| Caeneus | |
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 Two Centaurs pound Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks | |
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Other Names |
Kaineus, Caenis |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
Poseidon and Caenis, illustration for Ovid's Metamorphoses
In Greek mythology, Caeneus or Kaineus was a Lapith hero, ruler of Thessaly, and the father of the Argonaut Coronus. He was born a girl, Caenis, the daughter of Elatus, but was transformed by Poseidon into an invulnerable man after having sex with him. He participated in the Centauromachy, where he met his demise at the hands of the Centaurs by being pounded into the ground while still alive.
Caeneus's father was the Lapith king Elatus from Gyrton in Thessaly, and his son was the Argonaut Coronus, who was killed by Heracles while leading a war against the Dorians and their king Aegimius. According to the mythographer Hyginus, Caeneus' mother was Hippea, the daughter of Antippus who was 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. According to Antoninus Liberalis, his father was Atrax.
Caeneus was originally a woman who was transformed into a man by the sea-god Poseidon. Although possibly as old as the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, the oldest secure mention of this transformation comes from the mythographer Acusilaus. 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. However, according to the usual version of events, after having sex with Caenis, Poseidon promised he would do whatever she wanted, so Caenis asked to be transformed into an invulnerable man, which Poseidon did.
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. 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. 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.
Caeneus was also listed as among those who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt by the sixth-century BC Greek lyric poet Stesichorus, as well as by the Roman poet Ovid and the Roman mythographer Hyginus, although no details of his participation are given.
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 are likely later elaborations. Caeneus fought in the Centauromachy where he met his demise (usually). Because of his invulnerability, none of the Centaurs' weapons could hurt him, so in order to defeat Caeneus, they had to hammer him into the ground with tree trunks and boulders while he was still alive and unharmed. Caeneus' earliest mention occurs in Homer's Iliad, where Nestor names Caeneus among those "mightiest" of warriors who fought and defeated the Centaurs. The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles describes "the spear-bearing Lapiths around Caeneus their king" battling the Centaurs who fought with fir trees.
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. 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, and on the François Vase, Caeneus, already halfway into the ground, is being pounded by three Centaurs, two using boulders and one a tree trunk.
The first preserved literary mention of Caeneus' death is found in Acusilaus, which says that Caeneus died after the Centaurs beat him "upright" into the ground and sealed him in with a rock. The Greek poet Pindar apparently also referred to Caeneus being driven vertically into the ground. The third-century BC Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, gives a fuller account.
Concerning Caeneus' fate, Ovid has Nestor say that some thought Caeneus was pushed down directly into Tartarus, but that the seer Mopsus said that Caeneus had been transformed into a bird. While according to the Orphic Argonautica, Caeneus endured his beating by the Centaurs without bending a knee, and "went down among the dead under the earth while still alive."
Hyginus (following a different tradition?) listed Caeneus among those who killed themselves. While in Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas visits a place in the Underworld called the Lugentes campi ("Mourning Fields), where those who died for love reside. Virgil locates these fields as part of (or near to?) the region containing suicides. There Aeneas sees Caeneus of whom Virgil says, although once a man, is now a woman again, "turned back by Fate into her form of old".
The most detailed account of Caeneus' story is found in the Roman poet 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. 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 the most beautiful of maidens, but refused all of her many suitors. One day, as "report declares", while walking on the beach, she was raped by the sea-god Neptune (the Roman equivalent of Poseidon). Afterwards, when the god promised to grant her any request, Caenis chose to be made a man, so that she would never suffer being raped again.
This Neptune did, transforming the girl into a man, and in addition making 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. Nestor next describes the wedding feast of Pirithous and Hippodamia, to which the Centaurs and the "Thessalian chiefs" (including Caeneus) were invited. After a drunken Centaur tries to abduct Hippodamia, a brawl breaks out, during which Caeneus killed five Centaurs (Styphelus, Bromus, Antimachus, Elymus, and Pyracmos).
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. 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. The story of Caeneus' metamorphosis into a bird only occurs here, and, if not an Ovidian invention, is probably a Hellenistic one.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Caeneus before January 1, 1929 are public domain.
Some Notable Appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Centauromachy
- Catalogue of Women by Hesiodic
- Iliad by Homer
- Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes
- Shield of Heracles by Hesiodic
- Orphic Argonautica
- Aeneid by Virgil
- Metamorphoses by Ovid
Notes[]
- In the Fate franchise video game Fate/Grand Order, Caeneus (in his Caenis form) appears as a servant.
- In the Saint Seiya Franchise, also known as the Knights of the Zodiac, the Ceneus Cloth is an armor based on Caeneus.