http://www.river-styx.net/greek-gods-hades.htm

It gives us a visual clue about the ritual of sending a messenger to Zalmoxis by the Geto-Dacians

The ritual of sending a messenger to Zalmoxis (every five years) is explained by this belief. "The messages are given while the man is still alive"^[7] and this is their manner of sending: Three lances are held by men thereto appointed; others seize the messenger to Salmoxis by his hands and feet, and swing and hurl him aloft on to the spear-point. If he be killed by the cast, they believe that the gods regard them with favour; but if he be not killed, they blame the messenger himself, deeming him a bad man, and send another messenger in place of him whom they blame. It is while the man yet lives that they charge him with the message.

 "… Those who want to patronize them (the mightiest tribes in Europe) will easily notice that the barbarian Thracian tribes despise death because of their natural wisdom. All the Thracian unanimously respects volunteer (suicidal) death. Some of them believe that the souls do not die with the bodies and they continue to live even happier than on Earth. …"
Pomponii Mella

 

New: Dan Oltean, Religia Dacilor (Romanian only) Cuprins la:

http://danoltean.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Cuprins-Religia-dacilor-ed.2.pdf 

 Table of Contents, Cuprins:

Zalmoxis

Zalmoxian Religion

Geto-Dacian Holy Men in War

Kogaion

Pangaion

Derzelas, Darzalas

Bendis, Βενδις

Geto-Dacian Spirituality

Star map of the Getai found at king Dromichetes' Tomb at Sboryanovo

The Dacian Rider

Solomonari, "Zgrimties"

Câţi zei aveau dacii?  (Romanian only)

 Zalmoxis

 ."I believe Zalmoxis have lived long before the time of Pytagoras", (Herodotus, book 4, 93-96, V BC)

·  "Zalmoxis, our king, who is also a god..." (Platon, Charmides)

·  "He taught them logic and made them skilled in reasoning beyond all other races." (Iordanes)

" Zamolxis was he named because he was born wrapped in a bear's skin, in Thracian called Zalmus." (Porphyry)

" Zamolxis, who also is said to have taught the Celtic Druids to cultivate the philosophy of Pythagoras. And they assert that Pythagoras learned from the Egyptians his system of numbers and measures; and I being struck by the plausible, fanciful, and not easily revealed wisdom of the priests, he himself likewise, in imitation of them, enjoined silence, and made his disciples lead a solitary life in underground chapels" (Hyppolytus)

Burebista's adviser the Great Priest Deceneu  instructed the Tracians to live according to the Nature Laws called the Belagines Laws and decided that the year 1 to be the birth year of Zamolxis, 713 BC. He went to Egypt where he taught the Egyptian priests the sacerdotal misteries of the Pelasgians, then returns to Dacia where together with Burebista unifies both spiritually and politically the Thracians.

The spiritual center was called by Strabon as Kagaion, the holly mountain, which is thought to be localized somewhere in the Bucegi

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Roger_Pearse/Zalmoxis

 http://www.dracones.ro/?operatie=subiect&locatie=ziarul_personal&fisier=PAPIRUSUL_DIN_TURA

 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,^[1] the Getae, who believed in the immortality of the soul, looked upon death merely as going to Zalmoxis (who is also called Gebeleizis by some among them^{[citation needed]}) as they knew the way to become immortals.

 Life

Herodotus was told by the Euhemeristic Pontic Greeks that Zalmoxis was really a man, formerly a disciple of Pythagoras^[2], 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.

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

Pythagora died around 495 BC. Today, it is believed that Zalmoxis traveled around the world and mostly to Egypt between 1,800 BC and no later than 1,200 BC. The archaism of Zalmoxis's doctrine points out to a heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans ^[3]

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).

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.)

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.

  Such, Charmides, I said, is the nature of the charm, which I learned when serving with the army from one of the physicians of the Thracian king Zamolxis, who are to be so skilful that they can even give immortality. This Thracian told me that in these notions of theirs, which I was just now mentioning, the Greek physicians are quite right as far as they go; but Zamolxis, he added, our king, who is also a god, says further, "that as you ought not to attempt to cure the eyes without the head, or the head without the body, so neither ought you to attempt to cure the body without the soul; and this," he said, "is the reason why the cure of many diseases is unknown to the physicians of Hellas, because they are ignorant of the whole, which ought to be studied also; for the part can never be well unless the whole is well." For all good and evil, whether in the body or in human nature, originates, as he declared, in the soul, and overflows from thence, as if from the head into the eyes. And therefore if the head and body are to be well, you must begin by curing the soul; that is the first thing. And the cure, my dear youth, has to be effected by the use of certain charms, and these charms are fair words; and by them temperance is implanted in the soul, and where temperance is, there health is speedily imparted, not only to the head, but to the whole body. And he who taught me the cure and the charm at the same time added a special direction: "Let no one," he said, "persuade you to cure the head, until he has first given you his soul to be cured by the charm. For this," he said, "is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians separate the soul from the body." And he added with emphasis, at the same time making me swear to his words, "Let no one, however rich, or noble, or fair, persuade you to give him the cure, without the charm." Now I have sworn, and I must keep my oath, and therefore if you will allow me to apply the Thracian charm first to your soul, as the stranger directed, I will afterwards proceed to apply the cure to your head. But if not, I do not know what I am to do with you, my dear Charmides.

And here lies the point; for if, as he declares, you have this gift of temperance already, and are temperate enough, in that case you have no need of any charms, whether of Zamolxis or of Abaris the Hyperborean, and I may as well let you have the cure of the head at once; but if you have not yet acquired this quality, I must use the charm before I give you the medicine.

"Zalmoxis had a tattoo-mark on his forehead which Greek writers, unaware of its religious significance, explained by saying that he had been captured by pirates, who branded him for the slave-market" (Herodotus: 5.6.2) The tattoing was as mark of dedication to a god. Tattooing was likewise practiced by Dacians (Pliny) ^[4]

 Fresco of the Aleksandrovo kurgan. The right figure with the double axe is identified with Zalmoxis

After the death of Zalmoxis, his cult grew into a popular 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. During the rule of Burebista between 82 BC and 44 BC, the priest Deceneu impose a series of reforms in Dacian cult, one of them being the restriction of wine consumption.

Iamblicus (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” ^[5] Aristotle equates Zalmoxis with Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. It is possible that Zalmoxis 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. Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesych) ^[4] 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 (early Christian author 240 – 320 AD) about the Getae-Dacians belief in Zalmoxis provide an aproximate translation of Julian the Apostate writing, that he put this word in [emperor] Traian mouth.

