User:Paul August/Caeneus

Caeneus

New text

Other

In another version, Poseidon wished to sleep with her, but Caenis made him promise her a favour in exchange for hers; he did, and she asked to be transformed into a man, whereupon he granted her wish, but due to her change he failed to fulfill his own.

Sources

Ancient

Acusilaus

fr. 22 Toye [= fr. 22 Fowler = fr. 40a Freeman]

P.Oxy. 13.1611, fr. 1, col. 2, 38-96

This is what is said in the second book of Theophrastos' On Kingship concerning the spear of Kaineus: 'This is the one who truly "reigns with a scepter," not the spear, as did Kaineus; for he thought it worthwhile to govern with a spear, but not his scepter, as do most kings, but found he was unable to do so. To solve this problem, one must bring to bear the story related by Akousilaos of Argos. For he says thus concerning Kaineus: "Poseidon had sexual intercourse with Kaine. Thereupon – for it was not holy for him to bear children either to him or anybody else – Poseidon made her an invulnerable man, possessing strength which was the greatest of the men of that time. When someone would stab him with iron or bronze, that person was certainly overcome. And Kaineus became king of the Lapiths and he was at war against the Kentauroi. Thereupon after standing up his javelin in the marketplace, he ordered that it be counted as a god. This was not pleasing to the gods, and Zeus, when he saw Kaineus committing this act, threatened him and stirred up the Kentauroi against him. The Kentauroi struck him as he stood upright, down under the earth and they put a stone above him as a marker. And Kaineus died." For this is perhaps to rule with the spear for Kaineus.'

fr. 22 Fowler

22

P.Oxy. XIII 1611 (sec. iii ineuntis p.C.) fr. 1.38 sql. + duo for. ...

[cont. p. 17]

...

[72] ... ἔπειτα στήσας ἀκόν-

[73] [τιον ]

[74] [ ]

[75] σι δ ουκῃε. | κε[

...

[80] ... ὄρθιον [upright] ...

...

[83] ἀποθνήισκει" [he dies].

...72 sqq. ἀκόντιον ἐν ἀγορᾷ τούτῳ | κελεύει θεοῖ]σι Grenfell-Hunt, coll. Ap. Rhod. 1.5g7-64a (12.6 Wendel); ...schol. D Il. 1.264

40a Freeman

Poseidon united with Caenê daughter of Elatus. Afterwards, since she did not wish to have a child by him or anyone else, Poseidon turned her into a man (Caeneus) invulnerable, having strength greater than that of all the men of his day; and whenever anyone tried to wound him with iron or bronze, he was at once held fast. This Caeneus became king of the Lapithae and used to make war on the Centaurs. Later he set up a javelin [ἔπειτα στήσας ἀκόντιον] in the market-place, and demanded to be accounted a god. This was displeasing to the gods, and Zeus seeing him doing this threatened him and sent the Centaurs against him, and they cut him down to the ground where he stood, and set a rock above as a grave-stone, and he died.

Antoninus Liberalis

Metamorphoses

17

...just as had happened to Caenis, daughter of Atrax, who by the will of Poseidon became Caeneus the Lapith.

Apollodorus

1.9.16

... And those who assembled were as follows:4 Tiphys, son of Hagnias, ... Caeneus, son of Coronus; ...

2.7.7

[Heracles] fought as an ally of Aegimius, king of the Dorians.³ For the Lapiths, commanded by Coronus, made war on him in a dispute about the boundaries of the country; and being besieged he called in the help of Hercules, offering him a share of the country. So Hercules came to his help and slew Coronus and others, and handed the whole country over to Aegimius free.

³ On the war which Herakles, in alliance with Aegimius, king of the Dorians, waged with the Lapiths, see Diod. 4.37.3ff.

3.10.3

And they say that Apollo loved her and at once consorted with her, but that she, against her father's judgment, preferred and cohabited with Ischys, brother of Caeneus.

3.10.8

Now the kings of Greece repaired to Sparta to win the hand of Helen. The wooers were these:¹— Ulysses, son of Laertes; ... Leonteus, son of Coronus; ... Patroclus, son of Menoetius.

E.1.22

Caeneus was formerly a woman, but after that Poseidon had intercourse with her, she asked to become an invulnerable man; wherefore in the battle with the centaurs he thought scorn of wounds and killed many of the centaurs; but the rest of them surrounded him and by striking him with fir trees buried him in the earth.¹

¹ As to Caeneus, his change of sex and his invulnerability, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.57-64, with the Scholiast on v. 57; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.264; Plut. Stoic. absurd. 1; Plut. De profectibus in virtute 1; Lucian, Gallus 19; Lucian, De saltatione 57; Apostolius, Cent. iv.19; Palaephatus, De incredib. 11; Ant. Lib. 17; Verg. A. 6.448ff.; Ov. Met. 12.459-532; Hyginus, Fab. 14, pp. 39ff., ed. Bunte; Serv. Verg. A. 6.448; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. 264; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 49, 111ff., 189 (First Vatican Mythographer, 154; Second Vatican Mythographer, 108; Third Vatican Mythographer, 6.25). According to Servius and the Vatican Mythographers, after his death Caeneus was changed back into a woman, thus conforming to an observation of Plato or Aristotle that the sex of a person generally changes at each transmigration of his soul into a new body. Curiously enough, the Urabunna and Waramunga tribes of Central Australia agree with Plato or Aristotle on this point. They believe that the souls of the dead transmigrate sooner or later into new bodies, and that at each successive transmigration they change their sex. See Sir. Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia （London, 1904）, p. 148. According to Ov. Met. 12.524ff., a bird with yellow wings was seen to rise from the heap of logs under which Caeneus was overwhelmed; and the seer Mopsus explained the bird to be Caeneus transformed into that creature. Another tradition about Caeneus was that he set up his spear in the middle of the marketplace and ordered people to regard it as a god and to swear by it. He himself prayed and sacrificed to none of the gods, but only to his spear. It was this impiety that drew down on him the wrath of Zeus, who instigated the centaurs to overwhelm him. See the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.264; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.57. The whole story of the parentage of Caeneus, his impiety, his invulnerability, and the manner of his death, is told by the old prose-writer Acusilaus in a passage quoted by a Greek grammarian, of whose work some fragments, written on papyrus, were discovered some years ago at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. See The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, part xiii. （London, 1919）, pp. 133ff. Apollodorus probably derived his account of Caeneus from Acusilaus, whom he often refers to （see Index）. The fortunate discovery of this fragment of the ancient writer confirms our confidence in the excellence of the sources used by Apollodorus and in the fidelity with which he followed them. In his complete work he may have narrated the impiety of Caeneus in setting up his spear for worship, though the episode has been omitted in the Epitome.

Apollonius of Rhodes

Argonautica

1.57-64 [Seaton 1912]

From rich Gyrton came Coronus, son of Caeneus, brave, but not braver than his father. For bards relate that Caeneus though still living perished at the hands of the Centaurs, when apart from other chiefs he routed them; and they, rallying against him, could neither bend nor slay him; but unconquered and unflinching he passed beneath the earth, overwhelmed by the downrush of massy pines.

