ORPHEUS 23-24 (2016-2017)

THE GETIC MESSENGERS TO ZALMOXIS,

THE FAITH IN IMMORTALITY
AND THE DEATH OF THE WIDOWS
Dobriela Kotova

The paper turns again to the well-known and extensively commented nar-
rative by Herodotus about the faith of the Getae in their immortality, about the
anthropodaimon Zalmoxis and about the periodic dispatching of a messenger to
him. Attention is focused on the link between that evidence and the information
in Herodotus about the killing of the beloved widow over the grave of the deceased
husband among the Thracians who dwelled above the Crestonaeans, as well as with
the statement by Stephanus Byzantius about a similar practice among the Getae. The
evidence is analysed in the light of the universal historical phenomenon of following
into death when someone is killed so as to follow someone else in the World Beyond.
The analysis gives grounds to believe that traces of the ritual known as following into
death in its institutional form are concealed behind the intricate story about the god/
man Zalmoxis, his cult among the Getae and their beliefs. Among the Getae it was of
a markedly religious character, based on the strong faith in the supernatural/divine
existence of the dead in the World Beyond, in their influence on and direct interfer-
ence in the course of life in this world and a clearly manifested cult of the ancestors.

A ncient authors ascribe two extraordinary customs to the Getae.

Extraordinary – because ritual taking of human life, either as a
sacrifice or as accompanying of the deceased in the World Beyond – has al-
ways been an occurrence of exceptional character everywhere in the world.
The reference was to the periodic dispatching of a messenger to Zalmoxis,
about which Herodotus writes, as well as the hacking of the widow to death
upon the demise of her husband, which is reported in the Lexicon of Stepha-
nus Byzantius. It is difficult to determine whether the information provided
by the lexicographer was due to erroneous reading of the famous narrative
by Herodotus about the killing of the beloved widow over the grave of the
deceased husband among the Thracians “who dwell above the Crestonaeans”
(Hdt. 5.5), or based on other sources attesting the existence of such a custom

58
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 59

among the Getae. At any rate, the faith of the Getae in immortality1 and in the
continuation of life in the World Beyond, known in the Antiquity, makes both
practices possible, which – in my opinion – can be examined as a variant of
the ritual phenomenon following into death (Totenfolge) (Fisch 1998: 2005).2
Herodotus knew and narrated about numerous Thracian tribes, but he
seems to have been particularly impressed by the Getae, οἱ ἀθανατίζοντες,
“who believed and claimed that for them there was no death” (Hdt. 4. 93-94;
5. 4).3 Their deathlessness was manifested as follows: “they believed that they
would never die and that the deceased went to the deity Zalmoxis, or Gebel-
eisis, as some of them called him”. Once every four years they sent a messen-
ger to him with their wishes and needs by throwing him up into the air and
leaving him to fall on three spears pointing upwards. If the messenger died,
that was interpreted as a sign of the benevolence of Zalmoxis. “If he remained
alive, they blamed the messenger himself, considering him a bad man, and
sent another messenger in his place” (Hdt. 4. 93-94). However, Zalmoxis was
a deity that was very strange and alien to the Greeks and their religious no-
tions, and they tried to find a rational explanation of the faith of the Getae
in him. According to narratives of colonists from the Hellespontus and the
Pontus, heard by Herodotus, Zalmoxis was a man who was once slave of Py-
thagoras, who surrounded himself with a select society of Getic dignitaries.
He received them in a special hall and while he offered them a feast, he taught
that neither he, nor his table companions and their descendants, would ever
die, but that they would go to a place where they would live eternally and
would possess all goods. He “died” by hiding in an underground abode that
had been built in advance, while the Thracians suffered because of his death
and mourned him. He reappeared four years later and the Getae, being naive,
definitely believed in what he preached (Hdt. 4. 95). Herodotus himself be-
lieved that Zalmoxis lived long before Pythagoras, but noted specifically that

