Background
Consectetur adipiscing elit
So this is a part of a set of friezes on the top of the parthenon depicting a fight between centaurs and huamns. The centuars are a peaceful tribe, and the get invited to a wedding by the lapithes. There's booze at thw wedding, and the centaurs get super drunk becuase theyve never had alchol before and pick fights, and kidnap young boys and girls to assault them. The greeks win. The story represents the greeks' vicotry over people they see as "uncivilized", ie people without reason (idea of rationalism in ancient greece), ie the Persians they just won a war against
Context
This metope is a part of the extant metopes of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, likely finished somewhere around 442 BCE. This particaular metope is a part of a set depicting a story (the Centauromachy) about the Lapith people fighting centaurs after the centaurs got drunk at a wedding and stole some young boys and girls to assault. It's a form of propaganda, as the centaurs (depicted as barbaric, irrational, and immoral) represent the Persians that the Athenians had just won a war against, and the Lapiths (depicted as moral and rational) of course represent the Athenians.
Subject
The subjects of this image are a centaur and Lapith male. Based off the backstory of the image, the centaur appears to have beaten the human man in a physical altercation. Another explantion is that the human is one of the boys that was kidnapped for the centuar to assault, given how he appears a little slimmer/more boylike than the typical adult man we see in Greek sculptures, and closer to the statue of a Kouros we discussed in lecture. Personally, I imagine that the Athenians wouldn't have wanted to make their adult men look weak by showing their defeat, so this could be another piece of propaganda, because it shows a helpless boy being attacked by the barbaric centaur.
Style
The figures in this metope (which has been carved into marble) appear to have been overall made in a naturalistic style (as natural as a centaur can be), with both centaur and man appearing as being created within the canon of proportions (again, as proportional as a mythological creature can be). Their poses are also very natural, as oppossed to looking stiff and as if they're posing for a potrait. However, the lion(?) pelt on the centaur's arm does seem to be a little unrealistic, but I imagine this is likely due to the fact the artist didn't have had access to a lion to study rather than a purposeful stylistic choice. At the time of its creation, the metopes would have been brightly painted, but due to weathering, it is now simply the color of the base marble. The composition of the piece makes the centaur appear as the dominant figure in the sitation, as he rears over the man on the ground.
Connections
This piece relates directly to Plato's idea of physical beauty equalling good morals ("And when a beautiful soul harmonises with a beautiful form, and the two are cast in one mould, that will be the fairest of sights to him who has an eye to see it"). The human in this metope is very well-crafted according to the canon of proportions, which makes him beautiful, and therefore good and undeserving of what is happening to him, which ties into the propaganda aspect of the piece. The underlying agenda is that the Persians (represented by the centaurs) were evil and bad, and the Greeks were good for defeating them.
Wynne Smith - Object Annotation 2
Wynne Smith
Created on September 19, 2025
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Transcript
Background
Consectetur adipiscing elit
So this is a part of a set of friezes on the top of the parthenon depicting a fight between centaurs and huamns. The centuars are a peaceful tribe, and the get invited to a wedding by the lapithes. There's booze at thw wedding, and the centaurs get super drunk becuase theyve never had alchol before and pick fights, and kidnap young boys and girls to assault them. The greeks win. The story represents the greeks' vicotry over people they see as "uncivilized", ie people without reason (idea of rationalism in ancient greece), ie the Persians they just won a war against
Context
This metope is a part of the extant metopes of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, likely finished somewhere around 442 BCE. This particaular metope is a part of a set depicting a story (the Centauromachy) about the Lapith people fighting centaurs after the centaurs got drunk at a wedding and stole some young boys and girls to assault. It's a form of propaganda, as the centaurs (depicted as barbaric, irrational, and immoral) represent the Persians that the Athenians had just won a war against, and the Lapiths (depicted as moral and rational) of course represent the Athenians.
Subject
The subjects of this image are a centaur and Lapith male. Based off the backstory of the image, the centaur appears to have beaten the human man in a physical altercation. Another explantion is that the human is one of the boys that was kidnapped for the centuar to assault, given how he appears a little slimmer/more boylike than the typical adult man we see in Greek sculptures, and closer to the statue of a Kouros we discussed in lecture. Personally, I imagine that the Athenians wouldn't have wanted to make their adult men look weak by showing their defeat, so this could be another piece of propaganda, because it shows a helpless boy being attacked by the barbaric centaur.
Style
The figures in this metope (which has been carved into marble) appear to have been overall made in a naturalistic style (as natural as a centaur can be), with both centaur and man appearing as being created within the canon of proportions (again, as proportional as a mythological creature can be). Their poses are also very natural, as oppossed to looking stiff and as if they're posing for a potrait. However, the lion(?) pelt on the centaur's arm does seem to be a little unrealistic, but I imagine this is likely due to the fact the artist didn't have had access to a lion to study rather than a purposeful stylistic choice. At the time of its creation, the metopes would have been brightly painted, but due to weathering, it is now simply the color of the base marble. The composition of the piece makes the centaur appear as the dominant figure in the sitation, as he rears over the man on the ground.
Connections
This piece relates directly to Plato's idea of physical beauty equalling good morals ("And when a beautiful soul harmonises with a beautiful form, and the two are cast in one mould, that will be the fairest of sights to him who has an eye to see it"). The human in this metope is very well-crafted according to the canon of proportions, which makes him beautiful, and therefore good and undeserving of what is happening to him, which ties into the propaganda aspect of the piece. The underlying agenda is that the Persians (represented by the centaurs) were evil and bad, and the Greeks were good for defeating them.