Referring to the representatives of the result of mixing two different entities: a man and a horse. From the first he got a head and torso with human hands, and from the second - a strong body of a horse with muscular limbs, hooves and a horse's tail. Facial features are distinguished by animal rudeness. Often the image ends with a thick beard and horse ears. Traditionally, they belonged to the bay suit, so the lower part did not contrast much in color with the tanned human torso. Initially, centaurs belonged to males. On some of the most ancient images of these creatures, two types of genitalia are simultaneously represented: both a horse and a man.
Like skilled wild hunters, centaurs were often armed with a log, bow, spear, or just a heavy stone. To their liking, these hybrids are violent, headstrong and unbridled, loving freedom. That is why the main habitat for them became mountainous expanses that were not conquered by people or deep forest thickets.
In the art of war, centaurs were significantly superior to ordinary people. They possessed powerful strength, moved very quickly, and possessed javelin throwing skills honed to the heights of mastery. Nothing hindered their movements in battle: they did not wear any clothes, let alone armor. Sometimes they just put on a cloak in order to look more decent. A shield was used to protect against the enemy. Some Greek warriors more than once turned to the centaurs for combat lessons or measured their strength with them in order to evaluate their own skills.
The attitude of the centaurs, as they are called in a Latinized manner, to rational beings was completely ambiguous. Some were so hostile that people tried their best to avoid meeting them. They became especially violent and uncontrollable in a drunken frenzy. Others could offer their help to humanity. But most often it concerned exclusively young and beautiful girls. But in most cases, no one else has ever seen these women.
One legend tells of a foolish merchant. The centaur met him wounded on the road and, showing compassion, offered his help. The fool, instead of gratitude, decided to throw a saddle on the freedom-loving creature. Angry at the offender, the centaur, without hesitation, killed the merchant.
How centaurs appeared
There are several versions of the origin of the first centaurs. Mythology suggests the presence of divine roots in the origin of these creatures. In ancient times, a tribe called the Lapiths lived in the north of Thessaly. They were ruled by King Ixion, who was the blood son of the god of war, called Ares. Ixion had the audacity to fall in love with the goddess Hera herself. And in order to settle the emerging conflict, Zeus created an exact copy of Hera from a light cloud, which he called Nephele. From this union of Ixion and the goddess Nephele came the first strange creature with four hooves, but with a human head. Unusual offspring were exiled to Mount Pelion, where they took up his upbringing.
Having matured, the half-man - half-horse entered into close relations with the breeding mares that lived in this area. The offspring were the same centaurs, but of both sexes, which made it possible to further reproduce in the traditional natural way. In addition, centaurs began to choose not only four-legged friends as companions, but also ordinary representatives of the beautiful part of humanity or nymphs. These half-animals had enough passion and fire for several wives at once.
Subsequently, the centaurs more than once engaged in battles with the Lapiths, intending to appropriate the local women. After Hercules defeated them, the remaining individuals dispersed throughout Greece.
The ancient peoples also tell a more practical approach to the origin of the myths about the legendary centaurs. We are talking about those distant times when the inhabitants of ancient Greece used horses for riding, only harnessing them to chariots. It was, above all, prestigious and showed the appropriate level of wealth. But, most importantly, in battle, this method of movement was much more efficient and safer for the soldiers. But the wild nomadic tribes have already mastered the skills of riding horses. And when such riders came close to the borders of ancient Hellas, it seemed to the locals out of ignorance that they represent the unity of a man with a horse.
Centaur Chiron
Despite some divine origin of the centaurs, they, like ordinary people and animals, were mortal. Only a few were endowed with eternal life. One of these representatives was the famous Chiron. He was an exceptionally wise centaur, who, in addition to possessing military skills, was well versed in matters of healing, and was a connoisseur of music. Unlike his brothers, he had a kind open heart. His end is sad. Hercules accidentally wounded him with an arrow, the tip of which was poisoned with a deadly poison from the Lernean hydra. The pain from the wound caused Chiron truly inhuman suffering. Eternal life in torment was foreseen for him simply unbearable. He voluntarily renounced his immortality, for which Zeus freed Prometheus, and immortalized Chiron in the sky in the form of the constellation Centaurus.