1 See the evidence summarised in Sharankov 2006.

2 The concept Totenfolge (“following into death”) was introduced and defined by Jörg Fisch.
On the basis of systematisation and analysis of an enormous historical material from
different parts of the world he defines the ancient ritual, widespread all over the world,
in which one or more people, voluntarily or by force, follow other people in death as a
universal historical phenomenon.
3 The meaning of the verb ἀθανατίζω used by Herodotus has been the object of discussions
for a long time. The last study in Bulgarian literature is by Nikolay Sharankov (Sharankov
2006), who has come to the conclusion that the expression Γέται οἱ ἀθανατίζοντες
cannot be understood in any other way except as “the Getae who believed/claimed that
they were immortal” and does not give grounds to postulate practices of “immortalisation”
among the Getae, because the verb does not mean “immortalise.”
60 Dobriela Kotova

he narrated faithfully the different versions around his figure, without feeling
obliged to believe them. Therefore, he also left aside the question whether
Zalmoxis was a man or a local deity of the Getae (Hdt. 4. 96).
The same faith in the continuation of life after death served as the basis
for the special ritual of the Thracians dwelling above the Crestonaeans, which
produced a no lesser impression upon Herodotus. They secured the company
of the beloved wife to their eminent deceased in the World Beyond.
“Those who dwell above the Crestonaeans have yet other practices. Each
man has many wives, and at his death there is both great rivalry among his
wives and eager contention on their friends’ part to prove which wife was best
loved by her husband. She to whom the honour is adjudged is praised by men
and women alike and then slain over the tomb by her nearest of kin. After the
slaying she is buried with the husband. The rest of the wives are greatly dis-
pleased by this, believing themselves to be deeply dishonoured” (Hdt. 5. 5).4
The Roman author Pomponius Mela attributes that rite to the Thracians
in general. He writes:
“Not even in the case of women does the mind shirk its duty. They con-
sider it the greatest obligation to be killed over the corpses of their dead and
to be buried along with them. Because individual men have several wives at
once, their wives compete in a great contest to be the one to have this hon-
our, and they compete before those who will make the decision. It suits their
mores and is a special source of joy when there is struggle to be supreme in
this contest. Other women raise the lament with their keening and raise their
voices in the most bitter lamentations. But those who have a mind to console
them bring their weapons and wealth to the funeral pyre, and these same
individuals are prepared, as they say over and over again, either to bargain
with or to fight with the destiny of the dead man in case it is up to them; when
there is no room for fighting or money <…>” (Mela 2. 19-20).5
According to the evidence of Stephanus Byzantius, the Getae also prac-
ticed such a rite. They also “had the custom of killing the wife upon the hus-
band’s death” (St. Byz. s. v. Γετία).
While the value of the evidence of Herodotus about the religion of the
Getae has never been disputed, the credibility of his words about voluntary
death and about the killing of the widows by the neighbours of the Cres-
tonaeans evokes doubts (Heckel-Yardley 1981: 310, n. 42; Fisch 1998: 51-2;
Атанасов, Неделчев 2002: 554). Actually, in my opinion, the two narratives

4 Transl. A. D. Goodley (1920).

5 Transl. F. E. Romer (1998).
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 61

are mutually supportive, if analysed together. Herodotus himself places the

religious practices and beliefs of the Getae, of the people living above the
Crestonaeans and of the Trausi in one group and distinguished them from the
remaining Thracian tribes (Hdt. 5. 4-5). The Trausi mourned the newborn
infant on account of the torment that life had in store for it, and celebrated
when someone died because they were convinced that he was freed from all
his troubles and was already in a state of total bliss. And although Herodotus
did not derive explicitly the characteristic according to which he united them,
it becomes clear to the reader that it was precisely the special attitude of those
people to death and their faith in life after it predetermined also the strange-
ness of their customs.
The strong faith that life continues after death is a decisive prerequi-
site, which – under certain circumstances and in concrete situations – made
possible the emergence of the ritual following into death (Totenfolge).6 It ap-
peared as a universal historical phenomenon at different historical moments
in different societies and cultures worldwide, and consisted in the fact that
on the occasion of someone’s death another person or other people followed
the deceased voluntarily or coercively in a public and ritualised act. The de-
termining feature in that case is not the act of suicide or killing of a human
individual, but the emphasis placed on the accompanying of the deceased
person to the World Beyond and the public character of the rite. Following
into death is a worldwide phenomenon, but it has always had a limited and
extraordinary character, and the circle of the persons privileged to be accom-
panied in the World Beyond is extremely narrow.
Irrespective of how many traces of the rite archaeology finds and how
ancient they are, its historical origin remains hidden everywhere. The sources
register it as an already built institution. It cannot be explained as a universal
anthropological value that emerged invariably at a certain stage of the evo-
lution of societies, being generated by concrete situations. Two conditions
make its existence possible.
Following into death unites material aspects here with deeply religious
elements beyond – its function being to transfer the structure of social rela-
tions here to the World Beyond. This presupposes a special type of faith in
the World Beyond: the existence in that World Beyond is presented as con-
tinuation of the world here, whereby public order remains unchanged. Rec-
ognising the possibility of a rise in the affluence status in the World Beyond

