Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
The Iconography of the Antique Hero in the Balkan Area 161 that the male personage is represented in a hunting activity type - he wears a chlamys and holds a spear (PI. 1/1-2), but as well as a full armed warrior (PI. 1/3), which might suggest the fact that the two activities were somehow analogue, hunting being a metaphor of the warfare, namely a simulacrum of the activity which the male was to encounter (Alexandrescu 1983, 52). This type of rider-horse depictions is specific not only to the Gaeto-Thracian world, thus it might be encountered on the appliqués discovered in the Scythian tomb from Oguz (PI. 1/5), but as well on the rython from Kerci, Ukraine (PI. 2/1), where is depicted a rider who attacks with his spear, similarly to the one on the Agighiol helmet or on the Letnita appliqués. Moreover, for the area inhabited by the Sarmathians we mention two phalerae from Krivaja Luka (Pi. 2/3) discovered in a tomb dated around 100 BC, which depict two riders with spears, very similar to the ones form the Gaeto-Thracian area (Särbu-Florea 2000, 106), performing the same hunting-initiatic activity. Moreover, some images present on the coins issued by Alexander the Great illustrate the mounted rider armed with two spears, images which fall in the same symbolistic area (Sárbu-Florea 1997, 54). A detailed analysis of the pieces dated to the 5th-3rd century BC suggest the fact that the representations from this period are characterized by the stereotype attitudes and attributes. The riders depicted on the artefacts from this period do not distinguish themselves, but rather mix themselves through the attitude, the garment and attributes. Thus, three moments of the myth might be identified: the rider is represented as a youth, without beard, walking his horse. We might consider that this moment represents the first phase of the initiation ritual which aimed at training the male in order to take part in battle, acquiring thus the skills needed in warfare. The next moment is exemplified by the beard rider, dressed in a princely garment (with the cnemid), killing the boar and the bear during an initiatic trial. Due to his strength and courage, he succeeds in obtaining a new social status. The final moment of this process is represented by the ritual procession in which the rider, represented as a full grown man, holds in his right hand a vase for libation. These three moments to which the rider was subjected might allude to a heroized dynast, hypothesis sustained as well by the Sveshtari fresco (Nemeti 2000, 124-125). Unlike previous representations, during the 2nd century BC-lst century AD the artefacts are characterized by an inferior artistic style and, on the other hand, by a greater variety of materials and a reduction of the motives depicted. Thus, the rider is no longer represented only as a warrior, but as well as an unarmed rider (maybe hunter). Sometimes, a female personage appears depicted together with him (Lupu, PI. 2/4; Iakimovo). An important element is the utility of the objects on which he is represented: silver phalerae, the mastos and the kantharos from Räcätäu, pieces with a clear ritual function. Therefore, it might be possible that this time the representation allude to a divine personage, or maybe a personage which achieved a divine status. The above mentioned artefacts make reference to the fact that the hunt had heroic connotations and close links to warfare, indicating the mans skills for participation in civic and military life (Barringer 2001,42). Hunting and fighting are activities of brave adult men, and they can be done heroically; that is, heroes hunt and fight, and so do real men. The latter are like heroes when facing extraordinary danger unflinchingly and successfully (Scheibler 1987, 86, 88-89). For the pre-Roman period in the Balkan area, we might distinguish several representations of an equestrian rider of divine or semi-divine nature, which later, during Roman period, have been replaced by certain deities whose name and functions are still not clearly deciphered: Thracian Hero and Danubian Riders.
