When asked about theCharioteer of Delphia large bronze statue representing a charioteer, Sophie Descamps, honorary general curator of heritage at the Louvre Museum, has this categorical sentence: “It is one of the Mona Lisa of Greece. » A sort of metallic equivalent of the Venus de Milo. And like Mona Lisa in Paris, theaurige is so overrun with tourists at the Delphi Museum that a room has been dedicated to it. However, even if he is one of the most photographed statues in the world, even if his discovery, which dates back to the spring of 1896, dates back more than a century, this coachman in a long tunic and with a magnetic gaze kept until present many secrets about its origins. Secrets which have just been largely lifted, on the occasion of a symposium which was held in Athens, from Thursday 1is to Saturday, December 3, during which the results of an unprecedented scientific study program were revealed.
The Charioteer of Delphi was probably victim of a landslide during the great earthquake of 373 BC. J.-C., which also caused a tsunami
In ancient Greece, “there were thousands of statues in public squares, we know this from textual sources or from the stone pedestals on which they stood, explains Sophie Descamps. But these works have essentially disappeared. » Many bronzes, copper and tin alloys have been recast. Some, looted by the Romans, sank on their journey to Italy. Finally, others were buried during cataclysms, such as theCharioteer of Delphi, probably the victim of a landslide during the great earthquake of 373 BC. AD, which also caused a tsunami. The coachman found himself underground with some debris from his quadriga, as well as pieces of the four horses that pulled him.
In 1896, a mysterious child’s arm was also unearthed, possibly that of a little groom, and the base of the statue. Its inscriptions made it possible to date the work, designed to celebrate the victory of the chariot of Polyzalos – a prince of Gela, in Sicily – during the Pythian Games which were held at Delphi. “The “Auriga” group must have been created between 470 and 466 BC. J.-C.says Sophie Descamps. Thanks to this, we have a testimony of what the Greek bronzers knew how to do at that time. » This beginning of Ve century before our era saw a real technical maturation take place, both in the art of lost-wax casting and in that of welding, borrowed from the Egyptians. Because a statue like theaurige is a rather incredible assembly whose welds are, for the most part, invisible to the naked eye, which makes Sophie Descamps say that “its author was a virtuoso, it’s so amazing”.
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