Charles Knight, Guide cards to the antiquities in the British Museum

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Elgin Saloon

Elgin Marbles. Metopes of the Parthenon, No. 1.

Contest of the Centaurs and Lapithae.

The Metopes of the Parthenon, No. 1

THESE Metopes are numbered 1 to 16. " Metope" is the name given to the interval between two triglyphs, or ornamental tablets in a Doric frieze. In the emple of the Parthenon, at Athens, these were filled up with sculptures in high relief, the subjects of which refer exclusively to the story of the contest of the Centaurs and Lapithae. Of these we shall select one or two as specimens, referring the visitor for the others to the originals in the Museum, the whole of which are full of beauties. The story of the contest, which these Metopes represent, is briefly as follows :-The people of Thessaly were supposed to have been the first in Greece who practised the art of riding on horseback, in which they became remarkably expert; and, from the facility with which they hunted the wild bulls of the Pelion mountains, they obtained the name of Centauri and Hippo-Centauri. The ease with which they managed their horses-the action of the animal appearing to be totally dependent on the will of the rider-induced the ignorant peasantry to believe them to be formed partly of a horse and partly of a man; and this curious idea was readily adopted and perpetuated by poets, painters, and sculptors. The tradition runs, that the Centaurs were invited to the nuptials of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, at which Theseus and other Athenian friends were also present; but during the feast a dispute arose between the Centaurs and the other parties, which led to blows, and ultimately to a furious battle, which only terminated in the former being driven from the territory of Thessaly. They took refuge in Arcadia, but provoking the anger of Hercules, he completely destroyed the whole race. Such is the general outline of the mythological history of the Centaurs.

In the sculpture before us an Athenian, or Lapitha, is fighting with a Centaur, who appears borne to the ground by the superior strength of his adversary. The head and right arm of the Athenian are lost, but from the attitude, we may suppose the right arm to have been upraised, as in the act of striking.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Guide cards to the antiquities in the British Museum. Knight, Charles. London. Charles Knight and Co. 1840.

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