Centaur battling a Giant?

Centaurs are popular on Archaic and Classical Greek gems and are often shown fighting, armed with branches or stones as signs of their wild nature. Battles with Herakles or the Lapiths (a people of Thessaly, famous in Greek mythology for their defeat of the centaurs) appear often, but the exact scene on this gem is unclear. The two snakes seen below the centaur’s forelegs recall the standard depiction of giants in Greek art, which are typically shown with human bodies and snake-legs: although a battle between a centaur and giant would be extremely unusual and is not a specific feature of Greek myth, the subject is attested on a Roman glass paste intaglio, suggesting it might also be depicted here. Such motifs probably reflect the Late Classical and Hellenistic interest in fanciful scenes involving mythical creatures popular in painting and sculpture.

A scaraboid is a simplified scarab, with a plain curved back and an intaglio design decorating the flat underside. The form gradually replaced the scarab in Greece in the 400s B.C.E. Like scarabs, they were typically pierced and worn either as a ring or pendant. When attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, the curved side faced out and the intaglio surface rested against the finger. When needed as a seal, the ring was removed, the gem swiveled, and the intaglio design was pressed into soft clay or wax to identify and secure property. - J. Paul Getty Museum 

Image: Engraved scaraboid with a bearded centaur wearing an animal skin cloak battling a snake-legged Giant, brown chalcedony, 1st quarter of the 4th century BCE, Greek in the J. Paul Getty collection of engraved gems. The centaur is shown advancing to the left to battle an unknown adversary – suggested only by the presence of two coiled snakes below the centaur’s legs. 

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

The Wonders of the Horti Lamiani

 The Horti Lamiani (Lamian Gardens) was a luxurious complex of an ancient Roman villa with large gardens and outdoor rooms located on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, in the area around the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. They were created by the consul Lucius Aelius Lamia, a friend of Emperor Tiberius, and they soon became imperial property.  Along with other ancient Roman horti on the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills, they were discovered during the construction work for the expansion of Rome at the end of 1800s.

The villa and gardens were scenically divided into pavillions and terraces adapted to the landscape, on a model of Hellenistic tradition. They were eventually filled with exceptional works of art, from original ancient Greek sculptures to exquisite frescoes and marble floors. A museum of the nymphaeum excavations is planned to open in 2021.

The land for the horti Lamiani was originally a cemetery just outside the ancient Servian Wall but was purchased by Lucius Aelius Lamia, the Roman consul in 3 CE, who developed the property. He seems to have bequeathed the property to the emperor probably during the reign of Tiberius, and it became imperial state property. Emperor Caligula loved the place so much he established his residence there and further developed the property. In an evocative eyewitness account, the philosopher Philo visited the gardens in 40 CE and accompanied Caligula inspecting the elaborate residence ordering them to be made more sumptuous. After his assassination, Caligula was briefly buried at the site.

The Horti Lamiani adjoined the Gardens of Maecenas and the Gardens of Maiani. Under Claudius (41-54 CE) the Horti Lamiani and Maiani were united and administered by a special superintendent (procurator hortorum Lamianorum et Maianorum).

The property survived until at least the Severan dynasty (193-235 CE) when it became the emperor's private property as shown by a stamped lead water pipe. By the 4th c. the gardens were no longer in use as evidenced by the statuary found broken in pieces and used in the foundations of a number of spas.

Emperor Commodus as Hercules recovered from the Horti Lamiani at the Musei Capitolini in Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Ricardo André Frantz

Spectacular closeups of Emperor Commodus as Hercules at the Musei Capitolini in Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro

Spectacular closeups of Emperor Commodus as Hercules at the Musei Capitolini in Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro

Discobolus, 140 CE, recovered from the Horti Lamiani at the Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme in Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Livioandronico2013

My own closeups of Discobolus at the Palazzo Massimo in Rome

My own closeups of Discobolus at the Palazzo Massimo in Rome

My own closeups of Discobolus at the Palazzo Massimo in Rome

Genius of Emperor Domitianus, with the aegis and a cornucopia recovered from the area around the Horti Lamiani, at the Capitoline Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen

Triton or sea centaur, part of a group representing Commodus' apotheosis as Hercules recovered from the Horti Lamiani, Luni marble, Roman artwork, 191-192 CE, at the Capitoline Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Sculpture of a woman in a chiton recovered from the Horti Lamiani, now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Burkhard Mücke (white balance adjusted, digitally enhanced and recomposed)

Head of Dionysos recovered from the Horti Lamiani, now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen

Bottom of a statue of a Roman soldier, he wears a military tunic and caligae, the typical footwear worn by Roman soldiers, early Imperial period, from the Horti Lamiani, Musei Capitolini, Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Carole Raddato

Head of Priapus recovered from the Horti Lamiani, now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Carole Raddato

Faun with grapes from the Horti Lamiani at the Capitoline Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Esquiline Venus, recovered from the Horti Lamiani, at the Capitoline Museum in Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Miguel Hermoso Cuesta.

