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Delphi Charioteer, right hand and reins, frontal view

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The Delphi Charioteer: view from the slight right

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Delphi Charioteer, lower torso and legs, frontal view

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Delphi Charioteer, back of torso, detail

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Delphi Charioteer, lower torso and legs, three-quarter view from right

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Delphi Charioteer, torso and head, back view

Collection: Delphi Archaeological Museum
Title: Delphi Charioteer
Context: From Delphi
Findspot: Excavated at Delphi
Summary: Charioteer standing in chariot with team of horses
Object Function: Victory
Material: Bronze
Sculpture Type: Free-standing statue
Style: Early Classical
Technique: Hollow cast
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 478 BC - ca. 474 BC
Dimensions:

H of charioteer: 1.80 m

Scale: Life-size
Region: Phocis
Period: Early Classical


Condition: Nearly complete

Condition Description:

Statue of the charioteer preserved in 3 fragments: torso with head (3520), lower torso from waist to feet (3485), right arm (3540). Only the left arm is missing. Other bronze fragments belonging to the group include fragments of the horses, harnesses, chariot and the inscribed stone base on which the group stood. In addition to the bronze, added materials for the eyes (inlay of glass and stone), headband (silver inlay) and mouth (copper-plate) are preserved.

Technique Description:

Cast by lost-wax process, probably a combination of the direct and indirect processes (Mattusch 1988, 134f.).

Inscription:

On the front face of a trapezoidal block of gray-beige limestone (said by Chamoux to be from the quarries of Parnassus), in two lines: ...*P]*O*L*U*Z*A*L*O*S *M*A N*E*Q*H*K[*E*N] ...]*O*N *A*E*S *E*U*O*N*U*M *A*P*O*L*L[*O*N], "... Polyzalos dedicated me. ... make him prosper, honored Apollo." The first line has been recut; the earlier, erased inscription can still be read with fair certainty: ... *G]*E*L*A*S *A*N*E[*Q]*E*K*E[*N] *A[*N]*A*S*S[*O*N], "... lord of Gela dedicated...."

Sources Used:

Stewart 1990, 38, 149; Boardman 1985a, fig. 34