Bas-relief of the Thracian Knight

Votive bas-relief in grayish-white limestone depicting the Thracian Knight. Iconographically, the monument represents a peaceful deity, even though it is depicted in gallop. The sacred landscape represented by the altar and the tree around which the serpent coils suggests the votive nature of the scene. The hero makes a gesture of blessing, suggesting that the deity also had the role of a high priest.

The Thracian Knight represents one of the two deities defined as autochthonous in Roman Dobruja.

Dimensions: Width = 26 cm.

Discovery location: Gura Canliei (Lipnița commune, Constanța County), inside a dwelling. Collection of the National Museum of History and Archaeology in Constanța;

Inv. no. 31.210.

Dating: 3^rd century AD.

Bibliography: M. Irimia, Cercetări arheologice în aşezarea hallstattiană de la Gura Canliei (jud. Constanţa). Materiale și cercetări arheologice. A 15-a sesiune naţională de rapoarte. Muzeul judeţean Braşov – 1981. Bucureşti 1983, 161-171; Z. Covacef, Arta sculpturală în Dobrogea romană, secolele I-III, Cluj-Napoca, 2002, p. 175-177, pl. 29/4.