Ichthyocentaurs
Ichthyokentauren ( Greek Ἰχθυοκένταυροι , Ikhthyokentauroi, fish centaurs ) are sea creatures in Greek mythology , with which representations of the sea and its inhabitants have been provided since Skopas in the fine arts of the Greeks and Romans.
The iconographic features of the Ichthyokentaurs are the human upper body, the front part of a four-footed animal, usually a horse, and the abdomen of a fish. The difference to the tritons lies in the animal front part, which the tritons do not have. In the rare descriptions in ancient literature, they are equated with the tritons, which makes a distinction appear questionable even in ancient times.
In Claudian's case, Venus rides an ichthyocentaur called a Triton across the sea, depictions mostly depict Nereids and occasionally Silene , Aphrodite and Eros riding on them, sometimes they are led by Triton. Oars, tridents , sticks, drinking vessels, lyre , snail horns or flutes are added as attributes .
literature
- Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher: Ichthyokentauren . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, Col. 92-94 ( digitized version ).
- Leonhard Schmitz : Ichthyocentaurus . In: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . tape 2 : Ea'rinus, Fla'vius – Nyx . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1870, p. 559 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Web links
- Ichthyokentaurs in the Theoi Project (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johannes Tzetzes : Scholien zu Lykophrons Alexandra. 34.
- ^ Claudian : Epithalamium dictum Honorio Augusto et Mariae 144 ff.