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Centaur
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In Greek mythology, the centaurs (from Ancient Greek: ???ta???? - Kéntauroi) are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. In early Attic vase-paintings, they are depicted with the torso of a human joined at the waist to the horse's withers, where the horse's neck would be.
This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, both as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron.
The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera).
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In Greek mythology, the centaurs (from Ancient Greek: ???ta???? - Kéntauroi) are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. In early Attic vase-paintings, they are depicted with the torso of a human joined at the waist to the horse's withers, where the horse's neck would be.
This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, both as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron.
The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera). Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. This Centaurus was either the son of Ixion and Nephele (instead of the Centaurs) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the latter version of the story his twin brother was Lapithus, ancestor of the Lapiths, thus making the two warring peoples cousins.
Centaurs were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, Mount Pholoe in Arcadia and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia.
Centauromachy
The Centaurs are best known for their fight with the Lapithae, caused by their attempt to carry off Hippodamia and the rest of the Lapith women, on the day of her marriage to Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, himself the son of Ixion. The strife among these cousins is a metaphor for the conflict between the lower appetites and civilized behavior in humankind. Theseus, a hero and founder of cities, who happened to be present, threw the balance in favour of the right order of things, and assisted Pirithous. The Centaurs were driven off or destroyed. Another Lapith hero, Caeneus, who was invulnerable to weapons, was beaten into the earth by Centaurs wielding rocks and the branches of trees. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as wild as untamed horses. Like the Titanomachy, the defeat of the Titans by the Olympian gods, the contests with the Centaurs typify the struggle between civilization and barbarism.
The Centauromachy is most famously portrayed in the Parthenon (Elgin Marbles) metopes by Phidias and a Renaissance-era sculpture by Michelangelo.
Earliest representations
The tentative identification of two fragmentary Mycenaean terracotta figures as centaurs, among the extensive Mycenaean pottery found at Ugarit. suggests a Bronze Age origin for these creatures of myth. A painted terracotta centaur was found in the "Hero's tomb" at Lefkandi, and by the Geometric period, centaurs figure among the first representational figures painted on Greek pottery. An often-published Geometric period bronze of a warror face-to-face with a centaur is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Theories of origin
The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal (Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that the Aztecs had this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen). Horse taming and horseback culture arose first in the southern steppe grasslands of Central Asia, perhaps approximately in modern Kazakhstan.
The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described as the inventors of horse-back riding by Greek writers. The Thessalian tribes also claimed their horse breeds were descended from the centaurs.
Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined monster. Previous authors (Homer only uses words such as pheres (cf. theres, "beasts") that could also mean ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses. However, contemporaneous representations of hybrid centaurs can be found in archaic Greek art.
Lucretius in his first century BC philosophical poem On the Nature of Things denied the existence of centaurs based on their differing rate of growth. He states that at three years old horses are in the prime of their life while at three humans are still little more than babies, making hybrid animals impossible.
Robert Graves speculated that the centaurs were a dimly-remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as a totem. A similar theory was incorporated into Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea.
The Greek word kentauros is generally regarded as of obscure origin. The etymology fromken - tauros, "piercing bull-stickers" was a Euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus' rationalizing text on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales (?e?? ?p?st??): mountaed archers from a village called Nephele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scorge of Ixion's kingdom. Another possible related etymology can be "bull-slayer". Some say that the Greeks took the constellation of Centaurus, and also its name "piercing bull", from Mesopotamia, where it symbolized the god Baal who represents rain and fertility, fighting with and piercing with his horns the demon Mot who represents the summer drought. In Greece, the constellation of Centaurus was noted by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the fourth century BC and by Aratus in the third century.
Female centaurs
Though female centaurs, called Kentaurides, are not mentioned in early Greek literature and art, they do appear occasionally in later antiquity. A Macedonian mosaic of the C4th BC is one of the earliest examples of the Centauress in art. Ovid also mentions a centauress named Hylonome who committed suicide when her husband Cyllarus was killed in the war with the Lapiths.
In a description of a painting in Neapolis, the Greek rhetorician Philostratus the Elder describes them as sisters and wives of the male centaurs who live on Mount Pelion with their children.
"How beautiful the Centaurides are, even where they are horses; for some grow out of white mares, others are attached to chestnut mares, and the coats of others are dappled, but they glisten like those of horses that are well cared for. There is also a white female Centaur that grows out of a black mare, and the very opposition of the colours helps to produce the united beauty of the whole."
