DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0288
Pythagoras as Apollon reborn 227
Salmoxis lived long before Pythagoras and was perhaps a local
daimon of the Getai1. The Getai, he says, practise deification2;
they think that they themselves live for ever and that so-called
death means merely going to the daimon Salmoxis3, whom some
of them call Gebeleizis4. Once in four years they send a messenger
to Salmoxis by tossing him up in the air and catching him on the
points of three javelins5. The Hellespontine account is no doubt
a 'rationalizing story6'; but it contains indications of value. The
feasting of the Thracians, the simulated death, the promise of im-
mortal bliss—what are these but the debris of the very doctrine
that we are investigating? Salmoxis, like Pythagoras, stands for
the caldron of apotheosis. Later writers spell his name Zalmoxis,
sometimes Zamolxis7; and Porphyrios does us a good turn by ex-
plaining it :
' Pythagoras had yet another lad, whom he had got from Thrace, named
Zalmoxis because at birth a bear-skin had been thrown over him ; for the
Thracians call the skin zalmos%.)
Now at Kyzikos near the Hellespont it was said that the nurses of
820 A—B Migne)), Iambi, v. Pyth. 104, 173, Diog. Laert. prooem. 1 and 8. 2, Hesych. s.v.
ZdX/xo|is, Phot. lex. s.v. Zd/xoX£is = et'. mag. p. 407, 45 ff. = Souid. s.v. Zdp.oX^is citing
inter alia pseudo-Hellanikos j3ap(3apa<d v6p.ip.a (Frag. hist. Gr. i. xxx Midler). Cp. Plat.
Charm. 158 B, Mnaseas frag. 23 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 153 Miiller) ap. Phot., et. mag.,
Souid. locc. eitt., Diod. 1. 94, Clem. Al. strom. 4. 8 p. 274, 2J ff. Stahlin, Orig. c. Cels.
3. 34, Zonar. lex. s.v. ZdXpo^is.
1 Hdt. 4. 96.
2 'AdavaTi^ovat. On the precise meaning of this term see I. M. Linforth ' Oi 'Adava-
Ti^ovres' in Class. PhiloL 1918 xiii. 23—33.
3 Plat. Charm. 156 D, Arrian. r. 3. 2, Loukian. Scyth. 1, concil. deor. 9. Cp. Phot.
lex. s.v. Zd/j.o\^LS = et. mag. p. 407, 45ff. = Souid. s.v. Zd/xoX£ts-...ddavari^ovai 5e Kai
lepifoi (Tep^Tifoi Phot.) Kai Kpofiv^oi, Kai to))s dvodavovras <l>s Tid/uoX^iv (pacrtv oi'xecr#ai,
yfeiv 8e avdcs with Rohde Psyche'6 ii. 29 n. 1.
4 Various attempts have been made to elucidate the word Te(3eX4ifLv (see Waser in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 894). I should surmise that it is related to Latin gabalus,
Old Irish gabul, Welsh gebel, Old High German gabala, Middle High German gabel, etc.
(F. Kluge Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache^ Strassburg 1899 p. 130,
Walde Lat. etym. Worterb? p. 330 f.), and signifies ' the god with a Fork.' The fork in
question would be either a weapon (Schrader Reallex. p. 261) like the fork of Hades
(infra § 3 (c) iv (5)) or a divining rod comparable with the Pythagorean Y (supra i. 282
n. 7). All this, however, is the merest speculation.
5 Hdt. 4. 94.
B W. W. How and J. Wells A Commentary on Herodotus Oxford 1912 i. 335.
7 H. Stein on Hdt. 4. 94 notes : ' Die Namensform schwankt tiberall zwischen
2dX/Ao£is (so die Hss. des Her.), ZdX^o^t? und ZdMoXgis, ZdX/xoX|ts, doch scheinen die
ersten, die nur orthographisch verchieden sind, glaubwiirdiger.' This disposes of Bar-
tholomae's derivation (supra i. 781).
8 Porph.-z'. Pyth. 14 r\v 5' avrov Kai erepov fxeLpaKiov, 6 e/c Qpq.tcris eKTrjaaro, o3 Zd\p.o^LS
ijv ovopLa, iwel yevvridevTi avrip 5opd apicrov eire(3X^07] • tt)v yap dopav oi Qpanes faXp-ov
KaXovaiv. Cp. Zonar. lex. s.v. ^aXpLdodrjs1 6 adXdfios (leg. aXdj3os) and gloss. Aurivillii
p. 11 (cited by Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. iv. 6 c).
