sign in sign up
<<
Home , Interpretatio graeca, Thrace, Thracian religion

HESPERIA 7I (2002) INSCRIPTIONSAND Pages209-229 ICONOGRAPHYIN THE MONUMENTSOF TH E TH RACIAN Rl DER

ABSTRACT

The Thracianrider monuments are either funerary or dedicatedto various .The inscriptionsprovide the onlycertain way to identiljrthe deities or the monument'stype. After examining the relationshipbetween inscriptions andiconography, I suggest in the presentstudythat the horseman is anicono- graphicalconvention for a /hero,and that his iconographyis borrowed fromGreek art. Interpreting the horsemanas a conventionalimage obviates thecurrent view that he representsa multifunctionalgod conflated with nearly everyGreek, Roman, Thracian, or Easterndivinity, and producesa better understandingof boththe monumenttype and cult.

The monumentsof the so-calledThracian rider present an extremecase of therelationship between epigraphy and art: the inscriptions are the only certainway to clarifythe iconography,identity, and cult of theThracian horseman.lMoreover, the inscriptions frequently provide the only reliable evidenceto determinethe type of monument(votive or funerary), since in manyinstances the findspotis of littlehelp mostreliefs are found in a secondarycontext, and their function is unclear.2 The term"Thracian rider" relief is usedto describemonuments of varyingsize, most typically stone slabs 30-40 cmwide and 20-30 cmhigh, whichdepict a rider,turned to the right(seldom to the left),his horse

1. The presentstudy originated as a CarolLawton of LawrenceUniversity zaraGoceva and Dimitar Popov, seminarpaper for CarolLawton's andKevin Clinton of CornellUniver- despiteour disagreement regarding the courseon votives,given at the Ameri- sityfor encouraging me to pursuemy so-calledinterpretatio graeca. I am also can Schoolof ClassicalStudies at researchon this fascinatingsubject gratefulto the anonymousHesperia Athensin the springof 2000.An andfor providing extremely helpful reviewersfor their corrections, all of abridgedversion was delivered in San anddetailed comments on numerous whichsubstantially enhanced the Diego on 6 January2001 at the Annual occasions.I wouldalso like to thank clarityof my argument. Meetingof the ArchaeologicalInstitute DimitarBoyadzhiev and Nikola All translationsare my own. of America,as partof thejoint APA Theodossievof SofiaUniversity and 2. See the discussionof specific andAIA panelaEpigraphy and the JeffreyRusten of CornellUniversity for monumentsand their findspots below, Arts." theirvaluable suggestions. I greatly pp.211-220. I owe immensegratitude to both appreciatethe expertcriticism of Zlato-

American School of Classical Studies at is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org NORADIMITROVA 2IO walking,galloping, or standing still. The rider is called"Thracian" because heappears on morethan 2,000 reliefs3 from at least 350 locations in , itsneighboring territories, and other places characterized byThracian pres- ence.4The earliestsurviving monuments are Hellenistic, but the majority dateto Romantimes. The mostpopular scenes have been classified as A)the horseman facing a woman,an altar, and a snake-entwinedtree, his horsewalking or standing still; B) thehorseman galloping and attacking a boar;and C) the horsemanreturning from hunting, carrying a deer.5In addition,there are many variants, and type C canbe viewed as a subtypeof typeB. There is no strictgeographical or temporal pattern in thedistribu- tionof thesetypes. The identityof the depictedhorseman is unknown.Fortunately, ap- proximatelya third of the monumentshave inscriptions. They are typi- callybelow the relief, in Greekor , and are generally straightforward inmeaning and form: the name of thedeity in thedative, usually followed bythe nameof the dedicant(s)in the nominative;or the nameof the de- ceased,sometimes preceded by Dis Manibusor @£Ox5KaxaxOovtots, and followedby typical epitaphial information. The inscriptionsare either vo- tive(about two-thirds of the sample)or funerary.The votiveexamples exhibitan unparalleledvariety of namesand epithets, all referringto the rider.He is called0£O5, Yipx5 xvptog 0£0g, xvptog rlpx5, , , Asklepios,Hephaistos, Sabazius, Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, , andthe Dioskouroi,in additionto numerouslocal names and epithets,6 suchas Karabasmos,Keilade(i)nos, Manimazos, Vetespios (Outaspios), Aularchenos,Aulosadenos, and Pyrmeroulas. The words0£05 andpxS areoften used interchangeably orboth together.7 Scholarshave remarked on the extraordinaryvariety of attributesap- parentlypossessed by theThracian horseman. Ivan Venedikov's descrip- tionis representative:the Thracian horseman appears with the attributes of nearlyevery Graeco-Roman , ranging from 's shell to 'helmet, from the Sun'sradiate crown to Asklepios'sserpent staff, fromApollo's to Silvanus'ssaw, to nameonly a few.8

dreikopfigenHund der 3. This numberis basedon pub- Britannia,southern Russia, Egypt, undvon dem begleitetwird wie die trike- lishedmonuments; since many others AsiaMinor, Tunisia, and Rome; see Unterwelt Gottindes Todes, Hekate, so areas yet unpublishedand others are CCETI,p. 1. phale anderen allerdingsauLerst beingexcavated, a precise total is im- 5. Thesetypes are defined and ap- tragter auf Denkmalern eine possibleto calculate.The maincollec- pliedby Kacarov,"Denkmaler," passim. seltenvertretenen aufseinem Haupte und tions(corpora and catalogues), which Theyare by no meansstrict categories, Strahlenkrone von denBusten des complementeach other, include butused for convenienceby Kacarov ist flankiert In anderenMonumen- KacarovaDenkmiler";CCET; LIMC andthe editorsof CCET.This classifi- undder . ThrakischeReiter auf- VI.1,1992, pp. 1018-1081,pls. 673- cationis not usedin the presentpaper. tenwird der als Gott derFruchtbarkeit und 719, s.v.Heros Equitans (H. Koukouli- 6. On the epithetsof theThracian gefaLt Aphroditeeine Muschel oder Chrysanthaki,V. Machaira, P. Pantos, horseman,see especiallyGoceva 1992. haltwie Nimbushinter seinem et al.);IGBulg; Gerov, Inscriptiones. 7. E.g., CCETII.1335 is a dedica- hat sie als kannferner angetan sein mit Subsequentreferences to Koukouli- tion 0rx p AsoExv; 331 0rx Ka- Kopfe.Er desAres, kann in seiner Chrysanthakiet al.in LIMCVI.1 sv; 365 p KaspNv; II.2 655 demHelm furAsklepios typischen areabbreviated as LIMCVI. 1. and656 0rx o Baax8C0La. Handden halten,erscheint mit der 4. Thraciansserved in the Roman 8. Venedikov1979, p. 2: "Obwohler Schlangenstab desApollon, dem Waldmesser armyand are attested in Pannonia, nurauf wenigen Reliefs drei Kopfe hat Kithara MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 2II The prevailinghypothesis is thatthe Thracianrider is an advanced caseof religioussyncretism, conflated with nearlyevery Greek, Roman, Thracian,or Easterndivinity.9 In mostof the relevantscholarship he is viewedas an all-purposegod, a significantstep on the wayto monothe- ism,if not monotheismper se.l° The mainproblem with the conceptof religioussyncretism in thiscase is that,although one can easily understand thephenomenon whereby two or three deities from different cultures, but with moreor less similarfunctions, are conflated as a resultof historical interaction,it is muchmore difficult to imagineone deitybeing merged withnumerous other or heroes, whose cults and traditions are hardly compatible.How did thisreligious concept function? How didworship- perswho up a thank-offeringor madea vowin hopeof well-being,or individualswho erected a gravemonument, perceive this deity?