1.57-64

And from wealthy Gyrton came Caeneus’ son, Coronus—a brave man, but no braver than his father. For bards sing of how Caeneus, although still living, perished at the hands of the Centaurs, when, all alone and separated from the other heroes, he routed them. They rallied against him, but were not strong enough to push him back nor to kill him, so instead, unbroken and unbending, he sank beneath the earth, hammered by the downward force of mighty pine trees.⁷

⁷ They drove him into the underworld like a peg, hence he perished while still alive; cf. Pindar, fr. 128f.

Diodorus Siculus

4.37.3

After the removal of the Dryopes from their land a war arose between the Dorieis who inhabit the land called Hestiaeotis, whose king was Aegimius, and the Lapithae dwelling about Mount Olympus, whose king was Coronus, the son of Caeneus. And since the Lapithae greatly excelled in the number of their forces, the Dorieis turned to Heracles for aid and implored him to join with them, promising him a third part of the land of Doris and of the kingship, and when they had won him over they made common cause in the campaign against the Lapithae. Heracles had with him the Arcadians who accompanied him on his campaigns, and mastering the Lapithae with their aid he slew king Coronus himself, and massacring most of the rest he compelled them to withdraw from the land which was in dispute.

Hesiod

Catalogue of Women

fr. 165 Most [= fr. 87 MW]

The Lapith Elatus, Father of Caenis/Caeneus

165 (87 MW) Phlegon Mir. 5 (p. 74 Keller; FGrHist 257 F 36)

165 Phlegon, On Marvelous Things

The same authors (i.e., Hesiod, Dicaearchus, Clitarchus, Callimachus, and some others) narrate that in the land of the Lapiths a daughter named Caenis was born to the king Elatus. Poseidon mingled with her and promised that he would do whatever she wished for her, and she requested that he transform her into a man and make her invulnerable. When Poseidon had fulfilled her request, the name was changed to Caeneus.

Shield of Heracles

178–190

(178) Upon it was the combat of the spear-bearing Lapiths around Caeneus their king, and Dryas and Peirithous and Hopleus and Exadius and Phalerus and Prolochus, and Mopsus of Titarus, Ampycus’ son, scion of Ares, and [cont.] Theseus, Aegeus’ son, equal to the immortals—all of them silver, wearing golden armor on their skin. The Centaurs were gathered facing them on the other side around great Petraeus and Asbolus the augur, and Arctus and Orius and black-haired Mimas and Peuceus’ two sons, Perimedes and Dryalus—all of them silver, holding golden fir trees in their hands. And rushing against one another, as though they were alive, they fought hand to hand with outstretched spears and fir trees.

Homer

Iliad

1.262–268

[264] Καινέα τ᾿ Ἐξάδιόν τε καὶ ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον,

...

[268] φηρσὶν ['beasts', of the Centaurs] ὀρεσκῴοισι ['mountain dwelling'] καὶ ἐκπάγλως ἀπόλεσσαν.

Such warriors have I never since seen, or shall see, as Peirithous was, and Dryas, shepherd of men, and Caeneus, and Exadius, and godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus, son of Aegeus, peer of the immortals. Mightiest were these of all men reared on the earth; mightiest were they, and with the mightiest did they fight, with the centaurs that had their lairs among the mountains, and terribly did they destroy them.

2.738–747

[743] ... Φῆρας ['beasts', of the Centaurs]... λαχνήεντας ['shaggy'],

And they who held Argissa, and dwelt in Gyrtone, Orthe, and Elone, and the white city of Oloösson, of these in turn Polypoetes, firm in the fight, was leader, son of Peirithous, whom immortal Zeus begot—him whom glorious Hippodameia conceived to Peirithous on the day when he exacted vengeance from the shaggy centaurs, and thrust them out from Pelium, and drove them to the Aethices. He was not alone, but with him was Leonteus, offshoot of Ares, the son of Caeneus’ son, great-hearted Coronus. And with them there followed forty black ships.

Odyssey

21.295-303

It was wine that made foolish the centaur, too, glorious Eurytion, in the hall of great-hearted Peirithous, when he went to the Lapithae, and when he had made his heart foolish with wine, in his madness he did evil in the house of Peirithous.

Hyginus

Fabulae

14

ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLED: Jason, son of Aeson ... Polyphemus, son of Elatus by Hippea, daughter of Antippus, a Thessalian from the city Larissa, lame of foot. ... Coronus, son of Caeneus, from the city of Gyrton, which is in Thessaly. This Caeneus, son of Elatus, a Magnesian, proved that in no way could the Centaurs wound him with steel, but they did so with trunks of trees sharpened to a point. Some say that he was once a woman, and in answer to her petition, Neptune for her favors granted that she be turned into a man, and be invulnerable to any blow. This has never been done, nor is it possible for any mortal by invulnerability to escape death by steel, or be changed from a woman into a man. ... Phocus and Priasus, son[sic] of Caeneus, from Magnesia.

173

THOSE WHO HUNTED THE CALYDONIAN BOAR Castor and Pollux, sons of Jove. ... Caeneus, son of Elatus, ...

242

MEN WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE: Aegeus, son of Neptune, ... Caeneus, son of Elatus, killed himself.

Lucian

De Saltatione

56

and the woman who have been turned into men; Caeneus, I mean, and Tiresias,

Gallus

19

Yes, I did all that, and I am not the only one: both Tiresias and Caeneus the son of Elatus preceded me, so that all your jokes at my expense will be at their expense too.

Orphic Argonautica

168–174

[170 171?] Ipsum tamen sustinisse haec [He himself, however, endured these things], et genibus non flexis [and without bending his knees] contra esse nixum, [leaned against them] sicque [and thus] viuum [alive] inter mortuos [among the dead] sub telluris caua isse [went under the earth].

[170] He himself, however, endured these things, and without bending his knees, leaned against them, and thus [still] alive, among the dead, went under the earth.

168–174

Αὐτὰρ ἔπειτ' Ἐλάτοιο πάϊς Πολύφημος ἵκανεν

ὅς σφιν ἐν ἠνορέῃσι μετέπρεπεν Ἡρώεσσιν·

Ἠνειὸς Καινῆος ἀφίκετο, τόν ῥά τε φασί

μισγόμενον Λαπίθαις ὑπὸ Κενταύροισι δαμῆναι,

θεινόμενον [wounded] πεύκαισι [pine trees] τανυφλοίοις τ' ἐλάτῃσι,

καὶ οἱ ἀνατλῆναι [endured] καὶ ἀκαμπέα γούνατ' [knee] ἐρεῖσαι [bend]

ζῳόν τ' ἐν φθιμένοισι μολεῖν [go] ὑπὸ [under] κεύθεα γαίης [earth].

Colovito:

Then came Polyphemus, son of Elatus, whose courage was the most conspicuous among all the heroes. There also had come Eneus, son of Caeneus, of whom it is said he joined with the Lapiths and was killed by the Centaurs, beaten and crushed by pine-tree trunks. However, he would not bow down or bend under the strain and went down among the dead under the earth while still alive.

Ovid

Metamorphoses

8.305

and Caeneus, first a woman then a man

12.168–209

[168] Then Nestor said to them: “During your time,

Cygnus has been the only man you knew

who could despise all weapons and whose flesh

could not be pierced by thrust of sword or spear.

