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[1]
Their belief in their immortality is as follows: they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebeleïzis, as some of them call him.
Their belief in their immortality is as follows: they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebeleïzis, as some of them call him.
[2] Once every five years they choose one of their people by lot and send him as a messenger to
Salmoxis, with instructions to report their needs; and this is how they send him: three lances are held by designated men; others seize the messenger to
Salmoxis by his hands and feet, and swing and toss him up on to the spear-points.
[3] If he is killed by the toss, they believe that the god regards them with favor; but if he is not killed, they blame the messenger himself, considering him a bad man, and send another messenger in place of him. It is while the man still lives that they give him the message.
[4] Furthermore, when there is thunder and lightning these same
Thracians shoot arrows skyward as a threat to the god, believing in no other god but their own.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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