6 The subsequent explanations are based on the theoretical arguments of Fisch (Fisch 1998:
especially 16-29).
62 Dobriela Kotova

for persons accompanying the noble deceased person creates additional mo-
tivation for performing the rite.
This notion of analogous organisation of life beyond is associated with
the second necessary prerequisite for the existence of the practice of “fol-
lowing into death”: relatively developed structures of public inequality. Only
certain individuals have the privilege of being followed in death, while others
have the obligation in principle to accompany.
Two forms of following into death are clearly distinguished: individual
and institutional. The first is based on social inequality on the grounds of nat-
ural differences according to race, kinship and age group, but above all based
on gender. The sacrifice or killing of widows is the most frequent practice of
individual following into death, the most frequent practice being the burning
of the widows in India.
The institutional form was a reflection of social inequality based on so-
cial stratification. Criteria connected with belonging to the higher strata of the
social hierarchy were decisive. The choice of who had the right to accompany
the deceased in the World Beyond and who had that obligation was determined
on the grounds of their position in society. The establishing of the social limits
of the privileges and the obligation resulted from struggles for power and in-
fluence. The ruler was most privileged, but the members of his family, of the
aristocracy and of the warrior class were also entitled to such privileges. The
demonstration of the high social position of the deceased was of determining
importance in the institutional following into death. The accompanying persons
usually came from the low social strata, sometimes they were even hostages or
slaves specially bought for the purpose. There are cases when after the death of
a ruler the aristocratic circles around him had to elect the accompanying person
from among themselves – in spite of their own privilege of being followed in
death. Close personal relations were not at all excluded. Male rulers were almost
always accompanied by their wives or concubines. Cases of mass “taking” of
strangers, accidental individuals and even enemies as companions in the jour-
ney to the World Beyond can be considered to be a late phenomenon, whereas
in the beginning there was always a personal connection between the two.
The ritual emerged as purely institutional, the individual form was de-
veloped subsequently. The aspirations at first were for concentration of the
political power in the hands of individuals, dynasties or groups. Together with
the respective notions about the World Beyond, it proved to be a convenient
means for establishing and demonstrating relations of subordination, where-
by in most cases the benevolence of the deceased was placed in dependence
on the performing of the ritual.
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 63

