Zalmoxis

Not all the ancient sources consider that Zalmoxis was a god.

Their principal religion was the cult of Zalmoxis; when people died, they went to him.

It is difficult to define the time when a cult to Zalmoxis may have existed.

He explained the name as "a play on the two names antimachus and zalmoxis".

The fourth year, he came back amongst them and thus they believed what Zalmoxis had told them.

There are different theories about the disappearance and return of Zalmoxis:

Later Gebeleizis was equated with Zalmoxis as the same god.

Here, the mythical figure Zalmoxis resided in a cave.

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

The feature is named after the mythical Thracian king and deity Zalmoxis.

Herodotus writes about Zalmoxis in book 4 of his Histories:

The Thracian princes identified him with their god Zalmoxis, considering his ancestor.

According to some authors, ancient sources do not present any other god of Getae-Dacians than Zalmoxis.

Others consider it henotheistic, that is, Zalmoxis would have been the supreme god at whose side exist minor divinities closely associated with him.

On the Aleksandrovo kurgan fresco, it is probably wielded by Zalmoxis.

Another discussion exists about the chthonic, infernal, or uranian, heavenly, character of Zalmoxis.

Who was Zalmoxis?

To send messages to Zalmoxis, they would throw a privileged messenger up in the air and let him fall, to be impaled on upturned spears.

Their chief priest held a prominent position as the representative of the supreme deity, Zalmoxis, who is called also Gebeleizis by some among them.

This relates to their supreme god Zalmoxis who was a sky god (cf. also Tomaschek).

As stated earlier, the principal god of the Getae was Zalmoxis whom they sometimes called Gebeleizis.

For the Dacian god, see Zalmoxis.

Notably, Eliade was also preoccupied with the cult of Zalmoxis and its supposed monotheism.

In Plato's writings, Zalmoxis is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation.

Deceneus, the predecessor of Zalmoxis in the distant past (Getica V 39).