Roman Marble Relief representing the “Thracian Horseman”

Product Description

A rectangular low Roman Marble Relief representing the “Thracian Horseman” with a lively scene delineated by a frame adorned with an incised line. The richly detailed image shows a galloping horse mounted by a young hunter who raises his right arm and hits, with his spear, a boar (?) nestled in the lower right corner of the scene; a dog, visible under the horse’s belly, participates in the hunt for the wild animal. A snake is coiled on the tree depicted behind the boar. Despite the hasty, somewhat naive style, the rhythm of the action and the excitement of the hunt are perfectly expressed.

This typical iconography enables us to link this work to the representations of the “Thracian horseman (or heros)”, a divine or heroic figure, without a specific name apparently. Largely widespread in the Thracian repertoire (Thrace corresponds to modern-day Bulgaria), especially in the Roman period, the horseman is a leitmotif of votive and funerary steles: the man is simply moving or, like here, hunting, often accompanied by his dog. In front of the horse, a tree with a coiled snake (an animal that emphasizes the chthonic nature of the representation) generally completes the scene. The exact meaning of the “Thracian horseman”, who would have embodied a warrior god, is unknown.

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