But long ago I saw another man

able to bear unharmed a thousand strokes,

Caeneus of Thessaly, Caeneus who lived

upon Mt. Othrys. He was famed in war

yet, strange to say, by birth he was a woman!”

...

[189] The daughter of Elatus, Caenis, was

remarkable for charm—most beautiful

of all Thessalian maidens—many sighed

for her in vain through all the neighboring towns

and yours, Achilles, for that was her home.

But Peleus did not try to win her love,

for he was either married at that time

to your dear mother, or was pledged to her.

[195] “Caenis never became the willing bride

of any suitor; but report declares,

while she was walking on a lonely shore,

the god of ocean saw and ravished her.

And in the joy of that love Neptune said,

‘Request of me whatever you desire,

and nothing shall deny your dearest wish!’—

the story tells us that he made this pledge.

And Caenis said to Neptune, ‘The great wrong,

which I have suffered from you justifies

the wonderful request that I must make;

I ask that I may never suffer such

an injury again. Grant I may be

no longer woman, and I'll ask no more.’

while she was speaking to him, the last words

of her strange prayer were uttered in so deep,

in such a manly tone, it seemed indeed

they must be from a man.—That was a fact:

Neptune not only had allowed her prayer

but made the new man proof against all wounds

of spear or sword. Rejoicing in the gift

he went his way as Caeneus Atracides,

spent years in every manful exercise,

[209] and roamed the plains of northern Thessaly.

12.210–315

“The son of bold Ixion, Pirithous

wedding Hippodame, had asked as guests

the cloud-born centaurs to recline around

the ordered tables, in a cool cave, set

under some shading trees. Thessalian chiefs

were there and I [Nestor] myself was with them there.

...

[315]

12.459–535

...

[459] “Five of the centaurs Caeneus put to death:

Styphelus, Bromus, and Antimachus,

[461] Elymus, and Pyracmos with his axe.

...

[470] “ ‘Shall I [the Centaur Latreus] put up with one like you, O Caeneus?

For you are still a woman in my sight.

Have you forgot your birth or that disgrace

by which you won reward—at what a price

you got the false resemblance to a man?!

Consider both your birth, and what you have

submitted to! Take up a distaff, and

wool basket! Twist your threads with practiced thumb!

[476] Leave warfare to your men!’

[476] “While puffed-up pride

was vaunting out such nonsense, Caeneus hurled

a spear and pierced the stretched out running side,

just where the man was joined upon the horse.

...

deep in the Centaur's entrails, made new wounds

[493] within his wound.

[494] “Then, quite beside themselves,

the double-natured monsters rushed against

that single-handed youth with huge uproar,

and thrust and hurled their weapons all at him.

Their blunted weapons fell and he remained

[497] unharmed and without even a mark.”

[507] Wake up! and let us heap tree-trunks and stones

and mountains on him! Crush his stubborn life!

Let forests smother him to death! Their weight

[509] will be as deadly as a hundred wounds!’

...

Buried under that mountainous forest heap,

What happened to him could not well be known.

Some thought his body was borne down by weight

into the vast expanse of Tartarus.

The son of Ampycus did not agree,

for from the middle of the pile we saw

a bird with golden wings mount high in air.

[526] Before or since, I never saw the like.

“When Mopsus was aware of that bird's flight—

it circled round the camp on rustling wings—

with eyes and mind he followed it and shouted aloud:

‘Hail, glory of the Lapithaean race,

their greatest hero, now a bird unique!’

and we believed the verdict of the seer.

...

... Then in revenge

we plied our swords, till half our foes were dead,

[535] and only flight and darkness saved the rest.”

Phlegon

On Marvelous Things 5

Pindar

fr. 128f Race [= fr. 128f SM]

128f P. Oxy. 2447 (26, 1961), vv. 3–8. schol. Ap. Rhod. 1.57a

Thren. 6

128f The same papyrus gives scraps of vv. 3–8. A scholion on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. "Apollonius took it from Pindar, who said" (vv. 7–9):

(lines 1–2 are fragmentary)

[3] excel(?)

[4] famous(?)

[5] and Castor(?)

. . . . . .

But Caeneus,⁶ (struck with) green (fir trees)

disappears after splitting the earth with his upright

foot.

Cf. Plutarch, The Stoics Talk More Paradoxically Than the Poets. "Pindar’s Caeneus used to be criticized for being an implausible creation—invulnerable to iron, feeling nothing in his body, and finally having sunk unwounded under the ground, 'after splitting the earth with his upright foot.'"

⁶ A Thessalian hero and ally of the Lapithae against the Centaurs. He was invulnerable, but the Centaurs succeeded in subduing him by bashing him upright into the ground with fir trees. Cf. Ap. Rhod. 1.63–64: "But unbroken and unbending, he sank beneath the earth, hammered by the downward force of mighty pine trees."

Plutarch

How a Man May Become Aware of His Progress in Virtue (Quomodo quis suos in virtute sentiat profectus)

75 E

Why, it seems to me that anyone who, like Caeneus,^a were made man from woman in answer to prayer,

The Stoics Talk More Paradoxically Than The Poets (Compendium Argumenti Stoicos absurdiora poetis dicere)

1057 D

The Caeneus of Pindar used to be taken to task for being an implausible fiction with his invulnerability to iron and his physical insensitivity and his having at last sunk down underground unwounded "as erect on his feet he split the earth asunder"^a

^a Pindar, frag. 167 (Bergk, Schroeder, Snell)=204 (Turyn)=150 (Bowra); for ὀρθῷ ποδί cf. B. L. Gildersleeve on Olympian xiii, 72. Concerning Caeneus, the invulnerable Lapith who was overwhelmed by the Centaurs with tree-trunks and beaten into the ground, see Acusilaus, frag. 22 (F. Jacoby, F. Gr. Hist. I A, p. 33 and a, p. 379)=frag. 40 a (i, pp. 59–60 [Diels-Kranz]); Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica i, 57–64; Orphei Argonautica 170–174; Ovid, Metamorphoses xii, 189–209 and 459–535; Apollodorus, Epitome i, 22 (L.C.L. ii, pp. 150–151); J. T. Kakridis, Class. Rev., lxi (1947), pp. 77–80. Plutarch in Quomodo Quis . . . Sentiat Profectus 75 E refers to the earlier transformation of Caeneus from a woman and does so there too in comparison with a Stoic paradox. Cf. also Servius on Vergil, Aeneid vi, 448 (ii, p. 69, 13–18 [Thilo–Hagen]) and E. Kraggerud, Symbolae Osloenses, xl (1965), pp. 66–71.

Race, p. 379: Pindar’s Caeneus used to be criticized for being an implausible creation—invulnerable to iron, feeling nothing in his body, and finally having sunk unwounded under the ground, 'after splitting the earth with his upright foot.'

