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In lateClassical Greek art, anichthyocentaur (Ancient Greek:ἰχθῠοκένταυρος, plural: ἰχθῠοκένταυροι,romanized: ikhthúokéntauros, ikhthúokéntauroi) was acentaurine sea being with the upper body of ahuman, the lower anterior half and forelegs of ahorse, and the tailed posterior half of afish.
The earliest example dates to the 2nd century BC, among thefriezes in thePergamon Altar. There are further examples ofAphros (Ancient Greek:Ἀφρός,romanized: Aphrós,lit. 'Sea Foam') and/orBythos (Ancient Greek:Βυθος,romanized: Bythós,lit. 'Sea Depth/Abyss'), the personifications of the sea's foam and abyss respectively, depicted as ichthyocentaurs inmosaics andsculptures.
The termichthyocentaur is of late coinage, attributable to theByzantine writerJohn Tzetzes in the 12th century, and thus they are also referred assea-centaur.
"Ichthyocentaur" is not a term in the vocabulary ofClassical antiquity at all. The word's earliest known use occurs in the 12th century byIoannes Tzetzes in his commentaryOnLycophron, 34 and may have been coined by him.[1][AI-generated source?][2][3]
Ichthyocentaur is aTriton represented as having the fore-legs of a horse, rather than just having a fish-like lower-body.[4]
Ichthyocentaur comes from two different words,ichthyo- andcentaur.Ichthyo- is an adjective stem from Greekikhthis (ιχθύς) "fish";centaur, from Greekkentauros (κένταυρος), a creature from classical mythology that has a man's upper body attached to a horse's body and legs.
The term or its equivalent in other European languages (German:Ichthyokentaur, plural:Ichthyokentauren;French:Ichthyocentaure, Ichtyocentaures) has been used in classical art commentary in the modern age, and vernacular terms such as "sea-centaur" (German:Seekentauren, Fischkentauren;French:centaures marins) have also been interchangeably applied.[5][6]Henri van de Waal (1976) placed "ichthyocentaur", "centaurotriton", and "sea-centaur" in the sameiconographic group oriconclass[7] synonymous treatment of these terms are also seen in archaeological papers.[3][8]
Centaur-Tritons is another name for ichthyocentaurs, noted in a 19th-century reference.[9]
The earliest datable depiction of an ichthyocentaur is found in the relief sculptures of thePergamon Altar (2nd century BC), although the inscription labels the figure as a "Triton".[10][3] 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.[5]
Ichthyocentaurs are sometimes portrayed with a pair ofpincered arms (similar to alobster's clawed arms) emerging out of their heads.[11][a]
A "Birth of Venus (Aphrodite)" mosaic unearthed atZeugma, 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.[14] The mosaics bear inscriptions, identifying the sea-centaurs as Aphros ("Sea-Foam",personified) and Bythos ("Sea-Depths").[14]
The Aphros is shown with a pair of lobster-like appendages growing out of his head,[14][b] as is Bythos (see images).[16][17][18]
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.[19]
This mosaic dates to the 3rd century CE, and is now part of theGaziantep Museum of Archaeology's collection,[16] now housed in the annex named theZeugma Mosaic Museum.[20]
In the marine procession mosaic found underneath a cathedral atApamea, Syria (c. 362–363 CE), there is an Aphros in ichthyocentaur form.[21][22] This Aphros (identified by inscription) is depicted as a youthful triton with lobster-like antennae on its head and hair of seaweed.[15] 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".[23]
ThePaphos mosaic depicts Bythos alone carrying the nereidThetis along with two other nereids,Doris andGalateia.
The two sea gods also appear in a pair of matching sculptures (belonging to theLouvre andVatican Museums) depicting them carryingsilen companions of the godDionysus after his company was driven into the sea by KingLycurgus of Thrace.
Aphros is glossed as a king ofAncient Libya and the progenitor of the Aphroi (orCarthaginians) according to the entry in theByzantine lexicon, theSuda.[17][24] 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 LibyanLake Tritonis.[17][better source needed]
TheSuda also states this Aphros was the son of Cronos and Philyra.[24] This matches the parentage of the centaurChiron, who was the son of theTitanCronos and the nymphPhilyra (Bibliotheke of Pseudo-Apollodorus 1.2)[25] from which it might be deduced this Aphros and Chiron were siblings.[17] Aphros was perhaps regarded as Aphrodite's foster-father, given their similarity in names.[17]
The monochromemosaicIshthmia (2nd century CE or later),[26] 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 likecrustaceanpincers growing out of their heads.[27][28][29]
A pair ofmarine thiasosfresco fragments inHerculaneum 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 ofsea 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.[30][31]
One late literary example that has been noted is the poem byClaudian (d. 404), theEpithalamium 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".[32]Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher observed that this Triton (withcloven hooves) is being described as an ichthyocentaur subtype with a bull's forelegs.[5]
Conrad Gessner's "sea-satyr" or "sea-Pan" was also described as an "ichthyocentaur" or "sea-devil" in his chapter ontritons in hisHistoria animalium IV (1558).[33][34][35] In the German translated edition, this creature is called "Meerteuffel [sic]" or "sea devil".[36]
This "marine daemon" (German:Meerteufel), with other names such as "sea Pan monster", "monstrous sea satyr" or "centaur-fish" has also been used onheraldic devices.[37]
Schmitz, Leonhard (1870)."Triton (1)". InSmith, William (ed.).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3. p. 1176.Perseus Project:Triton (1).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.
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