Journal - Comune di Monteleone di Spoleto

iii.6 diagrams of the central
panel of the monteleone
chariot, showing (a) the boar
protome in the foreground
and the deer and birds of
prey in low relief in the
background and (b) the main
scene in high relief in the
middle ground. drawings:
dalia lamura under the
direction of adriana emiliozzi
iii.7 alignment of the heads
and feet of the figures on the
side panels of the monte leone
chariot. in order to depict the
three figures the same height,
the artist shortened the legs
of the charioteer and replaced
them with a chariot wheel.
drawing: dalia lamura under
the direction of adriana
emiliozzi
46
a b
dominated the team of horses might suggest identifying the
hero’s physical strength with a lion’s. most interesting by far,
however, are the groups of felines associated with the kouros
on each side of the chariot body. The naked youth seems to
dominate the lion, since he stands on its head. moreover,
according to my reconstruction (Figure iii.8b) this lion was
flanked by two other full, recumbent lions. Since in ancient
Greece the kouros represented a youth no longer adolescent
but not yet mature, i suggest that the person who devised
the program intended to create a link between achilles’s
initiation rites on mount Pelion during his adolescence and
his mastery of the art of warfare at Troy. Thus the iconography
stresses not only the paideia connoted by the defeated
lion but also the kalokagathia of both characters (the owner
of the chariot and achilles), embodying the Greek ideal of
human perfection. 20
if this interpretation rings true, the two groups of lions
with kouroi are part of the figural program of the monteleone
chariot, just as the frieze of equestrian races is integral to the
so-called upper Building at Poggio Civitate (murlo). 21
indeed, aristocratic youths engaged in contests to prove
their valor during initiation rites for ephebes have been con