The centaur could also be winged. In all these cases, he remained a man-horse. In the Middle Ages, the onocentaur (a combination of a man and a donkey), the bukentaur (a buffalo man) and the leontocentaur (a lion man) appeared. In Indian art, the image of a man with the legs of a buffalo (or horse) and the tail of a fish is known. To refer to creatures that do not look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the scientific literature. The image of the centaur, apparently, arose in Babylon in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Kassite nomads who came to Mesopotamia from Iran around 1750 BC. e., waged a fierce struggle with Egypt and Assyria for dominion in the Middle East. Along the borders of their empire, the Kassites erected huge stone statues of guardian gods, among them centaurs. One of them depicted a winged creature with a horse's body, two faces - a human, looking forward, and a dragon, looking back, and two tails (horse and scorpion); in the hands - a bow with a stretched bowstring. Another well-known monument is a sculpture of a classical centaur without wings, with one head and one tail, ready to shoot at the enemy with his bow. Of course, the fact that the Kassites depicted the centaur in their sculptures does not mean at all that they invented it, but since the Kassite empire ceased to exist by the middle of the 12th century BC. e., we can rightfully assert that the history of the centaur has more than three thousand years.
The appearance of the image of a centaur suggests that already during the time of the Kassites, the horse played an important role in human life. The oldest mention of a horse - "donkey from the west" or "mountain donkey" - we find on a clay Babylonian tablet dating back to 2100 BC. e. However, centuries passed before the horse became a familiar companion in the Middle East. It is very likely that the Kassite nomads contributed to the spread of the horse and chariots. Perhaps the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as an integral being, but, most likely, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, prone to inventing “composite” creatures, having invented the centaur, thus simply reflected the spread of the horse.
So, the creature known as the centaur appeared in the Middle East between 1750 and 1250 BC. e. and served as a guardian spirit, whose main weapon was a bow and arrow. The Kassites, who had extensive trade relations, brought the centaur to the Mycenaean civilization, which also disappeared by the middle of the 12th century BC. e. From Crete he came to Ancient Greece. Depiction of Theseus' battle with a centaur on an amphora of the 8th century BC. e. indicates that by this time the Greeks had already managed to develop a mythology that absorbed the Mycenaean heroes.
Centaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with the head and torso of a man and the body of a horse. Centaurs had horse ears, rough and bearded faces. As a rule, they were naked and armed with a club, a stone or a bow. In the earliest images, centaurs were endowed with both human and horse genitalia.
According to the "Pythian" of Pindar (c. 518-442 or 438 BC), the centaurs were considered descendants - direct or through their common ancestor of the Centaur - the Thessalian king of the Lapith tribe, the titan Ixion, son of Ares, and the cloud, which took on the will of Zeus in the form Hera, whom Ixion attempted (according to another interpretation, the descendants of Ixion and the titanides of the clouds of Nephele, other Greek “cloud”, “cloud”) “And Ixion lit the imperious heart of the goddess Hera with the fire of a titan. That fire did not hide from the peacekeeper, he decided to punish Ixion. And, according to the insidious intention of Kronid, a cloudy ghost in the form of Hera descended from the sky to Ixion to cool the heat of the fire in the leader of the Lapits. And it was not a deceitful ghost, but the goddess of the clouds Nephele: she deceived Nephele the sly Zeus. And from Ixion the Titan gave birth to Nephele a wonder: not a man, not a horse, not a tree, not a titan, not a god and not a beast, but both, and another, and the third: he was a horse, and a man, and a tree - a piece of the beast , god and titan. He was mortal and he was immortal. Ya.E. Golosovker "Tales of the Titans"
According to the Thessalian legends as presented by Lucan (39-65 AD), Nephele gave birth to centaurs in the Pelephronian cave. According to another myth, they were the children of the Centaur - the son of Apollo and the Oceanid (daughter of the Ocean and Tethys) or the daughter of the river god Peneus and the nymph Creusa, Stilba. According to another legend, the centaurs were the sons of Apollo himself. Diodorus Siculus (approx. 90 - 30 BC) cites in the "Historical Library" the views that existed in his time that the centaurs were raised on the Pelion peninsula by nymphs and, having matured, entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares, from which gave birth to two-natural centaurs or hippocentaurs. According to another myth, a descendant of Apollo, the Centaur, entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares. Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 636). in "Etymology" he wrote "Hippocentaurs have a mixed nature - a man and a horse, their head is covered with hair, like animals, but otherwise they look like ordinary people and can even speak, but since their lips are unaccustomed to human speech, then from the published they cannot isolate words from sounds. They are called hippocentaurs, because it is believed that they combined human and horse nature.
