Ichthyocentaur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Template:Short description

File:Ichthyocentaur, hotel Sacher-VIENNA-Dr. Murali Mohan Gurram (5).jpg
Icthyocentaur with trident. Hotel Sacher, Vienna.
File:Ichthyocentaurs from the Fountain of the Centaurs by AA Weinman, Jefferson City MO USA, 1927.jpg
Four-legged ichthyocentaur. Fountain of the Centaurs, Missouri State Capitol.

In late Classical Greek art, an ichthyocentaur (Template:Langx) is a centaurine sea being with the upper body of a human, the lower anterior half and forelegs of a horse, and the tailed posterior half of a fish.

The earliest example dates to the 2nd century BC, among the friezes in the Pergamon Altar. There are further examples of Aphros (Template:Langx) and/or Bythos (Template:Langx), the personifications of sea foam and abyss respectively, depicted as ichthyocentaurs in mosaic and sculpture.

The term ichthyocentaur is of late coinage, attributable to the Byzantine writer John Tzetzes in the 12th century, and thus they are also referred as sea-centaurs.

Nomenclature

Origin

"Ichthyocentaur" is not a term in the vocabulary of Classical antiquity at all. The word's earliest known use occurs in the 12th century by Ioannes Tzetzes in his commentary On Lycophron, 34 and may have been coined by him.[1]Template:AI-generated source[2]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Meaning

Ichthyocentaur is a Triton represented as having the fore-legs of a horse, rather than just having a fish-like lower-body.[3]

Ichthyocentaur comes from two different words, ichthyo- and centaur. Ichthyo- is an adjective stem from Greek Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) "fish"; centaur, from Greek Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), a creature from classical mythology that has a man's upper body attached to a horse's body and legs.

Synonyms

The term or its equivalent in other European languages (Template:Langx, plural: Script error: No such module "Lang".; Template:Langx) has been used in classical art commentary in the modern age, and vernacular terms such as "sea-centaur" (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) have also been interchangeably applied.[4][5] Henri van de Waal (1976) placed "ichthyocentaur", "centaurotriton", and "sea-centaur" in the same iconographic group or iconclass[6] synonymous treatment of these terms are also seen in archaeological papers.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.[7]

Centaur-Tritons is another name for ichthyocentaurs, noted in a 19th-century reference.[8]

Greek art

File:Altar Pérgamo Tritón 02.JPG
Triton on Pergamon Altar

The earliest datable depiction of an ichthyocentaur is found in the relief sculptures of the Pergamon Altar (2nd century BC), although the inscription labels the figure as a "Triton".[9]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The ichthyocentaur in this relief sculpture has wings on its back; these wings are of a peculiar type which are lined with either seaweed or sea creature parts instead of feathers.[4]

Ichthyocentaurs are sometimes portrayed with a pair of pincered arms (similar to a lobster's clawed arms) emerging out of their heads.[10][a]

Aphros and Bythos

Zeugma mosaics

File:Venüs'ün Doğuşu Mozaiği.jpg
Aphrodite with Bythos and Aphros.

A "Birth of Venus (Aphrodite)" mosaic unearthed at Zeugma, Turkey shows Aphrodite emerging from a shell, supported by two "sea-centaurs", construed as special names for Tritons, according to a paper published by the leader of the French excavation team.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The mosaics bear inscriptions, identifying the sea-centaurs as Aphros ("Sea-Foam", personified) and Bythos ("Sea-Depths").Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

The Aphros is shown with a pair of lobster-like appendages growing out of his head,Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.[b] as is Bythos (see images).[13][14][15]

In the Zeugma mosaic, the elder-looking triton is labeled Aphros and the youthful-looking one is called Bythos, which is contrary to convention seen in other examples.[16]

This mosaic dates to the 3rd century CE, and is now part of the Gaziantep Museum of Archaeology's collection,[13] now housed in the annex named the Zeugma Mosaic Museum.[17]

Apamea, Paphos and others

File:ZyPaphos07.jpg
Thetis (center), Bythos (center bottom).
—Paphos Archeological Park mosaic, "Beauty contest between Cassiopeia and the Nereids"

In the marine procession mosaic found underneath a cathedral at Apamea, Syria (c. 362–363 CE), there is an Aphros in ichthyocentaur form.[18][19] This Aphros (identified by inscription) is depicted as a youthful triton with lobster-like antennae on its head and hair of seaweed.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Bythos also appears in the same group; he evidently appears old-aged and the commentator remarks this is none other than the "Old Man of the Sea".[20]

The Paphos mosaic depicts Bythos alone carrying the nereid Thetis along with two other nereids, Doris and Galateia.

