Not long ago, archeologists discovered a unique find in the ancient Thracian complex of Perperikon in the Eastern Rhodopes. They came upon a fragment of a ceramic urn depicting a cult Thracian horseman. So far, no analogue has been found in Thracian art. Archeologists are unanimous that they’ve unearthed one of the earliest depictions of the deity in the Bulgarian lands.
What is actually the Thracian horseman? This is a representation of the pagan deity Heros, which had been venerated in many Thracian sanctuaries in antiquity. With the adoption of Christianity, the symbolism of Heros continued as representations of St. George, St. Dimitar and St. Mina. The ceramic depiction of the horseman was discovered some 300 meters away from Perperikon. It has turned out the cult complex covers not only the hill with the alleged sanctuary of Dionysus, but also a bigger territory spreading within the radius of 12 km². According to researchers, this new perception of Perperikon makes it the biggest sanctuary in the Balkan Peninsula. Unfortunately, in the late 1990s the region had been hit by devastating treasure-hunter raids. The team of well-known Bulgarian archeologist Nikolay Ovtcharov, who has been researching Perperikon for years, decided to find out what was left from the treasure-hunter attacks and thus came upon the miniature ancient monument. “We’ve got information that the treasure hunters have unearthed bronze statuettes and ancient coins dating from 4th and 3rd century BC. It seems, however, this precious fragment from a clay pot has escaped their attention”, Nikolay Ovcharov comments.
“The pot depicts an extremely primitive horseman moving leftwards. This relief is very expressive. The horseman is pictured both in full face and in profile. My colleagues are unanimous that no analogue of this monument has been discovered so far. Judging by the ceramics’ structure, we could date the pot precisely. It dates back to the late 4th and early 3rd century BC, or in other words to the early Hellenistic Period. In fact, this is one of the earliest depictions of horsemen known in Thracian art.”
The most ancient representations of Heros date from the 5th century BC. However, all of them are on silver and gold objects. It was not before the 1st century AD that the horseman relieves started appearing on rock and marble slabs. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, decorating sanctuaries with such depictions became a real fashion. “In this early representation, the Thracian horseman doesn’t have the well-built structure and features that can be seen in his later depictions”, explains Prof. Ovtcharov.
“The monument, which dates 600-700 years earlier that the depictions from the Roman epoch, has cast light on the birth of the Thracian horseman cult and its first manifestations. We believe this is the cult of the so-called King-Priest, which is depicted as a hunter hunting wild animals, such as boars, throwing spears and swinging swords. However, the clay work we’ve found doesn’t depict such tiny details, or if it does, they have not been preserved to the present day. Still, one can see quite clearly that the horseman is holding in his right hand the reins of the horse, and in his left hand- an object that could have been a sword. The horseman is probably depicted in a fighting or hunting scene. This is the first monument revealing the attitude of common Thracians to the cult of the Thracian horseman”.
English version: Vyara Popova
