The Thracian Horseman, Hero-God of the Reliefs
Thracian · deity · Hellenistic to Late Roman Thrace, Moesia and the Black Sea (c. 3rd c. BCE 4th c. CE) · deity
The Thracian Rider hero-god of the votive reliefs. Classified 'deity' though he is fundamentally a heroized-dead/hero-god class (the prompt's culture-hero/heroized tier): on funerary stelae he is the deified deceased, on votives a protective god. Native theonym unrecorded ('' would be wrong to invent); only the Greek title Heros and local epithets survive. The epithet-bearing local manifestations (Karabazmos, Manimazos) are given separate entries below.
Domains
- heroized dead
- hunting and protection
- healing and medicine
Powers
- rides down boar and beast with the spear
- mediates between the living and the dead
Epithets
- Ἥρως
- σωτήρ
- ἐπήκοος
Sources
- The Thracian Horseman relief and inscription corpus, Thrace and the western Black Sea
- Encyclopedia.com, 'Thracian Rider'
- Inscribed dedications giving epithets Karabazmos, Manimazos, Pyrmerula, Salenos