Pliny (c. 23-79 AD) in his Natural History wrote that he saw a hippocentaur preserved in honey and sent from Egypt as a gift to the emperor. “Caesar Claudius, brother of Caligula, writes that a hippocentaur was born in Thessaly and died on the same day, and during the reign of this emperor we saw how a similar creature was brought in honey from Egypt” The Odyssey describes the story of how a centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Peyritoon, got drunk with wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, they cut off his ears and nose and threw him out. The centaur called his brethren to revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.
The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temper. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with the unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive creature. The Greek centaur is practically a man, but his behavior changes dramatically under the influence of wine. Homer writes: “It is wine that is responsible for the atrocities that the famous centaur Eurytion perpetrated in the palace of the generous Peyritoon in Lapit. His mind went wild with intoxication. And in his rage, he did a lot of trouble in the house of Peyritoon ... Since then, the enmity between people and centaurs has continued. And he was the first to feel the evil of drunkenness." The centaur was a popular subject in vase painting. Its artistic embodiment depended on which centaur was depicted on the vase. The two most "civilized" centaurs - Cheiron and Tholos - were usually depicted with human legs, while the entire back of their bodies remained horse-like. Heiron is almost always dressed, he could have human ears. Pholos, on the contrary, most often appears naked and always with horse ears.
The centaur with four horse legs was perceived by the Greeks more as an animal than as a man. Despite having a human head, his ears are almost always those of a horse, and his face is rough and bearded. The centaur, as a rule, was depicted naked, with male and horse genitals at the same time. The image of a centaur, of course, was not common to all of Greece: in its continental part, centaurs were depicted with tousled long hair, and in Ionia and Etruria - with short hair. These creatures did not necessarily carry a bow, more often a log or cobblestone. The depiction of the death of Caineus at the battle of Lapita can be called a classic: the centaurs bury the dying hero under a mountain of logs and stones.
On the vase of the work of Clytius (560 BC), both types of centaurs are depicted: on the one hand, Cheiron, dressed in a tunic and leading the procession of the gods in honor of the newlywed couple (Peleus and Thetia), friendly welcomes the groom; on the reverse side is a scene from the Battle of Lapita. The painting symbolizes the dual nature of the centaurs, opposing Cheiron, who obeyed the order established by people, and other centaurs who threaten this order with their wild disposition.
These two types are not the only ones, but only the most common in Greece. In addition to them, winged centaurs were depicted, indicating that the Kassite tradition did not die completely. Several Cypriot terracotta figures of the 7th century BC. e. can rightly be called "centauroids." Unlike the Minotaur with a human body and a buffalo head, these creatures have human heads (sometimes with horns) and buffalo bodies, which is probably associated with the cult of the bull, the god of fertility.
Most often, centaurs were characterized as wild and unrestrained, with an unpredictable manifestation of violence, creatures in which animal nature prevailed. Centaurs were distinguished by riot, a penchant for drunkenness and hostility to people. But wise centaurs were also known among them, first of all, the already mentioned Phol and Chiron, friends and teachers of Hercules and others. A popular poetic plot of antiquity, displayed in the Parthenon of Phidias (c. 490 BC - c. 430 BC), sung in Ovid's Metamorphoses (43 BC - 17 AD). BC) and Rubens was inspired by the centauromachia - the battle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, which flared up due to the unbridled temper of the latter at the wedding feast of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous. “The Odyssey of Homer also describes the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Pirithous, got drunk on wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, they cut off his ears and nose and threw him out. The centaur called his brethren to revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.
If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in ancient Rome he turned into a peaceful companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in Metamorphoses.
The death of the centaurs and their role in the death of Hercules
Centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly until the day when they were defeated by the Lapiths and Hercules scattered them throughout Hellas. Most of the centaurs, according to the tragedy of Euripides "Hercules" (416 BC) were killed by Hercules. Those who escaped him listened to the sirens, stopped eating and starved to death. According to one story, Poseidon hid them in a mountain in Eleusis.
