The Thracian horseman is the name given to a recurring motif of a horseman depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the Balkans. Inscriptions found in Romania identify the horseman as Heros, apparently the wordheros used as a proper name. 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.
Late Roman syncretism
The Cult of the Thracian horseman was especially important in Philippi, where the Heros had the epithets of soter and epekoos "answerer of prayers". Funerary stelae depicting the horseman belong to the middle or lower classes. The motif 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. 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.
Twin horsemen
Related to the Dioscuri motif is the so-called "Danubian Horsemen" motif of two horsemen flanking standing goddess. 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 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. The motif of the Thracian horseman was continued in Christianised form in the equestrian iconography of both Saint George and Saint Demetrius.
Gallery
;Hunter motif ;Serpent-and-tree ;Rider and goddess ;Greco-Roman comparanda ;Medieval comparanda