Scholia

D. on Iliad

1.264

264. Καινέα] ὁ Καινεὺς Ἐλάτου μὲν ἦν παῖς, Λαπιθῶν δὲ βασιλεύς [king], πρότερον ἦν παρθένος εὐπρεπὴς, μιγέντος δὲ αὐτῇ Ποσει- δῶνος, αἰτησαμένη μεταβαλεῖν εἰς ἄνδρα ἡ νεᾶνις ἄτρωτος γίνεται, γενναιότατος τῶν καθʼ αὑτὸν ὑπάρξας. καὶ δή ποτε πήξας ἀκόντιον ἐν τῷ μεσαιτάτῳ τῆς ἀγορᾶς θεὸν τοῦτο προσέταξεν ἀριθμεῖν. δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν ἀγανακτήσας ὁ Ζεὺς τιμωρίαν τῆς ἀσεβείας παρʼ αὐτοῦ εἰσεπράξατο. μαχόμενον γὰρ αὐτὸν τοῖς Κενταύροις καὶ ἄτρωτον ὄντα ὑποχείριον ἐποίησε· βαλόντες γὰρ αὐτὸν οἱ προειρημένοι δρυσί τε καὶ ἐλάταις ἤρεισαν εἰς γῆν. μέμνηται δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ Ἀπολλώνιος ἐν τοῖς Ἀργοναυτικοῖς (1, 59), λέγων οὕτως “Καινέα γὰρ δὴ πρόσθεν ἔτι κλείουσιν ἀοιδοὶ Κενταύροισιν ὀλέσθαι, ὅτε σφέας οἶος ἀπʼ ἄλλων ἤλασʼ ἀριστήων· οἱ δʼ ἔμπαλιν ὁρμηθέντες οὔτε μιν ἀγκλῖναι προτέρω σθένον οὔτε δαίξαι, ἀλλʼ ἄχρηκτος ἄκαμπτος ἐδύσατο νειόθι γαίης, θεινόμενος στιβαρῇσι καταΐγδην ἐλάτῃσιν.”

Ἐξάδιόν τε] παρὰ τῷ ποιητῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ ε τὸ ὄνομα ἤρξατο, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς νεωτέροις καὶ χωρὶς τοῦ ε εὑρέθη, ὡς καὶ Ὀϊλεὺς μὲν παρὰ τῷ ποιητῇ καὶ παρʼ Ἡσιόδῳ. εἰ δὲ χρὴ πρὸς τὸν χαρακτῆρά τι λέγειν, ἐκεῖνο ἔχομεν εἰπεῖν, ὡς ὅτι ἐχρῆν δασύνεσθαι αὐτό· τὸ γὰρ ε πρὸ τοῦ ξ, ὑποστελλομένων τῶν παρὰ τὴν ἐξ πρόθεσιν, θέλει δασύνεσθαι, ἕξις ἐξῆς ἕξω. χωρὶς εἰ μὴ λέγοι τις διὰ τὴν ἰδιότητα τὸ πνεῦμα μεταπεπτωκέναι.

Translation: καὶ δή ποτε πήξας [setup] ἀκόντιον [spear] ἐν τῷ μεσαιτάτῳ [middle] τῆς ἀγορᾶς [the agora] θεὸν [god] τοῦτο [pronoun] προσέταξεν [command] ἀριθμεῖν [to count]

On Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica

1.57

... Ταυτα [this] δὲ [but, and] συνεβη [he/it stood?] αύτῷ [he/it/self], δια τὸ μήτε [neither] θύειν [to offer a sacrifice], μήτε [nor] εὔχεσθαι [pray] τοις θιοῖς [gods], άλλὰ [but] τῷ ίαντύ δόρατι [spear]

[?] κελεύει θύειν, θεοῖσι

Stesichorus c. 630 – 555 BC

Boar-hunters fr. 222 Campbell

222 P.Oxy. 2359 fr. 1

222 Papyrus (2nd c. A.D.)

col. i

. . . sons of Thestius; for (five?) sons, born late and a joy to their parents, remained at home; but Procaon and Clytius went, excellent in running and in manliness; and from (Larissa) came Eurytion, (son of?) with her trailing robes . . . and the (mighty) wise son of Elatus³ . . .

³ Caineus

Virgil

Aeneid

6.434–451

...The region thereafter is held by those sad souls who in innocence wrought their own death and, loathing the light, flung away their lives. How gladly now, in the air above, would they bear both want and harsh distress! Fate withstands; the unlovely mere with its dreary water enchains them and Styx imprisons with his ninefold circles.

[440] Not far from here, outspread on every side, are shown the Mourning Fields [Lugentes campi]; such is the name they bear. Here those whom stern Love has consumed with cruel wasting are hidden in walks withdrawn, embowered in a myrtle grove; even in death the pangs leave them not. In this region he sees Phaedra and Procris, and sad Eriphyle, pointing to the wounds her cruel son had dealt, and Evadne and Pasiphaë. With them goes Laodamia, and Caeneus, once a youth, now a woman, and again turned back by Fate into her form of old.

Modern

Fowler 2013

p. 159

Kaineus²⁵ is first mentioned in Homer, Il. 1.264, as one of a band of Thessalian warriors who fought the 'beasts of the mountains', i.e. Centaurs (cf 2.743, Od. 21.295); Nestor declares never to have seen the like of such champions. Though a great warrior, Kaineus is not said to be invulnerable; if Homer knew this detail, it is the sort of thing he would suppress.^{26 [Griffin,'The Epic Cycle and the uniqueness of Homer'.]} Hes. Scut. 178-90 presents a similar portrait; ... the battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs is a favorite with Greek artists in all media, and Kaineus is one of the earliest mythological figures who can be confidently identified in Greek art.²⁷ That he is often portrayed without a shield implicitly acknowledges his invulnerability, which in literary sources after Akouslilaos is first implied by Pindar (fr. 128f) when he refers to the unique manner of his death. In art, the contrast of the Hesiodic Shield [cont.]

²⁶ Griffin,'The Epic Cycle and the uniqueness of Homer'.

²⁷ On a bronze relief dating to the third quarter of the 7th c. BC: LIMC Kaineus no. 61. He is one of the Caledonian Boarhunters in Stench. PMGF 222 (identified as Eilatides'); see Schade ad loc. (Stesichoros 13, 28-9). He is the father of the Argonaut Kronos (e.g. Ap. Rhod. 1.57-64). For Kaineus in art see also Padgett, The Centaur's Smile 15-16.

p. 160

In his death, buried vertically in the ground (Pindar's ὀρθῷ ποδί stresses this), and in his fetishizing his spear, Kaineus becomes almost literally identified with it. The metamorphosis of Kaineus is attested for the Catalogue of Women (fr. 67; 'Kainis' is the name of the woman), although some doubt much attach to the list of authorities at the outset of Phlegon's account. Akousilaos thus becomes the earliest secure reference to the sex-change; ...

p. 161

p. 162

Gantz

p. 278

... In Iliad 1 Nestor simply alludes to a battle between Peirithoos, Kaineus, and their comrades on one side and "mountain beasts" on the other; in Il 2 Peirithoos drives "shaggy beasts" from Pelion on that day when his wife Hippodameia teketo their son Polypoites. ...

p. 280

Not yet considered—partly to simplify discussion of the above questions—is the most striking feature of the actual combat, the overwhelming of the Lapith Kaineus. The story of his usual demise—being hammered into the ground by the Kantauroi because he was invulnerable and could not otherwise be defeated—makes its preserved literary debut in Akousilaos (see below), but already on a bronze relief from Olympia of about 630 B.C. we find an unmistakable illustration: two Kentauroi (human type) pound an armed warrior down into the ground with tree trunks, while he stabs at them vainly with [cont.]

