Rhoecus
(
Ῥοῖκος).
1.
A Centaur, who, in conjunction with Hylaeus, pursued Atalanta in Arcadia, but was killed by
her with an arrow. The Roman poets call him Rhoetus, and relate that he was wounded at the
nuptials of Pirithoüs.
2.
The son of Phileas or Philaeus, of Samos, an architect and statuary, who flourished about
B.C. 640. He is said to have invented the art of casting statues in bronze and iron (Pausan.
viii. 14.5; x. 38.3), and was the architect of the beautiful temple of Heré in his
native island (
Herod.iii. 60). It is known, however, that the
casting of bronze had been known to the Phœnicians before his time, so that he
merely introduced the art into Greece. See
Statuaria Ars.