 

 

Philip, suffering from need of money, determined
to lead out his forces and sack Odessus, a city of
Moesia, which was then subject to the Goths by reason of
the neighboring city of Tomi. Thereupon those priests
of the Goths (Getai) that are called the Holy Men suddenly
opened the gates of Odessus Varna) and came forth to meet them.
They bore harps and were clad in snowy robes, and
chanted in suppliant strains to the gods of their fathers
that they might be propitious and repel the Macedonians.

to meet them, they were astonished and, so to
speak, the armed were terrified by the unarmed. Straight-way
they broke the line they had formed for battle and
not only refrained from destroying the city, but even
gave back those whom they had captured outside by right
of war. Then they made a truce and returned to their
own country.

After a long time Sitalces, a famous leader of the     66
Goths, remembering this treacherous attempt, gathered a
hundred and fifty thousand men and made war upon the
Athenians, fighting against Perdiccas, King of Macedon.
This Perdiccas had been left by Alexander as his successor
to rule Athens by hereditary right, when he drank his
destruction at Babylon through the treachery of an attendant.
The Goths engaged in a great battle with him
and proved themselves to be the stronger. Thus in return
for the wrong which the Macedonians had long before
committed in Moesia, the Goths overran Greece and laid
waste the whole of Macedonia

Zalmoxian Religion

In fact, the Zalmoxian religion differentiated the Getae from the other Thracians, at the time of Herodotus.^[6],^[7].

Religion was characterized by monotheism, aniconism (including the interdiction of writing), the important role of the music, the cyclic resurrection" of the supreme god, the rites connected to immortality and the inititation

Monotheism.

"...and they do not believe that there is any god but their own" (Herodotus) ^[7]. Ancient sources don’t present any other God of Getae-Dacians than Zalmoxis^[3]. Among others, Vasile Pârvan, Jean Coman, R.Pettazzon, E.Rohde and S. Paliaga consider that Getae -Dacians religion is monotheistic. Others consider it henotheistic

Aniconism

was a specific characteristic of the Getae-Dacian religion. This trait is similar to Judaism and Islamism.

The only exception is the one of the so-called deity the "Thracian Knight" under the Greek Influence. After conquest (after 107 AD) it appears some representations of the Romans assimilated local deities (see Diana-Bendis)

The total interdiction of visual representation included the writing. This is similar to the Druids' doctrine (Hippolytus said that the druids learned Pythagorean philosophy from Zalmoxis)

Such an interdiction couldn’t function without a strong religious substratum, conventionally named Zalmoxian religion

This mentality survived until the 17th century within "Jus Valachicum" (Lex lachorm), a juridical and traditional system always oral^[8]

Immortality

 Zalmoxis were a main, or an indigenous Getan deity. The latter appears to have been the real state of the case. (Iambl. Vit. Pyth. § 173; Diog. Laërt. viii. 1; Phot. Cod. 166.) The Getae believed that the departed went to him. Every four years they selected a man by lot to go as a messenger to Zalmoxis, and tell him what they needed. The mode in which the man was killed is described by Herodotus (iv. 94; comp. Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. p. 497).

"They think that they do not really die, but that when they depart this life they go to Zalmoxis"^[7]

The ritual of sending a messenger to Zalmoxis (every five years) is explained by this belief. "The messages are given while the man is still alive"^[7] and this is their manner of sending: Three lances are held by men thereto appointed; others seize the messenger to Salmoxis by his hands and feet, and swing and hurl him aloft on to the spear-point. If he be killed by the cast, they believe that the gods regard them with favour; but if he be not killed, they blame the messenger himself, deeming him a bad man, and send another messenger in place of him whom they blame. It is while the man yet lives that they charge him with the message.

Music and dance

Music and dance were an important part of Zalmoxis teachings and this corresponds to the special importance given by Getae-Dacians to the music.

Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesych)

Initiation It is similar to the Pythagorean doctrine

Chthonic character It was an essential characteristic of a religious system that existed before Indo-Europeans, as expressed by Marija Gimbutas and Sorin Paliga ^[3]

 Expoziţie de piese arheologice dacice, folosite în ritualuri magice, la Deva

În cadrul expoziţiei şi a smpozionului ştiinţific, organizate la Hotel Deva, în perioada 5 – 6 mai,2011  printre piesele care vor fi prezentate se numără:

 Iosif Ferencz, cercetător ştiinţific la Muzeul Civilizaţiei Daco-Romane, spune povestea artefactelor. Statuete, vase de lut în care se preparau poţiuni magice şi alte obiecte folosite în ritualuri sunt prezentate astăzi de istoricul hunedorean.

O pagină a istoriei antice mai puţin cunoscută publicului larg va fi prezentată, astăzi, de doctorul în istorie Iosif Ferencz. El a făcut un studiu asupra obiectelor folosite de daci pentru invocarea zeilor sau pentru prepararea unor poţiuni magice.

„Există dovezi certe că preoţii daci aveau reţete secrete, divulgate numai celor iniţiaţi, de preparare a unor poţiuni magice. Cu siguranţă foloseau anumite plante care erau macerate şi amestecate în proporţii numai de ei ştiute. Pentru păstrarea lor foloseau vase de lut. De asemenea, există numeroase obiecte folosite în diferite ritualuri”, a explicat cercetătorul hunedorean. O parte dintre obiectele magice împodobeau pereţii caselor vechilor daci. „Religia politeistă a dacilor implica ritualuri sacre de chemare a zeilor pentru a-i sprijini”, a spus Ferencz. Obiectele pot fi admirate la Muzeul Civilizaţiei Daco-Romane din Deva.

  Kogaion

 THE DIVINITIES: THE GREAT GOD GEBELEIZIS AND THE GREAT GODDESS BENDIS

 http://www.lietuvos.org/forumas/viewtopic.php?t=48

Gebeleizis, or Nebeleizis, was the Thracians' Supreme Divinity lightning constituting only one of the "weapons" that this he was said to have used. He was represented through the shape of a handsome sculptural male, occasionally wearing a beard. Gebeleizis provoked thunder and lightning. In some representations, he appears seated on a majestic throne, while in others on horseback, holding an arch in his left hand. A snake is seen coming down versus the horse's head. He is also accompanied, at times, by a one-horned vulture. The vulture holds a fish in its beak symbolizing the named Divinity by itself, and also has a rabbit entrapped within its claws. This God embodies the Absolute Master upon Heaven and Earth, the Patron of military aristocracy. He might possess, though, some Uranian- Solar attributes. The Supreme God, the Great God Gebeleizis is also known under the nicknames of Derzelas, Derzis or the Thracian Knight (others consider "THE THRACIAN KNIGHT" as being a later apparition of some Hero, and not of a God). Other times, the God shows up in the hypostasis of a warrior horseman, accompanied by a faithful hound. He holds a spear as an insignia of power, which is ready to be thrown upon a wild boar from the horse's gallop. When not being shown under a warrior or hunter's appearance, he appears as a peaceful horseman, carrying either a torch or a cornu copia. Sometimes, he is presented as having three heads (Tricephalus), alike the accompanying hound, while othertimes as a blessing God, having his right hand's first three fingers risen or opened, the rest being tightened towards the upper palm. He shows up in these ways within all epigraphic and numismatic testimonies found at the ancient cities of Histria and Odesos (the latter presently called Varna). At Limanu (Constanta County), Derzelas appears shown on horseback, as he similarly may be seen on the Racatau and Zimnicea old pottery, or the Bucharest-Herastrau and Surcea (Constanta County again) discovered hoards.