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Salmoxis lived long before Pythagoras and was perhaps a local
daimon of the Getai1. The Getai, he says, practise deification2;
they think that they themselves live for ever and that so-called
death means merely going to the daimon Salmoxis3, whom some
of them call Gebeleizis4. Once in four years they send a messenger
to Salmoxis by tossing him up in the air and catching him on the
points of three javelins5. The Hellespontine account is no doubt
a 'rationalizing story6'; but it contains indications of value. The
feasting of the Thracians, the simulated death, the promise of im-
mortal bliss—what are these but the debris of the very doctrine
that we are investigating? Salmoxis, like Pythagoras, stands for
the caldron of apotheosis. Later writers spell his name Zalmoxis,
sometimes Zamolxis7; and Porphyrios does us a good turn by ex-
plaining it :
' Pythagoras had yet another lad, whom he had got from Thrace, named
Zalmoxis because at birth a bear-skin had been thrown over him ; for the
Thracians call the skin zalmos%.)
Now at Kyzikos near the Hellespont it was said that the nurses of
820 A—B Migne)), Iambi, v. Pyth. 104, 173, Diog. Laert. prooem. 1 and 8. 2, Hesych. s.v.
ZdX/xo|is, Phot. lex. s.v. Zd/xoX£is = et'. mag. p. 407, 45 ff. = Souid. s.v. Zdp.oX^is citing
inter alia pseudo-Hellanikos j3ap(3apa<d v6p.ip.a (Frag. hist. Gr. i. xxx Midler). Cp. Plat.
Charm. 158 B, Mnaseas frag. 23 (Frag. hist. Gr. iii. 153 Miiller) ap. Phot., et. mag.,
Souid. locc. eitt., Diod. 1. 94, Clem. Al. strom. 4. 8 p. 274, 2J ff. Stahlin, Orig. c. Cels.
3. 34, Zonar. lex. s.v. ZdXpo^is.
1 Hdt. 4. 96.
2 'AdavaTi^ovat. On the precise meaning of this term see I. M. Linforth ' Oi 'Adava-
Ti^ovres' in Class. PhiloL 1918 xiii. 23—33.
3 Plat. Charm. 156 D, Arrian. r. 3. 2, Loukian. Scyth. 1, concil. deor. 9. Cp. Phot.
lex. s.v. Zd/j.o\^LS = et. mag. p. 407, 45ff. = Souid. s.v. Zd/xoX£ts-...ddavari^ovai 5e Kai
lepifoi (Tep^Tifoi Phot.) Kai Kpofiv^oi, Kai to))s dvodavovras <l>s Tid/uoX^iv (pacrtv oi'xecr#ai,
yfeiv 8e avdcs with Rohde Psyche'6 ii. 29 n. 1.
4 Various attempts have been made to elucidate the word Te(3eX4ifLv (see Waser in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. vii. 894). I should surmise that it is related to Latin gabalus,
Old Irish gabul, Welsh gebel, Old High German gabala, Middle High German gabel, etc.
(F. Kluge Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache^ Strassburg 1899 p. 130,
Walde Lat. etym. Worterb? p. 330 f.), and signifies ' the god with a Fork.' The fork in
question would be either a weapon (Schrader Reallex. p. 261) like the fork of Hades
(infra § 3 (c) iv (5)) or a divining rod comparable with the Pythagorean Y (supra i. 282
n. 7). All this, however, is the merest speculation.
5 Hdt. 4. 94.
B W. W. How and J. Wells A Commentary on Herodotus Oxford 1912 i. 335.
7 H. Stein on Hdt. 4. 94 notes : ' Die Namensform schwankt tiberall zwischen
2dX/Ao£is (so die Hss. des Her.), ZdX^o^t? und ZdMoXgis, ZdX/xoX|ts, doch scheinen die
ersten, die nur orthographisch verchieden sind, glaubwiirdiger.' This disposes of Bar-
tholomae's derivation (supra i. 781).
8 Porph.-z'. Pyth. 14 r\v 5' avrov Kai erepov fxeLpaKiov, 6 e/c Qpq.tcris eKTrjaaro, o3 Zd\p.o^LS
ijv ovopLa, iwel yevvridevTi avrip 5opd apicrov eire(3X^07] • tt)v yap dopav oi Qpanes faXp-ov
KaXovaiv. Cp. Zonar. lex. s.v. ^aXpLdodrjs1 6 adXdfios (leg. aXdj3os) and gloss. Aurivillii
p. 11 (cited by Stephanus Thes. Gr. Ling. iv. 6 c).
15-2