Roman Lead cult / votive plaque – Malbašić Type B 01 - 94 mm

"Roman Lead Cult or Votive Plaque – Danubian Riders, Malbašić Type B 01

Culture / Period: Roman
Date / Period: 3rd century AD, broadly dated between c. AD 250 and 320
Material: Lead
Dimensions: 94 mm
Condition: Good condition

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Provenance information:
Object Registration ID: 872

The current owner (S.N.J. S.) purchased the cult or votive plaque – Malbašić Type B 01 from J.D. in Amsterdam.

The previous owner, J.D. from Amsterdam (The Netherlands), stated that the object had been in his collection since 2000.

According to the previous owner, the object had previously been in a private collection in The Netherlands since the 1990s.

No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the object was available from the previous owner.

Background Information:

This lead relief belongs to the remarkable group of Roman-period religious plaques conventionally known as the Danubian Rider or Danubian Riders plaques. The composition corresponds to Malbašić Type B 01, within the broader Type B tradition. Such plaques are associated particularly with the Middle and Lower Danube and represent one of the most complex examples of religious syncretism in the later Roman Empire. They combine Roman, local Danubian, Thracian and other eastern Mediterranean religious elements within a highly structured visual programme.

The plaque is arranged vertically in several registers beneath an architectural arch. Rather than illustrating a single narrative event, the relief presents a carefully ordered religious cosmos. Celestial imagery occupies the uppermost zone, followed by the principal divine encounter of a central female deity and two mounted figures. Below are scenes associated with ritual, sacrifice and communal dining, while the lowest zone contains animals and objects carrying symbolic or cultic significance. The entire composition may therefore have functioned as a compact visual expression of the beliefs and rituals associated with the Danubian Rider cult.

At the summit of the composition appears a solar deity in a four-horse chariot or quadriga. This figure is generally identified with Sol, and more specifically can be understood within the Roman concept of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. The quadriga represents the movement of the sun across the heavens and consequently evokes cosmic order, light, renewal and the cyclical passage of time. The elevated position of Sol above the other figures emphasises the celestial dimension of the composition, although it remains uncertain whether Sol should be regarded as the principal deity of the cult or as the supreme cosmic authority presiding over the sacred scene below.

The horses of the solar chariot are themselves significant. Horses possessed powerful associations in Roman and provincial religion with divine manifestation, military strength, heroic status and movement between different realms. The prominence of mounted imagery throughout Danubian Rider plaques makes the horse one of the defining symbols of this religious tradition.

Large curved serpent- or dragon-like creatures occupy the upper corners of the plaque, framing the celestial arch. Serpents had a broad range of meanings in Roman religion. They could represent protective spirits, fertility, regeneration and the genius loci, the sacred or protective force associated with a particular place. Within Danubian religious imagery, serpent-like creatures may likewise have served as guardians of the sacred sphere and as symbols connecting earthly, subterranean and celestial realms.

The central register forms the iconographic heart of the plaque. A frontal female figure stands between two symmetrically arranged horsemen approaching from either side. Her larger and more prominent position indicates her importance within the religious composition. The precise identity of this goddess remains debated. Comparisons have been proposed with Epona, Cybele, Demeter, Artemis, Luna, Hekate, Atargatis, Nemesis and local Thracian, Dacian or Pannonian female divinities. It is therefore preferable not to assign her a single classical name with certainty.

Her association with the two horsemen, however, strongly suggests a protective and beneficent role. She may embody fertility, abundance, divine protection or access to the sacred mysteries represented by the plaque. On Type B 01 compositions she is associated with a cloth, garment or apron-like element that appears to contain or present gifts or fruits. Such imagery reinforces interpretations connected with nourishment, prosperity and divine generosity.

The two mounted figures approaching the goddess form another essential element of the cult. Their symmetrical arrangement has often encouraged comparison with the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, the divine twins who were closely associated in Graeco-Roman religion with horses, protection, travel, military assistance and salvation in moments of danger. The Danubian Riders should not, however, simply be identified as Castor and Pollux. Their imagery also incorporates elements derived from Thracian horseman traditions, local warrior deities and Roman military religion. It is therefore more appropriate to speak of a Dioscuric pattern or influence within a distinct Danubian religious tradition.

