Cavalerul cu pasăre de pradă de la Surcea: avatarul unui mit celtic în Dacia epocii târzii la Tène
The Knight with Bird of Prey from Surcea, the Avatar of a Celtic Myth in Late La Tène Dacia

Summary/Abstract: The presence of the Celts in Transylvania during the middle La Tène period was neither ephemeral nor devoid of consequences. Most likely, their mythological legacy materialized in local late La Tène iconography (e.g. "the knight with bird of prey" of Surcea or the "female triad" of Lupu). Despite the changes to the regional collective identities illustrated in the historical appearance of the Dacians, myths of Celtic tradition became integrated in the cultural memory of local elites of the 1st century BC. Under these circumstances, the alleged antagonism between Celts and Dacians, emphatically incorporated in the Romanian historiography from the testimony of Strabo (VII 3, 11), should be regarded with a critical eye. Beyond the conflict between Burebista, king of the Dacians and Getae, and Critasiros, king of the Boii and Taurisci, many indicators of a particular trans-regional cultural solidarity should be better distinguished, conceived and accepted. Most likely, habits and ideological patterns of central European (Celtic) origin played a fundamental role in the genesis of late La Tène culture in pre-Roman Dacia.

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