p. 281

with a sword in each hand (Olympia BE 11a). The François Krater shows the same scene as part of the Kentauromachy, with Kaineus here named and three Kentauroi using tree trunks and boulders; their victim now holds a shield and sword, and is already halfway into the ground. In early literature Homer's Nestor names Kaineus together with Peirithoos and three others (Dryas, Exadios,Polyphemos) as those who fought against the mountain beasts (Il 1.263-64), and the Ehoiai seems to have told the earlier part of his strange story, namely that he was originally Kainis, daughter of the Lapis king Elatos, and in this form forced by Poseidon (Hes fr 87 MW). The aftermath of the union is that Poseidon offers the girl whatever she may wish; she chooses to become male and invulnerable. We might suppose that this choice is made out of a desire not to repeat her unfortunate experience with other males (so in fact Met 12.201-3), but our summary of the Ehoiai offers no explanation. Akousilaos recounts these same events, save that in his version the girl is named Kaine, and she is converted to a man because it is not permitted that she (or he?: given the gender shift the pronouns are not quite clear here) have children (2F22). In addition to invulnerability, she/he also acquires great strength, and becomes the most powerful hero of his time, as well as king of the Lapithai. But having set up his spear, he does something (in later accounts worshipping it as a god, or ordering others to do so: ΣA Il 1.264; Σ AR 1.57) that angers the gods; and Zeus sends against him the Kentauroi, who beat him straight down under the earth and seal him with a rock. A line of Pindar is here cited (= fr 128 SM), so that he mentioned at least his fate, if not more. In any case this sequence of events, plus Kaineus' kingship of the Lapithai, might lead us to suppose his story separate from the general battle of the Lapithai of Peirithoos with the Kentauroi; the Olympia relief for its part shows only his combat. On the other hand, he is mentioned by Nestor as participating in the general war, so that if he was originally separate there has been an early move toward incorporation, and his fate is specifically linked to the overall battle as early as the François Krater. Not surprisingly, it is absent from the pediment at Olympia, ... Subsequently it reappears on several temple friezes from the latter part of the century, those on the Hephaisteion, at Bassai, and at Sounion; for the Parthenon metopes with their more limited field it was probably too ambitious. Of later literary accounts the most vivid is certainly that of Ovid, who spends most of Metamorphoses 12 on a description Kainis' transformation, the wedding, and the ensuing battle, with Kaineus' destruction forming the climax (Met 12.189-535). But there must after all be a metamorphosis with which to conclude, and thus from the mass of tree trunks piled over the body a yellow bird flies upward, surely a Hellenistic (if not Ovidian) inspiration.

Grimal

s.v. Caeneus

(Καινεύς) He was originally a girl named Caenis, daughter of the Lapith Elatus (Table 9), who was loved by Poseidon. ... but when they could not kill him they buried him alive. It is said that after his death Caeneus became a woman again, or, according to another version, a bird ...

A different tradition tells that after he had become a man Caeneus grew extremely proud: he set up his spear in the market place and ordered the populace to worship his weapon, as if it were a god. To punish him, Zeus roused the Centaurs against him and they finally killed him. His name appears in some of the lists of the Argonauts. His son Coronus was king of the Lapiths at the time of Heracles (see AEGIMIUS).

Hard

p. 555

The legend of the conflict between the Lapiths and the Centaurs was a very ancient story that was known to Homer. The aged Nestor remarks in the Iliad that the mightiest warriors whom he had ever seen or ever expected to see were Peirithoos, Dryas, Kaineus, Exadios and Polyphemos (all Lapits) and their ally Thesues, [comt.]

p. 556

Figure 16.2 Kaineus battered into the ground by Centaurs. Bronze relief from Olympia, c. 650 BC.

who had fought and destroyed the mighty beasts (phēres) of the mountains; and the Odyssey reveals something about the origin of the hostilities, if the same episode is envisaged, as seems probable. ...

...

To pass on to the second of our Lapith families, ELATOS, a Lapith chieftain who ruled at Larissa, fathered three children of far greater significance than himself, Polyphemos, Ischys and Kaineus.

p. 557

The most remarkable of these children of Elatos was KAINEUS, who was originally born as a girl called KAINIS. While still quite young, Kainis was raped by Poseidon, ... In the arrogance of his power, he became brutal and impious. He fixed his own spear into the earth in the market-place of his city an ordered his people to honour it as a god (a tale which might have been suggested by some local anionic cult); or in a slightly different version, he refused to offer prayer or sacrifice to the gods but paid honor to his spear instead.^{31 [Acus. 2F22 (cf. school.Il. 1.264) and school. A.R. 1.57]} Zeus was appalled by his presumption and arranged for hm to be killed during the war between the Lapiths and the Centaurs. Since swords, spears and other piercing weapons could inflict no harm on the invulnerable hero, the Centaurs hammered him into the ground with tree-trunks or boulders, or both together. According to Ovid alone, he now underwent a further and more thoroughgoing transformation, for a yellow bird of a kind never seen before (a phoenix?) flew up into the air at the place where he had been buried under the earth.³²

Kaeneus left a son, KORONOS, who sailed with the Argonauts and was later killed by Heracles while he was leading the Lapiths in a war against the Dorians ...

Knox

p. 74

p. 75

Laufer

p. 884

p. 885

In the visual arts, only the fight between K. and the centaurs plays a role. The motif of original femininity is not treated in the visual arts. The simplest form of representation is the Lapith with an opponent (1-8). The heraldic three-figure group, in which K. is flanked by two centaurs, is the most represented in terms of numbers (9-66). Early representations in which three or more centaurs fight against K. can be proven (67-76). On some vase paintings, the main figure is identified by a name inscription (2. 33. 44- 67). In addition to those mentioned, other representations are known, but these are iconographically doubtful or can no longer be found (77-79. 80-83). The catalogue aims to be complete for the certain representations.

p. 186

17.* Neck amphora, sf. London, Kunsthandel (Sotheby) (formerly Basel, Sig. Bloch). - Para 120, s4bis: Antimenes Painter; Add? 70; Mertens, J. R., Attic WhiteGround (1977) 40 no. 5. - Around 520 BC - Image structure similar to 16, but reversed: K. kneeling to the right, turning back with lance to the |. Centaur, both carrying branches.

18.* Neck amphora, sf. Vatican 388 (16588). ABV 283, 9: Antimenes Painter's circle; Add? 74; Albizzati 172, 388 pl. 55, 388. - Around 520 BC - Centaur kneeling to the right, Boeotian shield, fur apron over breastplate, defensive action with lance and turning back to the enemy (as 13, 16, 17, 19, 20). Both centaurs with boulders.

p. 888

54. Frieze panel. Marble. Athens, Hephaisteion (Opisthodom 2). - Sauer, B., Das Theseion und sein plastiker Schmuck (1899) 202-204 Pl. IV (reconstruction); Koch, H., Studien zum Theseustempel in Athen (1955) 140. Pl. 37; Ridgway, B. S., Fifth Cent. Styles in Greek Sculpture (1981) 87. - Around 440 BC ~ K. naked, sunken (cf. 45-47), left hand raised with shield, front right arm propped up, sword? Opponents rising pyramidally, together holding large boulder.

