Herodot. Notă filologică privind două probleme controversate

Abstract

Herodotus. A Philological Note on Two Controversial Issues

On the basis of Herodotus’ references to the life of the Getic (C. IV, 94), the author investigates two controversial issues: 1 the monotheist, henotheist or polytheist character of the Getic religion and 2 the meaning of the rite of shooting arrows towards the sky during a storm. Regarding the first controversy, after analyzing the Greek text in comparison with its Romanian versions, the author reaches the conclusion that Herodotus pleads for the monotheism of the Getic religion, though without excluding the henotheist type, while the polytheist meaning is deduced by scholars and not expressed by Herodotus himself. In relation to the second controversy, the author proposes a new lecture of the verb άπειλέουσι. All the translators, be they Romanians or foreigners, have translated this term by “to threaten”. The author of this article proposes the meaning of “to let know” or “to promise help”, supporting the idea of solidarity between the Getic and their god. This meaning is recorded in the large Greek vocabul ries, but it hasn’t been chosen by translators. In conclusions, the author pleads for a dissociation between the Greek text and its equivalent in modern translations, and, through his new lecture, he offers a philological basis to the intuition of Pârvan, who sustained the solidarity of the Getic with their deity. However the controversial issues discussed in this article remain open as Herodotus’ testimonies, not based on direct knowledge of the Getic religion, have an unclear historical value.