Part-human, part-animal creatures in Greek art, such as the centaur and bee-woman pictured here, were inspired by the imagery of the ancient Near East. These miniature decorative plaques-over twenty of which are in the MFA's collection-come from the island of Rhodes, a crossroads of Greek and Near Eastern cultures. Many of them feature composite creatures, including sphinxes, griffins, and winged female figures holding either birds or lions. The sheen of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that can occur naturally, brings out the details of the figures and adds an exotic elegance suitable for these otherworldly beasts.

Increased commercial contact between Greece and Near Eastern civilizations during the Orientalizing period exposed Greek artists to a visual tradition ripe for adaptation. Many Near Eastern cylinder seals show centaurs with the upper body and head of a man atop the full lower body of a horse. Early Greek representations of the centaur, in contrast, emphasize the human aspect of these creatures by attaching only a horse's hindquarters to the back of a complete male body.

Centaurs are quite common in Greek art and literature-for example, the centaur Cheiron was the tutor of Achilles, one of the heroes of the Trojan War-but the bee-woman appears to be a Rhodian invention, and her appearance in art is largely limited to plaques of this type. Some scholars associate the bee-woman with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, who was often shown in the company of animals, but the identity and significance of the bee-woman remain obscure.

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