Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
The Iconography of the Antique Hero in the Balkan Area 163 the scenes where equestrian personages, most probably heroes, are engaged in an initiatory hunt, a very popular test in Macedonian art as well. This Macedonian source might have represented the model for the Greek art, being afterwards easily transported into the iconography of the Hero Rider depicted on the monuments discovered especially in the Balkan area. For the above mentioned depiction, the closest analogy in Thracian art is offered by the Letnita appliqués. Although apparently between these two types of representations there is no close analogy, the missing link might be represented by several discoveries from Anatolia, more precisely from Troy (PI. 2/2). The artefacts dated in the 4th-3rd c. BC depict an equestrian personage and, most of the times, a snake. The presence of the snake, more than any other motif, having a profound chthonic character, indicates the heroic nature of the personage (Barr 1996, 135). This model seems more close to the representation of Hero Rider than the depiction of the heroized dead from the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, this type of representation alludes to a Hero Rider very similar to the one from the Roman Times. The Hero Rider, known as well as The Thracian Rider, is a deity whose origins or main significance remain still unclear. The name of the deity is given by the geographic area where its monuments appeared in a significant number: on the territory of Thrace, on the neighbourhood territories (Moesiae) or in the territories where the Thracian population is attested. Of these areas, where approximately 2000 monuments have been unearthed (Dimitrova 2002,210), more than 65% of the monuments come from Moesia Inferior (Pentia Et Al. 1998, 256), which led to the conclusion that this deity had a Greek-Oriental origin (Barnea 2006, 101). Among the first to publish a relatively complete study regarding the monuments of the Thracian Rider was G. Kazarow who, in his study from 1938, managed to gather and classify all the available reliefs discovered on the territory of present Bulgaria. His typology became thus the standard typology in the field (see Table 1). Type A The horseman, rendered towards right, is facing a woman, an altar, and a snake-entwined tree. His horse is represented walking or standing still. Type В The horseman galloping, accompanied by a dog, sometimes by a lion, is attacking a boar. Type C The horseman returning from hunt. Table 1. Typology of the Thracian Rider Monuments, after Kazarow 1938. The general idea regarding the iconographical origin of the monuments representing the so-called Thracian Rider is that they are based on a Greek model, namely the iconography of the funerary reliefs which depict the heroized deceased (Dimitrova 2002, 220; Gocheva 1998, 123). The monuments brought as examples are the stele of Dexileos or the stele from Abdera (Kazarow 1938,7). Nevertheless, analyzing the reliefs discovered at Troy offer a new perspective on the problem, which lead to the idea that this type of reliefs are developed in a milieu strongly connected to the idea of hero-ruler (Barr 1996,135). The first monuments to be identified come from Thasos, and they are dated before the 5th century BC, not to mention the representations from the Thracian-Phrygian territories, from SE of lake Manyas, conventionally named Graeco- Persian, and dated to classical period (probably the 5th century BC), which depict the Hunting Rider (Picard 1956, 5). Greek funerary monuments which depict the heroized deceased are attested beginning with the end of the 6th century BC, being erected for those who died on the battle field (Boardman 1988, 419). Nevertheless, this type of monument will prevail during Roman times (Ridgeway 2000, 196). The significance of the horse on these monuments inscribes itself in the
