Caeneus

Fig. 1 Two centaurs pound Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks; bronze relief from Olympia, Archaeological Museum of Olympia BE 11a (mid seventh century BC)

In Greek mythology, Caeneus (/ˈsɛnjuːs/ SEN-yooss; Ancient Greek: Καινεύς, romanized: Kaineús) was born a female, Caenis (/ˈsiːnɪs/; Ancient Greek: Καινίς, romanized: Kainís) the daughter of Elatus, who was raped by Poseidon and transformed by him into an invulnerable man. He was a Lapith ruler of Thessaly, and the father of the Argonaut Coronus. He participated in the Centauromachy, and, because of his invulnerability, he was killed by the Centaurs by being pounded into the ground.

Family

Caeneus's father was the Lapith king Elatus from Gyrton in Thessaly, and his son was the Argonaut Coronus. According to the mythographer Hyginus, Caeneus' mother was Hippea, the daughter of Antippus who a Thessalian from Larissa, his brothers were Ischys, and the Argonaut Polyphemus, and, in addition to Coronus, he had two other sons Phocus, and Priasus, who were also Argonauts. According to Antoninus Liberalis, his father was Atrax.

Mythology

Transformation

Caeneus was originally a woman who was transformed into a man by the sea-god Poseidon. Although possibly as old as the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (c. first half of the sixth century BC), the oldest secure mention of this transformation comes from the mythographer Acusilaus (sixth to fifth century BC). According to Acusilaus, after having sex with Poseidon, Elatus' daughter (here called Caene), because of some (sacred?) prohibition, did not want to have a child by Poseidon, or anyone else, so, to prevent this, Poseidon transformed her into an invulnerable man, stronger than any other. However, according to the usual version of events, after having sex with Caenis, Poeisdon promised he would do whatever she wanted, so Caenis asked to be transformed into an invulnerable man, which Poseidon did.

Kingship

Besides the Centaurmachy, little is said about Caeneus's activities after his transformation. According to Acusilaus, Caeneus was the strongest warrior of his day, and became king of the Lapiths. However because of an act of impiety, Caeneus angered the gods. Acusilaus says that Caeneus set up his spear (somewhere? and did something?)—the transmitted text here is corrupt. However, according to an Iliad scholiast, Caeneus setup his spear in the agora and ordered his subjects to worship it, while according to a scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, Caeneus himself worshipped his spear rather than the gods. In either case, Caenus' actions so offended the gods that, as Acusilaus goes on to say, Zeus sent the Centaurs against him. The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus that supplies Acusilaus' account, says that Caeneus was used, by Theophrastos, as an example of ruling by the "spear" rather than the "scepter", that is by force rather than authority.

Both the Roman poet Ovid and the Roman mythographer Hyginus, also list Caeneus among those who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt, although no details of his participation are given.

Centauromachy

Fig. 2 Caeneus, 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).

Caeneus fought and was killed (usually) in the Centauromachy, the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding feast of Pirithous. Because of his invulnerability, in order to defeat Caeneus, the Centaurs had to hammer him into the ground with tree trunks and boulders.

Caeneus' earliest mention occurs in Homer's Iliad, where Nestor names Caeneus among those "mightiest" of warriors who fought and defeated the Centaurs:

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.

The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles (c. first half of the sixth century BC) describes "the spear-bearing Lapiths around Caeneus their king" battling the Centaurs who fought with fir trees.

There is no mention in Homer, or the Shield, of the story of Caeneus' invulnerability and the unique manner of his death at the hands of the Centaurs which invulnerability entailed. However, the Centaurmachy was a popular theme in Greek art, and depictions of Caeneus show that this story was well known by at least as early as the seventh century BC. Two Centaurs are shown pounding Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks on a mid seventh-century BC bronze relief from Olympia (Fig. 1), and on the François Vase (c. 570–560 BC), Caeneus, already halfway into the ground, is being pounded by three Centaurs, two using boulders and one a tree trunk (Fig. 2).

The first preserved literary mention of Caeneus killed by the Centaurs is found in Acusilaus, which says that the Centaurs beat him into the ground and sealed him in with a rock. The fifth-century BC Greek poet Pindar apparently also referred to Caeneus being driven vertically (ὀρθῷ ποδὶ) into the ground. However, Hyginus listed Caeneus among those wo killed themselves.

In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas visits a region of the Underworld called the Lugentes campi ("Mourning Fields), where those who died for love reside. There Aeneas sees Caeneus who, although once a man, is now a woman again, "turned back by Fate into her form of old".

Iconography

Caeneus is one of the earliest mythological figures in ancient Greek art that can be securely identified. Although no surviving example of Caeneus' original femininity and transformation is found, the Centaurmachy was a popular theme, and many examples show depictions of Caeneus battling Centaurs. The earliest depiction is the bronze relief from Olympia (Fig. 1) mentioned above where two Centaurs hammer Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks. That Caeneus is here depicted without a shield (having instead a sword in each hand) implies invulnerability.

The François Vase (Fig. 2), also mentioned above, from the mid-sixth century BC, shows Caeneus already halfway into the ground, being pounded by three Centaurs, using boulders and a tree trunk. Similar depictions appeared on temple friezes from the second half of the fifth century BC, including those on the Temple of Hephaestus at Athens, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae, and the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion.

In the Metamorphoses

Poseidon and Caenis, woodcut illustration for Ovid's Metamorphoses book 12 by Virgil Solis, 1563.

Caeneus' legend is found in Metamorphoses, where he is mentioned briefly as a participant in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Some time after this appearance, Nestor tells the story of Caeneus to Achilles in fuller detail, describing his transformation from female to male. In Ovid's retelling, placed in the mouth of the aged Homeric hero Nestor, Caenis, the daughter of Elatus (a Lapith chieftain) and Hippea, was raped by Poseidon, who then fulfilled her request to be changed into a man so that she could never be raped again; he also made Caenis invulnerable to weaponry. Caenis then changed his name to Caeneus and became a warrior, traveling all over Thessaly, and later taking part in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.

In Ovid's description of the tale, a particular centaur, Latreus, mocks Caeneus and denies his skill as a fighter when he realizes that Caeneus is originally female. Caeneus strikes Latreus a blow in the side, and is unharmed by the centaur's last attempts at wounding him. In revenge for this, the centaurs piled pine-tree trunks (some say fir trees) and stones upon him, since he was immune to weapons.

This legend is described in Ovid's Metamorphoses as well, and implies that Caeneus is falling directly into Tartarus. Ovid states that Caeneus flew away from the pile of tree trunks as a golden-winged bird. This version of the ending is witnessed by Mopsus as well as Nestor, who tells the story.

See also

• Iphis
• Leucippus, two other women transformed by the gods into men

References

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External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "Caeneus"