INSCRIPTIONS AND ICONOGRAPHY

My approachto theproblem outlined above is basedon a monument-by- monumentexamination of the relationshipbetween inscription and ico- nography.The difficultiesencountered can be illustratedby two groups of examples:Group I consistsof differenttypes of monumentswith identical iconographicalfeatures; and Group II exhibitsthe samedivinity's name on monumentswith different iconography.

GROUP I Thefirst group includes the two most popular scenes in theThracian rider's iconography:the horsemanfacing a snake-entwinedtree and the horse- manas a hunter.The firstof thesescenes is illustratedby CCETI 34, 40, 162, IV 29, andIGBulg IV 2134 (Figs.1-2). These monumentsshare identicaliconographical elements: the horseman,wearing a chlamysand des Silvanusund dem Szepterdes holdingthe reinsin his righthand, is turnedto the right,facing a snake- .So erscheintdieser eigenartige entwinedtree and an altar;the horseis waLcing(not standing still or gal- undrecht ungewohnliche thrakische loping,as on othermonuments). Normally such similarity would suggest Gott in Funktionenund ausgestattet areone andthe same. mit Attributenfast aller graco- thatthe figuresdepicted romischenGottheiten." The inscriptions,however, reveal a differentpicture. CCETI 34 from 9. The extensiveliterature in which Odessus,northeast , is a dedicationto the heroKarabasmos: theThracian rider is considereda result of syncretismis not quotedhere for AyaOrittuX[YIt] purposesof economy.One of the earlier VHpxKapa,BasCux £vXaptcptov xotvxvox ox =£pt andbriefer accounts can be foundin M£vav8pov* . AsoBxvtov xat @£08Xp0V @£08Xp0V Venedikov1963. For a morerecent [xaxAsoB]vtov @£utcraxat @tXO4£VOV @tXO4£VOV discussion,see Werner1999, pp. 59- [xax- - -]pa H £V@VOS xax A0T£CUL8XPOV,8 121.This is alsothe viewexpressed in LIMCVl.l, p. 1066,n. 28. av£0Nxav. 10. E.g.,Fol andMarazov 1977, The monumentwas found in a LateAntique necropolis in thevicinity of p. 17:"One wonders if this herowas apparentlyin a secondarycontext. If not the representationof a universal Pazarenploshtad (Market Square"), god,revered by allthe Thracian tribes, it hadlacked an inscription, scholars would reasonably have considered it eachof whichgave him a localname." a gravemonument. t - tCJ t -- t$-3 X 3 [;W22X007 Figure 1. Thracian rider relief.

2I2 NORA DIMITROVA

m X S inv 180 CourtesyMuseum

CCET I 40 (Fig. 1), alsofrom Odessus, is a dedicationto the hero Manimazos: aboverelief: "HtoxMavxFaL,x belowrelief: 'Esxaxoc,Nrxoctov vsrto v vtxv Nrtoctovocax'Aya- 0Nvotoog xatoxcerqtotov. Themonument was found at 8 NoemvriStreet, near the ruinsof the Ro- manthermae, and dates to thelate 2nd century A.C.11 CCETI 162 (Fig.2) fromthe Burgasregion, southeast Bulgaria, is a Latingrave inscription dating to ca.A.D. 150-200: aboverelief: D]is Manibus belowrelief: L.Titovio L. lib(erto)Diadu- menoFlavia Vera

. . con1ug1bene merent1 . et sibiet suisviva fecit. Theinscription was found in a secondarycontext, in thevineyards north ofthe village of Balgarovo. CCETIV 29 (Tomis,southeast Rumania) is a eucharisterionfor good fortune: 'AyaOnt0Xn 11. SeeIGBulg I 78(= CCETI 40). zvxatoxcerqtotov"Htoxa avrOxav . . . Mihailovconsiders the suggestionthat (listof 27 names) the ruinsin questionbelonged to a Its sanctuaryof ApolloKarabasmos far findspotis not specified. fromcertain. MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 2I3

Figure2. CCET I 162, . NationalArchaeological Museum, ,inv. 618. CourtesyMuseum

IGBulgIV 2134 (Pautaliaregion, southwest Bulgaria) is a dedication to Asklepios: AAXXYI=tOB£t0V5 /vCaC£v[£05] £UEa,U£wOgxat £zwVX[w av£-] 0NX£ . The monumentwas found near the village of DolnaDikanja, but the ex- act locationof the findspotis controversial.'2In this example,as in the otherslisted above, if therewere no inscription,one wouldnot knowto whomthe monumentwas dedicated or if it wasvotive or funerary. The snake-entwinedtree is one of the majoriconographical features of theThracian horseman reliefs. In CCETit appearson atleast 33 of the roughly340 monumentswith inscriptions published in thiscorpus (a pre- cisefigure is impossibleto determine,since some reliefs are broken).'3 The inscriptionslist a greatvariety of namesto whomthese reliefs are dedi- cated:Karabasmos, Manimazos, Propylaios, Dosaenos, Katoikadios, Askle- pios,Apollo, Paladeinenos, Tato. In addition,many of these33 monu- 12. SeeMihailov's commentary on mentsare funerary. IGBulgIV 2134. A naturalapproach that scholars have taken in orderto explainthe 13. CCETI 30, 31, 34, 40, 57, 58, 59,60,61,83,84,85,86,87,111,158, treeand the serpenton thesereliefs has been to examineeach particular 162;II 200, 534, 586;IV 3, 5, 26, 30, caseand try to understandthe symbolismof theimage in its variouscon- 48, 63, 64, 108;V 23, 25, 65, 71, 72. texts.Thus the snakehas been interpreted in oneway in a dedicationto vHtoKatoaas [sic] 'E s[Xtato c,] 'Ara0nvotoog

2I4 NORA DIMITROVA

Asldepios-asone of his attributes-andin a differentwayin agrave monu- ment as a achthonic"symbol.l4 The tree,on the otherhand, has been interpretedas "atree of life"symbolizing the rebirthof nature,l5a sacred tree,l6or a landscapebackground.l7 There seem to be twoproblems with thisapproach. The firstis thelack of goodevidence for Thracian andespecially the cultof its numerouslocal deities. This gives free room forspeculation, and little can be proved(or, of course,refuted) with cer- tainty.The otherdifficulty is the presenceof the snake-entwinedtree on similar-lookingrider monuments from the sameregion and the samepe- riod.Why shouldone then assume that it meantdifferent things in each case? Anotherway to lookat this problem is to considerthe snake-entwined treenot as an organicelement of the ideologybehind each scene, but as animported iconographical detail.The image of ahorsemanfacing a snake- entwinedtree is well knownfrom earlier monuments found through- outthe Greekworld. It occurson a 3rd-centuryB.C. relieffrom Athens, a 2nd-centuryB.C. graverelief from , a 2nd-centuryB.C. relief fromEphesos, and many others.l8 It seemslogical to assumethat the im- age wasborrowed by Thracianartists under the strongand well-docu- mentedinfluence of Greekculture and did not evolveby itself from a nativetradition. If the imageof thehorseman itself was borrowed from Greekart,l9 then it is not surprisingthat it appearsin Thracetogether withone of its mostcommon iconographical attributes. The otherextremely popular scene in thefirst group of examplesrep- resentsthe Thracian rider as a hunter.20Typically he carriesa spearand is accompaniedby a dog andother animals associated with hunting: boar, hare,deer, lion. As in the caseof the snake-entwinedtree, hunting at- tributesare seen on various monuments, with no apparentconnection to a specificcult. Forinstance, CCETI 54 (Fig.3), datingto thelate 2nd century A.C., is a gravemonument found in a secondarycontext, on the cornerof Pop 14. See,e.g., Georgieva 1965, pp. Charitonand Knjaz Cerkazki Streets in Odessus: 119-120.She interprets the serpentin theThracian horseman reliefs as a Atovootot'Avxt96Bou o xat Exog. symbolof the forcesof nature,fertility, It is noteworthythat the back ofthe monumentis decoratedwith another the ,and healing deities. 15. Fol andMarazov 1977, pp.18- relief,exhibiting a funeralbanquet. This is one of the fewcases in which 19. the typeof monumentcan be surmisedfrom information other than the 16. Georgieva1965, p.121.

