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Paleo-Balkan Mythology
Paleo-Balkan mythology is the group of religious beliefs held by Paleo-Balkan-speaking peoples in ancient times, including Illyrian, Thracian and Dacian mythologies. Horseman The horseman was a common Palaeo-Balkan hero. The original Palaeo-Balkan word for 'horseman' has been reconstructed as ''*Me(n)zana-'', with the root ''*me(n)za-'' 'horse'. It is based on evidence provided by: * Albanian: ''mëz'' or ''mâz'' 'foal', with the original meaning of 'horse' that underwent a later semantic shift 'horse' > 'foal' after the loan from Latin ''caballus'' into Albanian ''kalë'' 'horse'; the same root is also found in Albanian: ''mazrek'' ' horse breeder'; p. 45. * Messapic: ''menzanas'', appearing as an epithet in '' Zis Menzanas'', found in votive inscriptions, and in ''Iuppiter Menzanas'', mentioned in a passage written by Festus in relation to a Messapian horse sacrifice; * Romanian: ''mînz''; * Thracian: ΜΕΖΗΝΑ̣Ι ''mezēnai'', found in the inscription of the Duv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleo-Balkan Languages
The Paleo-Balkan languages are a geographical grouping of various Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times. In antiquity, Dacian, Greek, Illyrian, Messapic, Paeonian, Phrygian and Thracian were the Paleo-Balkan languages which were attested in literature. They may have included other unattested languages. Paleo-Balkan studies are obscured by the scarce attestation of these languages outside of Ancient Greek and, to a lesser extent, Messapic and Phrygian. Although linguists consider each of them to be a member of the Indo-European family of languages, the internal relationships are still debated. A Palaeo-Balkanic or Balkanic Indo-European branch has been proposed in recent research, comprising the Albanoid or Illyric ( Albanian- Messapic), Armenian, and Graeco-Phrygian ( Hellenic- Phrygian) subbranches. Regardless of the name, there is no direct evidence to support the location for the hypothetical common ancestor of thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextus Pompeius Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus, usually known simply as Festus, was a Ancient Rome, Roman Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo (Narbonne) in Gaul. Work He made a 20-volume epitome of Verrius Flaccus's voluminous and encyclopedic treatise ''De verborum significatione''. Flaccus had been a celebrated grammarian who flourished in the reign of Caesar Augustus, Augustus. Festus gives the etymology as well as the meaning of many words, and his work throws considerable light on the language, mythology and antiquities of ancient Rome. He made a few alterations, and inserted some critical remarks of his own. He also omitted such ancient Latin words as had long been obsolete; these he apparently discussed in a separate work now lost, entitled ''Priscorum verborum cum exemplis''. Even incomplete, Festus' lexicon reflects at second hand the enormous intellectual effort that had been made in the Augustan Age to put together informati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In Classical Antiquity
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. It is an essentially contested concept. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith,Tillich, P. (1957) ''Dynamics of faith''. Harper Perennial; (p. 1). and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sacred texts, symbols, and holy places, that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena. Relig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zalmoxianism
Zalmoxianism () or Zamolxianism () is a Neopagan movement in Romania which promotes the rebuilding of an ethnic religion and spirituality of the Romanians through a process of reconnection to their ancient Dacian and Thracian roots. The religion takes its name from Zalmoxis or Zamolxe, at the same time the name of the primordial god and the archetype of the enlightened man in Paleo-Balkan mythology. Scholars Bakó and Hubbes (2011) have defined Zalmoxianism, like the other ethnic religious revivals of Europe, as a reconstructionist ethno-paganism. Origins The reconstruction of ancient Dacian and Thracian religion and mythology has been strictly connected with the field of dacology. Amongst contemporary supporters of Zalmoxianism, the emigrant dacologist Octavian Sărbătoare even proposed to make it the official religion of Romania. Organisations The Gebeleizis Society The "Gebeleizis Society" ( Romanian: ''Societatea Gebeleizis''), though far from being the only Zalmoxia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albanian Folk Beliefs
Albanian paganism comprises the pagan customs, beliefs, rituals, myths and legends of the Albanian people. The elements of Albanian mythology are of ancient Paleo-Balkanic origin and almost all of them are pagan. Ancient paganism persisted among Albanians, and especially within the inaccessible and deep interior – where Albanian folklore evolved over the centuries in a relatively isolated tribal culture and society – it has continued to persist, or at most it was partially transformed by the Christian, Muslim and Marxist beliefs that were either to be introduced by choice or imposed by force.; ; ; . The Albanian traditional customary law ( Kanun) has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes. Indeed, the Kanun contains several customary concepts that clearly have their origins in pagan beliefs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illyrian Religion