The two sea gods also appear in a pair of matching sculptures (belonging to the Louvre and Vatican Museums) depicting them carrying silen companions of the god Dionysus after his company was driven into the sea by King Lycurgus of Thrace.

Aphros in glosses

Aphros is glossed as a king of Ancient Libya and the progenitor of the Aphroi (or Carthaginians) according to the entry in the Byzantine lexicon, the Suda.[14][21] A mosaic uncovered in Tunisia confirms this belief; it depicts a pair of African sea gods swimming alongside Poseidon's chariot—one is the ichthyocentaur Aphros and the other a twin-tailed Triton, god of the Libyan Lake Tritonis.[14][better source needed]

The Suda also states this Aphros was the son of Cronos and Philyra.[21] This matches the parentage of the centaur Chiron, who was the son of the Titan Cronos and the nymph Philyra (Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus 1.2)[22] from which it might be deduced this Aphros and Chiron were siblings.[14] Aphros was perhaps regarded as Aphrodite's foster-father, given their similarity in names.[14]

Other examples

The monochrome mosaic Ishthmia (2nd century CE or later),Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. included an ichthyocentaur-form Triton on the upper panel and a winged-form Triton on the lower; both these beardless Tritons were depicted with a pair of what look like crustacean pincers growing out of their heads.[23][24][25]

A pair of marine thiasos fresco fragments in Herculaneum have been described, such that in one fragment, are two tritons, one of them an ichthyocentaur. The ichthyocentaur here is beardless, and bears a ribboned trident. A pair of sea crayfish (lobster) feet or pincers sprout from each triton's head.[c] In the second fragment, a youthful ichthyocentaur proceeds ahead of a mounted Venus marina; the ichthyocentaur holds two objects difficult to identify.[26][27]

Literary examples

One late literary example that has been noted is the poem by Claudian (d. 404), the Epithalamium for the wedding of Honorius and Maria, in which Venus rides Triton on her back as her whole procession heads for the wedding. Here Triton is described as follows "The dread monster uprose from the abyss; his billowing hair swept his shoulders; hoofs of cloven horn grown round with bristles sprang from where his fishy tail joined his man's body".[28] Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher observed that this Triton (with cloven hooves) is being described as an ichthyocentaur subtype with a bull's forelegs.[4]

Renaissance period

Conrad Gessner's "sea-satyr" or "sea-Pan" was also described as an "ichthyocentaur" or "sea-devil" in his chapter on tritons in his Historia animalium IV (1558).[29][30][31] In the German translated edition, this creature is called "Meerteuffel [sic]" or "sea devil".[32]

This "marine daemon" (Template:Langx), with other names such as "sea Pan monster", "monstrous sea satyr" or "centaur-fish" has also been used on heraldic devices.[33]

See also

Explanatory notes

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Cf. Oceanus conventionally depicted with crab or lobster claws ("pinces de crabe/homard") on their heads, including Zeugma.[11] Cf. also Pauline (1972) on both "antennae (antennes)" and "pincers (pinces)" present on mosaic heads of Oceanus/sea deities.[12]
  2. ^ Abadie-Reynal actually states "crowned with the antennae of lobsters (couronné d'antennes de homards)", but these terminate in what look like pincers (or pinces, used by other French scholars to describe such appendages), and differs from the straight "antennae" described on the Apamea mosaic Aphros described below.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  3. ^ The second triton, bearded, has twin fish-tails, and bears an oar.