Traces of that type of ritual, built upon the social and political status
of the persons involved in it, can be found all over the world. It existed in an
exceptionally developed form in Western Africa, where the members of the
ruling class usurped the right to be followed in the World Beyond not only
by a wide range of relatives and close associates (ministers, servants, slaves,
wives and concubines), sometimes even by hundreds of hostages, prisoners
and even random strangers in the streets. Archaeological finds of mass burials
attest the ritual and its institutional aspect since the remotest antiquity in dif-
ferent places: in Egypt, the Middle East (especially Sumer), Central Asia, and
among the Scythians in Eastern Europe. Isolated reports by ancient authors
can be interpreted as evidence of such practices in the rest of Europe as well.
The ritual was both the result and a factor of certain structures of social
inequality. In both its forms it served to consolidate the existing social order.
However, the mechanisms of integration of the divided countries at the same
time were also important. In the individual form the widow was at the centre
of the ceremony, with all the heroism of her act through which she rose in sta-
tus (sometimes divine), much higher than any social position that had been
possible for her in her lifetime. Often her place in the social memory was
much higher than the place of most representatives of privileged groups. In
this sense the triumph of the Thracian widows becomes clear: they came out
victorious in the dispute, being hailed by both men and women on account of
the high honour that they received for eternity and for the exclusive position
that they secured for themselves in eternal life. However, the attaining of that
glorious status was granted to a woman only after her voluntary death, which
symbolically – and at the same time very really and categorically – confirmed
the inequality between men and women, and stabilised the established sys-
tem. With the institutional form the emphasis is on the link between this
world and the World Beyond, and very frequently the well-being of the entire
community is placed in dependence on the performing of the ritual. The de-
ceased person – especially when he was a ruler – was credited with the will
and with the force to influence the present. All proved to be interested in the
strict observance of the ritual.
The ritual practice of following into death is commented in connection
with the theme of human sacrifices and it is identified with them not infre-
quently.7 Many external features indeed bring the two phenomena close to

7 Concerning the discussion on the issue, cf. Henninger 1987; Steuer 2007. In connection
with the ritual of killing the favourite widow among the Thracians, cf. Janakieva 2005:
153-157.
64 Dobriela Kotova

one another. Not every ritual killing of a human creature is human sacrificial
offering dedicated to some supernatural force, performed in exceptional cir-
cumstances when a very significant response by the deity is expected. The
ritual acts in the case of following into death were performed on the occasion
of the death of a person. No response is anticipated, the aim being to secure
the necessary accompanying of the deceased to which he is entitled, which in
turn subsequently guarantees that the same will be received.
The following into death could also acquire elements of human sacri-
fice in the cases when the potential of influencing events in this world was
attributed to the deceased kings and they were subsequently conferred di-
vine status. The companions sent to them additionally in the course of big
commemoration festivities on their graves and mausoleums guaranteed the
maintaining of their power in the World Beyond and had to secure their be-
nevolence for deeds here. However, in the course of time the idea of following
and inclusion among the surrounding persons also the retinue of the pow-
erful deceased individual, as well as the personal link with him, gradually
paled, the followers became increasingly anonymous and started to resemble
victims more and more. The attempt to influence the interference of the great
ancestors in the processes here and to win over their cooperation justified
the periodic or episodic sending of messengers carrying immediate messages
and information about the needs and wishes of the people, and especially
about important state events. The ritual thus became a powerful weapon in
the hands of the living rulers, used for consolidating and maintaining their
own power. That variant of institutional following into death was very wide-
spread in Western Africa, being characterised with alarming numbers of the
companions – both relatives and close associates, and perfectly unknown and
random people. The examples are particularly blatant and numerous, and
they have been preserved in the narratives of Islamic travellers during the
Middle Ages, above all in the evidence of strongly impressed Europeans: mer-
chants, missionaries, participants in expeditions that emerged in the course
of the gradual European penetration into the African continent between the
15th and the 19th century. They very often noted the widespread faith that
providing family members as companions to the deceased ruler even a long
time after his death secured affluence for the living and brought honour and
glory (Fisch 1998: 28-29, 102-104, 112-114).
Much earlier, Herodotus attested such a variant of following into death
among the Scythians living to the north of the Black Sea. According to his
extremely detailed narrative, after the king’s death his body was embalmed
and for one year he toured the Scythian lands. When he was placed in the
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 65

