- Erika Simon –
temple of the second quarter of the fi fth century bce. The terrible scene belongs to the
Seven against Thebes. Zeus (Tin) in the center throws his lightning bolt at Kapaneus who
cries. Athena (Menerva) at the side of Zeus has a vessel in her right hand. She wanted to
bring the drink of immortality to the mortally wounded Tydeus,^59 but she is horrifi ed by
his behavior and departs. He is biting into the head of the fallen Melanippos in order to
drink his brain.
Figures of pedimental compositions are known from Hellenistic Etruria. They were
excavated, for example, together with the Thesan acroterium (Fig. 24.21),^60 but the
interpretation is not clear. A terracotta pediment from Talamone (second quarter of
second century bce) in Florence^61 shows the fate of the Seven against Thebes. Oedipus
kneels in the center between his dying sons Eteokles and Polyneikes. Behind him is the
wall of Thebes with Kapaneus on a ladder. On the right side Amphiaraos sinks with his
chariot into the earth, on the left Adrastos leads his horses in the other direction. He was
the only one of the Seven who survived.
The central scene of the Talamone pediment recurs on Northern Etruscan ash urns (–
second-fi rst century). On the lids of these urns the persons whose remains are buried in
them are at the eternal symposium. An alabaster urn in Volterra (Fig. 24.23)^62 shows a
man with scroll and drinking horn. His name is inscribed on the kline. The relief beneath
is framed by two nearly naked female statues, and the one on the left holds a torch. They
are fate goddesses like the Greek Moirai (see Fig. 24.19) and the Etruscan Vanth (see Fig.
24.24). Oedipus laments kneeling in the center, supported by a warrior. At each of his
sides his sons Eteokles and Polyneikes die in the arms of comrades. Behind them Kreon,
king of Thebes, speaks with a long-haired woman. I think she is Antigone who will
bury her brother Polyneikes in spite of Kreon’s ban. The fate goddesses as well as themes
of mourning and burying are appropriate to ash urns. This is one of the reasons why
Theban mythology often appears on them. Perhaps there were also genealogical reasons.
We know for example, from Vergil’s Aeneid (10.198–200) that his home town Mantua
was named after Manto, the daughter of Teiresias. The poet certainly did not invent this.
The tale must have been popular in Northern Etruria at the time of the urns.
Many of them also were made of terracotta, for example an urn at Perugia with a
couple on its lid.^63 Fig. 24.24 shows a drawing after the terracotta relief. The myth,
I think, is situated in Corinth, a town connected with Etruria even more closely than
Figure 24.22 Clay antepagmentum from Pyrgi. Zeus (Tin) killing Kapaneus, one of the Seven, with his
lightning. Athena (Menerva) leaves with her drink of immortality, denying it to Tydeus, who bites into
the head of Melanippos. Rome, Villa Giulia (n. 58).