. . . nscnptlon. 17. Georgieva1965, p.121. CCETI85, from the Odessus in northeastBulgaria, is a dedi- 18. Forthe reliefsfrom Athens, cationto the heroKarabasmos: Pergamon,and Ephesos, see LIMC Vl.l, p.1025, nos.6, 8,9, pl.674. See alsoLIMC VI .1, pp. 1031-1032,nos. OWt0 Tt @TtOLat T[t ]8tag xat T@V 113-129,pls. 680-681, which include t8txvavr0nxrv sacat examplesof the snake-entwinedtree fromRhodes, Kos, , and roxatotot°v TroadicAlexandreia, in additionto thosefrom Thrace and its immediate Thededicant may have been the grandson of EsxtatogNrtxtou mentioned . . . vlclmty. in CCETI40 (Fig.1), whose son was named 'Ara0nvo. The monument 19. See the discussionbelow, wasfound in theEarly Christian in Galata.This basilica was built pp.220-224. uponthe ruins of a pagansanctuary, where 16 riderreliefs had been found 20. C£ Decev1945. RIDER THE THRACIAN MONUMENTSOF 2IS

.!1_i.7!t,l. EX_ _ | _ Figure3. CCET I 54, Odessus. ArchaeologicalMuseum, Varna, inv.1545. Courtesy Museum anddedicated to thehero Numbers83-89 areinscribed (CCETI 80-95). is corrupt;94 is a thank- 9>92 areuninscribed; 93 Karabasmos;8s82 and Tavay£C.The while95 is a dedicationUHp offeringUHp HpozvXa, information so meagerthat no meaningful remainsof the sanctuaryare or epi- onlyinformation about the names canbe derivedfrom them; the The authors deitiesderives from the inscriptions. thetsof theworshipped wasworshipped in this sanc- thatthe heroKarabasmos seems of CCETconclude revealhis name.This conclusion sincemost ofthe inscriptions monu- tuary, to thinkthat the uninscribed andone wouldbe inclined 94 logical, as well.Yet, surprisingly, reliefs mentswere dedicated to Karabasmos on the Thus,one cannot rely completely and95 bearother deities' names. the monu- worshipped,even in caseswhere findspotto indicatethe deity a specificsanctuary. mentscome from 147 to Apollo,II 246 a dedicationto thegod Eisenos, CCETI 123 is Aulosadenos,458 0£O, godEitiosaros, 457 to ApoHo 0£O pOL, 415 to the Baax8C0ta, IV 612 to AsEepios,655 0£O, pOt AvXova8t,483 to ApoHo, V 53 a D[omno],52 and 105 areepitaphs, 1 Dis Manibus,48 Ero et monu- a gravemonument. All of these dedicationto ,and 65 throughthe buthis identityis knownonly mentsportray a huntingrider,

. . . lnscnptlons. NORADIMITROVA 2I6

GROUP II Letus considernow the secondgroup of examples,in whichthe same divinefigure as identifiedby the inscriptionsappears on differentre- liefs.One of the mostfrequently named deities in the monumentsof the Thracianhorseman is Apollo.Among the better-preserved dedications to himare CCETI 33, II 200, and445. CCETI 33, fromOdessus, has the followingtext:

[0£O, 'Asok]ovt[sic] [Kap]aDa[ay] flpoya0Cxv A[------] 'A,uv

[------]nr S Ap£y[t8Xpov- -] [av£0Nx]av.

* - Therelief depicts a horsemandressed in a chitonand chlamys, facing an altarand a treeand holding a patera,his horsewalking. CCETII 200,from Marcianopolis, northeast Bulgaria, reads:

Z£V6S AVXO4£V£05 0£O AsoBxvt £vxa-

pLOpLOV aV£0NX£V. Thisrelief represents a hunting rider wearing a chitonand chlamys, hold- inga spear,his horsegalloping; a dog,lyre, tree, snake, and altar are also portrayed. CCETII 445, fromthe Targovishte region, northeast Bulgaria, reads simply:

A tOy£VNS 'AsoB[v]. It portraysa riderwearing a chiton,his righthand in the gestureof "benedictiolatina," facing a woman,his horsewalking. Thesemonuments do notexhibit an identical iconography. More sig- nificantly,they do notdepict an image of Apolloas distinct from any other Thracianrider. Theseobservations also apply to monumentsdedicated to otherfre- quentlynameddeities orheroes: Asklepios (e.g., CCETI 8, 111;II 542, 612;V 23, 24);Karabasmos (e.g., CCETI 28, 30, 33, 34, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87); Aulosadas/Aulosadenos(e.g., CCET II 457, 458, 460, 483, 484); Pyrmeroulas(e.g., Kacarov, "Denkmaler" 375,602,603,608); Manimazos (e.g.,CCETI 31, 40; IV 36). All thesedeities are represented as riders, withno discernibleiconographical patterns that might reveal their iden- inscriptionspermit tityin contrastto otherThracian horsemen. Only the 21. The pictureis furthercompli- recognitionof the addresseeof the vow or the type of the monument, catedby the factthat sometimes a whethervotive or funerary.21 foreigngod receivesa localname or Reliefsdedicated to Asklepiosare especially illuminating. IGBulg II epithet:thus one cansee dedicationsto (Fig.4) is a thank-offeringto Asklepiosand Aphrodite: ApolloKarabasmos, Asklepios 569 Keilade(i)nos,Apollo Aulosadas/ ['AaxA]z xat'A(ppo8£Cmxapap- Aulosadenos,Apollo Tetradeenos, and so on. tov. MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 2I7

Figure4 (leJ:t).IGBulg II 569, Glava The reliefshows a rider,turned to the right,wearing a chlamysand hold- Panega.National Archaeological ing a patera,and a standingfemale figure of the sameheight, clad in a Museum,Sofia, inv. 3906. Courtesy Museum chitonand mantle. The monument dates to the3rd century A.C. andcomes fromthe Asklepieionat GlavaPanega in the Vracaregion of northwest Figure5 (right). IGBulg II 512, Bulgaria.It wasfound together with numerous dedications to Asklepios, GlavaPanega. National Archaeo- someof whichrepresent him as the Thracianrider, others in his tradi- logicalMuseum, Sofia, inv. 3739. tionaliconography, such as IGBulg II 512 (Fig.5): CourtesyMuseum aboverelieJf 'A^xAnlstx SaB8nlvt belowrelieJf IovALog Kevoov euxapori- *pLov. Thestandard interpretation ofthese reliefs is to supposethat Asklepios hasbeen conflated with the Thracian rider, who was worshipped locally as a healingdeity.22 There seems to be no difference,however, in function, meaning,and date between the two kinds of depictionsof Asklepios.If his iconographywere ideologically meaningful in eachparticular case, then one wouldhave to assumethat only for someof the worshippersat this Asklepieionwas he a productof syncretismwith the Thracian rider, while forothers he was still the traditional Asklepios in histraditional iconogra- phy.Such a situationdoes not seemplausible. If, however,one supposes 22. See,e.g., Fol and Mihailov 1979, thatthe imageof the horsemanwas simply a convention,then only those pp.260-261. Other examples of the reliefsin whichAsklepios is representedin his traditionaliconography, samephenomenon are found in the withouta horse,should be consideredas especiallysignificant-perhaps Sanctuaryof Apolloat the villageof anexpression of greatercare on the partof theworshippers, who did not Trud, region: IGBulg III 1458 set up a standardimage used for other gods as well. The aboveexamples showsApollo in his traditional, horselessiconography, while IGBulg III canthus be explainedby the hypothesisthat the horsemanis an icono- 1457,1460-1466,1468-1470 show a graphicalconvention for a god or hero,and that the inscriptionsserve to rider. personalize(and identify) this otherwise nameless conventional image. NORADIMITROVA 2I8

