The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman ( bg, Мадарски конник, ''Madarski konnik'') is an

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

large

rock relief A rock relief or rock-cut relief is a relief sculpture carved on solid or "living rock" such as a cliff, rather than a detached piece of stone. They are a category of rock art, and sometimes found as part of, or in conjunction with, ...

carved on the Madara Plateau east of

Shumen Shumen ( bg, Шумен, also romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the tenth largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province. Etymology The city was first mentioned as ''Šimeonis'' in 1153 by t ...

in northeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, near the village of Madara. The monument is dated in the very late 7th, or more often very early 8th century, during the reign of

Bulgar Bulgar may refer to: *Bulgars, extinct people of Central Asia *Bulgar language, the extinct language of the Bulgars * Oghur languages Bulgar may also refer to: *Bolghar, the capital city of Volga Bulgaria *Bulgur, a wheat product * Bulgar, an Ash ...

Khan

Tervel Khan Tervel ( bg, Тервел) also called ''Tarvel'', or ''Terval'', or ''Terbelis'' in some Byzantine sources, was the khan of Bulgaria during the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named ...

. In 1979 became enlisted on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Description

The relief depicts a majestic horseman above ground level in an almost vertical -high cliff. It is of almost natural size. The horseman, facing right, is thrusting a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet, and on the left a dog is running after the horseman. The carving of the horseman's halo and garments, as well as the bird in front of the horseman's face, are barely recognizable due to the erosion and bad condition of the monument. The relief is similar to the carbon images found in Saltovo, Soulek,

Pliska Pliska ( , cu, Пльсковъ, translit=Plĭskovŭ) was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the Middle Ages and is now a small town in Shumen Province, on the Ludogorie plateau of the Danubian Plain, 20 km northeast o ...

and

Veliki Preslav The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav ( bg, Велики Преслав, ), former Preslav ( bg, link=no, Преслав; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new B ...

Origin tradition

The meaning and symbolism of the depiction is uncertain, as well its actual masonry tradition and cultural source. In the scholarship the origin of the relief is connected with the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as noma ...

ethnogenesis – the semi-nomadic equestrian warrior culture from the

Eurasian Steppe The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistr ...

. Others saw in the relief resemblance to the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

rock

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

tradition. The hero-horseman is a common character of Turkic and Iranian-Alanic mythology. It is sometime considered that the horseman represents or is related to the Bulgar deity Tangra, while

Vladimir Toporov Vladimir Nikolayevich Toporov (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Топоро́в; 5 July 1928 in Moscow5 December 2005 in Moscow) was a leading Russian philologist associated with the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school. His wife was ...

related it to the Iranian deity

Mithra Mithra ( ae, ''Miθra'', peo, 𐎷𐎰𐎼 ''Miça'') commonly known as Mehr, is the Iranian deity of covenant, light, oath, justice and the sun. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seein ...

. Others noted a more simple explanation – that the relief represented Khan

(701–718 AD), or like previously considered and now rejected, Khan

Krum Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territor ...

(802–814 AD). Some considered it an example of the Thracian horseman – a recurring motif of a deity in the form of a horseman in the Paleo-Balkanic mythology. The motif typically features a caped horseman astride a steed, with a spear poised in his right hand. He is often depicted as slaying a beast with a spear, although this feature is sometime absent. Initially considered (and later abandoned) by Konstantin Josef Jireček and Karel Škorpil, the assumption was gradually rejected because of differences in the iconographic details, and the relation with the animals (there's no dog). The relief probably incorporates both autochthonous Thracian and the newly arrived Bulgars cultural cults. The monumental size, iconography and the details (stirrup, halo, skull-cup, bird etc.) is generally part of the Bulgar tradition, while the rightward direction and the lion of the Thracian tradition.

Archaeology

In the 1924–35, beneath the relief (some 250 m north) were found the remnants of a complex which is considered to have been a pagan shrine (three-aisled church) and a rectangular building, probably the ruler's private dwelling, where the ruler did sacral rituals related to Tangra. At the site was also found a damaged inscription by Khan

Omurtag Omurtag (or Omortag) ( bg, Омуртаг; original gr, Μορτάγων and Ομουρτάγ', Inscription No.64. Retrieved 10 April 2012.) was a Great Khan ('' Kanasubigi'') of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder". In the v ...

which mentions the deity Tangra. The complex is commonly dated to the second quarter of the ninth century, as the 1970s excavations dated the pottery between 8th and 10th century. Some argue that the earliest buildings were founded after the conversion to Christianity. Thus the pagan temple (i.e. church) and the building would have been built on an early Byzantine basilica. To the west of the building was found Christian burial, with golden decorated belt, dated c. 900 AD. Throughout the 20th century, two miles (c. 3.2 km) northeast from the relief was found another group of buildings, consisting of 5th-6th century basilica, with inner rectangular structure, which some interpreted as the pagan temple (but without clear evidence).

Inscriptions

Three partially preserved texts in

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

, carved in the rock, can be found around the image of the rider. They bear important information regarding the history of Bulgaria in the period. The oldest inscription is the work of

(701–718 AD), thus it is considered that the relief was created during his rule or immediately after the Bulgars settled in 680–681 AD. The other inscriptions refer to the Khans

(802–814 AD) and

(814–831 AD) who are most likely the ones who ordered the carvings. Inscription I: ''

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

the emperor made a treaty ..the Bulgars ..and came to

. My uncles at

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

did not trust the emperor with the cut-off nose and went back to the Kisiniie ..one of his ..The ruler Tervel made a treaty and gave to the emperor five thousand ..with my help the emperor scored a fine victory.'' Inscription II: '' ..gold. He gave eighteen ..gold the ruler ..soldiers ..a ruler ..the Greeks (Byzantines) ..what I gave to you, I will give you every year, and the emperor sent to the ruler ..and asked the ruler Krumesis ..the ruler ..divided the gold .. began ..he gave from ..the ruler Krumesis gave ..that sea ..you did ..the ruler ..war they tore the treaties ..war ..then ..name ..' Inscription III: '' ..he was raised ..tore and

the ruler set by god sent ..help to me ..' Inscription IV: '' Khan sybigi Omurtag, ruler from god ..was ..and made sacrifice to god Tangra .. itchurgu boila ..gold ..'

Legacy

The Madara Rider is depicted on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

of smaller Bulgarian coins (1 to 50 stotinki) issued in 1999 and 2000. A June 29, 2008, official survey on the design of Bulgaria's future euro coins was won by the Madara Horseman with 25.44 percent of the votes.

Madara Peak Madara Peak ( bg, връх Мадара, vrah Madara, ) is a 430 m peak in Vidin Heights on Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Surmounting Panega Glacier to the south. Steep and partly ice-free souther ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after the historic site of Madara.

References

;Sources * * * *

External links

{{Unesco-bg Rock reliefs 8th-century inscriptions World Heritage Sites in Bulgaria Tourist attractions in Shumen Province Sculptures in Bulgaria Monuments and memorials in Bulgaria Archaeological sites in Bulgaria Bulgarian Greek inscriptions Buildings and structures in Shumen Province History of Shumen Province 7th-century sculptures 8th-century sculptures