Romano-Thracian Bronze Warrior Rider and Horse , Circa 3rd c. BC-3rd Century AD

Eastern Europe, Northern Greece, Roman period, Thrace, ca. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE. A finely cast bronze horse , rider and a stand. This beautiful piece depicts the two figures cast separately, with the horse’s front left hoof fitting into a perforation on the separately cast rectangular plinth that has four peg feet. The horse stands with its right foreleg raised, head alert and turned slightly to the right. The rider gestures with his right arm raised and his left lowered toward his steed. Both the horse and rider are nicely detailed with many incised and modelled details. Size: 45.10mm, 40.70mm and 35.60mm, total 37 grams. Ex European private collection formed in the early 1990s. Fine condition.

The Thracian horseman (also known as the Thracian Rider or the Thracian Heroes)is a recurring motif that persists from the Hellenistic period into the Roman period in the region of Thrace. These figures are often depicted on the funerary stelae of lower and middle class Roman cavalrymen; they seem to refer to a specific cult of Heroes, which was based in Philippi and whose name is often accompanied by the epithets “soter” (saviour) and “answerer of prayers” (epekoos).