ОЩЕ ВЕДНЪЖ ЗА ТРАКИЙСКИЯ ХЕРОЙ И СВ. ГЕОРГИ
ONCE AGAIN ABOUT THE THRACIAN HERO AND ST GEORGE

Summary/Abstract: The present paper researches into the relationship between the Thracian hero and St George and St Demetrius of Thessaloniki in the perspective of several reliefs of the hero in the Balkan lands. They have been placed in Christian temples dedicated to the saints, or in the proximity of the cultic topoi of the saints. These examples raise again the ambiguous question about the relation and the continuity between the Thracian hero and the saints – warriors and horsemen. Despite the iconographic resemblance and the connection between the figures, the problem lies in the fact that the iconographies of St George and St Demetrius seated on horseback and fighting against an enemy appeared a few centuries after the time of the Thracian hero. On a folklore level St George inherited a considerable part of the functions as a patron of health, vegetation and fertility, which earlier belonged to the Thracian hero, as well as the relevant religious worship. St Demetrius, who has been regarded as a twin brother of St George, forming the bipartite annual cycle, appears to be in relation with the functions of St George. On the official church level it is possible that the characteristics of the Thracian hero and the saints as warriors and noblemen have acted as a basis for bringing them closer to one another. In this sense the hero paved the way, to some extent, for the establishment of the cult of the saints concerned. The hero and the saints have been similarly perceived and represented as horsemen fighting against a certain kind of antagonist, which could have also acted as a basis for drawing them closer. Some representations of the Roman/Byzantine emperor on horseback and of St George as a warrior on foot fighting a dragon, may be treated as an intermediate stage. Anyway, if there is some kind of analogy here, it is rather in terms of form and iconography than in terms of content. We must also keep in mind that the church has been willing to assimilate the topoi of the preceding faith. The concepts of “official” and “folklore” level should be taken as pure theoretical types, which cannot cover the reality in full. Actually, the two levels are closely intertwined, which is also one of the main features of the so-called syncretic Christianity.

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