55. Frieze panel, French marble. Sunion, Temple of Poseidon (Pronaos 2). - Fabricius, E., AM 9, 1884, 338-353 pl. 17, 2; Herbig, R., AM 66, 1941, 87-80 pl. 46; Delivorrias, A., AM 84, 1969, 127-142 appendix 1 (reconstruction); Laufer pl. 16 fig. $5, 1-2. - After 440 BC ~ C. fr., naked, half submerged (kneeling in Delivorrias a. O. appendix 1), both arms moved widely. Left centaur with piece of rock in front of chest? (Fabricius a. O. 347), right has both hands raised above head (with stone?).

56.* Frieze panel. Marble. London, BM 530. From Bassai-Phigaleia, Apollo Temple (South H 6-530). Kenner, H., The Frieze of the Temple of Bassae-Phigalia (1946) 44 pl. 11; Hofkes-Brukker, C., The Bassai Frieze (1975) 58.94. - Around 420 BC - K. naked, stuck up to his hips in the hill-like rising ground, braces shield against weighted boulder, defends himself with sword (Kenner a.O. 44) or spear (Hofkes-Brukker a. O. 59). Lapithe from right pulls centaurs in front of him by the ear. Shield position similar to 42. 53.

57.* Frieze panel. Limestone. Vienna, Kunsthist. Mus. From Gélbagi-Trysa, Heroon (panel B 3). - Benndorf, O./Niemann, G., The Heroon of Gjölbaschi-Trysa (1889) pl. 23; Bichler, F., The Reliefs of the Heroon of Gjélbaschi-Trysa (1950) 5 5 (B 3) pl. 4/5; Lippold, sculpture 209. - Around 400 BC - C. clothed, frontal (cf. 60), sword thrust against 1. Centaur, who swings a bulbous vessel by the handle. Right one with branch, both wear panther skins. Composition similar to 55, amphora as a weapon cf. 59.

58. Frieze panel, fr. marble. Istanbul, Arch. Mus. 286 (1605 K 186). From Mylasa/Milas. - Mendel, Sculpt Il 44 No. 286; Lippold, Plastik 375; Schauenburg, a. O. 10, 753 fig. 5; Laufer Taf. 19 fig. 64. Around 100 BC - K. fr., sinking?, two centaurs with stones swinging over their heads.

61.* Sheet metal, bronze. Olympia, Mus. BE 11a. From Olympia. ~ Hampe/Jantzen, OlympBer 1, 1937, 85 ff. pl. 28; Schefold, Sagenbilder 38; Hampe/Simon, FGrK 111 fig. 115. 171. - Mid 7th century BC - Oldest known depiction of a warrior. For the double armament (as 63. 70) see Hampe/Simon a. O. 112; Laufer, E., KhistJbGraz 21, 1985, 173-177

63.* Stamnos, sf. Vienna, Kunsthist. Mus. IV 1477. From Cerveteri. - EVP 16, 3: Kaineusmaler; Dohrn, T., StEtr 12, 1938, Taf. 52, 1; Laufer Taf, 8 Fig. 22; Spivey, N. J., The Micali Painter and His Followers (1987) 44 No. 5: Painter of Vatican 238 (Kaineusmaler); CerEtr 175 Fig. 129; 310-311. - Around 500 BC ~ K. kneeling, with two swords (cf. 61. 70), both centaurs with long straight branches. Only example of frontal depiction (with restrictions cf. 57).

p. 890

The earliest depictions show K. as an armed hoplite sinking into the ground (2-5. 10. 12), while he is attacked by one (1-3) or two (10. 11) centaurs with branches and stones. The heraldic three-figure group, which can be traced for the first time on the bronze sheet (61) and is also the oldest depiction in the history of K., becomes canonical. The Toreutic prototype essentially corresponds to the image scheme required by the earliest literary myth (Pind. frg. 128f Snell/Maehler). The double armament with swords, which is generally attributed to Ionian art influences (cf. 70), is striking. The best of the early SF vase depictions (67) comes from Kleitias, in which K. is inscribed for the first time. The revolutionary nature of this interpretation lies in the disruption of the heraldic scheme by the introduction of another centaur (this one also with a name inscription). The majority of the older versions are indebted to this type of centaur (especially r. 10). The one by the Timiades Painter (2) is artistically insignificant, but is confirmed by inscriptions (as 33. 44. 67) and is interesting because of the nakedness(?) of the centaur. Some examples (9. 50. 61. 70) still show the centaurs in their ancient form. After 550 BC, the depictions by the Swing Painter, who shows the Lapiths in unusual forms of movement, are among the most original variants (especially 14. 68). The kneeling scheme of the central figure (13) introduced by this artist can also be found in 14-19 and is also effective in a modified form in 21. 22. In the last quarter of the 6th century BC, the motif of double armament returns on 70, where Centaur is surrounded by four centaurs. Here the confrontation is condensed into a dramatically moving brawl. The distribution of the figures and the image concept are reminiscent of 67, but the shape of the centaurs and the special armament reflect Ionian pictorial thinking. The large number of sf. vase paintings (14-19, 21, 22) from this period testifies to the popularity of the Centaur subject in Late Archaic Attic art. Only here does the Centaur's form of movement consist of kneeling with the head turned back (the best examples are 15-17; 17 by the Antimenes Painter). The two centaurs with alternating armaments (branch, stone) continue to be arranged antithetically, flanking each other. Some Centaur groups from around 500 BC show a similar pattern. The amphora 31 from the 4th century BC shows a special form of kneeling, in which the legs of the centaurs are partially overlapped by the base line, in order to give the impression of sinking into the ground (21-23). ​​In addition, the sinking in a walking position is still current (the best variant 23 of the Antimenes Painter and 24, 25). The sf. depictions gradually cease between 500 and 480 BC (4. 5), the last examples are found on lekythos (6. 19? 26-30). The amphora 31 is a latecomer from the period around 460 BC and is of interest because of the crouched posture of the centaurs.

The Roman vase painting brings certain changes and innovations in the type of image (armour and weaponry, anatomy, individualisation of the centaurs); the most important of the early examples is signed by Oltos (33), without a sinking motif. In the period around 480 BC, important large-vessel painters took up the design of the K.material, which led to original imagery and increasingly richer variations of the basic scheme. The best versions of this period come from the Kleophrades Painter (35), whose work is characterised by particular dynamism, another by Myson (36), which seems to have been taken from a larger composition, as evidenced by the fragmentary nature of the scenery (cf. also 37 of the Pan Painter; a similar pictorial idea already on 69 of the Swing Painter) and the version by the Syleus Painter (71) with three centaurs as opponents. The most elegant version (72) with the same arrangement of figures comes from the Kaineus Painter and, like the ones already mentioned, seems to have been inspired by contemporary wall paintings. The individual design of the centaurs becomes more and more differentiated. The sword-thrust motif appears for the first time in the royal painting, apart from the earliest depictions (61, 70), at 38 and is subsequently also depicted at 37, 39, 40, 74-76. At 39, the pathos of the gestures and the visualization of emotional processes already show characteristics of the strict style. Three-quarter views of the centaurs are characteristic of the struggle with problems of perspective and plastic representation.

