Greek Myth and Symbols of Power

The Centauromachy

So let's start with a little story.
Once upon a time in a place called thessaly, there was a tribe called the lapiths and they were ruled by ixion. for whatever reason, zeus invites ixion for a dinner party up in olympus. ixion ends up falling for hera.

zeus, noticing this,  zeus made a hera doppelganger out of a cloud. then ixion and cloud-hera did it and when the cloud next rained it rained baby centaurs. (it's so weird i know). the centaurs were absolute beasts and ixion's babies.

One day the new king of larissa, ixion's son Pirithous was going to get married to hippodamia. for some reason the centaurs were at the wedding, and they thought it was a great idea to abduct and 'feel' the women. so theseus (also at the wedding) and the larissans beat the centaurs up, the end. also the centaurs were a symbol of barbarism. 

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The Centauromachy + athens + greece + the parthenon

So after the greeks defeated the persians @ platea (479bce!) the persians were seen as barbarians and so were the centaurs. so in the rebuilt parthenon (ancient history kids, u know this: xerxes burnt athens to the ground! it had to be rebuilt) the depiction of the centauromachy on the metopes was 'a symbol that athens would never give up' 

is this metope...

• easily recognisable? - yes, as the centaur dominates the scene. he also may have been holding a weapon
• realistic? - yes. the centaur's left arm is in…