Caeneus

[4] According to the mythographer Hyginus, Caeneus' mother was Hippea—the daughter of a Thessalian from Larissa named Antippus—and his brothers were Ischys and the Argonaut Polyphemus.

[15] The Oxyrhynchus Papyrus that supplies Acusilaus' account says that Caeneus was used by Theophrastos as an example of ruling by the "spear" rather than the "scepter"—that is, by force rather than authority.

Because of his invulnerability, none of the Centaurs' weapons could hurt him, so in order to defeat the Lapith king, they hammered him into the ground with tree trunks and boulders, which succeeded in restraining him alive.

[23]The Hesiodic Shield of Heracles (c. first half of the sixth century BC)[24] describes "the spear-bearing Lapiths around Caeneus their king" battling the Centaurs who fought with fir trees.

[26] However, the Centauromachy was a popular theme in Greek art, and depictions of Caeneus show that this story was well known by at least as early as the seventh century BC.

The fifth-century BC Greek poet Pindar apparently also referred to Caeneus being driven vertically (ὀρθῷ ποδὶ) into the ground.

[28] The third-century BC Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, gives a fuller account, saying that Caeneus: although still living, perished at the hands of the Centaurs, when, all alone and separated from the other heroes, he routed them.

They rallied against him, but were not strong enough to push him back nor to kill him, so instead, unbroken and unbending, he sank beneath the earth, hammered by the downward force of mighty pine trees.

[32] According to Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas sees the shade of Caeneus while visiting a place in the Underworld called the Lugentes campi (Mourning Fields), where those who died for love reside.

[36] However, the Centauromachy was a popular theme in the visual arts,[37] and many examples show depictions of Caeneus battling Centaurs.

[38] The earliest depiction, from the mid–late seventh century BC, is the bronze relief from Olympia, where two Centaurs hammer Caeneus into the ground with tree trunks.

One day, as "report declares", while walking on the beach, she was raped by the sea-god Neptune (the Roman equivalent of Poseidon).

[48] This Neptune did, transforming the girl into a man, and in addition making Caeneus "proof against all wounds of spear or sword".

[49] Nestor next describes the wedding feast of Pirithous and Hippodamia, to which the Centaurs and the "Thessalian chiefs" (including Caeneus) were invited.