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Paleo Balkan mythology

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Paleo-Balkan mythology

Paleo-Balkan mythology includes the religious practices of the Dacians, Thracians, and Illyrians. Little is known about the rituals and mythology of the Iron Age Balkans, but some of their gods are depicted in statuary or described in Greek sources.

Contents

One notable cult, attested from Thrace to Moesia and Scythia Minor, is that of the "Thracian horseman", also known as the "Thracian Heros", at Odessos (Varna) attested by a Thracian name as Heros Karabazmos, a god of the underworld usually depicted on funeral statues as a horseman slaying a beast with a spear.

Daco-Thracian

Known Thracian deities include:

  • Sabazios, the Thracian reflex of Indo-European Dyeus, identified with Heros Karabazmos, the "Thracian horseman". He gained a widespread importance especially after the Roman conquest. This could be akin to Sleipnir, the horse ridden by Odin, in Norse mythology. After Christianity was adopted, the symbolism of Heros continued as representations of Saint George slaying the dragon (compare Uastyrdzhi/Tetri Giorgi in the Caucasus).
  • Zibelthiurdos (also "Zbelsurdos", "Zibelthurdos"): a god recognized as similar to the Greek Zeus as a wielder of lightning and thunderbolts.
  • Kotys ("Cotys", "Cotto", "Cottyto", "Cottytus"), a goddess worshipped with much revelry by Thracian tribes such as the Edonians in the festival Cotyttia. A cult of Cottyto existed in classical Athens. According to Greek sources her priests were called baptes or "washers" because their pre-worship purification rites involved bathing. Her worship included midnight orgies (orgia). Her name is believed to have meant "war, slaughter", akin to Old Norse Höðr "war, slaughter".

    • Several Thracian deities show close analogy to the Greek cult of Dionysus, Orpheus and Persephone (the Dionysian Mysteries):

  • Bendis was a Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt whom the Greeks identified with Artemis, and hence with the other two aspects of formerly Minoan goddesses, Hecate and Persephone.
  • Semele is probably the Mother Earth goddess akin to Lithuanian Zemyna and Latvian Semes, both of which are 'Mother Earth' goddesses. Likely there has been an early Semele Goddess in proto-Slavic mythology as 'earth' to this day is "земля" (semlya) in Russian and "земя" (zemya) in Bulgarian. Also compare Phrygian 'Zemelo'.

    • Known Dacian theonyms include:

  • Zalmoxis, identified by some with the thunder-god Gebeleïzis, an important god of the Dacians and Thracians.
  • Derzelas (also "Darzalas") was a chthonic god of health and human spirit's vitality.

    • Kogaionon was the name of a holy mountain of the Dacians.

    Illyrian

    The mythology of the Illyrians is only known through mention of Illyrian deities on Roman period monuments, some with interpretatio Romana. There appears to be no single most prominent Illyrian god and there would have been much variation between individual Illyrian tribes. The Illyrians did not develop a uniform cosmology on which to center their religious practices.

    Some deities are known exclusively from Istria, such as Eia, Malesocus, Boria and Iria. In Liburnia, Anzotica is identified with Venus. Other local theonyms include Latra, Sentona and Ica. Bindus, identified with Neptune, was worshipped among the Japodes. Further north, the hot springs of Topusko were dedicated to Vidasus and Thana, identified with Silvanus and Diana. From the eastern Balkans, the cult of the Thracian horseman spread to Illyria during the early centuries CE. The god Medaurus mentioned in a dedication at Lambaesis in Africa by a Roman senator and native of Risinium appears to be identical to the horseman, being described as riding on horseback and carrying a lance. The Delmatae had Armatus as a god of war. The god En was also worshipped by Illyrians. En was demoted to demonic status following the arrival of Christianity in Illyria, and continues to be used in the Albanian language to refer to Thursday (Albanian: Enjte).

    References

    Paleo-Balkan mythology Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA