Fig. 63.—Charioteer Mounting a Chariot. Bas-relief from the Akropolis. Akropolis Museum, Athens.
The motive of representing a figure in the act of mounting a chariot is old. Amphiaraos was thus represented on the chest of Kypselos at Olympia[1916] and appears in a similar pose on the b.-f. Corinthian vase from Cerveteri, now in Berlin, which we have already mentioned.[1917] Among reliefs we shall first discuss the Parian (?) marble one found in 1822 near the Propylaia at Athens and now in the Akropolis Museum (Fig. [63]).[1918] Here we see represented a robed figure stepping into a chariot, holding the reins in the extended hands. This Attic work, perhaps dating from the very beginning of the fifth century B. C., has long been admired for its vigor and grace. Whether the figure is male or female, human or divine, is still a matter of debate. The head is too badly weathered to make the decision final. The upper part of the figure of Hermes (?) on another fragment, which appears to come from the same relief and which was found near the south wall of the Akropolis in 1859,[1919] has made it seem reasonable to call the charioteer a god, perhaps Apollo.[1920] The hair of Hermes and of the charioteer is arranged in the old Attic krobylos fashion. This also makes it natural to interpret the charioteer as male, despite the slender and delicate arms and hands, which appear to be female.[1921] But such effeminate male figures are not unknown to Attic art, which was characterized by grace and softness.[1922] The line of the breast, however, shows no such fulness as archaic masters were wont to give to female forms, and hence this figure may very well be that of a male. Schrader has tried to refer the slab to the frieze of the Old Temple of Athena, which, he believes, survived the sack of the Akropolis by Xerxes,[1923] thus assuming a chariot-frieze similar to the later one appearing on the Mausoleion at Halikarnassos, which antedated similar scenes on the Parthenon frieze by nearly a century. As the Parthenon slabs represent mortal charioteers, who are doubtless males, the relief may also represent a mortal. However, the Akropolis relief may have had nothing to do with any temple frieze nor with the adornment of a great altar of Athena, as Furtwaengler contended,[1924] but may be from a votive monument set up by a chariot victor.[1925]
We see a good representation in relief of a chariot-group on one side of the arched roof of the so-called Chimæra tomb discovered by Sir Charles Fellows at Xanthos in Lykia. Here is represented a chariot drawn by four horses, in which stands a charioteer, with sleeved tunic and Phrygian cap, and an armed figure. Because of the figure of the Chimæra in the lower right-hand corner, the charioteer, despite the absence of Pegasos, has been called Bellerophon.[1926]
THE APOBATES CHARIOT-RACE.
On the north frieze of the Parthenon there were originally at least 9 four-horse chariot groups,[1927] while on the south frieze there were 10 such groups.[1928] These various groups represent a ceremonial chariot-race called the apobates, known at Athens and in Bœotia and a favorite contest at the Panathenaic games.[1929] This race preserved the tradition of Homeric warfare, when the chieftain was driven to battle in his chariot, but dismounted to fight, remounting only to pursue or avoid his enemy. During the race, while the charioteer kept the horses at full speed, the apobates dismounted, ran alongside the chariot, and mounted again. In the last lap he dismounted and ran beside the chariot to the goal.[1930] In the North frieze we see the charioteer in the chariot, and the apobates, armed with shield and helmet, either stepping down from the chariot or standing beside it; while a third figure, a marshal, stands nearby. Thus on slab XIV we see the apobates about to step down; on slab XV he is standing up in the chariot; on slab XVII (Fig. [64]) he is leaning back, supporting himself by means of his right hand, which grasps the chariot rail, and is just ready to step down; on slab XXII he is remounting the chariot. In the scenes on the South frieze, on the other hand, the apobates is not represented as dismounting, but is standing either inside the chariot or by its side. The South frieze, therefore, represents preparation or the beginning of the race, while the North one represents the actual course. There is, therefore, as Gardiner points out, no need to accept Michaelis’ theory that the two friezes portray different motives, the North one representing the apobates at the games and the South one representing war-chariots. The double character of the race is shown by inscriptions which make both charioteer and apobates equally victors. Many other reliefs show the apobates dismounting. Thus, on a fragmentary relief found in 1886 at the Amphiareion at Oropos and now in Athens,[1931] we see a nude and beardless youth standing in a chariot, which is moving rapidly to the left. He has a helmet on his head and a shield in his left hand and holds on to the rim of the chariot, as in the Parthenon frieze slab just mentioned. To his right is a charioteer with his arms outstretched to hold the reins. As this relief is obviously influenced by the Parthenon frieze, it must stand midway between that frieze and the Hellenistic relief to be described below. Another relief, found at Oropos in 1835[1932] and dating from the first half of the fourth century B. C., represents a four-horse chariot moving to the left and containing two persons. One is the charioteer, who has long waving hair and a short beard and is clothed in the usual long tunic; the other is a nude apobates, who is armed with helmet and shield and holds on to the rim of the chariot with his right hand, the upper part of his body being inclined backwards, the knees bent, and the shield held away from the body.[1933] We can not say whether these two reliefs from the Amphiareion represent offerings of apobatai, who were victorious at races held in Oropos or elsewhere in Bœotia, or represent the victorious Panathenaic apobatai. They may well be ex votos to the hero Amphiaraos at the games held in Oropos. We see an excellent illustration of an apobates in the very act of dismounting on a Hellenistic votive relief discovered in 1880 on the Akropolis, which dates from the end of the fourth century B. C.[1934] A marble relief, supposably from Herculaneum, but now in Portugal,[1935] represents a figure dressed in a long chiton. Wolters suggests that it may represent an apobates, but the absence of the usual armor makes it probable that a charioteer is intended. In a future section we shall discuss the apobates in the horse-race at Olympia known as κάλπη.
