Inventory number
Ακρ. 700
Artist
Attic workshop
Category
Sculpture
Period
Archaic Period
Date
510-500 BC
Dimensions
Height: 1.12 m
Material
Marble from Paros
Location
Archaic Acropolis Gallery
The statue was found east of the Erechtheion in 1887. The rider was probably nude wearing only sandals with engraved soles and red, painted straps. He rides sitting close to the horse’s neck and rests his left hand on his thigh. The horse raises its left foreleg and turns its head to the same direction. Its upraised mane is rendered with wavy lines and preserves a bright blue colour. Over the mane and the rider’s left hand a hole for inserting the separately constructed reins can be seen. The delicate rendering of the horse’s muscles, as well as the depiction of the rider’s toes are impressive.
The expensive rider statues were dedications of the two upper socio-economic classes, the pentacosiomedimnoi and the triacosiomedimnoi or riders. These two classes undertook the expensive obligation of maintaining war horses. To this upper class clearly belongs our rider, who, after winning in the games, dedicated his commemorative statue up on the Acropolis.
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