the charioteer is a famous bronze statue showing
Charioteer of Delphi The figure is of a very young man, as is shown by his soft side-curls. Like modern jockeys, chariot racers were chosen for their lightness, but also needed to be tall, so they were frequently teenagers. It seems that it represents a teenager from a noble family of his time. As we know, aristocratic chariot racers selected their drivers from glorious noble families to race their chariot in the Panhellenic games. The Charioteer wears the customary long tunic, (the xystin), reaching down to his ankles. A wide belt tightens the tunic high above the waist, while two other bands pass as suspenders over the shoulders, under the arms and criss-cross in the back. This is the analavos which keeps the garment from billowing in the wind during the race. The deep vertical pleats in the lower part of the tunic emphasize the Charioteer’s solid posture, resembling also the fluting of an Ionic column. On the upper part of the body, however, the pleats are wavy, diagonal or curved. This contrast in the garment representation is also followed by the body’s contrapuntal posture, so that the statue does not show any rigidity, but looks perfectly mobile and almost real. The entire statue is as if it is animated by a gradual shift to the right starting from the solid stance of the feet and progressing sequentially through the body passing the hips, chest and head to end up at its gaze. The hands are spread out holding the reins, with the long and thin fingers tightening – together with the reins – a cylindrical object, the riding crop. The Charioteer is not portrayed during the race, as in this case his movement would be more intense, but in the end of the race, after his victory, when – being calm and full of happiness – he makes the victory lap in the hippodrome. His attractive gemstone eyes evoke what Classical period Greeks called ethos and balance. His motion is instantaneous, but also eternal. In spite of the great victory, there are no shouts, but a calm inner power. The face and the body do not have the features of arrogance, but those of calm self-confidence.[5]