The centaur Nessus, according to Sophocles, played a fatal role in the death of Hercules. He tried to kidnap Hercules' wife Dejanira, but was struck down by an arrow with the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Dying, Ness decided to take revenge on Hercules, advising Dejanira to collect his blood, as she supposedly would help her keep Hercules' love. Dejanira soaked the clothes of Hercules with the poisonous blood of Nessus, and he died in terrible agony. Centaurids - female centaurs
Along with male centaurs, centaurids (centaurs) were sometimes described in Greek legends. Their image is quite rare in myths and paintings, and even then, they are more often characterized as nymphs. The few authors who mention the existence of centaurids described them as beautiful creatures physically and spiritually. The most famous centaurid was Gilonoma, the wife of the centaur Killar (Zillar). Varieties of centaurs. Centauroids
There are quite a few variations in the appearance of centaurs. Sometimes they were even depicted as winged, with a second dragon head (in Babylon, Crete). To refer to creatures similar to a horse, but retaining the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the literature. Centauroids were especially popular in the Middle Ages. These included onocentaur (donkey man), bukentaur (bull man), kerasty (buffalo man), leontocentaur (lion man), ichthyocentaur (a creature that combines elements of fish, horses and humans in its appearance). The most ancient terracotta figures of centauroids with the head of a man and the body of a buffalo of the 7th century BC. BC. met in Cyprus.
A large number of various creatures - chimeras, close to the centauroids described above, were observed by me in the Thai temple of Wat Po in Bangkok. Polkan and Kitovras
The centaurs also included the Slavic demigods Polkan and Kitovras (the demon Asmodeus among the Jews) and their relatives (probably Polkan and Kitovras were the same creature). Polkan was unusually strong and quick. He had the body and build of a man to the waist, and below the waist he was a horse. When the ancient Slavs fought, Polkan and his relatives tried to come to their aid and fought so bravely that their glory survived the centuries. Kitovras had the same appearance as Polkan and was famous for his intelligence. Caught by King Solomon, he amazed him with his wisdom
No less a mystery than the image of the centaur itself is its name. Neither Homer nor the other ancient Greek poet Hesiod, mentioning centaurs, describe their appearance, unless, of course, one considers the characteristic “hairy animal people”. Although images of horses with human heads have been found since the 8th century BC. e., there is no reason to believe that in the time of Homer the idea of \u200b\u200b"semi-animal" creatures was so widespread that it did not need comment. The modern English writer Robert Graves, who turned a lot in his work to the era of antiquity, believed that Homer refers to the representatives of a warlike tribe who worshiped the horse as centaurs. Under the leadership of their king Heiron, the centaurs opposed their enemies, the Lapits, together with the Achaeans.
The debate about the origin of the word "centaur" has never subsided. According to different versions, it could come from the Latin "centuria" - "hundred" or the Greek "centron" - "goat", "kenteo" - "hunt, pursue" and "tavros" - "bull".
The first ancient Greek poet to mention the horse nature of the centaurs was Pindar (c. 518-442 or 438 BC). In the Pythian, he speaks of the rise of the centaurs. Lapit named Ixion falls in love with Hera, and in retaliation Zeus sends a cloud to him, resembling a goddess in appearance, Ixion copulates with the cloud, and it gives birth to a child: “This mother brought him a monstrous offspring. There has never been such a mother, nor such a child, which was not accepted by either people or gods. She raised him and named him the Centaur. From his union with the Magnesian mare, an unprecedented tribe was born, inheriting the lower part from the mother, and the upper part from the father. On the other hand, according to Pindar, the origin of Cheiron was quite different. He is "the son of Philir, a descendant of Kron, who once ruled a vast kingdom and was a son of Heaven." Heiron married a girl named Hariko, and they had a completely human-looking daughter. He, apparently, was the only "home" centaur. It was Cheiron who was the tutor of Achilles and Hercules.
The story of another centaur - Nessos - has come down to us thanks to the tragedy of Sophocles (5th century BC). Hercules brings his bride Deianeira to his house. Centaur earns money by transporting people across the river Even. Deianeira sits on his back to cross to the other side, but in the middle of the river Nessos grabs her and tries to dishonor her. Hercules saves the bride by spearing the centaur in the chest. Dying, Nessos advises Deianeira to collect his blood and use it as a love potion in case Hercules ever falls in love with another woman. Deianeira dips the hem of her tunic in centaur blood. When Hercules puts on the tunic, the poison-soaked cloth sticks to his body and causes such excruciating pain that he throws himself into the fire. If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in ancient Rome he turned into a peaceful companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made, of course, by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in Metamorphoses. The poet brings many details into the story of Peyritoon's marriage and the ensuing battle. Not only Tholos and Nessos participate in the battle, but also other centaurs, who are the fruit of Ovid's imagination. Among them, the most interesting are Zillar and Gilonoma.
