An inscription on the limestone base of the statue shows that it was dedicated by Polyzalus,[2] the tyrant of Gela, a Greek colony in Sicily, as a tribute to Apollo for helping him win the chariot race.

"[3] Most bronze statues from ancient times have long been melted down for their raw materials or were naturally corroded, but the Charioteer survived because it was buried under a rock-fall at Delphi, which probably destroyed the site in 373 B.C.

[4] On discovery the figure exhibited a bluish appearance which correlates with Plutarch's description of the Spartan Monument from Delphi having an "unusual blue and glossy patina, due to peculiarities of the air inside the sanctuary."

[5] The statue remains mostly intact except that his left forearm and some details on the head are missing including the copper inlays on the lips and most of the silver eyelashes and headband.

A wide belt tightens the tunic high above the waist, while two other bands pass as suspenders over the shoulders, under the arms and criss-cross in the back.

The deep vertical pleats in the lower part of the tunic emphasize the Charioteer’s solid posture, resembling also the fluting of an Ionic column.

This contrast in the garment representation is also followed by the body’s contrapuntal posture, so that the statue does not show any rigidity, but looks perfectly mobile and almost real.

The entire statue is as if it is animated by a gradual shift to the right starting from the solid stance of the feet and progressing sequentially through the body passing the hips, chest and head to end up at its gaze.

The young man would have been of a lower status than his master Polyzalos, and Honour and Fleming have speculated that he may have been a household slave whom it was not appropriate to depict in the nude.

In about 1907, some ten years after the discovery of the Charioteer, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, a Spanish artist-designer based in Venice, created a finely pleated silk dress that he named the Delphos gown after the statue, whose robes it closely resembled.