Illyrian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the Illyrian peoples, a group of tribes who spoke the Illyrian languages and inhabited part of the western Balkan Peninsula from at least the 8th century BC until the 7th century AD. The available written sources are very tenuous. They consist largely of personal and place names, and a few glosses from Classical sources. Still insufficiently studied, the most numerous traces of religious practices of the pre-Roman era are those relating to religious symbolism. Symbols are depicted in every variety of ornament and reveal that the chief object of the prehistoric cult of the Illyrians was the Sun, worshipped in a widespread and complex religious system. The Illyrian Sun-deity is figuratively represented on Iron Age plaques as the god of the sky and lightning, also associated with the fire altar where he throws lightning bolts. Illyrian deities were mentioned in inscriptions on statues, monuments, and coins of the Rom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The Western Roman Empire, western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the Byzantine Empire, eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by List of Roman civil wars and revolts, civil wars and political conflicts, which culminated in the Wars of Augustus, victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power () and the new title of ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thracian Horseman
The Thracian horseman (also "Thracian Rider" or "Thracian Heroes") is a recurring Motif (visual arts), motif depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic and Roman Empire, Roman periods in the Balkans—mainly Thrace, Macedonia (region), Macedonia, Thessaly and Moesia—roughly from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. Inscriptions found in Romania identify the horseman as ''Heros'' and ''Eros'' (Latin transcriptions of Ἥρως) and also Herron and Eron (Latin transcriptions of Ἥρων), apparently the word ''Greek hero cult, heroes'' used as a proper name. He is sometimes addressed in inscriptions merely as κύριος, δεσπότης or ἥρως. The Thracian horseman is depicted as a hunter on horseback, riding from left to right. Between the horse's hooves is depicted either a hunting dog or a boar. In some instances, the dog is replaced by a lion. Its depiction is in the tradition of the funerary steles of Roman cavalrymen, with the addition of sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thracian Language
The Thracian language () is an extinct and Attested language, poorly attested language, spoken in ancient times in Southeast Europe by the Thracians. The linguistic affinities of the Thracian language are Classification of Thracian, poorly understood, but it is generally agreed that it was an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language. The point at which Thracian became extinct is a matter of dispute. However, it is generally accepted that Thracian was still in use in the 6th century AD: Antoninus of Piacenza (pilgrim), Antoninus of Piacenza wrote in 570 that there was a monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai, at which the monks spoke Koine Greek, Greek, Latin, Syriac language, Syriac, Coptic language, Egyptian, and Bessian – a Thracian dialect. A classification put forward by Harvey Mayer, suggests that Thracian (and Dacian language, Dacian) belonged to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of Indo-European, or at least is closer to Baltic than any other Indo-European br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanian Language
Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin which separated from the Italo-Western languages, Western Romance languages in the course of the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries. To distinguish it within the Eastern Romance languages, in comparative linguistics it is called ''#Dialects, Daco-Romanian'' as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian language, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian, and Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian. It is also spoken as a minority language by stable communities in the countries surrounding Romania (Romanians in Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Romanians in Hungary, Hungary, Romanians in Serbia, Serbia and Romanians in Ukraine, Ukraine), and by the large Romanian diaspora. In total, it is spoken by 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Messapians
The Messapians were an Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respectively. All three tribes spoke the Messapian language, but had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC. The Messapians lived in the eponymous region Messapia, which extended from Leuca in the southeast to Kailia and Egnatia in the northwest, covering most of the Salento peninsula. This region includes the Province of Lecce and parts of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto today. Starting in the third century BC, Greek and Roman writers distinguished the indigenous population of the Salento peninsula differently. According to Strabo, the names ''Iapygians'', ''Daunians'', ''Peucetians'' and ''Messapians'' were exclusively Greek and not used by the natives, who divided the Salento in two parts. The southern and Ionian part of the peninsula was the territory of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zis (deity)
Zis (Messapic: 𐌆𐌉𐌔) is a sky and lightning god in Messapian religion, occupying the most prominent role. The theonym is the equivalent and cognate of Albanian '' Zojz'' and Greek ''Zeus'', all from Proto-Indo-European '' *Di̯ḗu̯s'' 'sky god'. ''Zis'' appears in several votive inscriptions in the Messapic alphabet from Salento in Southern Italy. Name Attestation The divine name appears in several votive epigraphic texts in the Messapic alphabet from Salento is attested in inscriptions starting from the early 6th century BCE. Etymology ''Zis'' is the Messapic continuation of '' *Di̯ḗu̯s'', the name of the Proto-Indo-European daylight-sky-god. Cognates stemming from the noun ''*Di̯ḗu̯s'' with a similar phonological development are the Albanian '' Zojz'' and Greek ''Zeus''. In the Messapic ''Zis'', Albanian ''Zoj-z'', and Greek ''Ζεύς'', the original cluster ''*di̯'' of ''*di̯ḗu̯s'' underwent affrication to ''*dz''. The Tarentine god ''Dís'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
