Salmoxis

A cult leader from Thrake (Thrace).

There is a strange entry in the Histories by Herodotus of a man named Salmoxis; the people of Thrake said that this man had been a slave of the renowned mathematician, Pythagoras, and had come to Thrake from the island of Samos; Herodotus did not place too much credence in the stories told about Salmoxis because he believed that Salmoxis lived many years before Pythagoras but the fact that he relates this strange story demonstrates his curiosity and fairness.

Salmoxis was said to have established a home in Thrake and, compared to the local inhabitants, he was a man of education and culture; he entertained guests at his home and soon became, what can only be called, a cult leader; he promised his followers that anyone who drank with him, and their descendants, would not die but rather be taken to a place where they would live forever and have all manner of good things; while he was pontificating to his followers, he was secretly constructing an underground dwelling beneath his house; one day he vanished into his hideout and stayed hidden for three years; when he emerged on the forth year, his followers were convinced that his promises were credible and that he was indeed a prophet; to blunt the impact of this story, Herodotus says boldly that the people of Thrake lived hard lives and were rather stupid.

• Histories, book 4, chapters 95 and 96