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Centaurs in Myth and Art

Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being as wild as untamed horses, and were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal. Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that the Aztecs also had this misconception about Spanish cavalrymen. The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described by Greek writers as the inventors of horse-riding. 

The Centaurs are best known for their fight with the Lapiths who, according to one origin myth, would have been cousins to the centaurs. The battle, called the Centauromachy, was caused by the centaurs' attempt to carry off Hippodamia and the rest of the Lapith women on the day of Hippodamia's marriage to Pirithous, who was the king of the Lapithae and a son of Ixion. The hero Theseus was present and helped the Lapiths by assisting Pirithous in driving off the centaurs. Another Lapith hero, Caeneus, who was invulnerable to weapons, was beaten into the earth by Centaurs wielding rocks and the branches of trees. In her article "The Centaur: Its History and Meaning in Human Culture," Elizabeth Lawrence claims that the contests between the centaurs and the Lapiths typify the struggle between civilization and barbarism.

Though female centaurs, called centaurides or centauresses, are not mentioned in early Greek literature and art, they do appear occasionally in later antiquity. A Macedonian mosaic of the 4th century BCE is one of the earliest examples of the centauress in art. Ovid also mentions a centauress named Hylonomei who committed suicide when her husband Cyllarus was killed in the war with the Lapiths.

Mycenaean pottery found at Ugarit (in modern Syria) is thought to depict centaurs and suggests the myth originated in the Bronze Age. In Greek art of the Archaic period, centaurs are depicted in three different forms. Some centaurs are depicted with a human torso attached to the body of a horse at the withers, where the horse's neck would be. This form, designated "Class A" by Professor Paul Baur, later became standard. "Class B" centaurs are depicted with a human body and legs joined at the waist to the hindquarters of a horse. In some cases centaurs of both Class A and Class B appear together. A third type, designated "Class C", depicts centaurs with human forelegs terminating in hooves. Baur describes this as an apparent development of Aeolic art (from northwest Asia Minor and some of the offshore islands including Lesbos), which never became particularly widespread. At a later period, paintings on some amphorae depict winged centaurs.

Fresco depicting a Centaur from Pompeii at the NAM Naples courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Simon Burchell.

Old Centaur teased by Eros. Roman copy (1st–2nd centuries CE) of a Greek original of the 2nd century BCE at The Louvre, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Painting by Sebastiano Ricci, of centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae courtesy of The Yorck Project and Wikimedia Commons.

"Battle of Centaurs and Wild Beasts" was made for the dining room of Hadrian's Villa and estimated to be made between 120-130 A.D. The mosaic now resides in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in Germany courtesy of the Google Art Project and Wikimedia Commons.

Centaur and figure playing dual flutes on Roman Sarcophagus 2nd-3rd century CE that I photographed at at the Terme di Diocleziano in Rome.

Centaurs pulling a cart on a Roman Sarcophagus 2nd-3rd century CE that I photographed at at the Terme di Diocleziano in Rome.

Hercules Battling the Centaur Nessus by Giovanni Bologna 1599 that I photographed in Florence, Italy.

Theseus and the Centaur by Antoine-Lous Barye French 1849 cast 1880 Bronze that I photographed at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, California.

Bronze man and "Type B" centaur Greek Geometric mid-8th century BCE that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

The remains of a fresco of a centaur that I found in the Atrium of the Villa San Marco in the Stabiae Excavation near Naples, Italy

Fragment of a shield strap with mythological scenes of the centaur Nessos Greek made in Argos by Aristodamos 575 BCE Bronze that I photographed at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California.

Relief of Centaur carrying off a nymph from the Via Praenestina marble Roman Imperial Period that I photographed at the Terme di Diocleziano in Rome.

Old Centaur from Hadrian's Villa 2nd century CE Roman copy of 2nd century BCE Hellenistic original that I photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome

Young Centaur laughing at Eros's wounds from Hadrian's Villa 2nd century CE Roman copy of 2nd century BCE Hellenistic original that I photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

A frieze depicting a centaur recovered from the ancient Roman theater that I photographed at Orange, France 2nd century CE

A frieze depicting a centaur recovered from the ancient Roman theater that I photographed at Orange, France 2nd century CE

A frieze depicting a centaur recovered from the ancient Roman theater that I photographed at Orange, France 2nd century CE

A frieze depicting a centaur recovered from the ancient Roman theater that I photographed at Orange, France 2nd century CE

Centaur Mosaic discovered near the ancient Roman theater at Orange, France. late 2nd century CE - early 3rd century CE that I photographed in Orange, France.