Figure6. CCET V 23, Krupac. EthnographicalMuseum, Pirot.

Thishypothesis also accommodates CCETV 23 (Fig.6), a late-2nd- east- centuryA.C. dedicationto Apolloand Asklepios found in Krupac,in ernYugoslavia. The relief depicts two identical horsemen facing each other, whilethe inscriptionbeneath the reliefreads: AsoVxvt xaxAaxAz BrtoaxrANvoxgraxog IItooxXov rvia,urvogavrONxr.23 Thusone horsemanis presumablyApollo, and the otherAsklepios. The reliefismost easilyunderstood if we explainthe rider as a conventionfor a divinityof somekind, personalized only by the inscription. IGBulgIII 1467is avery interesting case: it showsApollo standing (in his traditionaliconography), and next to him a horse as thoughthe dedicantfelt that a reliefportrayinga deitywould be somehowincomplete withoutit. The monumentcomes from the Sanctuaryof Apolloat Trud, whereApollo is depictedin otherreliefs on horsebackand onlyrarely in his traditionalimagery.24 The rideroccasionally assumes features and attributesof the deity fromwhose sanctuary the reliefderives: thus, in a sanctuaryof Apolloone mightfind riders with a lyre.25Sometimes the rideris representedas a

24. See above,n. 22. 23.This examplerules out the CCETIV29. The textreads: "So-and- 25. See,e.g., the discussionof the possibilitythat the Thracian rider so dedicateda npxs to (orfor) good of ApolloAulosadas in mighthave been the dedicanthimself. fortune."The numberof the dedicators Sanctuary et al. 1980,pp. 142-172. If the horsemanwere the dedicant, is 27, so it is impossibleto identify Konstantinov On sanctuariesof theThracian thenwe wouldhave to assumetwo themwith the singlerider depicted. horsemansee, among others, Concev dedicantsfor this particular relie£ The Moreover,the textsays that "they dedi- 1941;Boteva 1985; Koukouli- inscription,however, clearly tells us that cateda hero,"and not "themselves." Chrysanthakiand Malamidou 1989; the dedicantis one,and the godstwo: Anothercounterargument is the fre- Ovcarov1972. A veryhelpful summary "Gaius,son of Proclus,dedicated [this quentpresence of adorantson the of sanctuariesin the Romanprovince of monument]to Apolloand Asklepios reliefs.Their figures are significantly Thraceis givenin Goceva2000. Berakelenoi,having made a vow." smallerin scalethan the horseman,and Anothereloquent piece of evidenceis thisspeaks in favorof his higherstatus. MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER

beardedman, usually in the contextof a sanctuaryof a namedbearded 2I9 deity.26It is impossible,however, to see a clearpattern in the adoptionof attributes,or to understandwhy in somecases figures with attributes were preferredover unspecified stylized images of horsemen.The occasional presenceof riderswith specific attributes is perhapsa signof a rathercare- filllydone and expensive relief. Sometimesthe inscriptionappears incompatible with the imagede- picted.IGBulg III 1319 showsonly one Thracian rider, represented as a hunter,while the text reads 0rog lvtoaxotoog.What seems to beeven more surprisingis that on a fewThracianrider reliefs only female deities such as Artemis(CCETV 21, 53) or the nymphsare inscribed as receiving dedi- cations.In IGBulgIII 1368,for example, the relief represents a horseman, butis dedicatedto thenymphs, as the inscription tells us. The reliefcomes froma sanctuaryof the nymphsat Bourdapa(Plovdiv region), where - merousvotive reliefs have been found, the mostcommon type of which representsthree female figures. In suchcases it appearsthat iconography wasof evenless importance-perhaps because of ignoranceor economic reasonsrelated to massproduction. Massproduction may have played an important role. In manyinstances it seemsthat dedicants chose a reliefthathad been made earlier, adjusting it forthe specificpurpose they wanted it to serve.Unfortunately, it is im- possibleto establisha chartof workshopsthat specialized in producing certainkinds of reliefs,since most monuments are found in a secondary context,and we possessno evidenceabout specific ateliers. In general, imagesof ridersfacing a snake-entwinedtree are more common along the BlackSea coast than are those of huntingriders, but no strictpatterns can be established.It is alsodiitcult to discernparticular chronological pat- ternsin the distributionof iconographicaltypes, since most reliefs are by no meanssecurely dated. Bearingin mindthe roleof massproduction and related factors, we mustnevertheless remark that the few monumentsdedicated only to fe- maledeities are diitcult to interpretbecause the reliefsare broken, and one cannotdetermine whether a femalefigure was depicted apart from the horseman,or whether the inscriptionincluded a maledeity's name as well.Other, better-preserved reliefs show both a maleand a femaledeity, andin thosecases only the maledeity is representedas a rider:see, for example,Kacarov,aDenkmaler" 301 (Silvanus and Epona); 309,331,345 (Asklepiosand ); 310 (Asklepiosand Aphrodite); 318 (Silvanus andDiana). These reliefs confirm the naturalassumption that the rider wastypically a conventionfor a maledeity. TheThracian practice of usinga standardimage for different divini- tiesoccurs in othercontexts as well. The above-mentionedAsklepieion at GlavaPanega, for example, contains an abundance of votivereliefs depict- ing a god anda .These deities have been identified as Asklepios andHygieia (see, e.g., IGBulg II 514-525),and indeed many of thereliefs beardedications to themand exhibit their typical iconography: Asklepios 26. E.g., Silvanus:LIMCVI.1, as a beardedman, holding a serpent-staff,with Hygieia frequently hold- p. 1046,no. 371,pl. 697;Asklepios: ing a snake.They are usually accompanied by the subsidiaryhealing deity IGBulgII529, 535. Telesphoros,represented as a minusculefigure between them or in oneof 220 NORA DIMITROVA thecomposition's corners. Some monuments in the samesanctuary, how- ever,depict Asklepios and Hygieia, but are dedicated to Silvanusand , whowere worshipped by the Romanized population in theregion (Gerov, Inscriptiones197, 208). This suggeststhat the originaliconography was notoverly important to the dedicants:they used an already-maderelief showingAsklepios and Hygieia, but invested it withnew meaning, thereby satisfyingtheir need for a dedicationto Silvanusand Diana. What mat- teredwas only the basic formal resemblance, consisting in thedepiction of amale and a femaledeity. A similarphenomenon occurred centuries later, whenThracian rider reliefs were used by Christiansin the cultsof St. Demetriusand especially St. George.27

