Gebeleizis (or ''Gebeleixis'', ''Nebeleizis'') was a god worshiped by the

Getae The Getae ( ) or Gets ( ; grc, Γέται, singular ) were a Thracian-related tribe that once inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania. Both the singular form ''Get'' an ...

, probably related to the

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

god of storm and lightning,

Zibelthiurdos Zibelthiurdos is a Thracian god of heaven, lightning and rain, whose name is known mainly from epigraphic monuments. The only known reference to this god so far in ancient literature is in Cicero's speech against Pizon, where he is mentioned unde ...

.Tomashek, ''Die Alten Thraker'', II, page 62 He was represented as a handsome man, sometimes wearing a beard. The lightning and

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

were his manifestations. According to

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

, some

equated Gebeleizis with

Zalmoxis Zalmoxis ( grc-gre, Ζάλμοξις) also known as Salmoxis (Σάλμοξις), Zalmoxes (Ζάλμοξες), Zamolxis (Ζάμολξις), Samolxis (Σάμολξις), Zamolxes (Ζάμολξες), or Zamolxe (Ζάμολξε) is a divinity of the ...

as the same god. He is also known as the Dacian knight

Derzelas Derzelas (''Darzalas'') was a Dacian or Thracian chthonic god of abundance and the underworld, health and human spirit's vitality. Darzalas was the god of Hellenistic period Odessos (modern Varna) and was frequently depicted on itcoinagefrom the t ...

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.

Notes

External links

Dacian gods Thracian gods Thunder gods {{Europe-myth-stub