Ichthyocentaurs

Ichthyocentaur statue outside the State of Missouri's capitol building

In late Classical Greek art, ichthyocentaurs (Greek: ἰχθυοκένταυρος, plural: ἰχθυοκένταυροι) were centaurine sea beings with the upper body of a human, the lower anterior half and fore-legs of a horse, and the tailed half of a fish. The earliest example dates to the 2nd century B. C., among the friezes in the Pergamon Altar. There are further examples of Aphros and/or Bythos, the personifications of foam and abyss, respectively, depicted as ichthyocentaurs in mosaics and sculptures.

The term ichthyocentaur is of late coinage, attributable to the Byzantine writer John Tzetzes in the 12th century. They are also referred as sea-centaur.


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