THE THRACIAN RIDER AND GREEK HERO RELIEFS

Understandingthe rideras an iconographicconvention for a divinityis generallyconsistent with the suggestionthat the image is borrowedfrom Greekart and, more precisely, from funerary reliefs of the heroizeddead. Moreover,the word og, whichis so characteristicof Greek epitaphs, is frequentlyassociated with theThracian rider. One of the mostdetailed andimportant discussions on the subjectwas provided in 1955by Ernest Will,who demonstratedthat the imageof the Thracianrider with his mainattributes is a latervariant of the Greekhero reliefs, which had al- readybecome a widespreadiconographic convention.28 Theubiquity of riderimages can be illustrated by numerous examples. Pannonia,, and are rich in monumentsofthe so-called Danu- bianriders, dating from the 1st(or early2nd) to the4th centuryA.c.29The extremescarcity of inscriptionsimpedes precise analysis of theirnature, butthree iconographical elements clearly distinguish the Danubian riders fromthe Thracianriders and other deities on horseback:the prostrate enemytrampled by the horse'shooves, the fish,and the ram.30Dumitru Tudorviewed the Danubianriders as mysterycult deitiesof Dacian origin.31I would not venture an opinion on thecomplicated issue of their originand nature, but onlymention that the notionof victoryplayed a significantrole in thecult and that the monuments' iconography and dis- tributionshare noteworthy similarities with Mithraicreligion. For our purposes,it is importantto emphasizethe factthat images of deitieson

Moesiathere were 27. See Hoddinott1981, pp.174- l'imagedu Heroscavalier etait deja in Thraceand butonly gods depicted 175:the reliefsof theThracian rider banaledans le mondegrec sur les deux no rider-gods, andgods of riderpeo- wereconsidered icons of St. Georgeor rivesde l'Egee.Aux fausses precisions on horseback Kacarov,"Denkmaler," Demetrius;one tabletwas used as an fourniesen generaldans ce debat,on ples.C£ also 1979,pp. 261- iconin aprivatehouse in Plovdiv,and peutsubstitueruneformule simple et p. 1;Fol andMihailov aslate as 1907pilgrims sought a cure nette:en definitive,le motifthrace ne 262. 1976,pp. 78-84. at GlavaPanega on St. George'sDay. representequ'une variante tardive d'une 29. Tudor 1976,pp.58-59. 28. Will 1955,pp. 78-79: "Avant serieplus vaste dont on ne sauraitle 30.Tudor 1976,pp.232-276. de devenirle motifle plusbanal de detacher,celle du Herosgrec." Will 31.Tudor l'iconographiethrace de l', furtherconcluded (pp.105, 116) that MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER

22I horsebackwerewidespread on monuments fromThrace's neighboring prov- inces. Imagesof horsemenalso occur throughout the Aegean, across a wide geographicalarea. Photios Petsas, for example,interpreted certain rider reliefsin Macedoniaas "prototypes" of the Thracian rider.32 Indicative of themonuments' geographical range are examples from Asia Minor, on the one hand,and Crete, on the other,which add weight to the assumption thatthe Thracian rider's iconography is borrowed from Greek art. The examplesfrom Asia Minor include reliefs of Heraklesand Ka- kasbosrepresented as ridergods. Their cult probably existed in the 1st centuryA.C., andreached its acmein the 2nd and3rd centuries.33 The Heraklesand Kakasbos reliefs were popular in Lycia,Pisidia, and Pam- phylia.34A recentstudy on the subjecthas beenprovided by G. H. R. Horsley,who discusses in detailthe "Rider God" stelai at the Burdur Mu- seumin southernTurkey.35Thesestelai, numbering over 100, are predomi- nantlyimages of Heraklesand the indigenousgod Kakasbos,as the in- scriptions,present on roughlyhalf of them, indicate.In additionto appearingon votive reliefs, riders were commonly depicted on gravestones, especiallyin the westernpart of AsiaMinor, as is evident,for example, fromErnst Pfilhl and Hans Mobius's published collection of reliefs.36 The horsemaniconography, so popularin AsiaMinor, was not re- strictedto lapidarymonuments, but appeared also on coinsand terracotta plaques.Coins with riderimages were minted in Dardanus,Magnesia- on-the-Meander,, Skepsis, and elsewhere.37 At deposits of severalhundred terracotta plaques have been found, depicting a heroon horseback.38They represent a beardless rider mounted on a rearinghorse, witha snakebeneath the horse,39and are dated on stylisticgrounds from the 3rdto the 1st centuryB.C. It is unclearwhether there was a specific heroassociated with the plaques from Troy. Amy Barr concluded that the plaquesthemselves were a localphenomenon, while their iconographical 32. Petsas1978. traditionbelonged to a muchlarger context, and cannot be explainedsat- 33. Horsley1999, p. 43. isfactorily,"since we find imagesof horse,rider, and snake in so many 34. See,e.g., Metzger 1952; Robert differenttopographic areas without an explicit pattern."40 1946. Similarterracotta plaques have been found at Knossos, in theso-called 35. Horsley1999. 36. See Pfuhland Mobius 1977. shrineof the heroGlaukos.4l They are Hellenistic in dateand portray a 37. See,e.g., LIMCVI.1, pp. 1032, rider(armed or unarmed),typically mounted on a rearinghorse, with a 1037, nos. 134-136, 229-230, pls. 681, snakebeneath. P. J. Callaghanviewed the plaques as elements of aninitia- 686. Coinsdepicting riders were also tion cultfor youths in honorof the foundationhero. He alsonoted that commonin Macedoniaand Thessaly. suchimages were found in "widelyscattered parts of theGreek world and 38. SeeThompson 1963, pp. 56- havelong been recognized as representations of heroes."42 57, pls. AXVII-AXVIII;Barr 1996, pp. 133-157. The broadterritory and time span over which one canfind reliefs of 39. Barr1996, p. 133. heroeson horsebackcan be furtherillustrated by a fewother examples: a 40. Barr1996, p. 138. 5th-centuryB.C. relieffrom Cumae (Fig. 7) witha ridinghero, dressed in 41. Callaghan1978, p. 21. a shortchiton and chlamys, turned to theleft, his horse galloping, accom- 42. Callaghan1978, pp. 21-22. paniedby a heroineand facing six adorants;43a 4th-century B.C. relief 43. LIMC VI .1, p. 1043, no. 345, pl. 695. fromPeiraeus with a hero,dressed in a shortchiton and chlamys, turned 44. LIMCVI.1, p. 1061, no. 597, to the left,his horsegalloping, facing a beardedadorant and an altar,ac- pl. 715. companiedby two dogs;44 a 3rd-century B.C. relieffrom Athens showing a 222 NORA DIMITROVA

