entities: ENT_THRA_ZALMOXIS

The core table — every entity in the database, spanning gods, angels, demons, aeons, prophets, saints, heroes, spirits, monsters, personified abstractions, cosmological realms, and ritual categories. Use category to filter by functional type (146 values: Underworld Deity, Hero, Adversarial Being, Revealer Figure, etc.). Use tradition to filter by tradition. The short_note column contains a scholarly description with source citations.

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entity_id canonical_name greek_name tradition entity_type category primary_domains tags cult_scope primary_period evidence_confidence review_status inclusion_basis earth_association_score chthonic_flag serpent_flag short_note entity_class
ENT_THRA_ZALMOXIS Zalmoxis   Thracian deity / deified revealer figure Mystery Figure immortality; afterlife; mystery initiation; soul doctrine; the Getae       A           Deity (or deified human) of the Getae, a Thracian people north of the Danube; also spelled Zamolxis, Salmoxis. Primary source: Herodotus 4.94-96 (c. 430 BCE). Herodotus reports that the Getae "claim immortality" — they believe they do not die but go to Zalmoxis. Every four years they send a messenger to the deity by throwing a man onto spears to communicate their needs. Herodotus also records the Greek rationalist tradition: Zalmoxis was a Thracian who had been a slave of Pythagoras, learned Greek customs, built a hall to entertain notables, then disappeared underground for three years before re-emerging, convincing people he had visited the realm of the dead. Herodotus is sceptical of this story and notes it may predate Pythagoras. Plato (Charmides 156d-157c) cites a Thracian physician of Zalmoxis who teaches that soul must be healed before body — presenting Zalmoxis as a teacher of holistic soul-doctrine. Eliade (1970) treats him as a shaman-king type; Burkert notes structural parallels with Orphic mystery traditions. Archibald (1998) pp. 299-301. deity

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