Dacian Religion

The Dacians were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, a region near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often considered a subgroup of the Thracians. Dacians and the related Getae spoke the Dacian language, which may be related the neighbouring Thracian language and a subgroup of it. Dacians derived some cultural influences neighbouring Scythians and Celtic invaders of the 4th century BCE. Mircea Eliade attempted, in his book From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan, to provide a mythological foundation for an alleged special relationship between the Dacians and wolves. To become formidable warriors, the Dacians would ritually imitate the behavior of a wolf while wearing wolf skins. Artifacts supporting wolves as a cult or as totems have been found dating back to the Neolithic period, including wolf statues and rudimentary figurines of dancers wearing wolf masks. The items could indicate warrior initiation rites, or seasonal ceremonies in which young people wore wolf masks. An extensive account of the native tribes of Dacia is found in the ninth tabula of Europe of Ptolemy's Geography. Twelve of fifteen tribes listed by Ptolemy are ethnic Dacians and three are Celtic. The impact of the Roman conquest on the Dacians is uncertain. A substantial number may have survived, but probably became outnumbered by Romanised immigrants. Roman Dacia was evacuated by the Romans under emperor Aurelian due to counter-pressures on the Empire there caused by the Carpi, Visigoths, Sarmatians, and Vandals. Lines of defence needed to be shortened, and Dacia was considered indefensible. Dacian religion was considered by classic sources as the principal source of authority in a theocratic state led by priest-kings. The layout of the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa, however, indicates the possibility of co-rulership by a separate high king and priesthood. The chief priest held a prominent position as representative of the supreme deity, Zalmoxis, who is also called Gebeleizis. Besides Zalmoxis, the Dacians believed in many other deities such as Gebeleizis, the god of storm and lightning, and possibly related to the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos. He was represented as a handsome man, sometimes with a beard. Gebeleizis has been equated with Zalmoxis, and Herodotus wrote that they are the same god. Another important deity was Bendis, goddess of the moon and the hunt. A decree of the oracle of Dodona which required the Athenians to grant land for a shrine or temple reveals that her cult was introduced into Attica by immigrant Thracian residents. Although Thracian and Athenian processions honoring Bendis remained separate, both her cult and her festival became so popular that in Plato's era these festivities became an official Athenian ceremony, the Bendideia. The god Gebeleizis, wielder of lightning and thunderbolts, is probably cognate to the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos. Derzelas (also Darzalas) was an underworld god of health and human vitality. Paganism survived longer in Dacia than it did in other parts of the Roman Empire. Christianity did not begin to flourish in Dacia until the fifth century.