huntinghorseman, wearing a chlamysand armor, turned to theright, hold- Figure7. LIMC345, Cumae. Antikensammlung,Staatliche ing a spearand attacking a boar,his horsegalloping;45 a 2nd-century B.C. relieffromEphesos (Fig. 8) showinga horseman,turned to theright, hold- Museen zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitzinv. SK 805. Courtesy inga spear,clad in a chitonand a chlamys,facing a roundsnake-entwined Museum altarand a tree,his horse walking;46 and a lst-centuryB.C. relieffrom Per- gamondepicting a hero turned to theright, dressed in a chitonand chlamys, withhis horsewalking, facing a roundtable and a snake-entwinedtree.47 H. Koukouli-Chrysanthakiet al. have adduced votive offerings to heroes onhorseback both in cultplaces dedicated to heroesalone (Sparta, Knossos, Corinth,Pylos) and in sanctuariesof manygods (e.g., Artemis Orthia in 45. LIMCVI.1,p.1052, no. 457, pl. 704. Sparta, in Lindosand Ilion, in Pergamon).48 46. LIMCVI.1,p.1038, no.254, The aboveexamples reveal the widespread iconographical connection pl. 688. betweenhorse and hero. It mustbe noted,however, that the imageof the 47. LIMCVI.1,p.1034, no. 167, horsewas not part ofthe specificcult associated with a particularhero, but pl. 683. rathera generalattribute indicating superior status. In manysocieties the 48. LIMCVl. l, p.1065.The horsewas a symbolof nobility.In discussingaristocratic constitutions of authorscontinue with the following observation:Alssich die Heroisierung militaryorigin in Eretria,Chalcis, Magnesia, and "many others through- derToten seit derhellenistischen Zeit out Asia,"49Aristotle wrote that only the wealthycould rear horses (Pol. verallgemeinerte,wurde das Grab des 1289b,1297b, 1321a). It wasno accidentthat hippeis was a termapplied to Totenzum Heroon, zu seinerKult- the Spartanelite or anAthenian property class. The horsewas a signifier statte." of a higherstatus, whether a memberof the socialelite or a hero.The 49. See Arnheim1977, p.54. The authorcites further a fragmentof significanceof the horseas a heroicattribute is lucidlysummarized in HeraclidesPonticus, according to LIMC:"One of the characteristiciconographical types of the herois the whicheach member of the rulingclass ridinghero: its iconographyis foundfrom the IberianPeninsula . . . to in Cumaewas obliged to keepa horse. MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 223

Figure8. LIMC254, Ephesos. Antikensammlung,Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitzinv. SK 810. Courtesy Museum

Asiaand from Central to NorthAfrica, and comprises two basic iconographicaltypes: I. the heroleading a horse,II. the heroon horse- back."50Thesetwo types appear in theGreekworld in thelate 6th century B.C., andcrystallize in the 4th centuryB.C. Togetherthey form an ideal imagefor depicting the heroized dead all over the Greekworld evenon islandswith poor conditions for horse-breeding.51 Therecan hardly be anydoubt, therefore, that the iconography of the Thracianhorseman belongs to Greekartistic tradition. It mightbe as- sumedthat since most of the reliefsdate to the Romanperiod, we should look for theirorigin in Romansculpture. Hellenistic examples exist as well,52however, and given the exacticonographical parallels with Greek heroreliefs, it is impossibleto justify a Romanorigin of theThracian horse- manreliefs (without ruling out iconographical similarities and artistic in- fluence).This is consistentwith the specialposition that Greek culture heldin Thrace. The preserved Greek and Roman inscriptions from Thrace showthat Roman civilization was never as wholly embraced by the local

50. LIMCVl.l, pp. 1065-1066. B.C., showinga femalefigure meeting a whichhorses are frequently depicted, 51. LIMCVI.1, pp. 1065-1066.As heroon horseback;a contemporary re- werededicated first to heroes.After the faras theThracian rider is concerned, lief fromTanagra depicting a heroized 3rdcentury B.C. theywere typically set however,the authorsbelieve that he was womanpouring to a heroleading up fordead people as well, and so the a deitywith a specificcult, and not an a horse;a 5th-centuryB.C. relieffrom horse,having originated as an element anonymoushero (p. 1066).Additional Cumae(see above, Fig. 7);and a relief of aristocraticiconography, eventually supportfor perceiving the horseas a fromPharsalus, with youth, horse, and becamea commonfunerary symbol typicalelement in Greekhero reliefs has a heroine.Larson too regardsthe image (Larson1995, pp. 43-53; c£ Dentzer recentlybeen provided by Larson(1995, of the horseas a symbolof nobilityand 1982,pp. 429-452). pp.43-53), who citesthe following drawsparallels with theahero stones" 52. E.g., CCETI 28, 29, IV 61, 77. examples:a relieffrom Rhodes, ca. 400 fromIndia. The Totenmahlreliefs, on See also CCETIV, pp.7-8, with n. 2. ow - \ ow ¢ e ^ n css\ , t > ,\ n Ps o \ \ ,o ,w, o s , - s

224 NORA DIMITROVA

populationas was Greek: it wasconsidered much more an alienelement thanthe traditionalHellenic cultural presence, which dates back to the timesof Greekcolonization on the BlackSea andAegean coasts. The Sapaeanroyal line, for example, was especially Hellenized: Rhoemetalces III waseponymous archon in Athensin 36/7 andfinanced bull-wrestling conteststhere.53

IMAGE OF THE HEROIZED DEAD

A naturalquestion that arises is whythe imageof the heroizeddead was especiallyattractive to theThracians. An answercan be foundin the evi- dencefor theThracian attitude toward death. The mostfamous literary accountis foundin Herodotos4.94:

aOavaCt,oust 8e xov8e xov pOlIOu-ove alloOvno%Ctvsxvxoug vo,uCovotevat e xov asoKAvllevov sapa SaBlloE,cv Aatllova ot 8e avv xov avxov xouxov vo,uCoust reCAsitv. 8ta

o s \ / > > / o \ / o - o / 1rEWEpLO0g OX IOV sa^ aaxowa aCt oCxv aulxv asosey- soust ayyeRovsapa IOV SaSyoE,cv,CWEuOyEVOt IOV av s%aole 8Cxula. llE,UllOUOt as O8g- 06 ,UEVavlxv laX0evleg a%oulta lpta exovot,astot os otataloov ceg IOV asosellsollevov sapa IOV SaSyoE,cvlag Xetpag%at lovS lloAag,ava%vNsavleg avlov CIC()pOV pL11100aL ES Tag BoyXag. Nv yev aN alloOaun avallapetS, T°tot os tt°S ° g°S o°%gEt stvatsNv os 1lNallouaun, atltxulat aOIOV IOV ayyeBov,gayevot v av8pa %a%ovstva. They"immortalize" in the followingway: they think that they do not die,but the deadperson goes to thegod ; some of themthink that he is identicalwith Gebeleizis. Every five years theysend an envoy, chosen by lot amongthem, to Zalmoxis, instructinghim each time about their needs. They send him in thefollowing way: some of the appointedpeople hold three spears.Others, having seized the handsand the legs of theperson whois beingsent to Zalmoxis,throw him on top of the spears, afterswinging him to andfro in the air.If he diespierced by the spears,they say that the god is favorablydisposed to them;if he doesnot die,they blame this messenger, saying that he is a bad man.54

53. See Robert1982. concentratlon,. lmltatlon,. . . anc . lntensltl-. . deathas a "gradualinitiation of the 54. An exceptionallydetailed recent cation,and is commonlyrendered as youngdynast into priestlyranks and his discussionof thispassage is provided "atleast"; see Denniston1996, pp. 114- renderingin serviceto the Goddessand by Boshnakov(2000, pp. 11-93). 162.Its positionis typicallyafter the the God duringthe fifth,sixth, and He favorsthe readingyr BrAritv, wordit emphasizes,while in the above seventhyear, at the endof whichhe andinterprets the name*Beleizis as passagevo,uCovot is the leastemphatic becameone of the principalpriests of meaning"god-king," cognate with word.Furthermore, it seems too boldto the maledeities, i.e. Zalmoxis,. . . GreekpasXrvg. The readingrp- deem*Beleizis cognate with Greek worshippedas a'god-king"'(p. 81). His ArCtv,however, is preferable,since the pasXri)g,given the lackof sufficient interpretationis based on the famous positionand usage of the particleyr evidencefor Thracian etymology. passagea routmystery lnltlatlon. . . . ln. wouldbe ratherawkward: yr expresses Boshnakovunderstands the messenger's Apuleius'sGoldenAMss (11.23), which he .

MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 225

Laterauthors, such as PomponiusMela, supply similar information, with

. . . mlnor vanatlons: unagens Thraces habitant, aliis aliisque praeditis nominibus et moribus.Quidam feri sunt et paratissimiad mortem, utique. Id variaopinio perficit; alii redituras putant animas obeuntium, alii etsinot redeantnon extingui tamen, sed ad beatiora transire, alii emoriquidem, sed id meliusesse quam vivere. Itaque lugentur apud quosdampuerperia natique deflentur, filnera contra festa sunt, et velutisacra cantu lusuque celebrantur. TheThracians have different names and rites. Some of themare savageand meet death with delight, especially the Getae.This is becauseof theirdifferent beliefs: some believe that the soulsof the deadcome back, others that they [sc. the ]do notperish, even if theydo not comeback, others believe that souls die andthat this is betterthan if theycontinued to live.For that reason some lament birthand newborn babies; on the contrary-burialshave a festive characterand are celebrated like sacred rites with songs and games.55 Solinuswrites: concordantomnes ad interitum voluntarium, dum nonnulli eorum putantobeuntium animas reverti, alii non extingui, sed beatas magis rlen.

AS1Thracians unanimously value voluntary death, as someof them believethat the soulsof the deadcome back to theupper world, whileothers believe that souls do not perish,but become happier afterdeath.56 Takenby itself, the information given by Herodotos and later sources maybe judgedas dubiousin termsof its historicalvalue. What it says aboutthe Thracian attitude toward death is supported,however, not only by archaeologicaldata, namely numerous and rich grave inventories, but alsoby epigraphicalevidence revealing an unusuallystrong in im- thinkselucidates the imageryof the mortalityamong the . A monumentfrom the land of the Getae Letnitsaplaques (a seriesof images (Belogradec,northeast Bulgaria) carries the followingtext:57 associatedwith hunting,on someof whicha rideris depicted;see below). "EvOa1\LV6S ave0Cxo Pa%oullopeogHp This interpretationseems unconvinc- ev1lepCS lleBo,uevogC%voto No,u(pNg [sic] e %oopats ing,given the lackof evidenceto 0eat5eviayevog syevexoyap lloBuBaRaxogrpx5 supportthe ideathat either Herodotos's aOavaxog. passageor the Letnitsaplaques had anythingto do with mysteryinitiation, HereDinis, son of Reskouporis,who outlived his child,dedicated [a andthe temporaland geographical monument]to thehero and the goddessesnymphs, after praying [to dividebetween the textsof Herodotos them]. andApuleius. He [thedeceased] became a famousimmortal hero. 55. De chorographia2.18. The editor,G. Mihailov,aptly commented: "The deceased has become an 56. Collectanearerum memorabili- immortalpxS. TheThracian believed that he becameafter death a hero orum10.2-3. 57. IGBulgII 796. Fora detailed orgod, i.e., a hero-horseman,and lived the life of thatgod. Therefore the discussionsee Mihailov1951. inscriptionis atthe same time grave and votive."58 This explains why there 58. SeeIGBulgII,p.179. is no iconographicaldistinction between filnerary and votive reliefs in the DIMITROVA 226 NORA caseof theThracian rider. The gravemonuments function as dedicatory; thedead person has been immortalized and is thereforethe recipientof thededication, even though this is not explicitlyreflected in the textof mostlnscnpeons.* . . In Greekgrave inscriptions, on the otherhand, the wordaOavaxog (unlikethe word oxs) is almostnever used for a deadperson. The only comparableexample known to me is AnthologiaGraeca 16.294, where Homeris calledaOavaxotS 'to°S t°Ss Thisusage, however, is quitediffer- entfrom immortalizing any dead person and the expression used is weaker: not"immortal hero," but "hero equal to the immortal[gods]."59 On the contrary,human mortality is typicallycontrasted with ,uvN,ua/xAsog body"are aoavaTov.60 Expressionssuch as aimmortalsoul" and "mortal alsoused infrequently.6l Aninteresting epigram from the Roman period, indicative ofThracian belief,is preservedon a gravestele from Mesambria (Burgas region, south- eastBulgaria); one relief on the stelerepresents the deceasedas :62 'EvOa8esyx xeys'Exarr

\ , e , - ,, °S (t)S CoototaS arlv xo saBat ,3tooxog, vuv 8e aOava- °S xat aoxS 'IouSta Ne%ou.. . I, thegoddess Hecate, as you see, am buried here. I wasa mortalin the past,but now am immortal and ageless; Iulia,daughter of Nikias.. . The strengthof theThracian belief in immortalitycan be surmised alsofrom reliefs in whichthe horsemanshows individual features of the deceased,63for example in CCETI 15, 60, andV 32,where the faces of the canbe inter- horsemenbear distinctive characteristics. This phenomenon 59. On the differencebetween pretedas an attempt to personalizethe impersonal, conventional image of Greekbeliefs in immortalityof the therider. souland Thracian beliefs in deification of the deceased,see alsoPopov 1995, pp.52-53. 60. E.g., CEGI 6,103,177; II 486, THE HERO ON HORSEBACK 645. 61. E.g.,AnthologiaGraeca 7.61, If Thracianbeliefs in immortalityaccount for the popularityof the ico- 108. nographyof theheroized dead, they do notyet explain why the Thracians 62. IGBulgI 345. chosefrom the options available to themin traditionalGreek art precisely 63. SeeLIMCVl.1, p. 1067;Fol 1979,p. 263. theimage of thehero on horseback (and not, for instance, the cenafunebris andMihailov A reasonfor this can 64. See,e.g., Fol 1979,pp.214-215, orany other stylized representation ofthe deceased). nos.5, 8. be foundin the importantrole that horse-breeding had in Thraciancul- 65.The discoveryof the Alexan- ture,richly documented in theancient sources. Suffice it to recallHesiod's drovotomb was officially announced at °ori%St OOO(pOu(Op. 507) or Sophocles'(pXt og °orlEt(, fr. the InternationalSymposium aOdrys- heldin 523).As notedearlier, horses generally symbolized a superior status. Apart sianKingship and Nobility," foundon coins,64fres- Karlovo,Bulgaria, 15-18 January2001. fromthe literarysources, images of horsemenare pp.244- andthe 66. E.g.,Marazov 1979, coes(e.g., the newly found Alexandrovo tomb),65 the Lovec belt,66 245. Loukovitand Letnitsa plaques, interpreted as depicting the figure of"the 67. Hoddinott1981, p. 171.For a tribalancestor and hero, possessor of manyhorses, a hunterand mighty newinterpretation of the Letnitsa warrior."67This figure of the (presumablydeified) ruler-horseman can be plaques,see n. 54. MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 227

tracedback to the 5th-4thcentury B.C. on the basisof the above-men- tionednumismatic and artistic evidence,68 and was later represented through the borrowedpictorial language of the Hellenistichero reliefs. The Thracianfondness for horses and horse-breeding has alsobeen seenas support for a localorigin of therider-reliefs.69 EarlyThracian reli- gion,however, was apparentlyaniconic. Ralph Hoddinott convincingly concludedin thecase of the Letnitsaplaques that they amust be theresult of masteringthe imported fashion of anthropomorphicart."70 In addition to theabsence of a nativeiconic tradition, the striking similarities between theGreek hero reliefs and the Thracian horseman monuments in termsof iconographicalfeatures such as tree, serpent, and hunting attributes strongly argueagainst a locallyevolved iconography.