References

Citation

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 34, 886 & 892
  2. ^ Template:Harvp, p. 329, note 7
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Triton". Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity. Vol. 14. Brill. 2009. p. 101.
  4. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Roscher, Wilhelm Heinrich (1890), "Ichthyokentauren", Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (in Deutsch), vol. 2, B. G. Teubner, pp. 91–94 Alt URL
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Brulet, Raymond (1990). Le sarcophage Gallo-Romain de Tournai. Université catholique de Louvain, Départemant d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art. p. 68.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.van de Waal, Henri (1976), Iconclass: an iconographic classification system. Society, civilization, culture. System. Part I-Part II., vol. 4, North-Holland, p. 98, ISBN 9-780-72048-264-5
  7. ^ Template:Harvp, where "ichthyocentaur" and "sea centaur" are equated.
  8. ^ Public Domain Script error: No such module "template wrapper". Perseus Project: Triton (1).
  9. ^ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. and note 140, cited by Template:Harvp, note 84.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Collignon, Maxime (1890). Manual of Mythology: In Relation to Greek Art. Translated by Harrison, Jane E. H. Grevel & Co. pp. 197–199. then come, in late days, the Centaurs of the sea, beating the water with their mighty fins, with their heads sometimes surmounted by lobsters' claws.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Eraslan, Şehnaz (2015), "Oceanus, Tethys and Thalssa Figures in the Light of Antioch and Zeugma Mosaics" (PDF), Journal of International Social Research, 8 (37): 454, 459, 45, doi:10.17719/jisr.20153710616
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Voute, Pauline (1972), "Notes sur l'iconographie d'Océan. À propos d'une fontaine à mosaïques découverte à Nole (Campanie)", Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité (in français), 81 (1): 660–664; fig. 11–14
  13. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wootton, Will (2016). Alcock, Susan E.; Egri, Mariana; Frakes, James F. D. (eds.). A Portrait of the Artist as a Mosaicist under the Roman Empire. Getty Publications. pp. 74–75. ISBN 978-1-606-06471-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Aaron J. Atsma (2010–2017). "Ikhthyokentauroi". Theoi Project.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Eserleri: Zeugma ve Diğer Buluntular. Aphrodithe'in Doğuşu" [Works: Zeugma and Other Finds: Birth of Aphrodite]. zeugma.org.tr (in Türkçe). 2014. Archived from the original on 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-09-12.; Cf. gallery photo[permanent dead link].
  16. ^ Template:Harvp; Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wardle, Marianne Eileen (2010). Naked and Unashamed: A Study of the Aphrodite Anadyomene in the Greco-Roman World (PDF) (Ph. D.). Duke University, Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies. p. 233.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Venüs'ün Doğuşu Mozaiği" [A 20 The Birth of Venus Mosaic]. Zeugma Mozaik Müzesi. Müze Kat Plani [Zeugma Mosaic Museum: Floor Plan] (in Türkçe). 2014. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Objet14827". Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (France). 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  19. ^ Template:Harvp. Fig. 5; Fig. 7
  20. ^ Template:Harvp. Fig. 9
  21. ^ a b "Ἄφροι", Suda On Line, tr. Jennifer Benedict. 5 June 2001.
  22. ^ Apollod. 1.2; Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek MythologyI. Translated by Stephen M. Trzaskoma; R. Scott Smith. Hackett Publishing. 2007. p. 2. ISBN 9-781-60384-052-1.
  23. ^ Template:Harvp and Plates 97–99
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Reinhard, Jayne Huntington (2005). The Roman Bath at Isthmia: Decoration, Cult, and Herodes Atticus. University of Minnesota. p. 46.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Lifting the Monochrome Mosaic". OSU Excavations at Isthmia. College of Arts and Sciences The Ohio State University. 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Maréchal, Sylvain (1789), "Planche CLV", Antiquités d'Herculanum (in français), vol. 5, François-Anne David (engravings), Chez David, pp. 76–77; Pl. CLV
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Barré, Louis [in français] (1840), "Planche 16", Herculanum et Pompéi: recueil général des peintures, bronzes, mosaïques, etc. (in français), vol. 5, François-Henri Roux, aîné (engravings), F. Didot, pp. 36–38
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Claudian. Epithalamium of Honorius and Maria. Loeb Classical Library 135. Translated by M. Platnauer. Harvard University Press. pp. 252–253. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  29. ^ Gesner, Konrad (1558) Historiae animalium [1237} Liber IIII], p. 1197; (1604 ed.) p. 1001.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hendrikx, Sophia (2018). "Monstrosities from the Sea. Taxonomy and tradition in Conrad Gessner's (1516-1565) discussion of cetaceans and sea-monsters". Anthropozoologica. 53 (11): 132–135. doi:10.5252/anthropozoologica2018v53a11. hdl:1887/67726.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ursula Wehner, Peggy; Zierau, Wolfgang; Arditti, Joseph (2013). Germanicus and Plinius Indicus: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Descriptions and Illustrations of Orchid "Trash Baskets", Resupination, Seeds, Floral Segments and Flower Senescence in the European Botanical Literature in Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 42–44. ISBN 978-9-401-72500-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  32. ^ Gesner, Konrad (1558) Gesnerus redivivus auctus & emendatus, oder: Allgemeines Thier-Buch: Gesneri redivivi aucti et emendati ... oder Vollkommenes Fisch-Buch, Tomus IV, p. 153
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Holme, Randle III (1688). "16.39 Marine Daemon". The Academie of Armorie. pp. 375, 367. via EEBO
Bibliography

Page Template:Refbegin/styles.css has no content.

Page Module:Side box/styles.css has no content.Page Template:Sister project/styles.css has no content.

Page Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content.
Script error: No such module "Sister project logo".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Template:If then show|Template:If then show]].

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found.

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found.

Retrieved from "https://cosmopedia.co/index.php?title=Ichthyocentaur&oldid=5730733"