The horsemen appear to direct gestures toward the central goddess. These may represent greeting, reverence, acclamation or the reception of divine favour. Their simultaneous presentation as powerful mounted figures and as figures approaching a greater central divinity creates a carefully balanced relationship between protection, divine mediation and religious hierarchy.

Additional standing figures flank the principal group. Within the Type B tradition, these have sometimes been interpreted as divinities such as Nemesis and Mars. Such identifications should remain cautious, since the small scale and schematic character of the relief do not permit secure individual identification. Nevertheless, their presence broadens the divine assembly and reinforces both the protective and martial character of the imagery.

Beneath one of the horses appears a recumbent or fallen human figure. This motif is commonly interpreted as a defeated adversary or embodiment of hostile forces. In this context the mounted figure becomes not merely a horseman but a victorious protector overcoming disorder, danger or death. Such imagery would have been readily understandable within the military environment of the Roman frontier provinces.

Beneath the opposite horse appears a fish, creating a striking asymmetry. The fish is repeated elsewhere in the composition and was clearly more than a decorative detail. It may relate to water, rivers, nourishment, fertility and abundance, particularly appropriate in the Danubian environment. At a more symbolic level, water and aquatic imagery could also evoke purification, renewal or passage between different realms.

The register below the divine encounter contains a banquet scene. Three seated figures are shown around a table on which a fish appears to be represented. The formal placement of this meal within the sacred composition strongly suggests a ritual rather than an ordinary domestic banquet. Communal meals were an important component of many ancient religious associations and mystery cults, reinforcing bonds between participants while simultaneously commemorating or symbolically sharing a meal with the gods.

The repetition of the fish in both the equestrian and banquet registers is particularly noteworthy. Its recurrence indicates that it formed part of the symbolic vocabulary of the cult. It could simultaneously represent food, water, fertility and ritual nourishment. The repeated motif creates a visual connection between the divine manifestation above and the human ritual activity below.

To one side of the banquet is a sacrificial scene involving a ram or ram-headed figure. This has traditionally been connected with a criobolium, a ritual involving the sacrifice of a ram. Ram sacrifice was known in several religious traditions of the Roman Empire and possessed associations with purification, fertility and regeneration. Although comparisons with the cult of Magna Mater and Attis have been proposed, the presence of such imagery does not by itself demonstrate that the Danubian Rider religion was identical with the cult of Cybele.

On the other side are two nude human figures. Their precise meaning remains uncertain. Within the wider religious programme they have sometimes been interpreted as initiates or participants in a ritual of purification. Nudity could signify the temporary removal of ordinary social identity and the vulnerability or ritual transformation of the participant before the deity. This interpretation is attractive in the context of a cult involving sacrifice and sacred dining, but it cannot be regarded as certain.

The lowest register condenses the religious imagery into a sequence of individual symbols. Among the motifs associated with Type B 01 are a small table or offering table with a fish, a serpent, a two-handled vessel, a lion and a rooster. These elements form what may be understood as a compact symbolic vocabulary linking food, drink, sacrifice, protection, death, fertility and renewal.

The vessel can be interpreted as a krater, kantharos or related ritual drinking vessel. In Roman antiquity wine was normally mixed with water before consumption, and such vessels were closely associated with banqueting, libation and communal ritual. Positioned alongside food imagery, the vessel completes the idea of a sacred meal consisting of both nourishment and drink.

The serpent in the lower register may complement the serpentine creatures above. In Roman religious imagery snakes could protect households, shrines, food stores and sacred places, while their shedding of skin made them particularly powerful symbols of renewal and regeneration. Their ability to disappear into the earth also connected them naturally with subterranean and chthonic forces.

