was decorated with the magnificent mythological high relief of the "Seven against Thebes" in which Tydeus devours the skull of his opponent Melanippus. Temple "A" pediment The terracotta pediment at the back of the temple faced the entrance to the sanctuary. It portrayed the two most dramatic episodes in the Greek myth "The Seven against Thebes". The high relief dates to the years 470-460 BC. The standard of its composition and style is particularly high and it is considered one of the masterpieces of all time. Firstly the overlapping of the two scenes has no equivalent in archaic relief tradition, and secondly the style of its specific ”tuscanic” tradition is still of late-archaic inspiration which is a precious testimony of the diffusion of the Greek myth in Etruria. The reproduction of drapery, hair and beards already denotes the manneristic style. In the mid-upper section, Zeus attacks Capaneus who has climbed one of the gates of Thebes. Struck by divine thunder, the Argive hero clumsily backs away, his right hand raised in vain to strike, while shouting his anger and pain. In the background the Theban Polyphontes is held down by the god. In the foreground, below and all along the picture, is the ”grim repast”: Tydeus, fallen to the ground and dying, catches by the shoulders the Theban Melanippus, also dying, and is about to devour his skull. On the left Athena backs away, queasy because of the scene, and holds in her right hand the cruet containing the potion of eternal life that Zeus had made for Tydeas. There are no known iconographical sources to serve as models by the unknown master who designed and moulded the clay for the relief by hand. The version of the saga which inspired the artist is not the one contained in the works of the great tragedians who related the stories of the Theban cycle in the fifth century BC; it is more likely the one recently attributed to Stesichorus of Himera, the poet who lived between Sicily and Magna Graecia in the archaic period. The theme chosen by the commissioning party reveals a deep knowledge of the Greek myth. Their message is thus explicit: with the help of the gods, the Thebans who had been unfairly assaulted triumphed over the ferocity and arrogance (hybris) of the Argive antagonists. The relief bears evidence of the condemnation of tyrannical hybris and exaltation of