Zamolxis (or Zamolxe) was the supreme deity of the Dacians, god of life and death.
Myths & Legends[]
Herodotus was told by the Euhemeristic Pontic Greeks that Zamolxis was a man, formerly a disciple of Pythagoras, who taught him the “sciences of the skies” at Samos. Zamolxis was manumitted and amassed great wealth, returned to his country and instructed his people, the Dacians, about the immortality of the soul.
According to Herodotus, at one point Zamolxis traveled to Egypt and brought the people mystic knowledge about the immortality of the soul, teaching them that they would pass at death to a certain place where they would enjoy all possible blessings for all eternity.
Zamolxis then had a subterranean chamber constructed (other accounts say that it was a natural cave) to which he withdrew for three years. After his disappearance, he was considered dead and mourned by his people, but after three years he showed himself once more to the Dacians, who were thus convinced about his teachings, an episode that some considered to be a resurrection.
Plato says in the Charmides dialogue that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and mind, not just the body, as was the Greek practice. During the rule of Burebista between 82 - 40 BC, the traditional year of Zamolxis' birth, 713 BC, was considered the first year of the Dacian calendar.
According to the legend of the Great White Wolf, Zamolxis turned a priest into a wolf to protect Dacia from invaders.