We shall also encounter him later throughout the Antique world, at the Macedonians -"Macedonian Horseman", while Greek Mithology would similarly carry him under the supreme name of Zeus. From Thracia, Gebeleizis' cult had spread to penetrate inside Asia Minor during 7th century B.C., where it was promptly assimilated by Armenians up to becoming their National Divinity, namely Vahagn or the God of War, most famous for his courage in slaying dragons. Vahagn was associated with lightning and thunder, being represented like an imposing man with hair and beard carved out of flames, while "his eyes were scintillating like two Suns". Ultimately, Gebeleizis or "the Thracian Knight", who is to be found in other people's Mithologies as Zeus or Vahagn, has been logically assimilated by Christian nations to become... Saint George (or Gheorghe) killing the Dragon!

The Supreme male Divinity of Geta-Dacians Gebeleizis, later referred to, at the Lower-Danube area Thracians under the likely Greekenized name of Zbelsurdos, also goes by having a feminine alter-ego, a double named BENDIS, the Great Goddess. Ancient representations, recently discovered, show her to our eyes through the face of a full-figured woman, with prominent cheek bones and curly hair either plaited into two tresses or splitted into two big curls surrounding her lovely looks. Is it really possible that the Goddess Bendis, with her two very long blond tresses gently resting on her back, might actually be a predecessor of the fairy Ileana Cosanzeana, from the later-born popular tales of Romanians? In certain situations, the Goddess appears standing between two sacred animals, which are either deers-like, or between a buck and a snake. The Great Goddess Bendis was mostly adored by Thracian women, for she was embodying the Goddess of Moon, Forests and... Magical charms. A head of the Goddess was discovered at Costesti, while archaeological digging around ruins of the old Sarmisegetuza fortress has brought to light a burned-clay made medallion (measuring 10 cm in diameter and 1.5 cm thickness) showing a Goddess bust with a quiver on shoulder. One of her bronze made busts was discovered at Piatra Rosie, measuring 14.7 cm in height and 13 cm width.

Besides the Supreme God Gebeleizis and the Great Goddess Bendis, Thracians have also had a Divinity of Flames and Fireplace and Guardian of the House, respectively the Goddess VESTA (or Hestia, Histia), to the veneration of whom Thracian houses were built strictly in a rectangular form with stoned or wooden walls. The floor was of trodden soil and had a "two-angle" roof. Not far away from Tartaria region, inside the triangular area of the three "Crish" rivers, astounding remains of the first surface dwellings dating from as early as fifth millenium B.C. have been recently uncovered, meaning they were no less than 7000 years old! These types of dwellings, which would spread afterwards through the entire world, indeed seemed to have been the result of a cult dedicated to this Goddess. The walls were initially meant to protect the sacred space within, and in the middle, flames were lit in a fireplace which were constantly taken care of to keep alight.

The fourth millenium B.C. wasn't exactly a lucky one for the future-to-be Romanian people, stated the experts referring themselves to the crumbling period of the legendary continental bridge which was linking Europe with Asia Minor. This bridge collapsed under the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, thus leaving plenty of room for the formation of a brand new sea, named the Egean Sea. This generated as well a multitude of larger and smaller islands. Due to the very existence of this terrestrial linking bridge, both ancient and modern Greek historians were entitled to acknowledge the possibility of a migration for the Thracian population from the Pontic-Danubian region to the South of the Balcan Peninsula, and from there, towards Asia Minor itself, reaching to some lands around the Eastern Mediterranean such as Bytinia, Missia, Phrygia, Throada, Lydia etc. As it is known today, the fate of each of these civilizations evolved quite differently. Some "lost themselves" among more numerous tribes and completely "vanished" as national identity inside History's immense pit called "forgetfulness"-the Hititians, for instance. Others disappeared at vast distances, as is the Trojans' case, about whom a legend (Virgilius' "Aeneida") tells how Aeneas, the Thracian, guided the survivors of Troja fortress' doomsday up to the Tybrus River's narrow valley on the Italic Peninsula, where they took over Seven "eternal" Hills and afterwards, gave them Thracian "Latin" names. Still, another legend states that within the Carpathian Space, an extremely wise sheperd, Zalmoxis, showed up who was to take over "the Noble Laws" (that is, the "Beleagin's Code") from the Goddess Hestia (or Vesta).

Zalmoxis-A PROPHETICAL GOD OR A WORSHIPPED PROPHET
Here are Herodotus' testimonies on Zalmoxis: "According to what I have found out from the (ancient) Greeks living on the shores of Helespontus and Pontus Euxinus (which is today known as the Black Sea), the Zalmoxis whom I'm talking about, being just a mortal, was actually a former slave on Samos Island, specifically belonging to Phytagoras, son of Menesarcos. Being granted, afterwards, free man's status from his grateful master, he would skillfully amass large riches and would return to his homeland after accumulating enough wealth, where he would build a large mansion meant to host important gatherings and personally receiving these people and summoning the Thracian land's leaders to party. Meanwhile, preaching everybody that none of them, or their descendants would ever die for real, but everybody was to go to a certain place instead, where they would indeed live forever and enjoy all the finest meals and pleasures which they would only dream of. As he was accomplishing all the already mentioned deeds and was saying such things to the crowds, he secretly ordered an underground residence to be constructed for himself. When it was ready, Zalmoxis disappeared from the nucleus of Thracian social life and descended to his underground "bunker". He lived there for about three or four years. The Thracians thought he had vanished and wanted him back dearly, lamenting his loss as if he were really dead. At the end of his 4th year, Zalmoxis appeared once more to their eyes, thus managing to make his teachings believable through some kind of "personal example". Regarding Zalmoxis' background itself and his underground hiding shelter, I personally don't fully reject everything that is said, but don't believe too much in it either. It seems to me, though, that he might have actually lived many years before Phytagoras' time.So let Zalmoxis be well, whatever he represents, either a human being or some Demon of the Geta (namely Thracian) people" (Herodotus, "Histories", volume IV, pages 94-95). As we can see, the naive identification of God Zalmoxis with one of Pythagoras' slaves, who became afterwards free and wealthy, is being disputed even by Herodotus himself. Why should WE believe it then?...

