Deification of War

 

Marble metope from Parthenon (447-438 BC), battle between Centaurs and Lapiths. Violence is a favourite theme of ancient Greek artists. 

Reared on the myth of the Trojan war and experiencing the reality of wars with Persia and between Greek cities, classical artists found new ways to show conflict. 

This human fighting a centaur, carved for Parthenon in Athens, is astonishingly real in its detail and dynamic energy.

Source: Napoleon Thomson