Head of Leucotea

The female head must have been part of the high relief which covered the front end of the ridge beam of the roof of temple A in its 350 BCE reconstruction in the sanctuary of Pyrgi (Santa Severa), the ancient port of Caere (Cerveteri).
Greek sources recall the terrible pillage by Dionysius of Syracuse (384 BCE) of temple A, which was dedicated to Thesan, the Etruscan goddess of Dawn. The temple was also attributed by Greek writers to Leucothea (literally the "white goddess"), assimilated by the Romans to Mater Matuta, a goddess deeply linked to the rites of passage and transition, such as birth and, therefore, also the dawn.
The head seems to refer to this goddess, who gives us an image in strong movement with curly hair moved by the wind and a"pathetic" expression given by the open mouth.
Almost one hundred years after the relief with Tydeus and Capaneus, the new decoration of the temple introduces another myth of the Theban saga, in which Ino/Leucothea and her son Palemone, as Ovid tells us, are welcomed by Heracles, whose crowned torso is displayed in the same showcase, after fleeing from Thebes because of the persecution of Hera.