The lion introduces another powerful symbol. Across Roman and eastern Mediterranean religious traditions the lion could express strength, kingship, protection, victory and solar power. Its presence within the lower register may therefore connect the terrestrial or underworld sphere with the solar authority represented by Sol at the summit of the plaque.

The rooster provides an appropriate conclusion to this symbolic sequence. Because it announces the arrival of dawn, the rooster was naturally associated with light overcoming darkness, vigilance and renewal. Within this composition its placement creates a meaningful counterpart to the solar deity above: the rooster announces the approaching light, while Sol represents the celestial source of that light.

Taken as a whole, the plaque therefore presents a sophisticated vertical arrangement. At the summit stands the solar deity; beneath him appears the central goddess with the divine horsemen; below them are sacrifice and the sacred banquet; and at the bottom are animals and ritual objects associated with nourishment, protection, earthly forces and regeneration. This hierarchical organisation is one of the most characteristic features of Danubian Rider plaques.

The imagery has often been connected with concepts of initiation, protection and salvation, but the exact theology of the cult has not survived in written form. No definitive ancient text explains the plaques, and consequently their interpretation depends primarily upon iconography, archaeological context and comparison between surviving examples. The meaning of individual figures therefore remains the subject of scholarly discussion.

What can be stated more securely is that these plaques developed within the multicultural religious environment of the Roman Danubian provinces. Related examples are particularly associated with territories corresponding to parts of Roman Pannonia, Moesia, Dacia and Thrace, including areas of present-day Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Their imagery combines local equestrian traditions with recognisable elements of the wider Graeco-Roman religious world.

This cultural mixture is characteristic of religion in the Roman Empire. Roman rule did not simply replace provincial traditions with an identical imperial religion. Local communities, soldiers, merchants and migrants continually adapted gods, symbols and rituals to new circumstances. The Danubian Rider plaques provide especially vivid evidence of this process, combining the solar deity, mounted protectors, a powerful goddess, sacrifice, banqueting and local animal symbolism into a distinct regional religious language.

The military character of the Danubian provinces is also important. The Danube formed one of the principal frontier systems of the Roman Empire, with forts, legionary bases, auxiliary units, roads and settlements extending across the region. The mounted protective figures, themes of victory and danger, and imagery connected with travel and divine protection would have been particularly meaningful in such an environment. The cult has consequently often been associated with soldiers and frontier communities, although its worshippers should not automatically be assumed to have been exclusively military.

Lead was particularly suitable for the production of such small devotional reliefs. Its relatively low melting point allowed plaques to be cast in moulds, permitting established compositions to be reproduced while retaining variations between individual moulds and workshops. The recurring arrangement of registers and symbols demonstrates that these objects belonged to an organised iconographic tradition rather than being isolated artistic creations.

Portable plaques of this kind could have served in private or semi-private religious practice, possibly within domestic shrines, small sanctuaries or cult associations. Their compact dimensions made an elaborate religious programme accessible in a personal format. A worshipper could thus possess an image bringing together the principal divine figures, ritual actions and protective symbols of the cult within a single object.

The broad dating of approximately AD 250–320 places the plaque in a particularly dynamic phase of Roman history. This period extends from the later third-century crisis into the age of the Tetrarchy and the early Constantinian period. The empire experienced political upheaval, military pressure and major administrative transformation, while religious life was characterised by extraordinary diversity. Traditional Roman gods, provincial cults, solar religion, mystery traditions and emerging Christianity existed alongside and interacted with one another.

Within this setting, the Danubian Rider plaques represent an important expression of provincial Roman religion. Their imagery reveals how communities on the imperial frontier could participate fully in the wider Roman religious world while maintaining and transforming regional traditions of their own.

This lead plaque therefore preserves far more than a decorative religious scene. Its densely organised registers bring together celestial order, divine horsemen, a central goddess, victory over hostile forces, sacrifice, ritual dining and symbols of protection and renewal. As a portable object of devotion from the later Roman Empire, it forms a tangible connection to the religious life of the Danubian provinces and to the individuals for whom such imagery expressed protection, community and their relationship with the divine."