- Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni –
to determine the size of the chariot behind the horses and the number of its possible
occupants.^16 As a consequence the biga with the walking Winged Horses could have been
placed in the upper register of the pediment, with the head of the auriga in the middle
and Hercle mounting the chariot for his apotheosis, symmetrically positioned behind the
horses. In the bottom register, female fi gures, holding closed vessels, could be positioned
around the remains of a possible pyre, according to the dimensions of the other two
surviving elements associated with the pediment as a whole^17 (Fig. 29.18).
After all Hercle is not a new entry at the Ara della Regina sanctuary, since his deeds
were recalled by Archaic terracotta fragments there (the plaque with the cattle of Geryon
and the pedimental high relief with the Hydra). His meaningful presence is also implied
by the genealogy of Tarchon from Herakles developed in the local tradition.^18 Temple IV
represents the last refurbishment that was most recently assessed, it is late Hellenistic
and can be perceived in the ultimate setting of the two arms fl anking the stairway to the
terrace and in the courses of black stone (nenfro) framing its crucial spots such as altar α
protruding from the south side of the terrace.
Figure 29.17 Krater of the Painter of Lycurgus, Milano, Collezione Banca Intesa.
Bagnasco Gianni 2010: 224, Fig. 4.Figure 29.18 Reconstruction of the subject represented on the pediment of the third phase of the
Temple of the Ara della Regina sanctuary at Tarquinia (Temple III) (Drawing by Massimo Legni).
Courtesy of Università degli Studi di Milano, “Progetto Tarquinia” archive.