Votive Relief to a Hellenistic Ruler on Horseback: Demetrios Poliorketes

This relief represents a horseman. He wears a tunic belted at the waist, an undergarment extending to just above the knees, and a cloak pinned at the right shoulder, flying out behind. The horseman has youthful features and wears a fillet in his hair. The horse prances to the right, rearing back slightly on the hind legs and with tail flowing out and down toward the groundline of the molding below. The ledge at the bottom of the relief and the lack of detail on the horseman’s hair and the horse’s mane indicate it was once part of a larger frieze or series of metopes on a building. Comparison with the equestrian figures on the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus suggest this horsemen is probably a Macedonian king, likely one of the successors of Alexander the Great. In particular it may represent Demetrios Poliorketes, king of Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor (c. 306-286/2 BC). The horseman’s facial features, especially the angle of his nose, is comparable to images of Demetrios that appear on his coinage. The marble is worn and heavily pitted, suggesting perhaps damage from exposure to salt. If the putative Athenian origin of this relief is accurate, this damage could indicate it was originally part of a structure built in the Piraeus, the port of Athens. This structure may have been torn down during the riots against Macedonian rule in Athens c. 200 BCE.