Talk:Ctistae

Proposed Deletion

This article started out as a piece of New Age bullshit, and never at any time in the past FIVE years moved beyond that in any way. I deleted all the OR junk, but left in the lead sentence just in case anyone wants to see if they could source it, or improve the article with solid, reliable, peer-reviewed sources. I'll give it a couple of months before putting the article up for deletion.Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 15:17, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

Priest class

The Ktistai (Ctistae) was the name given to either one of the priest groups, or to the priest entire class with the Thracians\ Dacians. According to Stabo (who cited some Poseidonius) they refrained from eating animals for religious reasons, following the teachings of Zalmoxis, and only ate cheese and honey, leading peaceful lives; they also lived separately from women (Geography, VII, 3, 3; 3, 5). Modern researchers offer other interpretations, for example Vasile Parvan named them "founder of cities", and claimed the term Ktistai is of Greek origin; I. I. Russu considered the term to be of Dacian\ Getic origin, meaning "the shining" (apparently being inspired by Stabo's description of K. as being revered by their "compatriots"); D. Decev interpreted the term as "those that abstain from earthly pleasures"; A. Bodor called them "the great ones" (again, most likely referring to Stabo's mention of reverence). The term Kapnobatai, which Stabo also mentions in relation to them, was translated by V. Parvan as "those that travel by clouds", though A. Bodor and G.A. Stratanovski offered a different version "those that travel by smoke", in relation to their diet. Some went even further and changed this to "those that swallow smoke", implying that their food was light as smoke (as per G.A. Stratanovski). A. Bodor suggested that this name might have come from the act of using smoke in religious ceremonies, and the resulting oracular effects. M. Eliade (in his book "From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan") further elaborated on this by claiming that it was not just any smoke, but cannabis smoke, and that both the Scythians and Thracians used it in religious ceremonies in order to gain an ecstatic trance, he thus called the Ktistai or the Kapnobatai - shamans. A certain Iosephus Flavius (in his "Antiquities of the Jews") used the term "Pleistoi" in relation to the K., and claimed they were a sect of Essenes. Researchers such as N. Gostar and V. Lica suggested the term K. refers to the entire class of priest with the Dacians\ Thracians\ Getae. Either way, some changes need to be made to the article.--92.114.148.141 (talk) 19:18, 17 June 2017 (UTC)