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 entity_class to filter by kind (19 controlled values: deity, angel, demon, aeon, sefirah, spirit, monster, hero, etc.). category is free text (1,148 values) and is not a reliable filter. Use tradition to filter by tradition. The short_note column contains a scholarly description with source citations.

Data license: MIT · Data source: jebboone/deitydb

This data as json

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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