tomb, one of his female hostages was strangled, as well as his cup-bearer,
cook, coachman, messenger, his horses, the first-born of the remaining ani-
mals, and they were buried in the rest of the empty space together with gold
vessels. The highest possible tumulus was piled on top. One year later, another
bloody ceremony was performed: the fifty best officials of the deceased king –
the king determined himself who among the Scythians was to serve him –
together with fifty horses were strangled and embalmed in a circle around
the tumulus: the procedure is described by Herodotus with cold-blooded
precision to the minutest detail (Hdt. 4. 71). That evidence testifies to a de-
veloped form of the ritual and its exclusively institutional character, and it
was generally very difficult to doubt it. Narratives with such a devastating
atmosphere about numerous victims and additional murders over the years
appeared again much later, when – as I said – in the context of the conquering
of America and Africa French and British eyewitnesses came across dynastic
burials of the Indians in North America and in Dahomey in Western Africa.8
Among the Natchez Indians, the companions (usually from the lower class-
es), who were selected already in the dynasts’ lifetime, made up the loyal and
privileged retinue of the rulers, consisting of guards and attendants; they and
their relatives obtained the opportunity for a rise in the social hierarchy in the
lowest aristocratic strata (Fisch 1998: 78). Probably among the Scythians, too,
where the king personally pointed out his officials and servants from among
the local population, and they had to serve him well and with the awareness
that they are his followers in death, the custom was linked to certain possibil-
ities for social awards. There is a universally accepted opinion that this narra-
tive by Herodotus is archaeologically supported by the rich collective burials
found below the kurgans in Ukraine, some of which are very impressive in
size. In spite of the difficulties resulting from the multiple use and plundering
of the tombs, researchers are convinced that in many cases the finds reveal the
performing of a ritual in which other people, too, were killed in connection
with the death of persons in a high position (Rolle 1979: 1987; Grakow 1978;
Schlette 1987).
In view of the existence of intensive ethic-cultural and political inter-
actions of Scythians and Getae around and after the end of the 6th century
BC, the question justifiably arises whether the legends reported by Herodotus
about the messenger dispatched once every four years to the god Zalmoxis –
the man, I would say the king who died in the past and returned – did not
guard memories of similar practices. The prerequisites for their existence in

8 Narratives cited in Fisch 1998: 75-77; 90-98.

66 Dobriela Kotova

the Getic societies are there: faith in the World Beyond and pronounced so-
cial inequality and stratification.
Behind the curtain of the Greek rationalist interpretations that deny
any divine and supernatural character of Zalmoxis, it is clearly possible to see
the claims of special rights of the aristocratic Getic class around the king’s fig-
ure. The privileges are stated in the respective ideology that was reconfirmed
in a four-year festive cycle which probably culminated in big festivities in
the course of which the dispatching of a messenger with information about
events in this world took place as an extremely important event for the com-
munity. According to that ideology, the aristocrats and their successors by
birth were privileged to be table companions of Zalmoxis, never to die, but to
go to another place where they would live eternally and would have all goods
(τὰ πάντα ἀγαθά).
Behind the story about the building of the underground chamber, the
hiding in it and the reappearance of Zalmoxis four years later it is possible to
perceive the attempt of the Greeks to explain something that was alien and
incomprehensible to them: the religious notion that the king continued to
exist in the World Beyond after his death, preserving all his goods and all his
power; he possessed divine nature and power to interfere in the world of the
living, even with the belief that he returned among them at certain periods.
The narrative about the messenger and the detail of the shifting of the blame
for the unfavourable attitude of Zalmoxis onto the messenger confirms the
same: it was of high importance to the community to respect the exclusive
right of the dead king/deity to have new companion in the World Beyond,
or a messenger with a report about the important processes and events so as
to win his benevolence – maybe before his respective appearance among the
living – and to prevent his negative acts.
The idea about the influence and about the presence of the deceased in
this world is even more strongly expressed in the version known to Strabo
from his source Posidonius. Unlike the information of Herodotus, here the
king and his close associates visited Zalmoxis in a very inaccessible cave so
as to seek his advice on state matters and the king’s decisions related to them.
The communication with Zalmoxis in that case is specific royal privilege, but
it was linked to the functioning and correct ruling of the State (Str. 7. 3. 5).9

9 “In fact, it is said that a certain man of the Getae, Zamolxis by name, had been a slave to
Pythagoras, and had learned some things about the heavenly bodies from him,  as also
certain other things from the Egyptians, for in his wanderings he had gone even as far as
Egypt; and when he came on back to his home-land he was eagerly courted by the rulers
and the people of the tribe, because he could make predictions from the celestial signs;
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 67