CONCLUSION

Thereliefs of theThracian rider exemplify important aspects of therecep- tionof Greekart by a neighboringnon-Greek population. Such reception is a complexand difficult issue, which has found diverse expressions in a territoryextending from Spain to India,and from the to Africa, dependingon the formof contactbetween the Greeksand non-, the stabilityand nature of localartistic traditions, and the needs and taste of the nativeinhabitants. The Thracian rider monuments reveal the pro- cessby which a certainiconography is adopted, invested with new mean- ing,and imbued with indigenous beliefs and cultural preferences. As John Boardmanobserved regarding the way in which non-Greek cultures treated Greekart, "their reactions were determined by their needs, their opportu- nities,and for many,not least,by the idiomsof theirnative arts.''7l He furtherremarked that Thracian art was "tinged deeply by the Greek,not leastin the ubiquitousreliefs of theThracian rider hero who appearsas a ClassicalGreek cavalier."72 At the sametime Boardman points out that oneshould not hastily label Thracian art as provincial Greek, but be aware of its nativeand Oriental inspiration.73 Thracianrider reliefs are dedicated to numerousdeities and heroes. Theyalso appear on gravemonuments, but function as dedicatory in that contextas well, in viewof the clearlydocumented Thracian belief in the immortalizationof the dead. The proposal presented here is thatthe horse- manis bestunderstood as a conventionalimage for a (male)divinity of somesort.The origin ofthis image is to befound in theGreekhero reliefs. Interpretingthe image of theThracian rider as an artistic convention for a god or herothat does not by itselfimply anything about a specificcult 68. I thankNikola Theodossiev for challengesthe currentview that the imagerepresents a multifilnctional bringingthis to my attention. god conflatedwith nearly every Greek, Roman, Thracian, or Easterndi- 69. See,e.g., Marazov 1979, p. 353; vinity.Reconsideration ofthis all-embracing can produce abet- Konstantinovet al. 1980,passim; Popov terunderstanding of bothmonument and cult. I do not intendto imply 1993,s.v. Trakijski konnik. thatthere was no earlierThracian cult connected with riders. The exist- 70. Hoddinott1981, p. 171. unsolvedproblem. Clarifying the 71. Boardman1994, p. 10. enceand nature of sucha cultremain an 72. Boardman1994, p. 192. iconographyof theThracian rider through inscriptions, however, should 73. Boardman1994, p. 192. facilitatea solutionto thisproblem. 228 NORADIMITROVA

REFERENC ES

Arnheim,M. T.W. 1977.Aristocracy in Denniston,J.D. 1996.The Greek GreekSociety, London. Particles,2nd ed.,Indianapolis. Barr,A. 1996."Horse and Rider Dentzer,J.-M.1982. Le motf du ban- Plaquesat Ilion:A Preliminary quetcouche dans le Proche-Orientet Studyof the HellenisticHero Cult le mondegrecdu F7Ieau IVesiecle in AsiaMinor," Studia Troica 6, avantJ;-C., Rome. pp. 133-157. Fol,A. 1979."Krizata v elinisticeskija Boardman,J. 1994. The Diffusion of svjati obshtijatikonomiceski i ClassicalArtin Antiquity,Prince- politiceskiupadak na Trakija prez ton. III-I v. pr.n.e." [The crisisin the Boshnakov,K.2000. Trakiiskadresnost: Hellenisticworld and the general Istoricteskiocterci [Thracian antiquity: economicand political decline Historicalessays], Sofia. of Thracein the 3rd-lst centu- Boteva,D. 1985."Obroctni pametnici ot riesB.C.], in Velkovet al. 1979, svetilishtetona AsklepijLimenos pp.211-217. krajSlivnica, Sofijski okrag" [Votive Fol,A., andI. Marazov.1977. Thrace monumentsfrom the Sanctuaryof and the Thracians,Sofia. AsclepiusLimenos near Slivnica, Fol,A., andG. Mihailov.1979. Sofiaregion],Arheologiya 27:4, "Pogrebalniobicai: Religija" pp.31-38. [Burialrites: Religion], in Velkov Callaghan,P.J. 1978. "KRS 1976: et al. 1979,pp.247-267. Excavationsat a Shrineof Glaukos, Georgieva,I. 1965."Der wildtragende Knossos,"BSA 73, pp. 1-30. thrakischeReitergott," 4, CCETI = Z. Goctevaand M. Opper- pp. 115-121. mann,Corpus cultus equitis Thracii I: Gerov,Inscriptiones = B. Gerov, Etudespre'liminaires aux Inscriptioneslatinae interOescum et orientales,Leiden 1979. Iatrumrepertae, Sofia 1989. CCETII.1 = Z. Gocevaand M. Op- Goceva,Z. 1992."Les epithetes du permann,Corpus cultus equitis cavalierthrace," Linguistique ThraciiII.1: Etudes pre'liminaires balkanique35:3-4, pp. 155-180. aux religionsorientales, Leiden 1981. .2000. "Lestemples dans les CCETII.2 = Z. Gocevaand M. Op- villesat les sanctuairesthraces sur permann,Corpus cultus equitis leurterritoire dans la provincede ThraciiII.2: ttudespre'liminaires Thrace,"in 'AytzOosdtzcycov: aux religionsorientales, Leiden Mytheset cultes.Etudes d'iconogra- 1984. phie en l'honneurde Lilly Kahil CCETIV = N. Hampartumian,Corpus (BCHSuppl. 38), P.L. de Belle- cultusequitis Thracii IV: Etudespre'- fondset al.,eds., Athens, pp. 185-

. .. . . zmznazres, . . . aux rezgzonsorzentases, 191. Leiden1979. Hoddinott,R. F.1981. TheThracians CCETV = A. Cermanovic-Kuzma- (AncientPeoples and Places 98), novic,Corpus cultus equitis Thracii V: London. Etudespre'liminaires aux religions Horsley,G. H. R. 1999.The Rider orientales,Leiden 1982. GodSteles at BurdurMuseum in CEG= P. Hansen,Carmina epigraphica ,New England,Australia. graecaI-II, Berlin1983, 1989. IGBulg= G. Mihailov,Inscriptiones Concev,D. 1941.Le sanctuairethrace graecaein Bulgariarepertae, Sofia. presdu villagede BatAoun,Sofia. Kacarov,"Denkmaler"=G. Kacarov, Decev,D. 1945."Trakijskijat Heros "DieDenkmaler des thrakischen katobog-lovec" [The Thracian hero Reitergottesin Bulgarien,"Disser- as a huntinggod], BalgarskaSka- tationesPannonicae, ser. II, fasc.14, demijana Naukite[Bulgarian Budapest1938. Academyof Sciences]70 (Klon Konstantinov,K., et al. 1980.Monu- istoriko-filologicen33 [Historical mentaThraciae antiquae 2: andphilological section]), pp. 185- Trakiiskisvetilishta [Thracian 199. sanctuaries],Sofia. Roytxo £pyO M=X£80V= xae

MONUMENTS OF THE THRACIAN RIDER 229

Koukouli-Chrysanthaki,H., and Popov,D. 1993."Trakijski konnik" D. Malamidou.1989. "Irpo no [Thracianhorseman], in Kratka 'Hpxa Al)Xxvrtrn,"To Apx

Nora Dimitroqua CORNELLUNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTOF CLASSICS I20 GOLDWINSMITH HALL ITHACA,NEW YORK I4853 nmd5@cornell. edu