Collection Publications: The Centaur's Smile: Fantastic Creatures

The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art

Fantastic Creatures

The mythical hybrid creatures referred to in this exhibition as "human animals" are prominent characters in the stories and legends that the ancient Greeks developed not only to entertain, but also to examine and explain themselves, their history, and their surroundings, Because the Greeks had no fixed mythological canon and no standard religious text, the roles of human animals changed over time and varied from place to place. They could be feared foes, guardians of a grave, transporters of the dead, devices for warding off evil, or decorative ornaments. Fantastic figures such as sphinxes, sirens, and satyrs adorn a wide range of artifacts in a variety of materials, from stone to gold, including pottery, jewelry, armor, and architecture. This exhibition presents the wide variety of Greek mythological composite creatures in the Geometric, Archaic, and Early Classical periods, from the eighth to the mid-fifth century B.C., demonstrating the richness of the Greek imagination and Greek civilization's debts to Near Eastern traditions. Centaurs Creatures combining the body and legs of a horse with the head and torso of a man (although early centaurs were often represented with a horse's hindquarters attached to a fully human body). With the exception of Cheiron, a civilized centaur who was the tutor to many Greek heroes, and Pholos, a creature of mild and hospitable nature, centaurs were known for their excessive fondness for wine and their subsequent unruly behavior. Satyrs Also known as silens. Part man and part horse but differing from centaurs in walking upright on two legs, either human or hooved. Satyrs represent an antithesis to the Greek ideals of youthful beauty and self-controlled behavior. Frequent companions of Dionysos, the god of wine, the satyrs' unbridled yet unsatisfied lust leads them into humorous situations. Some of the depictions of satyrs on Attic vases were inspired by satyr plays, comic parodies of myth with satyr choruses. Sphinxes Creatures with the body of a winged lioness and the head of a woman. According to a famous myth, the Sphinx came to Thebes and posed the following riddle, "What has one voice and becomes first four-footed, then two-footed, and finally three-footed?" Each day that the riddle remained unanswered, the Sphinx killed a youth. Oedipus finally provided the correct response Man, who crawls, then walks, then uses a cane-and eliminated the menace. Although episodes from the myth are occasionally represented, sphinxes in art more often have essentially decorative roles or, when placed on funerary monuments, act as guardians of the dead. Sirens Human-headed birds whose irresistible songs lured sailors to their death. In form, they resemble the ha-birds of Egyptian art, but in contrast are generally female. Sirens were associated with the under world, sometimes appearing on vessels used in funeral rites. Often, however, they are depicted as benign creatures and, like sphinxes, were a favorite decorative motif of Corinthian vase-painters. Acheloos An immortal, man-headed bull who is a personification of the longest river in Greece. Herakles fought him to acquire the hand of Deianeira and tore off his horn during the struggle. Minotaur A monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull. He lived in the Labyrinth, on Crete, where King Minos exacted a tribute of fourteen Athenian youths and maidens to feed him. The Minotaur died at the hands of Theseus, the mythical unifier of Attica. Nereus A wise old fish-man who could mutate into different forms. He was forced by Herakles to reveal the way to the Garden of the Hesperides, located at the ends of the earth. The Garden contained the golden apples that Gaia (Earth) gave to Zeus's wife Hera as a wedding gift and that Herakles was required to steal as one of his Labors. In the course of the sixth century B.C., the fight with Nereus seems to have been supplanted by Herakles' struggle with another fish-man, Triton, about whom little is known outside his appearance in art. Typhon Often represented with wings and a serpentine lower body. A huge monster who embodied the destructive forces of wind and fire, he was defeated by Zeus and buried under the volcanic Mount Etna. Pan The Arcadian god of the flocks. He is depicted either as a goat or as a human with the head of a goat (and often the legs as well). Pan assured the Athenians of his special favor at the Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.), when they soundly defeated a larger force of invading Persians. It seems that only after this event did Pan begin to appear in Greek art. Gorgons Three monstrous sisters whom artists depicted with wings, grimacing frontal faces with tongues lolling between curved fangs, and often with serpents for hair. Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, had a face so horrible that it turned to stone anyone who gazed at her. King Polydektes of Seriphos ordered Perseus to bring back Medusa's head, hoping he would die in the attempt. The young hero succeeded, however, with help from Athena and Hermes, and returned with the head, which he used to petrify Polydektes. Medusa's disembodied head, the gorgoneion, became a common device for warding off evil, a tradition begun by the goddess Athena when she placed Medusa's head on her shield. Nathan T. Arrington Curatorial Research Assistant Princeton University Art Museum