p. 891

The intense depiction of pain and the brutality in the depiction of the fighting are indications of a new language of expression and a changed artistic will of this period. Myson's generation of students is represented by an excellent work (40) by the Pig Painter (fragments 73 also correspond to the style of this artist). In terms of composition, the painting by the Pan Painter (37), who evidently has a preference for transitory motifs, is still under the influence of his teacher Myson (cf. 36); as with him, it appears to have been taken as an excerpt from a larger context and processed as a vase painting. Several versions from the period around 470 BC are available by the Cleveland Painter (41. 75), the most important probably 74 with a bold foreshortening of the right centaur shown from behind bursting into the background. This creation represents a high point in terms of the possibilities of painterly representation. The use of the unconventional shortened side element of the composition has no successor. 75 should be placed at the same time, which differs in individual motifs. Older features are shown in 41, which uses the three-figure scheme (cf. 43. 72). One of the most beautiful depictions of K. in vase painting is shown in the lost krater 76, which is also the first scene in which K. is supported by a Lapith as a fellow fighter (cf. 45. 56). The sword-thrusting motif is also taken up by Hermonax on 42, and forms the left centaur as a shield-slinger without weapons. The scene of the fall of the Leningrad Painter (43), in which K. has comparatively gigantic proportions, appears rather feeble. At times a centaur still fights with K. during this period, as can be seen on 7 by the Niobid Painter, although this version pales in comparison to the massive pictures of his immediate predecessors. Two completely different K. variants by Polygnot have survived, one (44), from the early period of his work, is signed and has the name of the main figure inscribed. Despite all the achievements in drawing, there is still something ancient here. In the other version (45), Polygnotus depicts the Lapith naked. 46 and 47, which in all probability also show the fall of King, seem like counterparts to this. The next comparisons can be found in architectural reliefs after the middle of the 5th century BC, when the myth had already gone out of fashion in vase painting. The nudity of King can later only be found on vessels from the 4th century BC (52, 53). In addition, the depiction with hoplite armour still occurs, as in 48 by the Hephaestus Painter, whereby the reception of the sword-thrust motif proves that this late mannerist drew on patterns from the early classical period. Models from the first half of the century also resurface in 49 by the Komaris Painter. After the archaic masterpiece from Olympia (61), the myth appears in toreutics only in two other examples (62, 65), for which Attic vase paintings from around 470 BC are the most suitable examples of comparison. 66 also preserves the antithetical three-figure scheme with the sword thrust motif.

The theme is depicted remarkably often in architectural sculpture: the "Kaineus" on the west gable of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (Paus. 5, 10, 8), on the other hand, is based on an erroneous explanation. The decisive new feature in 54 is the fusion of the separate forces into a joint action of the centaurs. The elegance of the lines and the harmony of the distribution of mass make the Hephaisteion plate the long-sought ideal. The Sunion relief (35) differs in the absence of the joint action of the opponents. Deviating from the traditional view, the Bassai plate (56) shows what is probably the most idiosyncratic depiction of the fall of the king with the motif of the large shield transmitting the pressure, which has no previous stages. The use of the theme in sepulchral sculpture, primarily in the art of Asia Minor, is documented by 57, 59, 60, although it remains unclear whether the myth becomes a medium for communicating certain eschatological content in a funerary context. 57 has the special feature that in both cases the left centaur uses an amphora as a weapon. 60 shows a great affinity with 37, where C. wears a long, belted sleeve chiton. The series of large-scale versions of the C. legend ends with 60; a last successor is 38 from the 2nd century BC. The C. myth only occurs sporadically in ceramics from the 4th century BC, particularly on Lower Italian vases (51-53). All evidence from this period preserves the antithetical-symmetrical three-figure scheme. The protagonist's change in appearance is striking: in none of these pictures is K. bearded, and in 52, 53 he is completely naked. Only in 51 does K. wear armour and sink into the ground. In 52, 53 the tried and tested movement motifs from battle scenes are adhered to, without characterising the sinking process. In 52, the androgynous bodily shape of K. must also be emphasised, which has no previous stages or parallels (cf. 79). The equipment of the centaurs follows Attic models and still consists of branches and stones in random alternation. In 53, leafy trees are added as a natural backdrop. The latest pictorial evidence is 66 from the 3rd century BC and of Etruscan origin, as well as the Roman coroplasty 8 from the 2nd century BC(?), in which the decorative theme is only represented schematically.

Miles

p. 25

... fields of sorrow where those who committed suicide and now regret it reside,

Parada

s.v. Caeneus 1 (Caenis.)

Once a woman called Ceanis, she was turned into an invulnerable man by Poseidon.

•a)Elatus 1 ∞ Hippea

•b)Atrax ∞

••Poseidon.

•••Coronus 1, Phocus 1, Priasus 1.

♇a)Buried alive in the earth by the CENTAURS. :♇b)Killed himself.

1)CALYDONIAN HUNTERS.

2)AENEUS IN HADES.

3)METAMORPHOSES.

D.-•a)-•••Hyg.Fab.14. •b)Lib.Met.17. D.Ov.Met.12.201., Stat.Achil.1.264. G1.Hyg.Fab.173. G2.Vir.Aen.6.448. G3. Hes.SH.179. ••-♇a)Apd.Ep1.22. ♇b)Hyg.Fab.242

s.v. Caeneus 2

•Coronus 1 ∞

ARGONAUTS

G.-•Hyg.Fab.14., Apd. 1.9.16.

s.v. Coronus 1

General of the Lapiths who fought against the Dorians and theirmking Aegimus 1.

•Caeneus 1 ∞

••

•••Caeneus 2, Leonteus 1.

♇Heracles 1.

ARGONAUTS

D.-♇Apd.2.7.7., Dio.4.37.3. •Hom.Il.2.746. G.-•-•••Hyg,Fab.14. •••Apd.3.10.8

Rose

Oxford Classical Dictionary

s.v. Caeneus

Caeneus (Καινεύς‎), a Lapith (see centaurs), of whom three principal stories are told. (1) He was invulnerable, and therefore the Centaurs disposed of him by hammering him into the ground (Pind. fr. 150 Bowra, cf. Hyg. Fab. 14. 4 with Rose). (2) He set up his spear to be worshipped (schol. on Ap. Rhod. 1. 57, on Iliad 1. 264). (3) He was originally a girl, Caenis, loved by Poseidon, who gave her (invulnerability and) a change of sex (Aen. 6. 448 and Servius there, and scholiasts as above). He was son of Elatus of Gyrtone (Il. 2. 746 and scholiast 1. 264, Ap. Rhod. 1. 57). His final battle was often shown in ancient art: LIMC 5/1 (1990), 884–91.

Tripp

s.v. Caeneus

A Lapith chieftain. Caenus was born a girl, Caenis, daughter of the Thessalian king Elatus. She was very beautiful, but refused to take a husband. Poseidon saw her one day on the seashore and violated her. ...

Visser

Brill's New Pauly

s.v. Caeneus

(Καινεύς; Kaineús, Lat. Caeneus). The name of a Lapith ruler, father of the Argonaut Coronus. In early Greek mythology, this figure is clearly only connected to centauromachy. Because C. is invulnerable, the Centaurs destroy him by ramming him into the earth with trees and stones (first recorded by Pind. fr. 167). His story is later elaborated on whereby C. was originally a girl (Lat. Caenis) who was raped by Poseidon and then requests that he change her into a man (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1.57-64a; Ov. Met. 12.169-209; 459-535).

