Gebeleizis

Gebeleizis was a god worshiped by the Getae, whose name has been interpreted as a theonym for the Indo-European sky and weather god, evidently also called by the Thracians with a symilar theonym – Zibelthiurdos or Zbelsurdos.^[1][2] In ancient literature he is mentioned only by Herodotus.^[2]

Gebeleizis was represented as a handsome man, sometimes wearing a beard. The lightning and thunder were his manifestations. According to Herodotus, some Getae equated Gebeleizis with Zalmoxis as the same god.

Name

The Getic name Gebeleizis has been explained as a compund of gebele and zis; gebele probably is from the Proto-Indo-European root *ģʰeib- "light, lightning"; zis is a reflex of the PIE day-light-sky god *Dyēus, the same as Messapic Zis (cognate and equivalent of the Greek Zeus). The Thracian theonym Zibelthiurdos or Zbelsurdos appears to contain the same PIE root, but with a different phonetic development – zebele instead of gebele.^[2] The second part of the theonym Zbelsurdos, surdos, has been equated with the Albanian theonym Shurdh used in some regions of northern Albania to refer to the weather god, worshiped until the 20th century and presumably preserved since Illyrian times.^[3] This term has been interpreted as meaning either "water donor"^[3] or "bellow, hum".^[2] Hence, both Getic Gebeleizis and Thracian Zbelsurdos would be theonyms for the Indo-European sky and weather god.^[2]

Mythology

He is also known as the Dacian knight Derzelas or Derzis.

He has been depicted on a throne or riding a horse, holding a bow in his left hand, joined by a snake going downwards towards the horse's head and an eagle holding a fish in his beak and a rabbit in his claws.

Other times he is depicted as a warrior, riding a horse, followed by a dog holding a lance, throwing it towards a wild boar, or as a peaceful horse rider holding a torch and a cornucopia.

He is also seen to have three heads, as a benevolent god.

See also

• Thracian Horseman

Notes

1. Tomashek, Die Alten Thraker, II, page 62
2. Eliade 1970, pp. 58–60.
3. Treimer 1971, pp. 31–33.

Bibliography

• Eliade, Mircea (1970). De Zalmoxis à Gengis-Khan: études comparatives sur les religions et le folklore de la Dacie et de l'Europe orientale. Payot.
• Treimer, Karl (1971). "Zur Rückerschliessung der illyrischen Götterwelt und ihre Bedeutung für die südslawische Philologie". In Henrik Barić (ed.). Arhiv za Arbanasku starinu, jezik i etnologiju. Vol. I. R. Trofenik. pp. 27–33.

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