Caeneus

In Greek mythology, Caeneus (/ˈsɛnjuːs/ SEN-yooss; Ancient Greek: Καινεύς, romanized: Kaineús) was born a female, Caenis (/ˈsiːnɪs/; Ancient Greek: Καινίς, romanized: Kainís) the daughter of Elatus, who was raped by Poseidon and transformed by him into an invulnerable man. He was a Lapith ruler of Thessaly, and the father of the Argonaut Coronus. He participated in the Centauromachy, and, because of his invulnerability, he was killed by the Centaurs by being pounded into the ground.

Two centaurs pound Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks; bronze relief from Olympia (mid seventh century BC)

Family

Caeneus's father was the Lapith king Elatus from Gyrton in Thessaly, and his son was the Argonaut Coronus. According to the mythographer Hyginus, Caeneus' mother was Hippea, the daughter of Antippus who 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.

Mythology

Poseidon and Caenis, woodcut illustration of Ovid by Virgil Solis, 1563.

Caeneus fighting with a centaur, Attic lekythos with decoration in superposed colours, ca. 500-490 BC, Louvre (CA 2494).

Caeneus was originally a woman named Caenis who was transformed into a man by the sea-god Poseidon. According to the Greek mythographer Apollodorus, and a scholiast on the Iliad, Poseidon had sex with her, and afterward she asked him to turn her into an invincible man; Poseidon granted her wish. According to Acusilaus, whose version is the earliest surviving, Caenis (here spelled Καινή, Caene), after having sex with him, asked Poseidon to turn her into a man so that she would not bear his child, or anyone else's. In another version, Poseidon wished to sleep with her, but Caenis made him promise her a favour in exchange for hers; he did, and she asked to be transformed into a man, whereupon he granted her wish, but due to her change he failed to fulfill his own.

According to Ovid however, Caenis was abducted and raped by Poseidon. After raping Caenis, Poseidon was pleased and promised to grant Caenis a wish. Caenis was so distraught that she demanded to not be a woman, so that she might never be wronged again. Poseidon granted this wish and turned her into a man, and also gave Caenis impenetrable skin. Thereafter, the spelling of Caenis was changed to Caeneus to mark his transformation.

Caeneus is said to have died in the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs (see Pirithous). Similarly, in the Iliad (without referring to these transformations) Nestor numbers Caeneus among an earlier generation of heroes of his youth, "the strongest men that Earth has bred, the strongest men against the strongest enemies, a savage mountain-dwelling tribe whom they utterly destroyed".

In Ovid's description of the tale, a particular centaur, Latreus, mocks Caeneus and denies his skill as a fighter when he realizes that Caeneus is originally female. Caeneus strikes Latreus a blow in the side, and is unharmed by the centaur's last attempts at wounding him. In revenge for this, the centaurs piled pine-tree trunks (some say fir trees) and stones upon him, since he was immune to weapons.

There are several descriptions of Caeneus' fate after he had been crushed down by the trunks. One vase, for instance, depicts him as sinking down into the earth, upright, and buried at the waist; this legend is described in Ovid's Metamorphoses as well, and implies that Caeneus is falling directly into Tartarus. Ovid states that Caeneus flew away from the pile of tree trunks as a golden-winged bird. This version of the ending is witnessed by Mopsus as well as Nestor, who tells the story.

Caeneus' legend is found in Metamorphoses, where he is mentioned briefly as a participant in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Some time after this appearance, Nestor tells the story of Caeneus to Achilles in fuller detail, describing his transformation from female to male. In Ovid's retelling, placed in the mouth of the aged Homeric hero Nestor, Caenis, the daughter of Elatus (a Lapith chieftain) and Hippea, was raped by Poseidon, who then fulfilled her request to be changed into a man so that she could never be raped again; he also made Caenis invulnerable to weaponry. Caenis then changed his name to Caeneus and became a warrior, traveling all over Thessaly, and later taking part in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.

In the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Caeneus is said to be the father of Coronus, one of the Argonauts.

Virgil also says that Aeneas sees him, having been returned to his original female form by the Fates, in the Fields of Mourning as he visits the underworld in Book Six of the Aeneid. He was also mentioned in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women.

In some accounts, Caeneus killed himself.

See also

• Iphis
• Leucippus, two other women transformed by the gods into men

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. Internet Archive.
• Celoria, Francis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, Routledge 1992. ISBN 978-0-415-06896-3. Online version at ToposText.
• Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. Internet Archive.
• Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0198147411.
• Freeman, Kathleen, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker, Harvard University Press, 1983. ISBN 9780674035010.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
• Laufer, Erich, s.v. Kaineus in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) V.1 HERAKLES-KENCHRIAS, Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1990. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive.
• Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) V.2 HERAKLES-KENCHRIAS, Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1990. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive.
• Most, G.W., Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. ISBN 978-91-7081-062-6.
• Rose, Herbert Jennings, s.v. Caeneus, published online 22 December 2015], in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
• Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
• Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Visser, Edzard (Basle), s.v. Caeneus, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.

External links

• Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. "Caeneus"
• Images of Caenis/Caeneus in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database