Iconographic

Citation template for entire article:

Laufer, pp. 884–891 (images: LIMC V-2, pp. 563–576)

Citation templates for an individual entry:

• Laufer, PAGENUMS, no. ENTRYNUM

• Digital LIMC [XYZ] (Digital LIMC search)

• LIMC V-2, p. XXX, Kaineus ENTRYNUM

Champaign-Urbana Krannert Art Museum 72.13.1

Hoplite (Caeneus?) in the Knielauf (kneeling-running) position flanked by two Centaurs with tree trunks; lekythos by the Athena Painter, Champaign, Illinois Krannert Art Museum K 72-13-1 (c. 500 BC).

Caeneus?

• Touratsoglou, p. 685, no. 164

164.* Lekythos, att. dgr. Champaign, Krannert Art Mus. K 72-13-1. - CVA I Taf. 29 Athena painter. - Around 500 BC - Hoplite I the Knielauf position (Kaineus?) with his head turned back between two K armed with branches. On the problem of identifying the Kaineuse episode when the motif of sinking is missing, see Schmidt-Dounas, B., "Bemerkungen zu Kaineus" ("Remarks on Kaineus"), IstanbMitt 35, 1985, 5-12 and Cohen, B., in Moon (ed.), AGAI 188 note 31.

• Beazley Archive 17717

Fabric: ATHENIAN

Technique: BLACK-FIGURE

Sub Technique: WHITE GROUND

Shape Name: LEKYTHOS

Date: -525 to -475

Attributed To: ATHENA P by BOTHMER

Decoration: Body: CENTAUROMACHY, WARRIOR (KAINEUS ?) FALLING BETWEEN CENTAURS WITH TREE

Last Recorded Collection: Champaign-Urbana (IL), University of Illinois, Krannert Art Museum: 72.13.1

• Digital LIMC 2798

Type: lekythos

Artist: Athena Painter

Origin: Attica

Category: vase painting

Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign

Inventory 72-13-1

LIMC Kentauroi et Kentaurides (S) 164 (*) ( )

• AVI 7331

AVI 7881: Urbana, University of Illinois Krannert Museum 72.13.1. BF/WG lekythos. Athena Painter (Wisseman, Bothmer). First quarter fifth. Ca. 490 (CVA).

Decoration: Centauromachy: Kaineus between two centaurs.

Inscriptions: Nonsense: imitation letters: to right of the left centaur's head, i.e., above the head of Kaineus: σ(ν)(.)(.)(ν){1}.

• LIMC VIII-2 p. 424, Kentauroi et Kentaurides 164

• Compare Kaineus 17, 18

---

François Vase

Caeneus (inscription: "ΚΑIΝΕVS") already halfway into the ground, being hammered by three Centaurs, one using a tree trunk (on the left) and two using boulders (on the right); volute krater, François Vase, by Kleitias, Florence, National Archaeological Museum 4209 (c. 570–560 BC).

• Padgett, pp. 15–16

The subject [of Kaineus battling Centaurs] does not reappear [after the bronze relief form Olympia] with certainty for another sixty years,⁷⁸ when it forms the centerpiece of the centauromachy on the neck of the of the François Vase (fig. 10), the great Attic black-figure volute-krater in Florence, which dates about 570 B.C. and is signed by the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias.⁷⁹ Kaineus has sunk to the bottom of his cuirass but fights on against three centaurs, one wielding a tree, the other two boulders.

• Gantz, p. 281

The François Krater shows the same scene as part of the Kentauromachy, with Kaineus here named and three Kentauroi using tree trunks and boulders; their victim now holds a shield and sword, and is already halfway into the ground.

• Laufer, p. 888, no. 67

(= Hasbolos 1* with lit., = Hylaios 1) Volute krater, att., so-called François vase. Florence, Mus. Arch. 4209. From Chiusi. ~ ABV 76, 1; 682: Kleitias and Ergotimos; Para 29; Add? 21; FRI pl. 11-12; Minto, A., Il vaso François (1960) 59 pl. 26 (with new fr.); Schefold, Sagenbilder 58; Simon/Hirmer, Vasen 74; Cristofani, M., BollArte Ser. spec. 1 (1981) 185 fig. 186 (inscription no. 57). - Around 570/60 BC. Chr. — K. (KAlNEYZ) fully armed, sunk to the middle of the body, posture and action similar to 1, but reversed. R. the grey centaur Hasbolos, next to him Akrios, both with stones, 1. Hylaios with branch.

• Digital LIMC 1602

Type: volute crater

Artist: Kleitias

Dating: -570 – -560

Museo Archeologico Inventory 4209

Firenze

Scene 2

Side B on the neck second zone: Centaurmachy: Third group - The Centaurs Hylaios, Akrios and Hasbolos try to beat Kaineus.

Kaineus 67 (*) ( )

• LIMC V-2, p. 574 (Kaineus 67)

---

Louvre CA2494

Caeneus fighting with a centaur, Attic lekythos by the Diosphos Painter, c. 500-490 BC, Louvre (CA 2494)

Caeneus? Not in LIMC?

Herranz, p. 98

A centaur advances to the right. In front of him, a hoplite attacks the centaur to the right with a sword, a short chiton and a large shield in his hand. The hoplite is semi-kneeling and looks back at the centaur.

---

Olympia BE 11a

Two Centaurs pound Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks; bronze relief from Olympia, Archaeological Museum of Olympia BE 11a (mid-seventh century BC)

• Padgett, p. 15

The death of Kaineus became a favorite subject in art, first appearing in the third quarter of the seventh century on a hammered bronze relief at Olympia, where the Lapith is represented as an armored hoplite between a pair of centaurs who batter him with trees.⁷⁷ Already he is sunk in the earth to mid-calf, a motif that makes Kaineus instantly regognizable in any depiction of the Thessalian centauromachy.

• Gantz, pp. 280–281

Not yet ... but already on a bronze relief from Olympia of about 630 B.C. we find an unmistakable illustration: two Kentauroi (human type) pound an armed warrior down into the ground with tree trunks, while he stabs vainly with [cont.] a sword in each hand (Olympia BE 11a).

• Fowler, p. 159 n. 27

On a bronze relief dating to the third quarter of the 7th c. BC: LIMC Kaineus no. 61.

• Laufer, p. 888, no. 61

Sheet metal, bronze. Olympia, Mus. BE 11a. From Olympia. ~ Hampe/Jantzen, OlympBer 1, 1937, 85 ff. pl. 28; Schefold, Sagenbilder 38; Hampe/Simon, FGrK 111 fig. 115. 171. - Mid 7th century BC - Oldest known depiction of a warrior. For the double armament (as 63. 70) see Hampe/Simon a. O. 112; Laufer, E., KhistJbGraz 21, 1985, 173-177.

• Digital LIMC 22983

Category: relief_metal

Material: bronze

Discovery: Olympia

Names: Kaineus

Musée Archéologique, Olympie

Inventory BE 11a

• LIMC V-2, p. 573 (Kaineus 61)

• Hard, p. 556 fig. 16.2

Figure 16.2 Kaineus battered into the ground by Centaurs. Bronze relief from Olympia, c. 650 BC.

---

Kaineus fighting the Centaurs. Attic black-figure lekythos, 520–510 BC