζέμελεν) as a Phrygian word for "foreign slave". Diogenes Laërtius, the biographer of the Greek philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname from the town of Laerte in Cilicia, and by others from the Roman family of the Laërtii. ... // Overview Events 212: Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men 212-216: Baths of Caracalla 230-232: Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east 235-284: Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire 250-538: Kofun era, the first... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ... Porphyry (Greek: , c. ... // Overview Events 212: Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men 212-216: Baths of Caracalla 230-232: Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east 235-284: Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire 250-538: Kofun era, the first... page of Marc. ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians, a people who probably migrated from Thrace to Asia Minor in the Bronze Age. ...

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 is favoured by those wishing to derive the name from a conjectured Thracian word for "earth", *zamol. Comparisons have also been made with the name of Zemelo, the Phrygian goddess of the earth, and with the Lithuanian chthonic god Zjameluks. However, this etymology is probably incorrect. For other uses, see Chthon (disambiguation). ... Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ...

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 zalmon, 'hide', and zelmis, 'hide' (PIE *kel-, 'to cover'; cf. English helm). The Getae (Γέται, singular Γέτης; Getae) was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria, especially near modern Dobruja and in the Muntenian plain. ...

A possible connection with the sanskrit Zal-moksha (literally, "to go|see|praise nirvana") cannot be ruled out given the northern iranian origin of the Scythians and Sarmatians. Moreover, legend has it that Zalmoxis "dissapeared" for a few years in an underground cave (see below), which suggests some kind of ascetic practice.

Life

Herodotus was told by the Euhemeristic Pontic Greeks that Zalmoxis was really a man, formerly a slave (or disciple) of Pythagoras, who taught him the "sciences of the skies" at Samos. Zalmoxis was manumitted and amassed great wealth, returned to his country and instructed his people, the Getae, about the immortality of the soul. Zenon reiterates the idea that Zalmoxis was Pythagoras' slave. Euhemerus (flourished around 316 BCE) was a Greek mythographer at the court of Cassander, the king of Macedonia. ... NASA satelite image of the Black Sea Map of the Black Sea The Black Sea is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and Anatolia that is actually a distant arm of the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Mediterranean Sea. ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; circa 580 BC – circa 500 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) mathematician, astronomer, scientist and philosopher,[1] founder of the mathematical, mystic, religious, and scientific society called Pythagoreans. ... Samos (Greek Σάμος) is a Greek island in the Eastern Aegean Sea, located between the island of Chios to the North and the archipelagic complex of the Dodecanese islands to the South and in particular the island of Patmos and off the coast of Turkey, on what was formely known as... Manumission is the act of freeing a slave, done at the will of the owner. ... The Getae (Γέται, singular Γέτης; Getae) was the name given by the Greeks and Romans to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria, especially near modern Dobruja and in the Muntenian plain. ... Zenon was a private secretary to Apollonios, the finance minister to Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes in Egypt during the 2nd century BC. A cache of over 2,000 papyri written by Zenon were discovered in the 1900s and are referred to as the Zenon Archive or Zenon...

However, Herodotus, who declines to commit himself as to the existence of Zalmoxis, expresses the opinion that in any case Zalmoxis must have lived long before the time of Pythagoras.

According to Herodotus, at one point Zalmoxis traveled to Egypt and brought the people mystic knowledge about the immortality of the soul, teaching them that they would pass at death to a certain place where they would enjoy all possible blessings for all eternity.

Zalmoxis then had a subterranean chamber constructed (other accounts say that it was a natural cave) on the holy mountain of Kogaion, to which he withdrew for three years (some other accounts considered he actually lived in Hades for these three years). Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter. ... See Kogaionon for the mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous Kogaion was the mythical holy mountain of the Dacians, the place where Zalmoxis stayed in a underground cave for three years. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ...

After his disappearance, he was considered dead and mourned by his people, but after three years he showed himself once more to the Getae, who were thus convinced about his teachings: an episode that some considered to be a resurrection (Thus he can be seen a life-death-rebirth deity, parallel to Tammuz or Jesus.) Look up Resurrection in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The category life-death-rebirth deity also known as a dying-and-rising god is a convenient means of classifying the many divinities in world mythology who are born, suffer death or an eclipse or other death-like experience, pass a phase in the underworld among the dead, and are... Tammuz or Tamuz Arabic تمّوز Tammūz; Hebrew תַּמּוּז, Standard Hebrew Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew Tammûz; Akkadian Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian Dumuzi was the name of a Babylonian deity. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ...

Plato says in the Charmides dialogue that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and mind; not just the body, as was the Greek practice. For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... The Charmides (Greek: ) is a dialogue of Plato, discussing the nature and utility of temperance. ... Holistic health is a philosophy which promotes wholeness over the reductionism and dualism of conventional Western medicine. ...

Cult

After the death of Zamolxis, his cult grew into a henotheistic religion. During the rule of Burebista, the traditional year of his birth, 713 BC, was to be considered the first year of the Dacian calendar. Henotheism (Greek heis theos one god) is a term coined by Max Müller, to mean devotion to a single God while accepting the existence of other gods. ... Dacian Kingdom, during the rule of Burebista, 82 BC Burebista,[1] the greatest king of Dacia, ruled between 70 BC and 44 BC. He unified the Thracian population from Hercynia (todays Moravia) in the west, to the Bug River in the east, and from the northern Carpathians to Dionysopolis... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 760s BC 750s BC 740s BC 730s BC 720s BC - 710s BC - 700s BC 690s BC 680s BC 670s BC 660s BC Events and Trends Judah, Tyre and Sidon revolt against Assyria 719 BC - Zhou Huan Wang of the...

Aristotle equates Zamolxis with Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. ... In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the primordial Titans. ...

It is possible that Zamolxis is Sabazius, the Thracian Dionysus or Zeus. Mnaseas of Patrae identified him with Cronos (Hesychius also has Σάλμοξις· ὁ Κρόνος). In Plato he is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation. Sabazios is the nomadic horseman sky and father god of the Phrygians. ... Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) This article is about the ancient deity. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Díos), is... Rhea tricking Cronus with a wrapped stone. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ...

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.

References

• Eliade, Mircea. "Zalmoxis, the vanishing God"
• 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

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External links

• "History" by Herodotus, about Zalmoxis
• Is the Story of Zalmoxis a Parallel for Christianity?
• Journey to the Land of the Cloud Rovers - slideshow of Dacian fortresses and the Getae - Requires Macromedia Shockwave.
• ZALMOXIS Primus Getarum Legislator "Articles - Translations - English" ) Carolus Lundius 1687