The Monteleone chariot is an Etruscan chariot dated to ca. 530 BC. It was originally uncovered at Monteleone di Spoleto and is currently part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Though about 300 ancient chariots are known to still exist, only six are reasonably complete, and the Monteleone chariot is the best-preserved and most complete of all known surviving examples.
Carlos Picón, curator of the Met's Greek and Roman department, has called it "the grandest piece of sixth-century Etruscan bronze anywhere in the world.
The Monteleone chariot was part of a chariot burial, containing the remains of two humans , along with two drinking cups. Measuring 131 cm in height and designed to be drawn by two horses, the chariot itself is constructed of wood covered with hammered bronze plates and carved ivory decoration. The bronze plates are decorated with Homeric iconography.
The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet made by Hephaestus to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor.
Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art.
The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses.
The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull.
The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car.
The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back.
The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car.
While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
Give the chariot back where it belongs.
argiemerc 7 months ago
The Monteleone chariot is an Etruscan chariot dated to ca. 530 BC. It was originally uncovered at Monteleone di Spoleto and is currently part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Though about 300 ancient chariots are known to still exist, only six are reasonably complete, and the Monteleone chariot is the best-preserved and most complete of all known surviving examples.
zigsauer 2 years ago
Carlos Picón, curator of the Met's Greek and Roman department, has called it "the grandest piece of sixth-century Etruscan bronze anywhere in the world.
zigsauer 2 years ago
The Monteleone chariot was part of a chariot burial, containing the remains of two humans , along with two drinking cups. Measuring 131 cm in height and designed to be drawn by two horses, the chariot itself is constructed of wood covered with hammered bronze plates and carved ivory decoration. The bronze plates are decorated with Homeric iconography.
zigsauer 2 years ago
The Figures on the Chariot
The iconography represents a carefully thought-out program. The three major panels of the car depict episodes from the life of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the magnificent central scene, Achilles, on the right, receives from his mother, Thetis, on the left, a shield and helmet made by Hephaestus to replace the armor that Achilles had given his friend Patroklos, for combat against the Trojan Hektor.
zigsauer 2 years ago
Patroklos was killed, allowing Hektor to take Achilles' armor. The subject was widely known thanks to the account in Homer's Iliad and many representations in Greek art.
The panel on the left shows a combat between two warriors, usually identified as the Greek Achilles and the Trojan Memnon. In the panel on the right, the apotheosis of Achilles shows him ascending in a chariot drawn by winged horses.
zigsauer 2 years ago
The subsidiary reliefs partly covered by the wheels are interpreted as showing Achilles as a youth in the care of the centaur Chiron and Achilles as a lion felling his foes, in this case a stag and a bull.
The central axis of the chariot is reinforced by the head and forelegs of the boar at the join of the pole to the car.
The deer below Achilles' shield appears slung over the boar's back.
zigsauer 2 years ago
The eagle's head at the front of the pole repeats the two attacking eagles at the top of the central panel, and the lion heads on the yoke relate to the numerous savage felines on the car.
While the meaning of the human and animal figures allows for various interpretations, there is a thematic unity and a Homeric quality emphasizing the glory of the hero.
zigsauer 2 years ago