Zillar is a young, fair-haired centaur, Gilonoma is his beloved, a centaur girl with long hair adorned with roses, violets and white lilies, "who was not more beautiful in the forests." When Zillar dies in battle, Gilonoma throws herself on the spear that pierced her lover and merges with him in a last embrace. This story of a beautiful centaur, his feminine lover, their true love and touching suicide contrasts with the image of a wild and unbridled Greek centaur.
The oldest horoscope that has come down to us was compiled around 410 BC. e. in Babylon. There is no doubt that the zodiac Sagittarius (Centaur), as well as Scorpio and Capricorn (Ay's "antelope of the underground ocean") are images inspired by the Kassite border monuments. Along with the constellation Centaur-Sagittarius, there is also the Southern Centaur. Under the name of the zodiac Capricorn, the centaur also passed into the art of the Islamic world.
The fixation of the centaur as one of the zodiac symbols played a role in the fact that the memory of him was preserved in the Middle Ages. In bestiaries, the image of the onocentaur, the donkey-man, was unambiguously associated with the devil. The medieval centaur was always depicted wearing a tunic or cloak and certainly holding a combat bow in his hands. This can be seen on the coat of arms of the English King Stephen I. There are also images of a centaur with human hands, awkwardly standing on the only hind horse legs.
On the Bayonne tapestry depicting scenes of the Norman conquest of England (11th century AD), in the episode depicting Harold on the way to William the Conqueror, there are five long-haired dressed centaurs, two of them are winged. And in the episode "Harold Saves Two Soldiers", a centaur with lion's paws is depicted. A stone statue of another leontocentaur can be seen in Westminster Abbey in London.
In Dante's "Divine Comedy" we meet Cheiron, Nessos and Tholos in the seventh circle of hell, where they dump the souls of the "rapists" into the river from the boiling blood. Dante manages in a small passage to list most of the mythological features of the centaurs. When Cheiron spots Dante and Virgil, he takes an arrow from the quiver hanging at his hips and straightens his beard so that it does not interfere with his conversation. Heiron is not devoid of intelligence: he sees that the foot of "the one who is behind moves what he touches" and understands that Dante is alive. Nessos remembers his lifetime craft and transports Dante and Virgil across the bloody Phlegeton River. The centaurs of the seventh circle are "guardians and stewards of eternal justice."
The only thing that Dante missed in describing the “fast-footed animals” was that he did not indicate their equine nature. The educated Italian, no doubt, not only read Ovid, but also saw the bronze Roman centaurs, believing that his readers are no less familiar with them. However, comedy illustrators seem to have had a significant gap in this regard. One of them depicted a centaur with a human head growing directly from the chest of a horse, of course, without arms and torso. Faced with the task of depicting centaurs-archers, the artist was completely at a loss and painted them simply as naked men.
In the "History of Troy" by Lefevre, the centaur, for some unknown reason, becomes an ally of the Trojans. The centaur “with a mane like a horse, eyes red as coals, accurately shot from his bow; This beast inspired fear in the Greeks and struck many of them with his arrows. Apparently, this story was known to Shakespeare. In "Troilus and Cressida" the hero of the Trojan War Menelaus says: "The terrible centaur has instilled fear in our warriors." In Shakespeare's centaur, the Greek image of this creature is revived - a threat to public order. In the 19th century, the image of the centaur attracted even greater interest in literature and art. Goethe made Cheiron one of the central figures in the description of Walpurgis Night in Faust. Here Heiron again becomes a wise and kind being. It is he who takes Faust to meet Elena. For Goethe, Cheiron is the personification of male beauty - "he is half-human and flawless in running."
The centaur was depicted on their canvases and in the occultures of Botticelli, Pisanello, Michelangelo, Rubens, Beckling, Rodin, Picasso and many others. He is the subject of many literary works and scientific papers. In the 19th century, the centaur also did not remain forgotten.