Thus maintaining the relations with the powerful ancestor in the World Be-
yond and observing the rituals connected with his worshipping proved to be
of real interest to everyone, guaranteeing the safety, well-being and prosper-
ity of the entire community. However, it is clear that this ideology was both
function and factor of the social stratification, and in its direct aspects “here”
it served above all the interests of the ruling stratum, consolidated the social
differences and the existing public order, legitimising the present power.
Skertchly made very similar observations in the 1880s in Dahomey,
West Africa, where the institutional variant of “following into death” existed
in an exceptionally developed form: At these times also the retinues of the
deceased monarchs are supplied with new recruits; for the Dahomans be-
lieve that after death a person exists in the other world in a rank similar to
that occupied by the deceased before death. Consequently, it is necessary to
supply the dead monarchs with slaves; besides which, the continual sending
of messengers to them by their successors in this world, keeps the departed
sovereigns in a happy state of mind, as to whether their greatness is forgot-
ten on earth, and they are induced to give the living monarch the benefit of
their ghostly advice. This in a great measure is the cause of the continuance
of the human sacrifices at the Customs; since every Dahoman believes that,
if they were discontinued, the glory of the kingdom would depart, because
the old kings would be so vexed with their representative who refused their
accustomed post-obital honours, that they would give the enemies of the
country the wise counsel they were wont to give to their successor (Skertchly
1874:180–181).
The communication with Zalmoxis / the dead king could take place, as
we understand, occasionally, every time when the king needed divine advice
and approval of his decisions. However, the principal role in the communi-
cation was attributed to the big periodic festivities during which, according
to Herodotus’ informers, the Getae sent to him a special messenger charged

and at last he persuaded the king to take him as a partner in the government, on the
ground that he was competent to report the will of the gods; and although at the outset he
was only made a priest of the god who was most honored in their country, yet afterwards
he was even addressed as god, and having taken possession of a certain cavernous place
that was inaccessible to anyone else he spent his life there, only rarely meeting with any
people outside except the king and his own attendants; and the king cooperated with
him, because he saw that the people paid much more attention to himself than before, in
the belief that the decrees which he promulgated were in accordance with the counsel of
the gods. This custom persisted even down to our own time, because some man of that
character was always to be found, who, though in fact only a counsellor to the king, was
called god among the Getae” (Transl. H. L. Jones (1924).
68 Dobriela Kotova

with their messages. That extraordinary event reconfirmed both the power of
the king in the World Beyond, and the exclusive position of the living king,
because the observing and the regular performing of the rituals maintained
alive the faith that the same had been predetermined for him after his death:
not to die, but to go to a place where he would have all the good things and
from where, already as a deity, he would continue to control the acts here.
On the one hand, those festivities demonstrated more than ever the social
differences, and on the other – being organised in the name of the gener-
al well-being – they were the time and the space in which the community
was united. The act of dispatching the messenger, with its public and solemn
character also played the role of a unifying moment in which all who shared
the experience believed that they could follow the king in immortality: they
would not die, but would move with him. At the same time, however, it was
clear that the existence in the World Beyond was not perceived as very differ-
ent from life here – the king was a king and his subjects went to him – and it
was structured in the notions similar to the existing relations.
An identical text appeared in the dictionaries of the Byzantine lexicog-
raphers, summarising the diverse information around the figure of Zalmox-
is, which had come to them and which had remained exotic for the authors
throughout the Antiquity (Suid., EM, Phot. s. v. Ζάμολξις). The entry in the
dictionary is based predominantly on Herodotus, but the names of Hellanicus
and Mnaseas are also mentioned, and it also contains information whose au-
thors are not mentioned by name. As Sharankov notes, the text clearly shows
that other narratives about the Getic and the Thracian beliefs also existed,
being perhaps more detailed than that by Herodotus (Sharankov 2006: 494).
Such an anonymous narrative was the source of the interesting information
about two other tribes connected with the name of Zalmoxis and with the
special faith in immortality:
“[…] The Terizi and the Crobyzi also believe in immortality and say
that the dead go to Zamolxis, but they will return here in the future; and they
think this proves always true. They perform sacrifices and feasts in such man-
ner, as if the deceased will return in the future”.10
The Terizi and the Crobyzi were probably part of the big tribal group
of the Getae (Delev 2011: 163). The text most probably narrates about pecu-
liar burial and subsequently commemoration festivities on the grave of the
deceased person. It becomes clear that the idea of the existence in the World
Beyond and the immediate option/danger for the deceased man to return to