Centaur Mosaic discovered near the ancient Roman theater at Orange, France. late 2nd century CE - early 3rd century CE that I photographed in Orange, France.

Centaur on Roman Sarcophaus 3rd century CE (?) Marble that I photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

Agate Cameo sculpture of a centaur playing a double flute, 1st century BCE (modern period frame) at the Cabinet des médailles, Paris courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko

Antonio Canova, Theseus Defeats the Centaur (1805-1819) by Antonio Canova at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Georges Jansoone.

One of my favorite frescos - Achilles and Chiron fresco from the Basilica in Herculaneum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Bronze centaur, late 5th century B.C.E., Greek, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The boulder included in this work suggests that the source of inspiration was the myth of Kaineus, a Lapith invulnerable to man-made weapons, who could only be overcome by being beaten into the ground with trees and stones.

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

The symbolism of the Centauromachy

The Lapiths were a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, who were horsemen in the grasslands of Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion, said to have invented the bridle's bit.  They were an Aeolian tribe, like Achilles' Myrmidons, and descendants of Lapithes, a twin to Centaurus and son of the god Apollo and the Nymph Stilbe.  

Lapithes was a valiant warrior, but Centaurus was a deformed being who later mated with mares producing the race of half-man, half-horse Centaurs.  Lapith warriors and kings, included Ixion, Pirithous, Caeneus, and Coronus, and the seers Ampycus and his son Mopsus. In the Iliad the Lapiths sent forty manned ships to join the Greek fleet in the Trojan War, commanded by Polypoetes (son of Pirithous) and Leonteus (son of Coronus, son of Caeneus).

At the wedding of the Lapith King Pirithous and the horsewoman Hippodameia, the famous Centauromachy erupted when the invited centaur, Eurytion, unused to wine, upon meeting the bride leapt up and attempted to abduct her. In the battle that ensued, Theseus came to the Lapiths' aid. They cut off Eurytion's ears and nose and banished the centaurs from Thessaly.

In later retellings, the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs eventually took on aspects of the struggle between civilized and wild behavior and was used to demonstrate the necessity of tempering wine with water to avoid the consequences of excess. The Greek sculptors of the school of Pheidias depicted the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs as a symbolic struggle between the civilized Greeks and "barbarians" on the Parthenon and on Zeus' temple at Olympia (Pausanias, v.10.8). The Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs was also a familiar theme for classical Greek vase-painters.

Image:  A centauromachy relief on an ancient Roman sarcophagus, c. 150 CE, at the Museo Archeologico Ostiense courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor, Sailko.

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Giambologna brings Heracles to Life

Yesterday, I featured the beautiful sculpture, "Kidnapping of the Sabine Women" by Giambologna displayed at the Loggia Dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy. Another spectacular work of Giambologna displayed there as well portrays the battle between Heracles and the centaur Nessus.

Nessus was a famous centaur who carried off Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, and tried to force himself on her.  Heracles saw him from across the river and shot a Hydra-poisoned arrow into Nessus's breast. As he lay dying, in a final act of malice, Nessus told Deianeira that his blood would ensure that Heracles would be true to her forever, knowing the blood to be infected with the hydra's poison. 

Sometime later, Deianeira's trust in Heracles began to wane because of his unrequited love for Iole, the daughter of King Eurytus of Oechalia. Heracles had been forbidden to marry Iole because her father, the king, feared she would meet the same fate as Heracles' first wife, Megara, who, along with their children, was murdered by Heracles when the jealous goddess Hera sent Heracles into a fit of madness.  So Heracles, denied Iole,  had married Deianeira instead and Deianeira was painfully aware of being second choice.

Heracles planned to attend a gathering of heroes, and Deianiera feared his passion would get the better of him. So, to bind Heracles to her, Deianeira, remembering what Nessus had said about his blood, spread the centaur's blood on a robe and gave it to her husband. After Heracles left for the gathering, Deianeira accidentally spilled a portion of the centaur's blood onto the floor. To her horror, it began to fume by the light of the rising sun. She instantly recognized it as poison and sent her messenger to warn Heracles but it was too late. Heracles lay dying slowly and painfully as the robe burned his skin.

Images: Hercules (Heracles) and Nessus, 1599, by Giambologna photographed at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy.

Hercules (Heracles) and Nessus, 1599, by Giambologna photographed at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy

Hercules (Heracles) and Nessus, 1599, by Giambologna photographed at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!