AHC: Zalmoxianism

[Happers]

Hello everyone, I have an interesting challenge for those who like ancient religions.

Zalmoxianism was the Cult of the Dacian people. Zalmoxis was a slave who over the years from his teachings turned into a god. Zalmoxis taught the immortality of the soul and of an afterlife similar to that of the Abrahamic religions. I would assume that if the religion stablized it would probably form a law system (commandments) similar to that of the Abrahamic religions as well.

So, your challenge, is to make Zalmoxianism an organized religion that lasts until this day. Side by side with the other great religions of the world. Ideally one of the religions you would find in the top 10 largest religions.

Extra challenge if you want to make it one of the top 5 religions.

If you really want to go at it, make it the largest religion. Competing side by side with Christianity and Islam.

Have fun.

 

[RogueTraderEnthusiast]

Honestly, I think it'll come as much down to the power of whoever follows the faith. Which basically means that Dacia needs to unify early, and expand hard.

So, I'd suggest Zopyrion (a Macedonian General), rather than fail in an invasion of Ostia, instead turns his 30,000 men to conquering Dacia in its entirety, and turning the region into the northernmost province of Alexanders Empire.

Now, the local Zalmoxians (in a clever bid for authority), acclaim Alexander as a God - a harsh god, but one nonetheless, after his death. The governor (lets assume it is Zopyrion), accepts this and uses the Zalmoxians to hold Dacia together, alongside his own troops.

Eventually, this builds a strong, Half-Macedonian, Half-Dacian Zalmoxian state in the place of modern Romania, actively fending off Macedonia under whoever rules it, with some level of success, mainly by maintaining the mixed-arms strategy that the Diadochi forgot IOTL, and having superior weapons from their vast iron supplies. Eventually this leads to the Dacian conquest of first the Danube Valley in modern Bulgaria, and later Thrace, including Byzantion, which is settled with Zalmoxian Dacians to keep these regions on-side. The presence of Zalmoxians in Byzantion helps them become known within trading circles, and some themselves become traders, spreading the faith further afield (becoming very popular, enabling the rise of numerous hero sub-cults : Think Paragons from Dragon Age dwarves )

After that, well, you've got most of history, and the Romans to deal with. Whether Dacia falls to Rome, or Rome falls to Dacia is up to you. Do the Dacians develop the Heavy Plow sooner to better exploit their soils (They have more incentive than most), do the hero-cults cause fragmentation? Does it divide into Zalmoxian Hero-Pantheons that fight for supremacy (wow, those stories could be awesome, Alexander the Great vs King Arthur.. wait, Fate/Zero. Oooh, legit Fate/Zero faith).

I'd be interested as that TL could be very radically different from our own.

 

[Timaeus]

Hm. Here's an alternate idea: an Achaemenid Greece, where a more western-oriented Perso-Greek successor state goes north and conquers the Dacians. And slowly but surely the Dacians develop a sort of national conscience of their own, akin to the Jews and tied to the cult of Zalmoxis. And then with the decline of this successor state, a large slave revolt happens tied to said Zalmoxianism. IDK.

 

[Magnum]

There is no violent occupation of Dacia. Instead, it is slowly and peacefully-ish integrated into the Roman state as a client kingdom (the sooner, the better), and the cult of Zalmoxis starts to gain a following in the wider Roman world, just like those of Cybele, Isis or Mithras. Then, some Romano-Dacian general who worships Zalmoxis becomes Emperor in the third or fourth century.

 

[Crying]

Not sure how to do it (maybe it's propped up as a sort of Anti-Barbarian religion by Rome?) but I can imagine that Zalmoxianism/Zalmoxism would be kind of similar to Sikhism, with the whole 'warrior priest' thing, which would probably appeal to both the Dacians and any Slavic peoples who end up inhabiting the Balkans later on.

 

[Timaeus]

There is no violent occupation of Dacia. Instead, it is slowly and peacefully-ish integrated into the Roman state as a client kingdom (the sooner, the better), and the cult of Zalmoxis starts to gain a following in the wider Roman world, just like those of Cybele, Isis or Mithras. Then, some Romano-Dacian general who worships Zalmoxis becomes Emperor in the third or fourth century.

Eh. That would just make it into a fad cult subsumed into Roman paganism.

And not every emperor has a patron god that ends up worshiped by everyone. Look at Elagabalus and see how that mess turned out.

A real universalizing religion would need to have deeper roots.

 

[Happers]

Wow, great ideas all of you. I'd like to throw something in here. What if Emperor Galerius made Zalmoxism the official religion of Rome. Take into consideration Christianity is already taking influence in parts of the empire.

What would happen then? Could Galerius create his Dacian Empire he so desperately wanted? Maybe Rome collapses earlier then our timeline and Galerius takes power of the Dacians and what ever Zalmoxisian supporters he has?

My thought is really, with Roman support like Christianity it will quickly become more than just a mystery cult, it will quickly become a universalist monotheist religion around the god Zalmoxis. Maybe the Dacians are the chosen people like how the Jews are the chosen people in the Abrahamic religions?

Any thoughts?

 

[RogueTraderEnthusiast]

Wow, great ideas all of you. I'd like to throw something in here. What if Emperor Galerius made Zalmoxism the official religion of Rome. Take into consideration Christianity is already taking influence in parts of the empire.

What would happen then? Could Galerius create his Dacian Empire he so desperately wanted? Maybe Rome collapses earlier then our timeline and Galerius takes power of the Dacians and what ever Zalmoxisian supporters he has?

My thought is really, with Roman support like Christianity it will quickly become more than just a mystery cult, it will quickly become a universalist monotheist religion around the god Zalmoxis. Maybe the Dacians are the chosen people like how the Jews are the chosen people in the Abrahamic religions?

Any thoughts?

Well, based on the OP - that isn't Zalmoxianism. That is Zalmoxis worship. From my understand it is inherently polytheist, or at the very least henotheist (or would have henotheist cults).

 

[Happers]

Well, based on the OP - that isn't Zalmoxianism. That is Zalmoxis worship. From my understand it is inherently polytheist, or at the very least henotheist (or would have henotheist cults).

I'd argue it was Henotheist but quickly evolving into Monotheism. It's just in our timeline the Cult of Zalmoxis was heavily ethnically based, like early Judaism I might add. Early Judaism was Henotheist and evolved into Monotheism, and it was heavily ethnically based.

 

[Indicus]

I'd argue it was Henotheist but quickly evolving into Monotheism.

That's something that's very much disputable. In all truth, we don't know a whole lot about Zalmoxis and even the sources we have of him are ancillary, coming from non-Dacian sources like Heredotus.

 

[Happers]

That's something that's very much disputable. In all truth, we don't know a whole lot about Zalmoxis and even the sources we have of him are ancillary, coming from non-Dacian sources like Heredotus.

Of course. It's wishful thinking if anything, but from the sources we do have it's clear the Dacians had much more of an emphasis on Zalmoxis then their other gods. I think that if the Dacians were given more time to evolve then they would have form into Monotheism.