10 Transl. Sharankov 2006: 495.

 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 69

the life of the living necessitated their conducting and dictated their content
and specificities. Maybe that was the character initially of the festivities or-
ganised by the Getae once in four years in honour of the god Zalmoxis, about
which Herodotus narrates. For the Greek observers the killing of a human
being and his sending as messenger to Zalmoxis was quite naturally at the
centre of the event. However, I doubt that for the actual Getae that exhausted
the meaning and the content of the festivities with which they honoured their
dead and their divine ancestors. Here it is possible to recall the description by
Herodotus of the burials of the noble Thracians, which lasted for days, and
included mourning and lamentation rituals, numerous sacrificial offerings,
long feasts and conquests after the tumular embankment was piled up (Hdt.
5. 8). Could it be that traces of a similar cult of the ancestors were concealed
behind the different names with which – according to Herodotus – the Getic
god was called? For some he was Zalmoxis, while others referred to him as
Gebeleisis (Hdt. 4. 94. 1).
The long tradition and the widespread monumental tombs in Thrace
corresponded to that special faith of the Thracians in immortality. The im-
pressive architecture of most of them, the architectural characteristics and the
traces that suggest their long use as a place for worship and sacrificial offerings,
their final “sealing” below a tumular embankment only after a long time had
elapsed, are circumstances that give grounds to researchers to define them as
heroons and temples. The kings and dignitaries buried in them are worshiped
as heroi, powerful anthropodaemons, and – depending on the evolution of the
cult – over time also as deities, as Zalmoxis and Gebeleisis. In Delev’s opinion:
“… the basic concepts in the myth of Zalmoxis converge with those already
formulated on the basis of the Euripidian Rhesus: a supernatural existence
close to the world of the living, associated with the semantic sequence – under-
ground chamber (= artificial cave) – cave. … It is only logical to suggest that
the idea of all Thracian tombs must have been essentially the same: those bur-
ied in them would have been expected to lead a supernatural, divine post-mor-
tem existence as heroes or anthropodaemons” (Delev 2011: 161).
With the existence of marked differentiation in society, this type of faith
in immortality and in the continuation of life in the World Beyond, perceived
in terms of the parameters of the real structure of society, could in concrete
situations and at concrete places be a prerequisite for the appearance of the
custom of following into death. The messenger to Zalmoxis in the narrative
by Herodotus was not simply a human sacrifice: the most valuable of all sac-
rifices offered in very important circumstances, often exceptional, when an
equally important response/intervention by the deity was expected. In ex-
70 Dobriela Kotova

traordinary situations even the king could be the sacrifice. The messenger was
charged with a message given to him immediately before his death,11 which
he had to take to Zalmoxis. It is assumed that after fulfilling his tasks, he
would remain there, among the privileged, and would enjoy all good things
(τὰ πάντα ἀγαθά). The idea about the following into death – clearly dis-
cernible in the burial, as was the case with the widows in Thrace and with the
numerous companions of the Scythian kings – had paled due to the time that
had elapsed, during which Zalmoxis gradually underwent the transformation
from the once dead ruler into a god. The functions of the additional compan-
ions sent over the years also changed: they gradually acquired the character
of sacrifices. When the Getae sent the messenger and waited for the benev-
olence of Zalmoxis, when they sent arrows to the sky during thunderstorms
with lightning, they turned to him more like a god, not as the earlier ruler.12
The character of sacrifice stems from the strong faith in the power of the dead
ancestors and their continuing interference in the world of the living, and
from the cult of them that developed. However, it should be noted that this
god whom humans dared to threaten actually appeared strange, and we can
recall Mela’s narrative (Mela 2. 19-20) about those who wished to “console”
the widows of the deceased: bringing weapons to his grave and the readiness
to reach an agreement or to fight with him.
According to the teaching of Zalmoxis, his noble followers and their
descendants were never to die, going instead to a place where they would
have everything. At the same time – again according to Herodotus – all Ge-
tae were faced in principle with the open option to go to the deity. However,
apparently that was not unconditional, because he received only the “good” –
judging by the attitude to the surviving messenger. There is no way to know
the exact meaning of “bad/good person” in that case.13 However, the messen-
ger’s mission was clearly connected with prestige, honour and glory. Perhaps
going to Zalmoxis meant joining his circle and thus rising in social status in
the World Beyond, which certainly brought social benefits also to the mes-

