Acorus Calamus

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.^[2]

Family

Caeneus's father was the Lapith king Elatus from Gyrton in Thessaly,^[3] and his son was the Argonaut Coronus.^[4] 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.^[5] According to Antoninus Liberalis, his father was Atrax.^[6]

Mythology

Transformation

Caeneus was originally a woman who was transformed into a man by the sea-god Poseidon.^[7] Although possibly as old as the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (c. first half of the sixth century BC),^[8] the oldest secure mention of this transformation comes from the mythographer Acusilaus (sixth to fifth century BC).^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Caeneus was also listed as among those who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt by the sixth-century BC Greek lyric poet Stesichorus,^[15] as well as by the Roman poet Ovid and the Roman mythographer Hyginus, although no details of his participation are given.^[16]

Centauromachy

Caeneus' participation in the Centauromachy—the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding feast of Pirithous—seems to be the earliest story told about Caeneus. His transformation and other stories being later elaborations.^[18]

Caeneus fought and was killed (usually) in the Centauromachy. Because of his invulnerability, in order to defeat Caeneus, the Centaurs had to hammer him into the ground with tree trunks and boulders.^[19]

Caeneus' earliest mention occurs in Homer's Iliad, where Nestor names Caeneus among those "mightiest" of warriors who fought and defeated the Centaurs:^[20]

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.^[21]

The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles (c. first half of the sixth century BC)^[22] describes "the spear-bearing Lapiths around Caeneus their king" battling the Centaurs who fought with fir trees.^[23]

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.^[24] 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).^[25]

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.^[26] However, Hyginus listed Caeneus among those who killed themselves.^[27]

In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas visits a region of the Underworld called the Lugentes campi ("Mourning Fields), where those who died for love reside.^[28] There Aeneas sees Caeneus who, although once a man, is now a woman again, "turned back by Fate into her form of old".^[29]

Iconography

Caeneus is one of the earliest mythological figures in ancient Greek art that can be securely identified.^[30] The only event concerning Caeneus found in ancient Greek iconography is his participation in the Centauromachy—no surviving example of Caeneus' original femininity and transformation is found.^[31] However, the Centaurmachy was a popular theme in the visual arts,^[32] 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.^[33] The heraldic three-figured grouping on this relief, with Caeneus flanked by two Centaurs, becomes canonical.^[34] That Caeneus is here depicted without a shield (having instead a sword in each hand) implies invulnerability.^[35]

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.^[36] This depiction of Caeneus is the first to identify Caeneus by inscription and the first to introduce a third Centaur opponent.^[37] Other 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.^[38]

In the Metamorphoses

The most detailed account of Caeneus' story is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, which takes up most of book 12, and has Nestor tell Achilles the story of Caeneus' transformation, the brawl between the Centaurs and the Thessalians at Pirithous's wedding feast, and Caeneus' demise.^[39] No earlier version of the story explains why Caeneus chose to be transformed into a man, however the Metamorphoses does. According to Ovid, Caenis was raped by Neptune (the Roman equivalent of Poseidon), and afterwards, when the god promised to grant any request, Caenis chose to be made a man, so that she would never suffer being raped again:^[40]

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.^[41]

This Neptune did, transforming the girl into a man, and in addition made Caeneus "proof against all wounds of spear or sword". After which Caeneus went away happy, spending "years in every manful exercise", while roaming the plains of northern Thessaly.^[42]

Ovid next describes the wedding feast of Pirithous and Hippodamia, to which the Centaurs and the "Thessalian chiefs" (including Caeneus) were invited.^[43] After a drunken Centaur tries to abduct Hippodamia, a brawl breaks out, during which Caeneus killed five Centaurs (Styphelus, Bromus, Antimachus, Elymus, and Pyracmos).^[44] Caeneus is then mocked by the Centaur Latreus who says:

Shall I 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!
Leave warfare to your men!^[45]

When none of the their weapons could harm him, the Centaurs buried Caeneus under mountains of trees and rocks, crushing the life out of him.^[46] Nestor tells Achilles, that no one knew for certain what had happened to Caeneus, that some thought he was pushed down into Tartarus, however when a yellow bird emerged from his burial pile, the seer Mopsus said that Caeneus had been transformed (as must happen in any Metamorphoses episode) into a bird.^[47]

See also

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

Notes

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. Internet Archive.
• Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric, Volume III: Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, and Others, Loeb Classical Library No. 476, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0674995253. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Celoria, Francis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, Routledge 1992. ISBN 978-0-415-06896-3. Online version at ToposText.
• Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404. Google Books.
• Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0198147411.
• Freeman, Kathleen, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker, Harvard University Press, 1983. ISBN 9780674035010.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
• Griffin, Jasper, "The Epic Cycle and the Uniqueness of Homer", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1977, Vol. 97 (1977), pp. 39-53. JSTOR 631020.
• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. Internet Archive.
• Hard, Robin (2004), The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
• Laufer, Erich, s.v. Kaineus in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) V.1 HERAKLES-KENCHRIAS, Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1990. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive.
• Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) V.2 HERAKLES-KENCHRIAS, Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1990. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive.
• Lucian, Lucian, with an English Translation by A. M. Harmon, Volume 2, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1960. Internet Archive.
• Lucian, Lucian, with an English Translation by A. M. Harmon, Volume 5, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1962. Internet Archive.
• Most, G.W. (2018a), Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99720-2. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Most, G.W. (2018b), Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. ISBN 978-91-7081-062-6.
• Pindar, Nemean Odes. Isthmian Odes. Fragments, Edited and translated by William H. Race. Loeb Classical Library No. 485. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-674-99534-5. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Plutarch, Moralia, Volume I: The Education of Children. How the Young Man Should Study Poetry. On Listening to Lectures. How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend. How a Man May Become Aware of His Progress in Virtue, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library No. 197, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1927. ISBN 978-0-674-99217-7. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Plutarch, Moralia, Volume XIII: Part 2: Stoic Essays, translated by Harold Cherniss, W. C. Helmbold. Loeb Classical Library No. 470, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0-674-99517-8 Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Rose, Herbert Jennings, s.v. Caeneus, published online 22 December 2015], in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
• Slater, William J., Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin, De Gruyter, 1969. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
• Virgil, Aeneid [books 1–6], in Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid: Books 1-6, translated by H. Rushton Fairclough, revised by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library No. 63, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-674-99583-3. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Visser, Edzard (Basle), s.v. Caeneus, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.

External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "Caeneus"