This charioteer almost certainly belongs with Hermes, 42a, as the styles are very close and thickness of the slabs identical. Owing to its very weathered surface it is not clear if the charioteer is male or female; we can count four horse’s tails though. The carving is shallow and is reminiscent of contemporary vase painting.
One side of the relief is smoothed off, indicating it was originally on a rectangular building. It is possible this structure was a small temple or shrine, or a forerunner of the Parthenon. If so, we can make an intriguing analogy between the chariot shown here and the chariots in the Panathenaic procession depicted on the Parthenon frieze
Athens Acropolis Museum 1342
Purchased 9 October 1880 by the Fitzwilliam from Martinelli of Athens; transferred to the Museum in 1884
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 83 (n.1), pl. 26.2
Schrader: Archaischen Marmorbildwerke des Akropolis (1939), 387-
Payne & Young: Archaic Marble Sculpture from the Acropolis, 47-
Dickins: Catalogue of the Acropolis Museum I, 275-7
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 891, no.77
Stewart: Greek Sculpture, 130, pl. 208
Hurwit: The Athenian Acropolis (1999), 123
Found on the Acropolis, Athens, perhaps from an early temple
