CULTUL CAVALERILOR DANUBIENI: ORIGINI SI DENUMIRE (I)
THE WORSHIP OF THE DANUBIAN HORSEMEN: ORIGINS AND DESIGNATION (I)

Summary/Abstract: This study analyzes this worship of Danubian Riders at length and underlines certain aspects linked to its origins and to names connected with it. The worship of Danubian Riders synthesizes elements of various other cults, as proven by its iconographic motives. Given the lack of votive inscriptions, it is impossible to determine the identity of the depicted deity. The usual image is that of a goddess placed between two horsemen. Numerous other motives appear under various forms on cult items. Items of this cult made of stone, marble, clay, bronze, lead and gems are widely spread in the Middle and Lower Danube Basin. This was the territory of the ancient Roman provinces of Pannonia, Moesia Superior, Moesia Inferior and Dacia. In other Roman provinces such cult items are rare. Leaden plates with representations of the Danubian horsemen are often encountered in the Middle and Lower Danube Basin. Workshops producing such items are thought to have been located in Sirmium, Singidunum or in Viminacium. Another possibility is that the plates were spread by peddlers. On the other hand, the regions of Dacia and Moesia Inferior form a distinct territory, where this type of leaden plates can be encountered. The plates are not to be found in Pannonia Inferior and in the Serbian Danube Basin.

• Details
• Contents