BIBLIOGRAPHY
The written sources on the religion of the Thracians are contained
in Fontes historiae Dacoromanae, 2 vols., edited by Virgil C.
Popescu et al. (Bucharest, 1964–1970). On Thracian reli-
gion in general, Gawrill I. Kazarow’s article, “Thrake (Reli-
gion),” in Realencyclopädie der Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 6
(Stuttgart, 1937), can still be profitably consulted. On Greek
votive inscriptions from southern Thrace, Georgi
Mikhailov’s Inscriptiones Grecae in Bulgaria repertae, 4 vols.
(Sofia, 1956–1966), is particularly important. On the names
of Thracian divinities, see Vladimir Georgiev’s “Die thrakisc-
hen Götternamen: Ein Beitrag zur Religion der alten
Thraker,” Linguistique balkanique 18 (1975): 5–56. On
Thracian funerary practices, see Dumitru Protase’s Riturile
funerare la Daci ̧si Daco-Romani (Bucharest, 1971), which
includes a French summary on pages 183–214, and Dardu
Nicolaescu-Plop ̧sor and Wanda Wolski’s Elemente de demo-
grafie ̧si ritual funerar la popula ̧tiile vechi din România (Bu-
charest, 1975), which has an English summary on pages
273–292. An extensive bibliography can be found in Mircea
Eliade’s Zalmoxis, the Vanishing God: Comparative Studies in
the Religions and Folklore of Dacia and Eastern Europe (Chica-
go, 1972).
New Sources
Gergova, Diana. “The Find from Rogozen and One Religious
Feast in the Thracian Lands. ” Klio 71 (1989): 36–50.
Gocˇeva, Zlatozara. “Die Religion der Thraker.” Klio 68 (1986):
84–91.
Mihailov, Georgi. “Some Problems of Thracian Mythology and
Religion.” Journal of Indo-European Studies 11 (1983):
241–248.
Najderova, Varbinka. “Thracian Paganism and Roman Religions
on the Lower Danubian Limes.” In Roman Frontier Studies
1989: Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Roman
Frontier Studies, ed. by Valerie A. Maxfield and Michael J.
Dobson, pp. 291–294. Exeter, U.K., 1991.
IOAN PETRU CULIANU (1987)
CICERONE POGHIRC (1987)
Revised Bibliography
THRACIAN RIDER. The so-called Thracian Rider,
a demigod who was the focus of a cult in ancient Thrace, is
known principally from sculptures and inscriptions dating
from the fourth century BCE to the early fourth century CE.
In Greek and Latin inscriptions he is identified simply as
“the hero” (h ̄ero ̄s or heros, usually, but also h ̄ero ̄n, heron, eron,
etc.). According to Dimiter Detschew (1957, p. 200), the
name of the Thracian horseman was probably related to the
Thracian term for “hero,” ierus, or iarus, which has Celtic
parallels. If so, this linguistic fact reinforces the religious
analogies between this Thracian type of divinity and the
Greek heroes.
The oldest monuments of the Thracian Rider belong to
the fourth century BCE, but his cult was particularly influen-
tial in Thrace and in Moesia Inferior (i.e., Lower Moesia, the
region of Greco-Roman settlements on the western shore of
the Black Sea) during the second and third centuries CE.
Roman iconography and inscriptions of that time show that
he was identified with Asklepios, Apollo, Dionysos, Silvanus,
and other divinities. He bore the epithets so ̄t ̄er (“savior”),
iatros (“healer”), and even megas theos (“great god”), the last
in the city of Odessus (present-day Varna), where he was also
known by the Thracian name of Darzalas.
The extant monuments to the Thracian Rider are reliefs
and statuettes having either a votive or a funerary character.
The horseman is usually represented as riding to the right,
toward a tree on which a serpent is coiled. In the inscriptions,
Greek and Latin epithets are often added to the generic name
of the hero, showing that the cult was adapted to particular
heroes, who sometimes were known by Thracian names. The
epithets are usually toponyms, names of tribes, or attributes
of the horseman.
The names of the worshipers are known from votive in-
scriptions. It is interesting to note that 61 percent of the wor-
shipers recorded in Moesia Inferior and Dacia (modern Ro-
mania and Bessarabia) bore Greek or Greco-Roman names,
34 percent bore Roman names, and only 5 percent bore
names of Thracian or Thraco-Roman origin. Accordingly,
it can be inferred that the majority of the adepts of the cult
in Moesia Inferior were Greek.
Little is known about the cult itself, which was a combi-
nation of Greek and Thracian beliefs. At its height it was cer-
tainly related to concepts of survival after death and to heal-
ing, and it may have involved notions of survival either in
the netherworld or in heaven. It was widespread among the
population of Thrace and Moesia Inferior, and its devotees
included people of various social standings and ethnic back-
grounds. So far as we know, the cult never took the form of
a mystery religion with secret communities organized in a hi-
erarchy. The cult of the Thracian Rider died away in the first
half of the fourth century CE.SEE ALSO Dacian Riders.BIBLIOGRAPHY
On the name of the Thracian Rider, see Dimiter Detschew’s Die
thrakischen Sprachreste (Vienna, 1957). For a listing of mon-
uments from southern Thrace, together with an explanation
and history of the cult, see Gawrill I. Kazarow’s Die Denk-
mäler des thrakischen Reitergottes in Bulgarien, 2 vols. (Buda-
pest, 1938). For a catalog of monuments from Moesia Inferi-
or and Dacia, see Nubar Hampartumian’s Corpus Cultus
Equitis Thracii, vol. 4, Moesia Inferior (Romanian Section)
and Dacia (Leiden, 1979).
New Sources
Condurachi, Emile. “A propos de la genèse de l’iconographie du
cavalier thrace.” In Mythologie gréco-romaine. Mythologies pér-
iphériques, pp. 63–69. Paris, 1981.
Dimitrova, Nora. “Inscriptions and Iconography in the Monu-
ments of the Thracian Rider.” Hesperia 71 (2002): 209–229.
Gocˇeva, Zlatozara. “Les traits caractéristiques de l’iconographie du
cavalier thrace.” In Iconographie classique et identités région-
ales, pp. 237–243. Paris, 1986.THRACIAN RIDER 9171