Getai

Getai
The Getai or Getae are a subdivision of the thracian tribes, called the Dacians by the Romans. Inhabiting the lands of modern day Romania and parts of Moldova, Serbia, and Bulgaria, they were distinctly different from their thracian brothers.

History
The Getae are mentioned for the first time together in Herodotus (4.93-97) in his narrative of the Scythian campaign of Darius I in 513 BC. According to Herodotus, the Getae differed from other Thracian tribes in their religion, centered around the god Zalmoxis whom some of the Getae called Gebeleizis.

The Greeks, founded in the mid-seventh century BC several colonies and commercial settlements such as Histria on the shore of Lake Sinoe, Tomis, Argamon, Kallatis, and Tyras, on the western and northern shores of the Black Sea. These settlements played a vital role in the development of the Getai and Skythai due to their multiple economic contacts, political relationships, cultural developments, and economic exchanges with the local communities. Close relationships formed between the Getai and Hellenes that led to the gradual Hellenization of the native tribes. Hellenic ceramic goods, luxury items, and superior oils and wines spread throughout Dobrogea and beyond to Moldavia, Muntenia, and Oltenia. Rapid cultural progress took place. Some tribes, including the Getai, founded powerful political organizations led by dynasts during the sixth to the third centuries BC. Herodotos relates in his "Histories" that during the expedition led by the Persai King Dareios I against the Skythai north of the Black Sea, in the year 513 the Getai resisted the advance of the Persian Army, but were enslaved though they "were the most manly and law-abiding of the tribes of the Thraikes." Later, Thoukydides speaks of the same Getai fighting alongside the Odrysian King Sitalkes adgainst the allies of Athenai in the Peloponesian War of 429 BC.

Philip II of theKingdom of Macedon, in order to punish the Skythai king Ateas for his treachery, concluded an alliance with the Getic King Kothelas. This alliance was consecrated by the marriage of Kothelas's daughter Meda to Philippos in 339 BC. The Getai and Makedones drove the Skythai from Kallatis and Kothelas became the master of the Black Sea colonies. Philip's son, Alexander, undertook an expedition against the Triballoi in the year 335 BC, in preparation for his great Persian campaign. The legendary general defeated the Triballoi and made a brief expedition north of the Danube against the Getai who mustered an army of 4,000 horseman and 10,000 infantry that was soundly defeated. The peace was short-lived, however, as around 325 BC the military governor of Thraike was killed together with his entire army by a Getic-Skythian combined force.

This victory, combined with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, weakened Makedonian control in the region and allowed the Getai to become the dominant political factor in the region. The tribes offered vital assistance to the Hellenic colonies on the Black Sea coast, led by Kallatis in their struggle against the Makedonian Lysimachos, the King of Thraike.

Religion
The worship of Zalmoxis was key to the daily lives of the Getai people. Unique among almost all the people of Europe, he was the only god they worshipped. He was orginally a slave of Pythagoras, who taught him the sciences of the skies and the concept of Paradise, where one would pass after death to enjoy all possible blessings for all eternity. He was later in life freed, and was able to aquire great wealth. He returned home to teach his people about the immortality of the soul.

Sometime later he had a subterranean chamber constructed (some accounts refer a natural cave) on the holy mountain of Kogainon, to which he withdrew for three years (some say he descended into Hades itself). After his disappearance, his people thought he was dead and mourned him greatly, but after those three years he showed himself again convincing the people of his teachings, as they thought of it as a resurrection of sorts. Word spread out, and his became the primary cult among the Getai and much later, the first great Dacian king Burebista reset their calendar to the traditional year of his birth.

Current Events
Honouring their old alliances with the greek city-states on the Black Sea coast, they are currently marching in their aid agaisnt the Self Appointed King Lysimachos. Along with the new Odrysian Kingdom in the south they are waging war agaisnt the Macedonian King. Many serve directly under King Seuthes IV in his armies, while others march under their own banner, lead by Zalmodegikos per Buridava.