page_title: Lapiths
section_title: Centauromachy
hierarchical_section_title: Lapiths / Mythology / Centauromachy
caption_attribution_description: English: Ancient Roman sarcophagi in the Museo Ostiense (Ostia Antica)
context_page_description: The Lapiths are a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion.
context_section_description: In the Centauromachy, the Lapiths battle with the Centaurs at the wedding feast of Pirithous. The Centaurs had been invited, but, unused to wine, their wild nature came to the fore. When the bride was presented to greet the guests, the centaur Eurytion leapt up and attempted to abduct her. All the other centaurs were up in a moment, straddling women and boys. In the battle that ensued, Theseus came to the Lapiths' aid. They cut off Eurytion's ears and nose and threw him out. In the battle the Lapith Caeneus was killed, and the defeated Centaurs were expelled from Thessaly to the northwest.
  The Lapith Caeneus was originally a young woman named Caenis and the favorite of Poseidon, who changed her into a man at her request, and made Caeneus into an invulnerable warrior. Such warrior women, indistinguishable from men, were familiar among the Scythian horsemen too. In the Centaur battle, Caeneus proved invulnerable, until the Centaurs simply crushed him with rocks and trunks of trees. He disappeared into the depths of the earth unharmed and was released as a sandy-headed bird.
  In later contests, the Centaurs were not so easily beaten. Mythic references explained the presence into historic times of primitive Lapiths in Malea and in the brigand stronghold of Pholoe in Elis as remnants of groups driven there by the Centaurs. Some historic Greek cities bore names connected with Lapiths, and the Kypselides of Corinth claimed descent from Cæneus, while the Phylaides of Attica claimed for progenitor Koronus the Lapith.
caption: A centauromachy relief on an ancient Roman sarcophagus, c. 150 AD, Museo Archeologico Ostiense.[5]
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 700D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2016:01:11 11:26:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1168", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1282", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4512", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:10:25 14:14:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:10:25 14:14:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "45/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "75", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "75", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "75", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5052", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1661", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1136", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "864000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1152000/199", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "148032014662", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 135, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "000007ec3f"}