ATTRIBUTED TO CLASS OF VATICAN 440, CIRCA 530 B.C.

Depicted on this oinochoe is a centauromachy between the Lapith warrior Kaineus and two centaurs. Kaineus had originally been a woman, who after being seduced by Poseidon appealed to the god to turn her into an invulnerable man, which he agreed to do. As weapons were useless against Kaineus, the centaurs could only pound him into the ground, as shown here. The subject makes its first appearance on a bronze relief from Olympia dating to the 7th century B.C., and then appears again on black- and red-figured vases during the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. (see p. 165 in T. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece, and pl. 254 for the bronze relief).