Thracian horseman

The Thracian horseman (also "Thracian Rider" or "Thracian Heroes") is a recurring motif depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the Balkans—mainly Thrace, 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 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 syncretistic elements from Hellenistic and Paleo-Balkanic religious or mythological tradition.
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:
Images of the Thracian Horseman appear in Thrace and in Lower Moesia, but also in Upper Moesia among Thracian populations and Thracian soldiers. According to Vladimir Toporov (1990), a initial number of iconographies number 1,500, found in modern Bulgaria and in Yugoslavia.
The horseman was a common Palaeo-Balkan hero.
The motif depicted on reliefs most likely represents a composite figure, a Thracian heroes possibly based on Rhesus, the Thracian king mentioned in the Iliad, to which Scythian, Hellenistic and possibly other elements had been added.
The Cult of the Thracian horseman was especially important in Philippi, where the Heros had the epithets of Hero Auloneites, soter ('saviour') and epekoos 'answerer of prayers'. Funerary stelae depicting the horseman belong to the middle or lower classes (while the upper classes preferred the depiction of banquet scenes).
Under the Roman Emperor Gordian III the god on horseback appears on coins minted at Tlos, in neighboring Lycia, and at Istrus, in the province of Lower Moesia, between Thrace and the Danube.
In the Roman era, the "Thracian horseman" iconography is further syncretised. The rider is now sometimes shown as approaching a tree entwined by a serpent, or as approaching a goddess. These motifs are partly of Greco-Roman and partly of possible Scythian origin. The motif of a horseman with his right arm raised advancing towards a seated female figure is related to Scythian iconographic tradition. It is frequently found in Bulgaria, associated with Asclepius and Hygeia.
Stelai dedicated to the Thracian Heros Archegetas have been found at Selymbria.
Inscriptions from Bulgaria give the names Salenos and Pyrmerula/Pirmerula.
Apart from syncretism with other deities (such as Asclepios, Apollo, Sabatius), the figure of the Thracian Horseman was also found with several epithets: Karabasmos, Keilade(i)nos, Manimazos, Aularchenos, Aulosadenos, Pyrmeroulas. One in particular was found in Avren, dating from the III century CE, with a designation that seems to refer to horsemanship: Outaspios, and variations Betespios, Ephippios and Ouetespios.
Bulgarian linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev proposed the following interpretations to its epithets:
Bulgarian linguist Ivan Duridanov [bg] interpreted the following theonyms:
Related to the Dioscuri motif is the so-called "Danubian Horsemen" motif of two horsemen flanking a standing goddess. These "Danubian horsemen" are thus called due to their reliefs being found in the Roman province of Danube. However, some reliefs have also been found in Roman Dacia - which gives the alternate name for the motif: "Dacian Horseman". Scholarship locates its diffusion across Moesia, Dacia, Pannonia and Danube, and, to a lesser degree, in Dalmatia and Thracia.
The motif of a standing goddess flanked by two horsemen, identified as Artemis flanked by the Dioscuri, and a tree entwined by a serpent flanked by the Dioscuri on horseback was transformed into a motif of a single horseman approaching the goddess or the tree.
The Madara Rider is an early medieval large rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen, in northeastern Bulgaria. The monument is dated in the c. 7th/8th century, during the reign of Bulgar Khan Tervel. In 1979 became enlisted on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The relief incorporates elements of the autochthonous Thracian cult.
The motif of the Thracian horseman was continued in Christianised form in the equestrian iconography of both Saint George and Saint Demetrius.
The motif of the Thracian horseman is not to be confused with the depiction of a rider slaying a barbarian enemy on funerary stelae, as on the Stele of Dexileos, interpreted as depictions of a heroic episode from the life of the deceased.