ER, Yasemin 25 Coronado Court, USA

THE YELBEYI ROCK-CUT TOMB IN ISAURIA AND HORSEMAN RELIEF

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The Yelbeyi rock-cut tomb located in Isauria presents a different type of the rock-cut tombs widespread in Isauria and Rough Cilicia and is a fine example of the creative spirit of the local funerary art. The tomb is built to resemble a house and its main scene shows a victorious horseman riding his rearing horse on the naked enemy lying on the ground. The military iconography of the scene shows that the depicted horseman is a high ranking officer (tribunus militum) of the Roman auxiliary forces. The Yelbeyi horseman resembles the Thracian Hero-Horseman and Anatolian horsemen deities but its closest parallels are found on the tombstones of the military horsemen in the various provinces of the Roman Empire. A popular subject in Roman funerary art, the model of the victorious horseman is derived from types known in the Graeco-Roman art. The horsemen monuments in the Roman Empire render a similar subject in local artistic traditions. The horseman motif, a typical feature of Isaurian art, is used frequently in the region as seen in the examples from Bozkır, Astra and Artanada. The victorious horseman theme, widespread in the Roman world, has been successfully treated on the Yelbeyi tomb.

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Isauria , Horseman , Funerary

Pamukkale University Journal Of Social Sciences Institute

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