Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
The Iconography of the Antique Hero in the Balkan Area 167 As regarding the place of origin of the reliefs, it has been argued that the main zone of radiation embraces Dacia, Pannonia and Moesia, where approximately 80% of the monuments were discovered (Tudor 1976, 52). Of these, the number of the monuments with a single Rider is much lower in the two Moesiae than in Dacia which, in turn, yields only four reproductions of metal pieces - considered to be of later date than those in marble or stone. This situation made the Romanian researcher to conclude that the province with the most ancient, most numerous and most varied representations of the Danubian Rider is the province of Dacia. This area was followed by the territory Moesia Superior and Inferior and, lastly, Pannonia where appeared monuments belonging only to class В of representations. Another typology has been proposed by E. Will, using as main criteria the form of the monuments and the material, and only subordinated to these criteria, the iconography depicted. As regarding the origin, E. Will considered the area from the Lower Danube, namely the provinces of Moesia Superior and Inferior (Will 1955,89-96), and not the territory of Dacia. Nevertheless, the author considers that the model for the representations of a single rider has been represented by the monuments of the Thracian Rider, which, in turned, used the Greek model of the heroized dead (Will 1955, 116), while the Dioscuri have been the inspiration for the doubled Danubian Riders (Will 1955, 120). _A____________Iß_______________________|C_______________________________ Rectangular Rectangular reliefs and Pieces of bronze and lead reliefs, with one register, medalions, with two registers, made of stone or marble made of stone or marble 1 Simple rectangular a. Rectangular reliefs with an a. Simple rectangular reliefs with one reliefs, made of stone or arched upper part registers marble b. Medalions with two registers b. Rectangular reliefs with three registers, with an arched upper part 2 Reliefs with an arched Rectangular reliefs and Rectangular reliefs with multiple upper part. medalions, with three registers registers: a. With the upper part as two arcade b. With the form of aedicule c. without decor in the upper part 3 Medalions Table 3. Typology of the Danubian Rider reliefs, according to Nemeti 2005. A detailed analysis of these monuments highlights the fact that their classification based only on the stylistic and iconographic elements is hard to accomplish since there is no strict rule to their representation. The only elements that remain fixed are the two riders and the female personage, while the distinct element is the depiction of an enemy under the horses’ hooves, element present in Etruscan and as well Hellenistic art (Mackintosh 1986, 1-5) considered sometimes as the main element of the representation (Bíró 1996, 98). As a point towards this affirmation comes a relief discovered in 1903 on the Black Sea shore, from Chersonesus (Kalashnik 1997, 178-179). The relief, having the shape of an aedicula, with the main field divided in two registers, depicts the bust of the three deities, within the well-known scheme: the female personage flanked by two male personages. The second registry depicts once again the triad, this time the male personages rendered on horseback. This monument falls in neither of the classes adopted by D. Tudor, highlighting once again the need of a reassessment of the entire material. The sole analysis of the iconography is not enough in order to get a glimpse at the message conveyed by
