large boulder, which tells us bout the strength of centaurs but also we realise that he is in danger from the leapord. so this is the kind of triangular relations of the glances of the figures. so that centaur that we see at the centre really expresses physical strength. but also a sense of his body and concern. yes its intersting my guess is that the greeks and later the romans might have identified with the centaur thah the wild cats usually when we see centaurs, they in battle with the greeks and the greeks are for those we have sympathy for the greeks were frothe civilised, where as the centaurs , who are still half wild are the agressors. here that is reversed. here our sympathy goes to the centaurs because of the human qualities even if they are still half of nature. you know the greeks and later the romans saw themselves as separate from the chaos of nature. and here the centaur represents a kind of brutality but nothing compared to those of the cats.and i think that is beautifully expressed by the emotion , we see on the centaurs face. we read that as a complex union of emotion, of worry fear and also of strength. and of the animal of no emotion. so i think you are right. we are meant to identify with that figure at the centre though he is half animal and he is almost draped over hsi arm. he has actually got the pelt of the leapord. so there is a good reason for the leapord to be annoyed you said that this may give an idea of what ancient greek painting looked like and in this miosaic we see what we see in ancint greek sculpture this does revive and there is even an intteresting anamoly qand naturalism. in fact if youlook at the rendering of this cental creature, which is obviously impossible this is beautifully rendered that it looks almost possible anatomically.