Thracian horseman

The Thracian rider is both a Thracian deity as well as a Thracian hero who is referred to as a hero or Thracian horseman hero. The armed horsemen embodies a warlike god, and is represented as a stylized figure of a horseman. So far this tab cult were found over 2500 Weihdenkmäler. The Thracian Horseman ( century AD 1st - 3rd ) was worshiped in many Thracian sanctuaries of the Roman era.

The Thracian horseman is an early testimony of the religious life of the Thracians. There is a local cult, even if he was subjected to Greek and Roman influences. The local origin of the cult of the Thracian horsemen also arises from the ethical origin of Widmer ( Dedikanten ) the Weihdenkmäler and the epithet of divine rider.

Representation

The Thracian horseman is represented in scenes of hunting or just on the move. In more complex scenes, the rider can move on to an altar, in which a tree stands with a snake that winds around its branches. At the altar is still sometimes a woman depicted, sometimes several women and / or sacrificial animals. Sometimes the rider is also accompanied by a dog or a helper. Spear and prey are often the iconographic attributes of the Holy Thracian horseman. The picture of Thracian horseman was found on various artifacts from the pre-Roman era. The image of riding Tsar or the divine rider decorated applications to bridle ( for example treasure of Letnischki, Treasure of Lukowit - 4th century BC), to vessels or to rings. Most of these items are made ​​from precious metals and are related with the reign of the Tsar or the Thracian cults ( mystery ).

The Pictures tab of the Thracians from the pre-Roman period, which represented a mounted deity of the Thracians, had no fixed typicality. Iconographically two types of Thracian horseman be distinguished, first, the quiet seated rider, who holds in his right hand usually a patera (drinking cup), second is the mounted hunters.

The representation of the Thracian horseman grew and survived well in Christian art, in which the Holy Demetrius, St. George and St. Menas are shown as mounted warriors. Nowadays, the representations of Saint George, Saint Demetrios in the Orthodox world are particularly popular.

Some finds of votive tablets of the Thracian horseman in Dobrogea there is also a female figure, which was interpreted as the native to Asia Minor goddess Cybele. At two in Tomoi (today Constanta ) found votive reliefs sits right of the tab between two lions perched, Cybele. The people of the Phrygians in Asia Minor was closely related to the Thracians, as there had been in the 2nd and 1st millennium BC migration movements from the Thracian makdonischen room to Asia Minor. So also the Phrygian goddess Cybele Asia Minor was known to the Thracians in the Balkans. The cult of community between the Thracian rider god and the goddess native to Asia Minor was occupied by a Fund on the island of Thasos in the Aegean Sea. On the island that has been inhabited by the Thracians, a Greek dedicatory inscription was found on a marble door jamb from the first half of the 2nd century AD. The dedication is addressed to the Thracian hero, to Cybele and Dea Syria. Dea Syria wr known at the time of the Romans in the Thracian inland.

The Thracian Apollo Kendrisos, a syncretic blend of Apollo with the local Thracian God Kendrisos was the chief god of Philippopolis ( Plovdiv today ) and was shown on stone votive reliefs as Thracian horseman.

Dissemination

In Thrace, which are mainly restricted to the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, the equestrian statue found several times on objects of toreutic ( Artistry in metals ) and glyptic ( glyptic ). But even in the region of ancient Macedonia (now Greece, eastern Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria ) of the Thracian horseman was detected. It is interesting to its spread in the Greek cities on the Black Sea coast as Apollonia, Mesembria or Odesos.

To the west, the number of discoveries decreases rapidly. Also in the Dacian territories (now Romania) there are relatively sparse finds of the Thracian horseman. Sporadic finds of the Thracian horseman in other areas are probably due to the deployment of Roman troops of Thracian origin.

The oldest votive and grave reliefs with representations of the Thracian horseman originated on the west coast of the Black Sea and in the northern Aegean area. They originated no later than the pre-Hellenistic period. In contrast, the first stone votive reliefs of the Thracian horseman inland appeared only in the middle of the 2nd century AD. With the increasing Gräzisierung the region it came to the mass production of votive reliefs, Ordination stone altars and votive statuettes, now ( dedication or dedication) these dedications came from the middle and lower classes of the towns, and of peasants and soldiers. The place in the middle of the 3rd century by the barbarian invasions in the Balkans to an end.

In Karasura (east of Plovdiv ) a plurality of reliefs of the Thracian horseman was found. In the castle Iatrus ( on the Danube, east of Svishtov ) there was a finding of a relief of the Thracian horseman was reported by the inscriptions as a carrier of a particular trait of the Roman god Apollo.

Iconography and epigraphy

The iconography is the subject of interpretation, the Epigraphy is the Inscription. As scientific methods of art history they help in understanding.

Generally little is known about the mythology of the prehistoric Balkans ( Iron Age ). At the Thracian cult places Thracian deities were worshiped with security already in pre-Roman times and then later with similar functions Greek and partly Roman gods identified ( interpretatio graeca and interpretatio romana ).

During Roman times, the cult of the Thracian horseman was then spread almost all over the ancient Balkans - Provinces Thracia ( Thrace ), Moesia ( Moesia ) and Scythia Minor. The Thracian horseman is also referred to as the " Thracian Heros ". The (now Varna ) is in Odesos by the Thracian name of the hero " Karabazamos ". Karabazamos is a god of the underworld, who is usually depicted on funeral statues as a horseman, who kills a beast with a spear.

On votive reliefs, the rider represents the Thracian God himself, on grave stelae, however, the rider heroised the deceased is, which was aligned to the deity.

Examples of Thracian horseman were Greek Hero reliefs. On inscriptions of the Thracian horseman is sometimes referred to as a hero. The Heroenverehrunung the Greeks had direct contact points with the Thracian rider.

That this Thracian hero really was a God, is in some findings evidenced by inscriptions bearing the words " God " ( deos ) and "Lord." Often next to the word " hero " is also a Greek or Roman gods name.

Despite the widespread use of the Thracian Thracian horseman in the room and the relatively uniform representation of it but this is not a Thracian All- God within the meaning of monotheism. The Thracian rider or hero has emerged as a local deity on the bottom of the Ostbalkanraumes. Influences from the East or from oriental cultures were not found there.

To the religious worldview of the Thracians also included the, riding on a doe, Diana (Artemis), or the wine god Dionysus and riding on a ram Hermes.

Following the Thracian Horsemen of the Danubian Rider ( Rider danubischer God ) was created, which is predominantly found in Dacia. Its main attribute is a fish. Thracian horseman and Danubischer riders are an expression of the rider cult in Southeast Europe.

Madara Horseman

Main article: Madara Rider

One of the most famous depictions of the mounted warrior in Bulgaria is the Madara Rider, the rock relief as emblazoned in 23 m height on a 100 m high cliff and is shown almost life-size. He is accompanied by a dog and pierced with his lance a lion. In addition to the relief proto Bulgarian inscriptions have been preserved in the Greek language. Some researchers assign the Madara Horseman of the Thracian performing arts tradition. Others are convinced that he is Proto-Bulgarian origin, as on the relief a stirrup is shown and the stirrups in ancient times was not known.