Similar accounts are also made by Hellanicos from Mithilenes, by the Great Plato, Mnasea (this last one was even considering Zalmoxis as the Eternity God Chronos!), Diodorus from Sicily, Strabon mostly, Apulleius, Lucianus from Samosatas, Orygenes, Porphyrius (232-304) and Julian the Apostle, Aeneas from Ghaza, and Hesychios from Alexandria. All of them heard and discussed about Zalmoxis who remained within people's memories as a God of the so-called "Underworld Kingdom", as being otherwise suggestively described by the Romanian National Poet, Mihai Eminescu, in his poem "The Phantoms":

"On a huge Throne carved in rock, sits rigidly, pale, yet straight,
With his hand holding the Staff, the Pagan and righteous Priest..."

Lithuanians, at their turn, are going to take over "our" Zalmoxis as God Zemeuks, the name signifying "Land" or "Country". He still represents the God of the Earth's depths, but nevertheless the God of vegetation and fertility, the God of ploughmen and sheperds. But, if Gebeleizis was promising them only the immortality of spirit (for the ritual of cremating dead ones on funeral pyres is associated to his cult), Zalmoxis was yet overgranting to his faithfuls COMPLETE IMMORTALITY, both for the soul and body (the funeral procedure being, in this case, burial), while the believers' spirits would keep on living inside the Kingdom of the Underworld God (just alike Harald's, the teen-ager King, next to Maria's, the Danubian Queen, from the same poem "Phantoms" of our Great Eminescu).

The concept of Zamolxian immortality was representing the very Ethics' concept among all young warriors of the "the Dacian (Thracian) Wolves", who were enjoying the imminent Death's perspective and were even laughing at it, precisely in order to show their indifference towards such an event and their looking forward to faster reaching God's underground meadows. These youngsters were fighting and dying joyfully under the "Wolf's Head" Dacian banner, which we would also encounter at the Macedonians, as well as at the so-called "Roman " legions later, that had actually been formed from Thracians living within boundaries of the Roman-occupied territories.

Human sacrifices for religious purposes had proven to be quite singular in Europe, and one can find them strictly among Thracians. With this perspective in mind, most interesting appears to be a certain similarity with the Aztec civilization's religious traditions, about whose civilization Edgar Cayce was surely stating that they would be direct descendants of the "Atlantis" people (namely, inhabitants of former ancient continent Atlantida, from which the very last portion of land went down in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, through a huge disaster, some 12,600 years ago). Should this peculiar resemblance provide a clue, with respect to a very close friend's suggestion in supporting the presumed joint origin between Central America's Indians and Thracians?... Once every five years, Zalmoxis was sent a kind of "messenger" who was to inform the God on the people's wishes. The chosen one, some young warrior of great physical beauty, unparalleled courage in battles and untainted morality, was thrown into three sharpened spears belonging to his fellow warriors. Should he have had the bad luck not to die instantly, he would be insulted and mocked while another "herald" was prepared and immediately "sent" to personally deliver his message to the Underworld God.

While Zalmoxis represented a God of the "Underworld", Gebeleizis was the "Heavenly" God. The discoveries in Orastie Mountains, as well as of the Great Circular Sanctuary within the Sarmisegetuza (Dacians' main fortress), with its pillars' regular disposal, lead us to assume that some celestial examination was also carried out. Archaeological excavations done under the Cluj native historian Constantin Daicoviciu's supervision have brought to light, within the Gradistea Muscelului area (Orastie Mountains), not only an entire complex of Sanctuaries but also a likely original Dacian calendar, and also the remains of a staircase which was, probably, leading towards an underground place of religious cult.

From a wise man such as Socrates, the Great Greek philosopher quoted by one of his peers, namely Plato, we learn about Zalmoxis to have been, besides a brilliant psychotherapist, also a... magician. Overall, a person to whom our forefathers owe their spiritual status through one of the most righteous and human social order Antiquity has ever had. For we have been indeed a kind of "spiritual State", ambivalent creation of the ones initiated by Zalmoxis and of the Great Priests from Kogaion, the Holy Mountain, a reason for which our boundaries lasted always virtually unchanged, even if, at times, either some civilization overlappings or brief artificial territorial divisions might have occured. As Alexandru Strachina has said, in his book "Trailing the Forgotten Ancestors": "Water flows by, yet ... WE remain". And it is merely odd how most of our modern historians are still able to justify their naked indifference towards all these blatant facts.

In order to better outline the existence of a SOLAR CULT among Thraco-Geta-Dacians, along her book, "Romanian Archaic Linguistic References", Dr. Mariana Marcu mentions "the Thracian Horseman" HEROS, also cited in some Egyptian epigraphic documents (as HEROUS, son of the Solar God Amon Ra himself), while several other researchers have argued that this Divinity would represent nothing else but a newer hypostasis of Horus!... The Thracian Knight's Myth appears difficult to understand. Sometimes, his head is shown surrounded by a Solar halo, a four-leaves rosette. It was assimilated by the Greek population at once with their arrival within the Balcan Peninsula, between 1900-1400 B.C., as Zeus (Helios), the Supreme Divinity, also known under other names like Nefelegeretes (actually, the Greek version of Nebeleizis) -meaning "the One who Gathers Clouds", Ombryos -"the Rain Maker", Keraunos -"the One who Lightens" and some more. Within the entire Romanian tradition (that includes Dacian-Romanian, Aromanian, Macedonian), the Thracian Knight's Myth makes an almost canonical scenario of the old Christmas Carols in winter.

An astonished Mr. C. Cinodaru was noticing that Thracians used to hold so-called "PAGAN CELEBRATIONS" during entire APRIL, precisely organized in order to honor THE THRACIAN HERO. Simultaneously with Christianity's consolidation within the Thraco-Dacian zone, this celebration has been replaced with "Saint George's" ("Saint Gheorghe's"), a holiness whose iconography was apparently inspired by that of the "Thracian Knight". Though, in certain Christmas Carols, Saint Gheorghe and Jesus' names misteriously interchange, creating in this way a total discrepancy between the Carol's greeting verses and their supposedly singing time, respectively the Winter season:

"Along the Sun's river meadows
Grow white-bluish apple flowers.
It's God's flower garden essence,
Whitish flowers, apple flowers,
Apple essence, whitish flowers."

Or:

"...His black spurry little horse
Glistening like some raven,
Still his arrow-style cut bonnet,
Bent upon the eyes
Or his mighty spear,
Summer everlasting,
Evening flash of lightning..."

Anybody can see that nothing is mentioned within this so-called "Christmas Carol", which might suggest the Winter period. Yet, summertime appears to be explicitly recollected, as well as an extra quotation of "the Evening Flash of Lightning", namely what was the Thracian God Gebeleizis' symbol. Do you still have any doubts left about it? Within other Romanian Christmas Carol cycles, besides a personification of the Sun itself, the Sun's elder "sister", Salomina, shows up also. Nevertheless, the bride of the Hero coming back from hunting was named Ileana Daliana, or sometimes Lina Melina. We should remember here the Spring time for the Solar God's Celebration at the Thraco-Dacian tribes, just like its environmental background appears clearly pointed out along these "Christmas Carols" narrating, in fact, the time of Nature's rebirth and flourishing of "the apple whitish flowers".

And if within this mythological Romanian-Pelasgian, Thracian or Geta-Dacian puzzle, you choose to name it, we have been successful in discovering, together, our forgotten Faith in the Great God Gebeleizis, the Great Goddess Bendis or Histia, the Goddess of Flames and Fireplace, you still wouldn't have been told the essential unless we also mentioned a Great God of War's existence, namely ARES. The famous Black Sea-exiled Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.-17 A.D.) speaks in his writings about the "Geta individual" next door who was worshipping Ares (an equivalent to the Roman War God Marte), while another Roman, Vegetius, comes to proclaim, no more or less, that "the God Marte has been born from within Thracian Land". And, should we also pay respect to Jordanes' declarations, who was stating that "the Getae people have always adored Marte through an extremely savage cult, killing war prisoners as sacrifices dedicated to His glory...", why should WE wonder then how VLAD THE IMPALER, whom Americans love to call "DRACULA" through Bram Stoker's work of factual History distortion, used to punish the Turkish invaders on Romanian soil by "practicing" his gruesome, Middle Age habit on around 40,000 living prisoners daily?!... On the other hand, on the Roman Emperor Trajan's bas-relief sculpted Column in Rome is presented, probably, the most ancient Warrior God ever, looking grim and ferocious, constantly soliciting a great number of human sacrifices to His glorifying pleasure. Here also appears the barbarian scene of Roman war prisoners being tortured by... Dacian women!

At the South of Danube River, Thracian civilization living around the area used to celebrate as well DIONYSUS, the Grape-Vine Divinity, Patron of the well-known dizzying liquor, whose cult has again been taken over "en passant" by the Greeks who, by this time, were fair-spirited enough in reminding the World that, shortly before Dionysus' coming back home in Thracia, he had initiated himself on Phrygian mysteries at the insistences of His grandmother! Besides the grape-vine, the ivy counted as well among this God's favorite plants. Leaves of the latter, chewed by His extremely "hot" worshippers in combination with large wine quantities, were inducing within those not only drunkeness but even a temporary stage of madness, a mania. Thus, the fact that by far the Thracians' most popular celebration was dedicated precisely to THIS God shouldn't look so surprising. It was annually held in the Autumn, once the grape-vine harvest and grape squeezing were in full progress (some researchers argue, though, it might have taken place once every three years). The night when wine was finally boiling was actually the party's proper night, at the torches' light, and everyone would drink merrily, keeping the party on going this way well into dawn. Maybe this is why Thracians were widely said to be polygamous men. Herodotus, the Greek historian, describes each of them as supportively keeping several wives. Should a "Head of Household" have died, his surviving women were also to face an essential challenge, respectively one mostly beloved by the deceased had to be on the spot identified, so that the closest relative could strangle her in order to be buried along with the late husband. Yet, all other remaining women were simultaneously experiencing genuine pain and great shame not to have been selected as the chosen one (Herodotus-"Histories", fiftth volume, pages 5, .

Opposite to the Grape-Vine God's wanton celebration, lasting through centuries was the cult of THE THRACIAN PRIEST, a relevant symbol for the beautiful, future life's acceptation, which was to be dedicated as well to human beings as to all other creatures' welfare. Thus, "THE SPHYNX", a giant megalithical rock standing alone on the Bucegi Mountains' upper platform and having this peculiar shape, was representing, to all Geta people, no less than the so-called "NIGHT MASTER", an entity later acquired by the same ancient Greeks as ORPHEUS. On another hand, every ancient author has written that "the Orphical Mysteries" were indeed celebrated during night time. However, due to their esotherism, Geta-Thracian Religion's elevated concepts were only acquainted to the Great Priests surrounded by a few initiated elite members. The Greek and Roman writers couldn't have left too much information about it, while being totally denied access within the Zamolxian mysteries.

Now, let us return to the "Night Master's" credo, a highly civilizing belief in Music able to tame not only humans, but nevertheless animals, by either cooling down their violent impulses or just soothing the evil instincts inside. Strabon, the already mentioned reputed historian, was also familiar with the last detail on such Pelasgian Priests, or "Prophets", namely telling us that these ones were omniscient men, truly skilled upon the dreams, Oracle prophecies and Divine signs' interpretation, who used to live in specially carved Underground Sanctuaries (called "katagoian", or "kagoian"). Regarding Orpheus' origins themselves, several Greek and Roman legends state that he WAS too a Thracian, "Prince of the Kyconian people" (which makes a perfect ethnical correspondent to the "Kogoian" term). Orpheus' native fortress is said to be Dion, and thus his descent comes from the legendary "Kogoian", Zalmoxis' Sanctuary.

The so-called Dacian Riders were associated with a mystery religion of the Getae and the Dacians, peoples of Thracian stock who lived in ancient Dacia (roughly equivalent to modern-day Romania). The cult of the Dacian, or Danubian, Riders began to spread among Roman soldiers soon after 106 CE, when Dacia was conquered by Trajan and made a province of the Roman Empire. Traces of the cult have been found as far away as the Roman provinces of Gaul and Britain.

Numerous reliefs and gems depicting the Dacian Riders are extant. Of the 232 items catalogued by Dumitru Tudor (1969–1976), 60 were found in Dacia, 24 in Moesia Superior, 34 in Moesia Inferior, 47 in Pannonia Inferior, and 25 in Pannonia Superior. Most of the Dacian reliefs are made of marble.

Funerary-Thracian Rider Stelae, Histria

 Photo: Ioana Grosu, International Academy East, Troy, MI USA

  They were copied on a large scale in lead, a very expensive material whose use can be explained only by the magical purposes for which the images of the Dacian Riders were intended. Of the 90 lead copies extant, 44 were found in Pannonia Inferior.

Numerous reliefs and gems depicting the Dacian Riders are extant. Of the 232 items catalogued by Dumitru Tudor (1969–1976), 60 were found in Dacia, 24 in Moesia Superior, 34 in Moesia Inferior, 47 in Pannonia Inferior, and 25 in Pannonia Superior. Most of the Dacian reliefs are made of marble. They were copied on a large scale in lead, a very expensive material whose use can be explained only by the magical purposes for which the images of the Dacian Riders were intended. Of the 90 lead copies extant, 44 were found in Pannonia Inferior.

The most ancient reliefs show only one horseman, whose iconography was influenced by that of the Thracian Rider. Later monuments show two riders at either side of a goddess whose principal symbolic attribute is a fish. Of the 31 pieces belonging to the one-horseman type, 18 were found in Dacia. The two-horseman type belongs to the later period of this cult, which flourished in the third century CE and declined in the fourth.

