The Thracian Horseman, Hero-God of the Reliefs

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 greek · Hḗrōs'the Hero' — the Thracian Rider of the votive reliefs, often + local epithetsThracian votive-relief dedications (IGBulg corpus) (primary)
• σωτήρ Greek · sōtēr · cultsaviourVotive inscriptions to the Thracian Rider (IGBulgaria); Hero Auloneites at Philippi (primary)
• ἐπήκοος Greek · epēkoos · cultthe one who hearkens / answers prayerVotive inscriptions to the Thracian Rider (IGBulgaria) (primary)

Sources

• The Thracian Horseman (Heros) is the central hero-god of Thracian votive and funerary reliefs, attested on over 2,000 monuments, embodying chthonic, healing, hunting and protective functions and syncretized under Rome with Apollo, Asklepios, Silvanus and others.: The Thracian Horseman relief and inscription corpus, Thrace and the western Black Sea (primary); Encyclopedia.com, 'Thracian Rider' (secondary)
• His original Thracian name is lost; 'Heros' is the generic Greek label, and he bears many local cult-epithets (Karabazmos, Manimazos, Pyrmerula, Salenos, etc.).: Inscribed dedications giving epithets Karabazmos, Manimazos, Pyrmerula, Salenos (primary)