CENTAUR: ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, EVOLUTION
The centaur is an unusual, paradoxical creature, an unsolved mystery of nature. It is nature - now we can say this with absolute accuracy. For a long time, scientists did not have more or less reliable evidence of the reality of the existence of a centaur. It was mistakenly believed that this is a purely mythological character, which does not exist in nature and never existed.
However, it would be strange if an absolutely fictional creature was so often mentioned in various literary sources, so often depicted by sculptors and painters. After all, it is widely known that real animals with the same name served as the prototype of sea sirens, and monitor lizards of truly dragon size have been preserved on Komodo Island.
Recently, supporters of the version of the reality of the centaurs received irrefutable evidence of their correctness. Archaeological excavations near El Ayum (Western Sahara) dispelled all secrets and conjectures - more than a dozen skeletons of centaurs were found there, many of which are quite well preserved. Professor of the California Institute of Natural Sciences J.R.R. Epshtein, using the method of Professor Gerasimov, restored the appearance of a centaur.
The dimensions of the centaur are by no means gigantic: at the withers - about a meter, from the front hooves to the top of the head - about eighty meters. The volume of the brain is somewhat smaller than that of humans, but larger than that of chimpanzees and gorillas. Of great interest to researchers was the question of how the internal organs were located in the two cavities. It turned out that the entire upper-anterior (humanoid) part was filled with respiratory organs. Powerful lungs with large bronchi made the centaurs unusually hardy, in addition, obviously, the centaurs were very loud, and therefore deaf. In the lower back part, immediately behind the middle girdle of the limbs, guarded by the collarbones and shoulder blades, there was a huge heart. Behind the heart is a voluminous stomach and a long intestine, which indicates that the centaurs ate mainly grass. On the sides, near the ribs, the centaurs had air bubbles similar to those of birds. During inhalation, they were filled with air, so that later, during exhalation, fill the lungs with this air. Thus, centaurs were the only mammals with double breathing.
Classifying the centaur proved extremely difficult. Most likely, this is a special class of six-legged vertebrates such as dead-ended chordates. The prehistoric ancestors of the centaurs obviously lived in the forests, moved on all six limbs and were much slower. The protocentaurs (Protocentaurus vulgaris) looked different: the limbs were short and awkward, the front part did not at all resemble a human one. They lived in dens and were omnivores. However, with climate change, protocentaurs became steppe animals, which required them to move faster. At the same time, the front part of the body came off the ground and became lighter, while the back, on the contrary, became more massive, the middle and hind limbs noticeably stretched out. Further, in the process of evolution, the back of the body more and more resembled a horse, since the living conditions and lifestyle of the centaurs were exactly the same as those of wild horses. The front part, having become lighter and becoming vertical, was freed up for useful work, the forelimbs gradually began to resemble human hands. Thus, with full confidence it can be stated that labor made a protocentaur - a real centaur (Centaurus centaurus).
It remains a mystery whether the centaurs were sentient. Mythology says "Yes" (see the myths about Jason, about Lapith, etc.), but science does not have reliable data on this. Unfortunately, this riddle is unsolvable, since all centaurs have already become extinct. It can be assumed that people are to blame for this. Many literary sources - for example, the myth of Lapith - tell of the enmity of people and centaurs. Obviously, bulky and clumsy, centaurs could not stand the competition with dexterous and mobile people. Presumably, already in the first millennium BC, centaurs were completely ousted from the territory of Ancient Greece and from Europe in general. Driven into the sands of the Sahara, dwindling groups of centaurs may have survived until the first centuries of our era. The last mention of a meeting with centaurs can be found in Capaglia's treatise "My Journeys to Distant Shores".
The image of the centaur came to the modern world from ancient Greek myths. An unusual supernatural creature struck with its savagery and violent temper. These heroes of myths lived in dense impenetrable forests and high mountains. Because of their militancy, centaurs symbolize the animal side of man.
Centaur - who is it?
Intemperance and unprecedented cruelty - this is the main difference between the centaur, being huge in size, this creature was the embodiment of power and mighty strength. The centaur is a large mythical, fabulous creature, half-man, half-horse. Living in a herd, they constantly fought with those who lived in the neighborhood, denied all manifestations of civilization and. In the paintings, centaurs can be seen with the gods of winemaking Dionysus and love Eros. This once again speaks of their promiscuity in love and addiction to alcohol.
