CAENIS

[Greek heroic] A beautiful Greek maiden, daughter of Elatus, who was brutally raped by Poseidon. Afterwards he promised to grant her anything she wished; she wished to become a man, so that nothing like this could ever happen to her again. Transformed into an invulnerable and fearsome warrior she exacted revenge against the sex that had harmed her, killing many men in battle. In some legends she is killed as a man (in the battle against the centaurs at the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia), and transformed back to a female and buried. In other legends she is immortal as well as invulnerable and is buried alive under the weight of the rocks and tree trunks which were hurled upon him by the centaurs in that battle. (See: Caeneus.)