Sign in or 
| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 16 2012, 12:01 PM EDT (current) | XenonZe | 509 words added |
| Mar 24 2012, 11:18 PM EDT | LiamBateson | 18 words added, 100 words deleted, 1 photo added, 1 photo deleted |
Changes
Key: Additions Deletions
The head, torso, and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse.Centaurs are a Large size.
Centaurs are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse.
Centaurs are said to be extremely heavy drinkers, and were usually depicted as beasts.
They were thought to carry bows and are very short tempered Creatures.But most Centaurs are good and work against evil.
Centaur: extended version
by XenonZerrow
Centaurs (as mentioned above) are part human, part horse beings. In early Attic and Boeotian vase-paintings they are humans with the hindquarters of a horse attached to them, but later they were depicted as a torso of a human joined at the waist to the withers of a horse.
The centaurs were said to be children of Ixion and Nephele (a cloud imaged as Hera). Other sources tell of Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. Centaurus could have been the child of the above himself, adding a generation or of Appolo and Stilbe (daughter of Peneus). In a later version his brother was Lapithes, ancestor of the Lapiths, the enemies of the centaurs.
They are best known of Centauromachy, in other words, their war against the Lapiths. They attempted to carry off Hippodamia and the rest of the Lapith women, on the day of her marriage to Pirithous (the king of Lapithae and the son of Ixion). This struggle is the metaphor of the conflict of barbarism and civilisation. It of course was won by the Lapiths, with the help of Theseus and another Lapith hero Caeneus. Caeneus was invulnerable to weapons, but the centaurs pummeled him to the ground, wielding rocks and branches. This myth shows exactly that centaurs were often thought of as savage, untamed horses.
Other, more shady origins suggest, that they were once giants, but after losing against the titans they were cursed with horse bodies. Another tales tells of the mating of giants and horses.
Despite the myths, they are most likely a simple misunderstanding. It is considered to have been the first reaction of non-riding nations to the nomads on horse-back (even Atecs had the same misconception about Spanish horsemen). Although in the beginning they knew that a cavalier was two separate beings, but later on they were mentioned as one creature.
Lucretius then denied the existence of such creatures, for a human has a different rate of growth than a horse.
Robert Graves speculated that the origin is a dimly remembered cult, with the horse as a totem.
Indian mythology might be another hint, where a kinnaras is almost the same as a centaur.
Kentaurides are female centaurs appearing only in later antiquity, e.g. the Macedonian mosaic of the 4th century BC is one of the earliest. Ovid also mentions Hylonome, who committed suicide after her husband was killed in the war with the Lapiths.
Romans helped the spread of centaurs by conquering. This lead to the creatures' appearance in medieval history, where such beings were clearly derived from original centaurs.
Khiron
is the most positive of them all, a wise and tame centaur. He was taught to heal by the gods, and became a tutor of great heroes and demigods, like Asklepios, who later exceeded his master and became the founder and god of remedy.
When Khiron was accidentally wounded by a poisoned arrow he rather gave up his immortality, than to suffer for an eternity. Zeus depicted the Saggitarius in memoriam of Khiron.
Centaurs are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse.
Centaurs are said to be extremely heavy drinkers, and were usually depicted as beasts.
They were thought to carry bows and are very short tempered Creatures.But most Centaurs are good and work against evil.
Back to Photos of Greek Mythology Creatures
See also: Cyclops | Harpy | Lamia | Medusa | Minotaur | Nymph | Satyr | Siren | Pegasus
See also: Cyclops | Harpy | Lamia | Medusa | Minotaur | Nymph | Satyr | Siren | Pegasus
Centaur: extended version
by XenonZerrow
Centaurs (as mentioned above) are part human, part horse beings. In early Attic and Boeotian vase-paintings they are humans with the hindquarters of a horse attached to them, but later they were depicted as a torso of a human joined at the waist to the withers of a horse.
The centaurs were said to be children of Ixion and Nephele (a cloud imaged as Hera). Other sources tell of Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. Centaurus could have been the child of the above himself, adding a generation or of Appolo and Stilbe (daughter of Peneus). In a later version his brother was Lapithes, ancestor of the Lapiths, the enemies of the centaurs.
They are best known of Centauromachy, in other words, their war against the Lapiths. They attempted to carry off Hippodamia and the rest of the Lapith women, on the day of her marriage to Pirithous (the king of Lapithae and the son of Ixion). This struggle is the metaphor of the conflict of barbarism and civilisation. It of course was won by the Lapiths, with the help of Theseus and another Lapith hero Caeneus. Caeneus was invulnerable to weapons, but the centaurs pummeled him to the ground, wielding rocks and branches. This myth shows exactly that centaurs were often thought of as savage, untamed horses.
Other, more shady origins suggest, that they were once giants, but after losing against the titans they were cursed with horse bodies. Another tales tells of the mating of giants and horses.
Despite the myths, they are most likely a simple misunderstanding. It is considered to have been the first reaction of non-riding nations to the nomads on horse-back (even Atecs had the same misconception about Spanish horsemen). Although in the beginning they knew that a cavalier was two separate beings, but later on they were mentioned as one creature.
Lucretius then denied the existence of such creatures, for a human has a different rate of growth than a horse.
Robert Graves speculated that the origin is a dimly remembered cult, with the horse as a totem.
Indian mythology might be another hint, where a kinnaras is almost the same as a centaur.
Kentaurides are female centaurs appearing only in later antiquity, e.g. the Macedonian mosaic of the 4th century BC is one of the earliest. Ovid also mentions Hylonome, who committed suicide after her husband was killed in the war with the Lapiths.
Romans helped the spread of centaurs by conquering. This lead to the creatures' appearance in medieval history, where such beings were clearly derived from original centaurs.
Khiron
is the most positive of them all, a wise and tame centaur. He was taught to heal by the gods, and became a tutor of great heroes and demigods, like Asklepios, who later exceeded his master and became the founder and god of remedy.
When Khiron was accidentally wounded by a poisoned arrow he rather gave up his immortality, than to suffer for an eternity. Zeus depicted the Saggitarius in memoriam of Khiron.