Paleo-Balkan mythology is the group of religious beliefs held byPaleo-Balkan-speaking peoples inancient times, includingIllyrian,Thracian andDacian mythologies.^[1]

The horseman was a common Palaeo-Balkan hero. The originalPalaeo-Balkan word for 'horseman' has been reconstructed as*Me(n)zana-, with the root*me(n)za- 'horse'. It is based on evidence provided by:^[2]

• Albanian:mëz ormâz 'foal', with the original meaning of 'horse' that underwent a later semantic shift 'horse' > 'foal' after the loan fromLatincaballus into Albaniankalë 'horse'; the same root is also found in Albanian:mazrek 'horse breeder';^[3]
• Messapic:menzanas, appearing as an epithet inZis Menzanas, found in votive inscriptions, and inIuppiter Menzanas, mentioned in a passage written byFestus in relation to aMessapian horse sacrifice;
• Romanian:mînz;
• Thracian: ΜΕΖΗΝΑ̣Ιmezēnai, found in the inscription of theDuvanli gold ring also bearing the image of a horseman.

The reliefs of theThracian horseman, especially his depiction as a hunter (either chasing or holding the hunted animal in his hand), were widespread within the Balkano-Danubian area during theRoman period.^[4][5]

• Illyrian religion
  • Albanian folk beliefs
• Thracian religion

• Zalmoxianism

• Hampartumian, Nubar (1979).Moesia Inferior (Romanian Section) and Dacia. Corpus Cultus Equitis Thracii (CCET). Vol. 4. Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-29552-0.
• Leeming, David A. (2005).The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford University Press.ISBN 0195156692.
• Oreshko, Rostislav (2020)."The onager kings of Anatolia: Hartapus, Gordis, Muška and the steppe strand in early Phrygian culture"(PDF).Kadmos.59 (1/2). De Gruyter:77–128.doi:10.1515/kadmos-2020-0005.S2CID 235451836.
• Wilkes, John J. (1992).The Illyrians. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing.ISBN 0-631-19807-5.

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