Commentary Prepared by Dr. Julia Lenaghan, Ashmolean Museum

A 140
Charioteer, from a frieze of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Marble
Frieze
H. 40 cm. C. 85 cm restored height and 1.70 m restored length.

Found by C.J. Newton during excavations at the site of the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus in 1856. This fragment was found on the western side of the monument.
United Kingdom, London, British Museum, 1037
c. 350 BC

Preservation:
This cast represents two pieces of the very fragmentary chariot race frieze from the Mausoleum. The two sections, which Cook has shown do not belong together, are joined at about knee level. The join has been restored in plaster. Of the upper section, the two vertical sides are both broken irregularly. The front of the charioteer’s face is damaged, as is the side of the upper torso. The top horizontal edge is damaged. The lower section is broken off on the left hand side, and the break follows the curve of the drapery. On the bottom edge and the right vertical edge of this lower section, the breaks have been neatened with flattened edges. The front of this section is damaged just below the knees of the charioteer. Traces of blue paint are preserved on the background of the frieze and traces of other painted decoration are preserved on the moulding along the bottom of the slabs (not shown in the cast).

Description:
The cast is a reconstruction of two fragments of a frieze representing a chariot race. The frieze as a whole is extremely fragmentary. On this small part, one sees a charioteer dressed in the traditional charioteer’s long, belted chiton. The charioteer is depicted in profile. The modelling of the figure is plastic and details such as the ear and strands of hair pushed over the ear are finely rendered. The hair of the charioteer is shown as long, and tied back. He leans forward to hold the reins of his team, and the folds of the chiton’s long skirt sweep out behind him in graceful waves, emphasising movement. The rear edge of the body of the chariot can be seen half way along the figure’s skirt. The span of the chariot wheel is visible at the lower edge of the relief. The wheel of the chariot must have overlapped the skirt, and was deeply undercut or carved partly in the round. This created a weakness which would account for its having broken off at this point. A cyma reversa moulding adorns the foot of this frieze (it is not shown in this cast). Traces of painted decoration have been preserved on this moulding. The background of the frieze carries traces of blue paint. The back of the frieze is described as having been hammer dressed.

Discussion:
This fragmentary relief is the best preserved part of a frieze depicting a chariot race, which once adorned the giant Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – a grand tomb monument built for Mausolus, a fourth century ruler of Caria (in SW Turkey). About 100 fragments of the chariot frieze survive in total. All of the slabs appear to have depicted one quadriga group per slab, although it is not clear that they were all exactly the same. This cast represents two fragments joined. Cook has shown that the two fragments do not necessarily belong together, but even if the restoration is incorrect in details, the joined fragments allow an impression of the whole. Another reconstruction cast shows almost a whole slab reconstructed (Smith, pl. 18; Ashmole, fig. 182). Where the chariot frieze was placed on the Mausoleum is not understood. Some place it around a cella, inside the colonnade. This argument receives support from evidence of a similarly positioned frieze on the Nereid Monument at Xanthos. Others suggest it might belong in the tomb chamber beneath the monument, as in a painted chariot frieze in one of the royal tombs at Vergina, the site of the ancient Macedonian capital of Aegae (see Hoepfner). The type of marble and quality of carving of this frieze differentiates it from the other two friezes. This supports an idea that the chariot frieze could at least have been a separate addition, rather than part of the originally planned programme. This is not to say that the theme was not entirely appropriate to the funerary context. The theme of a chariot race could refer to heroic funerary games, and may even have referred specifically to chariot races held in honour of Mausolus at his death (see S. Hornblower, Mausolus, Oxford, 1982, 269). Ancient sources describe four famous sculptors as having working on the Mausoleum: Bryaxis, Skopas, Leochares and either Timotheos or Praxiteles (although most scholars discount the latter). The sculptors were apparently responsible for a side of the monument each, although the remains do not really indicate this kind of division (unless in the freestanding, ‘colossal’ action figures – see B 97). This charioteer had been attributed variously to Leochares and Skopas, but Jeppesen has pointed out an inscription on one of the mouldings associated with the frieze gives a name beginning ‘Apollo...’. This does not prevent hypotheses that one of the sculptors named in the sources was the original designer of the frieze and that it was carved by apprentices, but in general the attribution of the frieze remains unresolved. On the Mausoleum in general, see B 97 (‘Mausolus’). For other statues from the Mausoleum, see A 138 and A 139 (fragments of the amazonomachy frieze), B 98 (‘Apollo’), B 116 (‘colossal’ portrait of a woman) and B 229 (‘heroic’ portrait of a man). CMD

Bibliography:
W. Hoepfner, "Zum Mausoleum von Halicarnassus," AA (0) 95 - 114, esp. 107 - 110 (identifies the marble as Parian; thinks the frieze should be placed around the walls of the tomb chamber, contra Jeppesen)
C.J. Newton, A History of Discoveries at Halicarnassus, Cnidus and Branchidae (London 1862) 99, 177 and 245 - 46 (identifies the charioteer as a female; thinks it should be placed around the cella)
A.H. Smith, A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, vol. 2 (London 1900) 119 - 20, no. 1037 (follows Newton in most respects; identifies the marble as Parian; attributes to Skopas)
B. Ashmole, Architect and Sculptor in Ancient Greece (London 1972) 159 - 62, figs. 182 and 185 - 187 (thinks sculptor may be Attic, but could be Skopas of Paros; thinks it was possibly erected inside the burial chamber)
B.F. Cook, "The Mausoleum Frieze: Membra Disjectanda," BSA 71 (1976) 49 - 54, esp. 53 - 54, pls. 6 and 7 (disassociates the two fragments of the relief represented in this cast)
T. Linders and P. Hellström (eds.), Architecture and Society in Hecatomnid Caria (Uppsala 1989) (numerous essays covering more than just the Mausoleum; in particular: Cook summarizes scholarship on attribution of the sculpture)
K. Jeppesen, "Tot operum opus; Ergebnisse der dänischen Forschungen zum Mausoleum con Halikarnass seit 1966," JdI 107 (1992) 59 - 102, pls. 19 - 32, esp. 86 - 87, pls. 23.1 and 23.2 (places the frieze around the cella, within the colonnade; points out and illustrates an artist’s inscription on a fragment of moulding associated with the frieze)
I. Jenkins and G. Waywell (eds.), Sculpture and Sculptors of the Dodecanese and Caria (London 1997) (various short reports on the Mausoleum and its sculptures, including reports on marble types, polychromy and sculptors; see in particular: Jeppesen, 47, who places the chariot frieze on the wall of the cella)