There is, however, also a natural explanation of the tales of these strange beings. The father of the Centaurs is Ixion, who, as we have already seen, may be interpreted to be the sun. The crime said to have been the cause of his punishment was his love for Hera (the goddess of the atmosphere). If we take these points, together with the legend that Ixion begat the Centaurs of Nephele, the cloud, we may be prepared to see in the horse-formed Centaurs a parallel to the cows of the sun, the bright clouds which pass over the sky. There is the more ground for this, as similar beings appear in Indian mythology, and their name has, with much probability, been identified with that of the Centaurs.
Fig. 48.—Metope of the Parthenon.
As we have already mentioned, the Centaurs play an important part in art. The custom of depicting them half horse and half man came into vogue after the time of Pindar, and was quickly adopted in sculpture. In the representations of earlier art the face of a man is joined to the body and hind legs of a horse. But in its higher stage of development, after the time of Phidias, this was replaced by a more elegant conception, and the body of a man from the navel upwards was joined to the complete body of a horse, so that the Centaurs of this period have the four feet of a horse and the hands and arms of a man. Such is their appearance on numerous extant art monuments, of which we shall mention the most important.
In the first place, there are the reliefs from the frieze of the Theseum at Athens. This temple, which is still in a good state of preservation, was converted during the middle ages into a chapel of St. George. It is supposed to have been built at the instance of Cimon, after he had brought back the bones of the Attic hero from Scyros. Besides other important pieces, which we shall mention hereafter, the temple has, on its western or hinder frieze, a representation of the contests of the Centaurs and Lapithæ at the wedding of Pirithoüs, done in Parian marble. It is executed in such a manner that it is impossible to discover which party will get the upper hand; and this has enabled the artist, whose name has not come down to us, to introduce a lively variety into the different scenes of the combat.
Fig. 49.—From the Frieze of the Temple at Bassæ.
We have another series of most splendid representations from the battle of the Centaurs, full of life and spirit, on some dilapidated metopes[[6]] of the Parthenon at Athens. This splendid specimen of Doric architecture is 227 feet in length and 101 feet in breadth. It was ruined in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and Turks, by a shell which broke through the midst of the marble roof. A large part of the ninety-two metopes of the outer frieze contain a number of the most beautiful and life-like scenes from the battle of the Giants and that of the Centaurs. Of these metopes, thirty-nine still remain on the temple, though they are all in a terribly mutilated condition; seventeen are in the British Museum, and one in the Louvre at Paris. Those from the south side are comparatively in the best state of preservation; these are seventeen in number, the whole number on the south side having been thirty-two. They represent, exclusively, scenes from the battle of the Centaurs. Here a bearded Centaur is carrying off a woman, whom he holds in his powerful grasp; there, another is galloping away over the body of his fallen enemy; another is engaged in a fierce contest with a human foe; whilst a fourth lies slain on the field. The engraving we append may give a faint idea of the beauty and bold design of this splendid creation (Fig. 48). To these grand monuments of Greek art we must add the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassæ, near Phigalia in Arcadia, which was discovered in 1812, and is now in the British Museum. It represents, likewise, a series of the most vivid scenes from the battle of the Lapithæ and Centaurs. In the individual groups and scenes of the battle, which is here completed before our eyes, there is the same variety and animation, so that we must ascribe it to some great artist (Fig. 49).
[6]. The squares between the triglyphs of the frieze which are intended to support the gable, every one of which is generally adorned with a separate sculpture in relief.
Besides these sculptures in relief, some splendid single statues of Centaurs have come down to us from antiquity. Among these, the first place must be assigned to the two Centaurs in the Capitoline Museum. They are executed in black marble, and were found in the villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, where so many ancient art treasures have been brought to light.