11 Cf. Skertchly (1874: 339, 361) – descriptions of the dispatching of messengers to Dahomey,
which also contained the actual messages that were read to them, before they were killed.
12 Cf. cases in Nigeria where in the case of threat of drought the king sent his slaves as
messengers to his ancestors (Fisch 1998: 113)
13 Skertchly (1874:181) notes that the messengers in Dahomey were not accidental people,
unlike the other victims – “criminals or troublesome captives” – who were exhibited in
the markets. Janakieva 2005:157 believes that in that case the issue was to comply with the
requirement of the victim’s ritual purity and “good” meant “ritually pure” who could be
received by the god and could obtain benediction for all.
 The Getic Messengers to Zalmoxis, the Faith in Immortality and the Death of the Widows 71

senger’s relatives and created motivation for performing the role of messen-
ger.14 At any rate, the faith in the eternal and blissful life near Zalmoxis, death
being the gate leading to it, was also Herodotus’ indirect explanation of the
resolve and the selfless sacrifice with which the Getae, “the manliest and the
most fair among the Thracians,” opposed the enormous military power of the
Great King. The Roman writers Mela and Solinus also interpreted in this way
the evidence provided by Herodotus, and referred to the strong aspirations of
the Getae to die and to accept the voluntary death.
There is an interesting comment by Hieronymus, who speaks in one of
his letters about the savagery of the Bessi and of the numerous other peoples,
clad with skins, who offered human sacrifices to the dead in the past (Hiero-
nym. Epist. 60, 334b, Migne 1859: 591-592).15 In all probability, Hieronymus
used the name Bessi to denote the Thracians in general. As regards the peo-
ples clad with skins, their association only with the Getae and the Dacians
(Migne 1859: 592) seems problematic, because pellitus is a frequent definition
of the barbarians in the texts by the ancient authors.
I believe that the intricate story about Zalmoxis – man or god (Her-
odotus cautiously does not specify that), in the narrative about the faith of
the Getae that there is no death, but going to Zalmoxis/Gebeleisis, as well
as about the periodic sending of a messenger to him, betray remote traces
of the existence in the past of the ritual of following into death in its purely
institutional form. The ideas on which it was based attributed to the digni-
tary in the World Beyond – most probably an earlier ruler – keen interest in
the processes in the world here and a special power to influence them, even
assuming the possibility that he might come back after a certain period of
time. The regular commemoration festivities and the periodic securing of
new companions and messengers with information about matters here were
an inalienable prerequisite for his benevolence. By suggesting the hope that
the cooperation of the deceased ancestor was solicited, and emphasising his
power, the ritual actually served for strengthening those who organised it,
above all the dynast ruling at the moment. It seems that Herodotus had dif-
ficulties in determining exactly what the Getae did, and he used the word
ἀθανατίζω for something that he did not understand and with which he
denoted both the faith in immortality and the (strange) practices connected
with it.
14 The slaves of the deceased king in Nigeria, who voluntarily allowed to be killed so as to
accompany him, were hoping to obtain a better post in the World Beyond (Fisch 1998: 114).
15 “Bessorum feritas, et pellitorum turba populorum, qui mortuorum quondam inferiis
homines immolabant…”
72 Dobriela Kotova

Together with the brief communication of Stephanus Byzantius about

the killing of the widow, Herodotus’ text testifies to following into death
among the Getae, which had a markedly religious character stemming from
the continuing influence of the dead on life, as well as in their divine existence
in the World Beyond, and from a strong cult of the ancestors.

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dobriela.kotova@gmail.com
Institute of Balkan Studies with Centre of Thracology,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences