A New Relief of the Thracian Horseman from Halmyris

Abstract

The article analyzes a fragmentary marble relief of the Thracian Horseman, discovered in 2003 in the ancient city of Halmyris (Tulcea County, Romania), and dated to the beginning of the 3rd c. AD. Even if – taken separately – the iconographic elements (the horseman hunting and impaling the boar with a spear, the dog, the serpent coiled on a tree, touching a burning altar with its tail, the lion and the bull) appear on many other monuments dedicated to the god, their combination and the manner in which they are represented make this a unique relief.

Keywords

• relief
• thracian horseman
• halmyris
• severan period
• lower danube
• roman empire
• religion