The Thracian horseman hero was an important figure in Thracian religion, mythology, and culture. Depictions of the Thracian Horseman are found in numerous archaeological remains and artifacts from Thracian regions. From the Duvanlii ring and from cognates in numerous Indo-European languages, "mezēna" is seen to be a Thracian word for "horse", deriving from PIE "*mend-". Another Thracian word for "horse" is hypothesized, but it looks certain, there is no disagreement among Thracologists: "aspios", "esvas", "asb-" (and some other variants; < PIE "*ekwo" [https://archive.is/20130102133544/http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/phonetics/word3.html], the Thracian showing a satem form similar to Sanskrit "áśva-", "horse", Avestan "aspa", "horse", Ossetic "jäfs", Prussian "aswinan" ‘mare milk’, Lithuanian "ašvíenis" ‘stallion’, ašvà, dial. ešvà ‘mare’), from "Outaspios", "Utaspios", an inscription associated with the Thracian horseman. "Ut-" based on the PIE root word "ud-" (meaning "up") and based on several Thracic items, would have meant "upon", "up", and "Utaspios" is theorized to have meant "On horse(back)", parallel to ancient Greek "ephippos (epi-hippos)".