Celestial God or Hero

“Given the statue’s ambiguous iconography the of the young man depicted striking a heroic pose cannot be determined He holds a scabbarded parazonium (triangular dagger) in a parade grip in his left hand (the tip can be seen on his upper arm) and wears the short chlamys (cloak pinned at the shoulder) and a tall headdress perhaps once supporting the rays of a radiate crown like that of the Statue of Liberty (note the twelve holes on the back) While this (hitherto unparalleled) radiate crown would indicate an association with the sun god Helios divine light is not exclusive to this deity The heroic pose and the bridled horse’s head at the young man’s feet are also symbols of equestrian heroes associated with a celestial domain notably the Dioscuri (sons of Zeus) Castor and Pollux Both Helios and the Dioscuri were popular during this period because they were not culturally nationalized belonging to both Greek and Roman worlds" 📍 [North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC](https://scaniver.se/L35.81096,-78.70368)