Carmina Escalante
Dr. Bianchelli
CLAS 1020H
24 November 2014
Response to Artistic Sources
The section of artistic sources assigned to me dealt with the Wedding of
Peirithoos and the battle that occurred between the Lapiths and the centaurs during the
wedding. The artistic sources specifically dealt with the representation of women in these
sources. While a few sources were smaller pieces of poetry such as column kraters and so
on, many of them were obtained from friezes, pediments and metopes of temples in
Greece. The temples are what interested me the most in the course of my research.
Specifically, I was particularly interested in the absence of women in some of the
representations of the event and the metope from the Parthenon depicting the battle
The story behind the myth of the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs
occurred during the Wedding of Peirithoos, the leader of the Lapiths, a Greek tribe
(British Museum). The centaurs were actually invited to the weddings as guests, but had
consumed too much wine during the festivities and turned to violence as they attempted
to rape the Lapith women and carry off Peirithoos’s bride (British Museum). The Lapiths
fought back and eventually emerged victorious. It is interesting to me that women were
excluded from some depictions of the battle, as it seems as though they played an integral
role in the myth even though they did not necessarily partake in the actual battle. One
such example the highlights the absence of women in the depiction is a volute krater that
can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Rather, the emphasis is
on the battle itself and the weapons used and fighting the ensued. To me, the female’s
role in the battle is just as important and may add to certain representations of the myth,
such as the representation at the Temple of Apollo in Bassai which shows women holding
small children while attempting to fend the centaurs off (Early Greek Myth). Seeing the
sheer terror of the women as they hold their children while the brute and “savaged”
centaurs whose animal instincts have overcome their human ones are attempting to rid
them of their innocence would add an element of terror and tension different from ones
an audience might feel when viewing a simple battle between men.
I was particularly interested in the metope from the Parthenon because of the
detail I saw in one of the images on the British Museum’s website. The image depicts a
fight between in a Lapith and a centaur. The Lapith man’s head is missing, however, he is
holding onto the centaur while preparing to hit him with the other hand. You can see both
bodies pulling in opposite directions and feel the tension between the two rivals as the
centaur is attempting to escape and the Lapith is preparing his blow. This metope stands
at 172 centimeters, which converts to over five feet. Ninety-two metopes are found in the
Parthenon to depict the battle (British Museum).
While researching, I was in awe of several of the temples that held the pieces
depicting the scenes as while the pieces were large, it seemed nothing compared to the
size of the temple they were housed in. The Ancient Greeks in honor of several gods
including Zeus, Apollo, and Hephaestus and Athena built the temples. These temples are
a physical representation left behind to highlight the importance of religion in Ancient
Greek society. Much like churches and cathedrals are built today in honor of the
Christian God, these temples were built on an even larger scale than most churches today.
Not only were they built, but also many are accompanied by myths that describe and
account for their creation. It is interesting to think of how “advanced” of a society the
Ancient Greeks were and how it is possible for modern society to rethink our definition
of “advanced” as it is somewhat rare to see buildings created to the same scale as those
thousands of years ago by peoples lacking in some of the modern technological comforts
that we have today. The temples have withstood the test of time, as a majority of them are
still standing and able to be viewed thousands of years later.
Works Cited
Gantz, Timothy. "Theseus's Later Exploits." Early Greek Myth. 279-280. Print.
"Marble Metope from the Parthenon." The British Museum. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/m/marble_
metope.aspx.