11-26-2009, 02:13 PM
R?zvan,
If you read carefully, you'll find out that Hartog is having in mind mostly a literary character. For instance, if you go to page 84 where "Salmoxis: The Getan Pythagoras" (note: Salmoxis is the form in some of the Herodotean manuscripts which are regarded to be the "good ones" by some scholars) section starts, here's how the author begins his narrative:
So the Salmoxis of Hartog lives in books, in traditions, not in the real life.
You're correct to point out the difference between the two accounts (IV.94 and IV.95) however for Hartog they both reflect Pythagorean views. Even the appellation hoi athanatizontes is considered a former nickname designating the Pythagoreans. (p. 90-91)
Please note that Herodotus knew no Dacia (or Dacians). Darius' army defeated the Getae (IV.93, IV.97) before reaching the Ister (Danube). Herodotus knew almost nothing of the inland regions north of Danube, they were mostly uninhabitable save for Sigynnae (V.9-V.10).
Unfortunately Dan Oltean is no scholar and his speculations expectedly received some criticism. Dan Dana even calls him a "dilettante" (and indeed Oltean is rather a psychologist) and his work "a massive and confused monography about Dacian religion". Oltean focuses on continuity and coincidences, arguing the Dacians had an almost Christian worldview. He also puzzles his readers with his absurd etymologies and remarks such as "the Dacians and the Romanians are religious beings par excellence".
If you read carefully, you'll find out that Hartog is having in mind mostly a literary character. For instance, if you go to page 84 where "Salmoxis: The Getan Pythagoras" (note: Salmoxis is the form in some of the Herodotean manuscripts which are regarded to be the "good ones" by some scholars) section starts, here's how the author begins his narrative:
- Who is Salmoxis or Zamolxis or Zalmoxis? (And this hesitation over the name is but the beginning of a long story of identity). Is he a man, a daimon, or a god? We do not really know. When was he born? In Book 4, chapter 94, of Herodotus's Histories. When did he die? Is he perhaps still alive in Rumania? What are the main events in his career? He starts as a Getan, is then Dacian, and becomes a great priest or king "of much erudition in philosophy" as Jordanes tells us. With the arrival of the Romans, abetted by the advent of Christianity, he disappears from his own country but lives on in the traditions of the Goths (Getan = Goth). Alphonse the Wise regards him as someone who was "marvellously learned in philosophy". He then suffers a long eclipse before reappearing, this time in his own land, when, in Rumania, a movement of Thracomania developed, centered on Parvan and his followers. According to Mircea Eliade, "Zalmoxis is revered because he embodies the religious spirit of the Daco-Getae, because in the last analysis he represents the spirituality of the autochthonous ones, those almost mythical ancestors who were conquered and assimilated by the Romans."
So the Salmoxis of Hartog lives in books, in traditions, not in the real life.
You're correct to point out the difference between the two accounts (IV.94 and IV.95) however for Hartog they both reflect Pythagorean views. Even the appellation hoi athanatizontes is considered a former nickname designating the Pythagoreans. (p. 90-91)
Please note that Herodotus knew no Dacia (or Dacians). Darius' army defeated the Getae (IV.93, IV.97) before reaching the Ister (Danube). Herodotus knew almost nothing of the inland regions north of Danube, they were mostly uninhabitable save for Sigynnae (V.9-V.10).
Unfortunately Dan Oltean is no scholar and his speculations expectedly received some criticism. Dan Dana even calls him a "dilettante" (and indeed Oltean is rather a psychologist) and his work "a massive and confused monography about Dacian religion". Oltean focuses on continuity and coincidences, arguing the Dacians had an almost Christian worldview. He also puzzles his readers with his absurd etymologies and remarks such as "the Dacians and the Romanians are religious beings par excellence".
Drago?