Besides the two horsemen and the goddess with a fish, the iconography of the monuments includes prostrated characters, attendants, and various symbols, such as the sun, the moon, stars, and numerous animals (including the ram, dog, lion, eagle, peacock, raven, cock, snake, and sometimes even the bull). Scholarly identifications of the goddess are widely divergent. The two horsemen have been identified with the Dioscuri by some scholars and with the Cabiri brothers by others. The Greek iconography of the Dioscuri has had a particular impact on that of the Dacian Riders, but all these scholarly hypotheses are more or less fanciful.

It is likely that certain beliefs and practices, borrowed especially from Mithraism, were added to a local Dacian cult and that these borrowings changed the cult into a mystery religion. Although the myth of the Danubian Riders remains unknown, it is safe to state that it was based on some Dacian beliefs not shared by the Thracians south of the Danube. The two horsemen and the goddess were probably supposed to establish a link between three cosmic layers (heaven, earth, and underworld), as the partition of the reliefs into three registers seems to suggest.

Only three degrees of initiation were present in the mysteries of the Dacian Riders: Aries ("ram"), Miles ("soldier"), and Leo ("lion"). The first two were placed under the influence of the planet Mars, the last one under the influence of the sun. If we interpret the numerous animals depicted in the reliefs of the Danubian Riders as astrological entities, then we may surmise that the symbolism of this mystery religion was fairly complicated. Inscriptions are unusually scarce in number, short (especially those on gems), and indecipherable. Initiates in the mysteries identified their grade by badges and seals; for example, a gem of unknown provenance bears as its inscription the single word leon. In all probability, sacrifice of a ram played an important part in these mysteries.

See Also

Thracian Rider.

Bibliography

On the Dacian Riders, see the excellent work of Dumitru Tudor, Corpus monumentorum religionis equitum Danuvinorum, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1969–1976). Volume 1, The Monuments, translated by Eve Harris and John R. Harris, is a detailed catalog; volume 2, The Analysis and Interpretation of the Monuments, translated by Christopher Holme, is a thorough survey of scholarly theories concerning the mysteries.

New Sources

Alexandrescu, Petre. "L'oiseau unicorne, Introduction à l'iconologie thrace." Comptes rendues de l'Académie d'Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (1993): 725–745. As well as the Dacian Rider, the god with the unicorn bird was an important presence in the Getan pantheon.

"Heros Equitans." In Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), vol. 6, 1–2. Zürich and Munich, 1992, pp. 1019–1081. Various specialists examine the iconography of the heroic horseman, including full lists of the monuments and the related illustrations. See especially the chapter on "Les Cavaliers Danubiens," pp. 1078–1081, providing a reappraisal of the relevant religious-historical issues.

Sanie, Silvin. "Kulte und Glauben im römischen Süden der Moldau (Ostrumänien)." In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt I, vol. II, 18, 2. Berlin and New York, 1989, pp. 1272–1316. See especially pp. 1294–1296, dealing with the Dacian Rider and its mystery cult guaranteeing immortality.

Philosophy and Religion 

 Artemis Bendis, Thracian goddess of the hunt identified with Artemis by the Greeks, here recognizable by the Phrygian cap and the fawn-skin. Terracotta, ca. 350 BC, may come from Tanagra; Louvre Museum Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Sully wing, first floor, room 36 CA 159

By a decree of the oracle of Dodona, which required the Athenians to grant land for a shrine or temple her cult was introduced into Attica by immigrant Thracian residents,^[2] and, though Thracian and Athenian processions remained separate, both cult and festival became so popular that in Plato's time (ca. 429-13 BCE) its festivities were naturalized as an official ceremonial of the city-state, called the Bendideia.^[3] Among the events were nighttime torch-races on horseback, mentioned in Plato's Republic, 328:

"You haven't heard that there is to be a torchlight race this evening on horseback in honor of the Goddess?” “On horseback?” said I. “That is a new idea. Will they carry torches and pass them along to one another as they race with the horses, or how do you mean?” “That's the way of it,” said Polemarchus, “and, besides, there is to be a night festival which will be worth seeing."

The 'Bendideia' also featured a solemn joint procession of Athenians and Thracians to the Goddess's sanctuary, located at the harbor of Piraeus. A red-figure cup (skyphos) (at Tübingen University), of ca 440-430, seems to commemorate the arrival of the newly-authorized cult; it shows Themis (representing traditional Athenian customs) and a booted and cloaked Bendis, who wears a Thracian fox-skin cap.

Votive stele (British Museum)

A small marble votive stele of Bendis, ca. 350-325 BCE, found at Piraeus, (British Museum, illustration, left) shows the goddess and her worshippers in bas-relief. The image shows that the Thracian goddess has been strongly influenced by Athenian conceptions of Artemis: Bendis wears a short chiton like Artemis, but with an Asiatic snug-sleeved undergarment. She is wrapped in an animal skin like Artemis and has a spear, but has a hooded Thracian mantle, fastened with a brooch. She wears high boots. In the fourth century BCE terracotta figurine at the Louvre (illustration, right) she is similarly attired and once carried a (wooden?) spear.

Bendis in her Thracian cap approaches a seated Apollo. Red-figure bell-shaped krater by the Bendis Painter, ca. 380–370 BCE

Elsewhere in Greece, the cult of Bendis did not catch on.

"Just as in all other respects the Athenians continue to be hospitable to things foreign, so also in their worship of the gods; for they welcomed so many of the foreign rites that they were ridiculed for it by comic writers; and among these were the Thracian and Phrygian rites." --Strabo Geography (1st Century CE), 10.3.18.

The "Phrygian rites" Strabo mentioned referred to the cult of Cybele that was also welcomed to Athens in the 5th century.

The Athenians may have been blending the cult of Bendis with the equally Dionysiac Thracian revels of Kotys, mentioned by Aeschylus. Archaic female cult figures that are unearthed in Thrace or Bulgaria now are identified with Bendis.

Bendida Peak on Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica is named after the goddess.^[4]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Perseus Digital Library
• 
  

 Bendis, Βενδις

 BENDIS was the Thracian goddess of the moon and hunting who was worshipped with Bakkhic-like orgies in the wilds of Thrake.

The Greeks identified her with the goddesses Artemis, Hekate and Selene (the Moon). Bendis may have been the same as the Thrakian goddess Kotys.

Plato, Republic 327a, 328a & 354a (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Sokrates: I went down yesterday to the Peiraios (Piraeus) with Glaukon (Glaucon), the son of Ariston, to pay my devotions to the Goddess [Bendis], and also because I wished to see how they would conduct the festival since this was its inauguration. I thought the procession of the citizens very fine, but it was no better than the show, made by the marching of the Thrakian contingent [i.e. the mercenary force who policed ancient Athens]. After we had said our prayers and seen the spectacle we were starting for town . . .
‘Do you mean to say,’ interposed Adeimantus, ‘that you haven't heard that there is to be a torchlight race this evening on horseback in honor of the Goddess?’ ‘On horseback?’ said I. ‘That is a new idea. Will they carry torches and pass them along to one another as they race with the horses, or how do you mean?’ ‘That's the way of it,’ said Polemarkhos, ‘and, besides, there is to be a night festival which will be worth seeing. For after dinner we will get up and go out and see the sights and meet a lot of the lads there and have good talk . . . Let this complete your entertainment, Sokrates, at the festival of Bendis.’ ‘A feast furnished by you, Thrasymakhos,’ I said."

Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 16 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Also resembling these rites [the sacred rites of Rhea and Dionysos] are the Kotytian (Cotytian) and the Bendideian rites practiced among the Thrakians, among whom the Orphic rites had their beginning."

Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 18 :
"Just as in all other respects the Athenians continue to be hospitable to things foreign, so also in their worship of the gods; for they welcomed so many of the foreign rites that they were ridiculed therefore by comic writers; and among these were the Thrakian and Phrygian rites. For instance, the Bendideian rites are mentioned by Plato."

Suidas s.v. Anoubeidion (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Anoubeidion (Anubis-temple): A particular place. But Bendis-temple (Bendideion)."

K45.2 BENDIS, APOLLON & HERMES

Museum Collection: Musem of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Museum Catalogue Number: Boston 1983.553
Beazley Archive Number: N/A
Ware: Apulian Red Figure
Shape: Krater, bell
Painter: Name vase of the Bendis Painter
Date: ca 370 - 360 BC
Period: Late Classical

SUMMARY

The Thracian goddess Bendis, dressed in a northern body suit, and wielding a hunting spear, is greeted by the gods Apollon and Hermes. Apollon is seated on a rock, wearing a quiver, and holding in one hand a laurel branch, and the other a hare, which he offers to the goddess. Hermes wears a petasos (traveller's cap) and leans on his caduceus wand.

Sources:

• Plato, The Republic - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C.
• Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
• Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Proclus Platonic Theology 353; Hesychius s.v. Bendis; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities 30.45

ISTORIE. De aproape un secol, partizanii teoriei monoteiste se înfruntă cu cei ai teoriei politeiste

http://www.romanialibera.ro/cultura/aldine/cati-zei-aveau-dacii-articol-integral-262890.html 

Câţi zei aveau dacii?  4 Mai 2012

de CLAUDIU PADUREAN

Religia dacilor este un subiect extrem de delicat, din cauza puţinătăţii informaţiilor pe această temă.Un interes imens a apărut în ultimii ani în legătură cu istoria dacilor. Iar acest interes a oferit o tribună de exprimare pentru multe persoane neavizate. Astfel că au apărut teorii care mai de care mai abracadabrante. O serie de lucrări mai puţin cunoscute au fost scuturate de praful arhivelor şi sunt folosite pe post de argumente în disputa publică. Nu contează faptul că multe dintre aceste scrieri sunt depăşite din punct de vedere al ştiinţei istorice. Mai mult, nu contează faptul că multe dintre ele nu au avut niciodată o bază ştiinţifică reală. Argumentele utilizate acum o sută de ani sunt remestecate şi citate din nou. Cărţi referitoare la Dacia preistorică, precum cea semnată de Nicolae Densuşianu, ori la regatul dacilor, precum lucrările lui Vasile Pârvan, au fost reeditate sau circulă pe Internet. Unele teorii despre care cei mai mulţi istorici cred că sunt greşite au fost extrase din aceste lucrări, au fost îmbogăţite pe măsura imaginaţiei unor autori de literatură istorică de tip samizdat, iar acum alimentează o sumedenie de teorii conspiraţioniste.

Printre acestea se numără şi cele lansate de fostul securist Pavel Coruţ, care susţine că dacii ar fi urmaşii extratereştrilor. Alte teorii susţin că dacii ar fi fost strămoşii întregii omeniri. În acest context, a fost lansată şi faptul că, de fapt, limba romanilor, adică limba latină, nu ar fi fost decât un dialect al limbii dacilor, în ciuda dovezilor ştiinţifice care arată faptul că ele făceau parte din grupuri diferite ale limbilor indo-europene.

Monoteism vs. politeism

Religia dacilor stârneşte dispute la fel de vii. În principal, există două mari curente. Unul dintre acestea susţine că, de fapt, dacii ar fi avut o religie monoteistă, iar unicul lor zeu ar fi fost cunoscut sub mai multe nume, printre care Zamolxis şi Gebeleizis. Această teorie este bazată pe un pasaj din Herodot care se referă la credinţa dacilor în nemurire şi care spune: „Iată în ce fel se socot ei nemuritori: credinţa lor este că ei nu mor, ci că cel care piere se duce la Zamolxis - divinitatea lor -, pe care unii îl cred acelaşi cu Gebeleisis. Tot în al cincilea an aruncă sorţii, şi întotdeauna pe acel dintre ei pe care cade sorţul îl trimit ca solie la Zamolxis, încredinţându-i de fiecare dată toate nevoile lor. Trimiterea solului se face astfel: câţiva dintre ei, aşezându-se la rând, ţin cu vârful în sus trei suliţe, iar alţii, apucându-l de mâini şi de picioare pe cel trimis la Zamolxis, îl leagănă de câteva ori şi apoi, făcându-i vânt, îl aruncă peste vârfurile suliţelor. Dacă, în cădere, omul moare străpuns, rămân încredinţaţi că zeul le este binevoitor; dacă nu moare, atunci îl învinuiesc pe sol, hulindu-l că este un om rău; după ce aruncă vina pe el, trimit după un altul. Tot ce au de cerut îi spun solului cât mai e în viaţă. Când tună şi fulgeră, tracii despre care este vorba trag cu săgeţile în sus, spre cer, şi îşi ameninţă zeul, căci ei nu recunosc vreun alt zeu afară de al lor".

Partizanii teoriei monoteiste ridică acest text la rangul de adevăr absolut, cu toate că Herodot spune limpede doar că unii dintre contemporanii săi credeau că cele două divinităţi ar fi unul şi acelaşi zeu. Însă aceste „amănunte" nu contează atunci când este vorba de pasiune.

Evreii lui Decebal

Aceste teorii nu sunt tocmai o noutate. În secolul al XIX-lea, prin mediile intelectuale evreieşti din Transilvania circula o altă ipoteză, care spunea că monoteismul presupus al dacilor ar fi fost influenţat de evrei. Aceştia ar fi ajuns în Transilvania după distrugerea Ierusalimului de către romani. Evreii l-ar fi ajutat pe regale Decebal să fortifice zona Sarmisegetuzei Regia şi să lupte împotriva Imperiului Roman. Evident, această teorie era o simplă poveste romantică, fără baze reale, însă, în acea epocă în care curgeau râuri de cerneală în efortul de a demonstra „cine au fost primii în Ardeal", povestea evreilor lui Decebal avea rolul de a arăta anterioritatea evreilor în această provincie.