In the Disney Classic Fantasia, during the Pastoral Symphony, some of the main characters are female centaurs. However, the Disney studio called them "Centaurettes" instead of Kentaurides.
Persistence in the medieval world
Centaurs preserved a Dionysian connection in the 12th century Romanesque carved capitals of Mozac Abbey in the Auvergne, where other capitals depict harvesters, boys riding goats (a further Dionysiac theme) and griffins guarding the chalice that held the wine.
A centaur-like half-human half-equine creature called Polkan appeared in Slavic mythology, folk art, and lubok prints of the 17th-19th centuries.
Modern day
The John C. Hodges library at The University of Tennessee hosts a permanent exhibit of a "Centaur from Volos", in its library. The exhibit, made by combining a study human skeleton with the skeleton of a Shetland pony is entitled "Do you believe in Centaurs?" and was meant to mislead students in order to make them more critically aware, according to the exhibitors.
A centaur is one of the symbols associated with both the Iota Phi Theta and the Delta Lambda Phi fraternities. Whereas centaurs in Greek mythology were generally symbolic of chaos and unbridled passions, Delta Lambda Phi's centaur is modeled after Chiron and represents honor, moderation and tempered masculinity.
The British rock singer Roger Daltrey is depicted as a classic centaur on the cover of his album Ride a Rock Horse.
Fiction
Centaurs have appeared in many places in modern fiction, and may be regarded as a fantasy trope. In modern literature there are very different views of centaurs that vary with the author.
Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series features Foaly, one of the heroes, and the most intelligent centaur on and under the Earth.
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series centaurs are aggressive creatures that live in the Forbidden Forest. The centaurs tend to be violent if people intrude on their territory. They study the stars and planets, and can also sometimes see the future - although they may speak in very indirect and ambiguous terms about it.
In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, centaurs are noble, loyal, and brave. They help Aslan's army fight against the White Witch, in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," but they gain a more prominent role in the second book, "Prince Caspian" where a centaur named Glenstorm (who also studies the stars and reads the future) is an important character.
In Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Creatures, centaurs are shown as being party animals, which raises the question of how they stayed concealed for so long, who live in Southern Greece, and have the the Latin name Centaurus Indomitus. A picture shows one with two chests.
In Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & The Olympians series centaurs are friendly and help Camp Half Blood against the attacks of Kronos and Luke.
The American poet May Swenson wrote a poem called "The Centaur," which appeared in her book A Cage of Spines in 1958, and which portrays a girl riding a make-believe horse (actually a willow branch) who comes to feel that she is the horse.
In the series Kamen Rider Faiz, Kiba's Orphenoch alter ego can assume a centaur-like form.
In the series Mahou Sentai Magiranger, Wolzard can combine with Barikion to become Wol-Kentaurus.
Film
Centaurs, among many other fantastic creatures, played a key role in one of the animated shorts from The Walt Disney Company's Fantasia (The Pastoral Symphony). Among them were the typical white, bay, and chestnut centaurs, along with various unnatural colors, and also a pair of "Nubian" centaurs which were dark-skinned and Zebra.
Centaurs have appeared in the Harry Potter film series and in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as well as in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Games
Centaurs are common characters in the Shining series of games by SEGA.
Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary both feature centaurs and centaur mutants as foe.
The Mortal Kombat character Motaro is the leader of his centaur race.
World of Warcraft Centaurs are depicted as the savage children of Cenarius
In Guild Wars, Centaurs are a common enemy for a player to face. In the Nightfall Campaign, players may recruit a Centaur Hero named Zhed Shadowhoof.
In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, centaur-like creatures appear in many maps under the names Tarvos and Maelduin.
Centaur Man is a Robot Master in Mega Man 6. He appears as a light-green robotic Centaur with the ability to freeze his enemies and teleport around the room.
Centaurs frequently appear in the video game series Heroes of Might and Magic as soldiers of the forests.
Centaurs are enemies in Titan Quest.
In the 2008 game Fallout 3, centaurs are radiated human enemies who have sprouted 6 arms and a tongue that attacks the player with great force.
See also
Other hybrid (therianthropic) creatures appear in Greek mythology, always with some liminal connection that links Hellenic culture with archaic or non-Hellenic cultures:
Also,
Sources
External links
- in literature
- on female centaurs
- article on centaurs
- article on centaurs in the Harry Potter universe
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