Human animals - centaurs, satyrs, sphinxes, sirens and Gorgons - as well as other composite beings like Pan, Triton, Acheloos, and the Minotaur, are extremely common in Greek myth, literature, theater, and the visual arts. Understanding the phenomenon of combining human and animal elements into composite creatures is central to our knowledge of the Greek imagination. This book discusses the oriental antecedents of these fantastic creatures, examining the influence of Egyptian and Near Eastern models on the formation of Greek monsters in the Geometric and Archaic periods. Fully illustrated essays explore the nature and origin of horse men (centuars and satyrs) and the broader range of Greek composite creatures, discussing their evolving forms and changing roles during this seminal period of Greek art.

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WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRE ÉTRANGER The Centaur is a modern retelling of the legend of Chiron, the noblest and wisest of the centaurs, who, painfully wounded yet unable to die, gave up his immortality on behalf of Prometheus. In the retelling, Olympus becomes small-town Olinger High School; Chiron is George Caldwell, a science teacher there; and Prometheus is Caldwell’s fifteen-year-old son, Peter. Brilliantly conflating the author’s remembered past with tales from Greek mythology, John Updike translates Chiron’s agonized search for relief into the incidents and accidents of three winter days spent in rural Pennsylvania in 1947. The result, said the judges of the National Book Award, is “a courageous and brilliant account of a conflict in gifts between an inarticulate American father and his highly articulate son.”

An examination of Greek mythology and a discussion about how religion and truth have evolved throughout time.

DIVTraces the development of the Greek hierarchical view of life that continues to permeate Western society /div

With fresh insight into what the great works meant when they were created and why they appeal to us now, here is a vivid tour of painting, sculpture, and architecture, past and present. "Illuminating . . . a notable accomplishment".--The New York Times. Illustrated.

Addresses the 'Classical Revolution' in Greek art, its contexts, aims, achievements, and impact.