O altă teorie din categoria celor monoteiste face o paralelă cu creştinismul. Ea porneşte de la faptul că dacii făceau parte din marea familie a popoarelor indo-europene. În mitologia arienilor din India apare Krishna. Această teorie afirmă că, de fapt, Krishna ar fi fost... un dac din Crişana, care ar fi fost zeificat de către indo-europenii care ar fi „roit" din Carpaţi către Valea Indusului. Krishna ar fi fost, de fapt, un conducător al dacilor care au cucerit toate teritoriile până în India de azi. Iar Krishna ar fi fost un avatar al lui Zamolxis. Numele de creştinism ar deriva tot de la dacul Krishna, mai spune această teorie.

Modelul politeist

În ciuda tuturor teoriilor monoteiste, de la cele ale unor savanţi precum Vasile Pârvan până la cele abracadabrante cu extratereştrii, există o opinie majoritară, referitoare la politeismul dacilor. Această teorie se bazează pe mai multe denumiri de zeităţi, identificate ca atare în scrierile anticilor.

Acest model politeist ne arată că în Panteonul dacilor exista un zeu, Gebeleizis, care era zeul Soarelui, precum şi zeiţa Bendis, care era zeiţa Lunii şi a fertilităţii. De asemenea, ar fi fost zeificat şi Zamolxis, care, de fapt, ar fi venit pe pământ pentru a-i învăţa pe daci secretul nemuririi.

Unii istorici au scris că, de fapt, acest zeu al dacilor ar fi fost un sclav al lui Pitagora care ar fi deprins tainele magiei în Egipt. Zamolxis s-ar fi ascuns într-o peşteră, unde a trăit trei ani, iar când a revenit la lumină, dacii ar fi crezut că a înviat. Astfel, dacii au învăţat să nu se mai teamă de moarte. Bineînţeles, şi aceste scrieri antice trebuie privite cu discernământ, pentru că multe dintre ele amestecă realităţi cu fabulaţii.

Unii dintre adepţii teoriei politeiste mai amintesc şi de numele lui Derzelas, care ar fi fost zeul sănătăţii. În opinia celor mai mulţi istorici, este normal ca dacii să fi avut o religie politeistă, ca toate celelalte popoare indo-europene. Însă informaţiile exacte legate de religia dacilor sunt foarte puţine.

Muntele sfânt

Un lucru interesant este legat de faptul că dacii aveau un Munte Sfânt, Kogaion, unde credeau că trăiesc zeii, întocmai cum grecii credeau că zeii lor trăiesc pe Muntele Olimp. Astfel de munţi sacri sunt întâlniţi în multe dintre mitologiile popoarelor antice. Au fost propuse zeci de localizări pentru muntele sfânt al dacilor. Unii au considerat că acesta ar fi Ceahlăul. Alţii au propus munţii din jurul Grădiştei Muncelului de azi, care era odinioară Sarmisegetuza Regia. Însă nu există un consens în această privinţă.

Un înalt cod moral

Religia dacilor cuprindea şi numeroase imperative etice. Astfel, regele Burebista a fost asistat de marele preot, Deceneu, atunci când a decis să schimbe modul de viaţă al supuşilor săi. Regele dac a interzis excesul de vin pe care îl făceau dacii, relatează scriitorii antici. Promovarea unui sistem care punea accentul pe abstinenţă şi pe forţa spirituală a coincis şi cu ascensiunea regatului dac. Şi asta pentru că acest cod etic, care transpare din relatările antice, promova, probabil, nişte valori ale păturii militare a societăţii, asemănătoare cu principiile cavalerismului din Evul Mediu de mai târziu. Unii dintre istoricii Antichităţii spun că este posibil ca, în acea perioadă, să se fi produs şi o revoluţie spirituală, bazată pe cultul lui Zamolxis, care a căpătat o amploare tot mai mare. Astfel că sistemul de credinţe „uranice", bazat pe zeităţi ale Cerului, a luat tot mai mult locul unui sistem „chtonian", bazat pe credinţe legate de practicile agricole.

O teorie lansată de istoricii clujeni lansează o nouă temă de dezbatere. Erau dacii antropofagi? Unii cred că dacii ar fi practicat o formă rituală de canibalism. Alţii resping cu vehemenţă această teorie.

Interpretări diferite

Deocamdată, nimeni nu a putut demonstra într-o manieră de necontestat vreuna dintre teoriile legate de religia dacilor. Motivul este legat de faptul că există foarte puţine înscrisuri despre aceste aspecte. Puţinii autori antici care au făcut referire la sistemul de credinţe, la religia dacilor au lăsat fragmente de o întindere modestă. De la daci nu există urme scrise în acest domeniu. Aşa că interpretările puţinelor dovezi care au răzbătut prin milenii sunt bazate pe similarităţi cu alte sisteme de credinţe ale unor popoare indo-europene, ale căror mentalităţi şi religii sunt mai bine cunoscute, datorită faptului că există urme documentare mai bogate. Însă, dincolo de aceste discuţii, rămân câteva certitudini. Dacii au fost un popor care stăpânea certe cunoştinţe ştiinţifice, inclusiv în domeniul medicinei, dar care au construit şi cel mai complex sistem de fortificaţii din Europa situată în afara lumii greco-romane. Este vorba de cel de la Sarmisegetuza. O altă certitudine este aceea că au reuşit să dezvolte o metalurgie bogată. Din Dacia provine cel de-al doilea mare depozit de obiecte de fier, după cel de la Bologna, din Italia. În fine, indiferent că erau monoteişti ori politeişti, dacii nu erau deloc un popor înapoiat, ci unul viguros, care a reuşit să ţină piept vreme îndelungată uneia dintre superputerile vremii, Imperiul Roman.

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Amphipolis

Amphipolis was about 32 miles west of Philippi and 3 miles from the Aegean Sea on the Via Egnatia. Its name, meaning "around the city" (from amphi, "around," and polis, "city"), is derived from the fact that Strymon (Strimón) River curved around the site on which it was built.

Originally a Thracian town called Ennea Hodoi ("Nine Roads"), it was colonized by Athens in 437 BC. A Spartan named Brasidas seized it in 424 BC and defeated the Athenian Cleon, who tried to recapture it in 422 BC. It was officially returned to Athens in 421 BC but actually remained independent, despite Athenian attempts to regain control.

Philip II of Macedonia occupied it in 357 BC, and it remained under Macedonian control until 168 BC, when Rome made it a free city and the prosperous capital of the first district of Macedonia. A strategic transportation center, it controlled the route from northern Greece to the Hellespont to the east, including the western approach to the timber, gold, and silver of Mount Pangaion in Thrace.

Excavations have revealed traces of the ancient walls, Roman aqueduct and gymnasium (below).

Outside the ancient city, immediately west of the bridge over the Srymon River, is a 4th century burial monument known as the "Lion of Amphipolis" (below).

The site of the ancient city is now occupied by the modern Greek town of Amfípoli.