Chapter 3: Religion and Cults in the Dacian World

The Dacian religion is one of the most controversial aspects of  Dacian history. From the first mention of  Dacian religion by Herodotus it has been the target of different theories and argumetns that give only a partial knowledge of it. What do we know for sure? We know the supreme god was Zamolxis, we know about the controversial Gebeleisis and of course Bendis   (the one who supposedly betrayed Decebalus and sold out the great dacian gold treasure to the Romans) had some believers too.

The Dacian priests are known under the names of ktistai (the founders of nations), kapnobatai(the ones who are walking between the clouds) or polistai (the founders of cities) . Personally, I think, these were chaste designations. I incline to believe the three groups were what we call today physicians, architects, mathematicians, astrologers and so on...

There seem to be a lot of unanswered questions regarding the dacian cult, like, what was the exact role of the priest in the dacian religion how did they make use of their sanctuaries or even if their religion was polytheistic or monotheistic and where exactly did the druids fit in? 

I can't imagine why these questions haven't yet found a reply, perhaps it is the laking funds preventing the archaeologists to digging further. But these presumptions don't do anybody any good, so let's carry on...

        (A sculpture of Decebalus along the Danube)

Here are some nice versions I have been told:

The father of history, Herodotus, is clearly saying that Zamolxis was a man. The latest theory argues that Zamolxis lived around 1300 BC. Why was he made a god? Because of the revolution that he gave birth to in religion, morals and science. The Dacians have seen in him probably the model of a complex man and they admired him until he became a god in their eyes. Some have argued that he was a slave of Pythagoras. This isn’t very probable though since Socrates mentions that Zamolxis helped Pythagoras to get rid of the tyranny of Policrate. It is almost impossible that a simple slave could do a thing that Pythagoras couldn’t do. In any case, after he went into Egypt he turned back on his native lands becoming for the first time a priest of the most important god of the Dacians and then with the help of the greatest Dacian king of those times he was considered a god.  

(This is the cave where  Zamolxis supposedly used to disappear off to for months)

If we consider also Gebeleizis - god of the sky and the rain, Bendis – goddess of the moon and of the night worshipped by females and Derzelas – the god of the vital energy, we can say that the Dacian religion was probably polytheistic. The strange thing is that Socrates says that when Zamolxis came from Egypt he became the priest of the most important Dacian god. There are documents from which, we can assume that the Dacians have a god and his name was forbidden. Why is that? Maybe that god is very close to the one that we have today but it is hard to say... 

(Zamolxis Symbol - aka The Eye of Zamolxis - The Uranian Sun)

Now is it just me or is the coincidence in Zamolxis studying abroad in Egypt, him having a 

Sun related Symbol, calling it the ''Eye of..'' striking?