Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Caeneus.
The gallery
Caeneus and the Centaur (Attic black-figure)
Unknown Attic vase-painter, c. 6th century BC
Louvre CA 2494: the invulnerable Lapith Caeneus (Kaineus) is driven into the earth by a centaur — the death Ovid later retells, when spears fail and the Centaurs bury him under trees and stones. One of the clearest archaic images of the figure.
Caeneus Group (detail of the François Vase)
Kleitias (painter) and Ergotimos (potter), c. 570 BC
Detail from the François Vase (Florence): the Caeneus group within the centauromachy frieze, naming the Lapith among the warriors at Peirithous' wedding — archaic testimony that Caeneus already belonged to the feast that becomes a battle.
Centaurs Fighting Caeneus (Lycian sarcophagus, Istanbul)
Unknown Classical sculptor, c. 5th–4th century BC
Short side of the Lycian sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum: two centaurs hammer the invulnerable Caeneus into the ground — the same burial-death Greek art reserved for the Lapith who could not be pierced.
Centaurs and Caeneus (bronze relief, Olympia)
Unknown, Archaic / early Classical
A small bronze relief in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia: centaurs overwhelm Caeneus — portable testimony to the Lapith's distinctive death in the centauromachy.
In play
Metamorphoses
Ovid
Nestor's inset tale: Caenis becomes invulnerable Caeneus and is crushed by centaurs under a pile of trees — Ovid's gender change at the Lapith wedding.
Caeneus
The Lapith transformed from Caenis — unpierceable warrior, buried alive, a figure modern reception keeps for the metamorphosis itself.
Lapiths
Caeneus' people at Peirithous' feast — the centauromachy that ends the invulnerable man's career.