Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis
- Alan H. Griffiths
Extract
According to *Herodotus(1) (4. 94–6), a god of the *Getae in Thrace (‘also called Gebeleizis’) who promised immortality to his devotees; the tribe communicated with him by despatching a messenger-victim every four years. Also offered is an alternative, euhemeristic version (cf. euhemerus) in which Zalmoxis was a charlatan who imported ideas picked up from *Pythagoras (1), whose slave he had been, and faked a ‘resurrection’ by reappearing from a hidden underground chamber after three years.Subjects
- Greek Myth and Religion