Did centaurs exist?
Thinking about whether such creatures could exist in the real world, it is difficult to come to a consensus. Plutarch, the philosopher of ancient Greece, once described the story of how a shepherd gave him a foal that a horse had just given birth to. It was unusual that the cub was with the head and hands of a man. It turns out that centaurs existed, because Plutarch is a serious philosopher, but at the same time, he really liked to joke. So this story can be a good prank for posterity. Were there really centaurs? This question remains a mystery, like the mystery of the Egyptian pyramids.
What does a centaur look like?
In many sources, the description of this unusual creature is somewhat different from each other. The centaur is a mythical creature that contains two different species at the same time - a man and a horse. The resemblance to a man is noted in the head and body to the waist, the centaur has human hands, the horse got the body, muscular strong limbs, there are hooves and a tail. On the face of the centaur, the rudeness characteristic only of animals is written, they have long hair and a thick beard, ears are visible, like a horse.
There is no contrast transition between the body of a man and a horse, since centaurs were considered bay horses, and their human body was tanned in the sun. It is generally accepted that centaurs were only males. And ancient images show that they had the genitals of both a human and a stallion. Almost nothing is known about female centaurs.
How did centaurs appear?
Mythology says that these unusual creatures trace their lineage from the king of the Lapiths, Ixion, and his mistress, the goddess Nephele. As a result of this love, the first representatives of this species appeared in the Pelephronian cave. On Mount Pelion, they were raised by nymphs, and when they reached maturity, the young centaurs entered into a relationship with mares. So the centaur in mythology began its history.
Types of centaurs
In addition to the classic appearance, there are other variations of these creatures. But the features of a person are always preserved in conjunction with any animal.
Centaurs are creatures of Greek mythology, mixanthropic and powerful. Their human head and torso are connected to the body of a horse. Centaurs live in mountains and forest thickets, often, together with nymphs and satyrs, they enter the retinue of Dionysus.
In the article:
Centaurs and their origin
The main distinguishing feature is a violent temper and intemperance. According to some reports, initially centaurs appeared as the embodiment of turbulent mountain rivers and swift streams. Heroic myths divide centaurs into two types - benevolent sages, educators of heroes, and hostile savages.
The word "centaur" itself, or its Latinized counterpart "centaur" is divided into two Greek roots - "ken", that is, "cut", And "tauros" - "bull". Many peoples have the image of such a creature. It probably appeared after the clash of sedentary civilizations, which had no riding traditions, with nomadic ones, where horse riders were an integral part of the culture. Such were the northern nomadic tribes: Scythians, Kassites, Tauris. Hence the common feature of all centaurs - their ferocity, as well as a traceable connection with bulls, since cattle breeding is the basis of the nomadic economy.
The euhemerical interpretation of ancient times attributes the appearance of the centaurs to two settlements. In the first of them, the village of Tucha, lived young men who saddled horses for the first time. They became skilled riders and exterminated all the wild bulls that lived nearby. In the second city, Pelephronia, people learned to tame horses earlier than the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements.
Another interpretation ascribes even greater antiquity to the centaurs: supposedly their appearance occurred during the period of the Indo-European language and the collapse of the unity of the Greek-Aryan dialect. According to this theory, the word "centaur" is a modified "gandharv". Vedic mythology speaks of the Gandharvas as minor gods, drivers of the solar chariot. The theory is partly confirmed by the findings of archaeologists: two figurines of centaurs were discovered during excavations in Ugarit among Mycenaean ceramics. This suggests at least that centaurs were known as early as the Bronze Age. The "hero's grave" in Lefkandi is decorated with a terracotta centaur - this is also a well-known monument with a similar mythical creature.
Greek mythology and centaurs
The half-humans, half-horses in Greek legends have varied origins. Not that they gave birth cloud with the appearance of Hera, with which merged King Ixion of Thessaly, son of Ares, not that Kronos and Filira, not that Apollo from one of the nymphs. Could spawn this tribe and Poseidon, the first creator of horses in the Greek pantheon - his animalistic attribute was a horse. In addition, parents were also considered Ixion with Nephele.
A number of legends indicate the progenitor of this tribe first centaur from which the Magnesian mares suffered. In this case, it is believed that the Pelions were engaged in their upbringing. When the centaurs matured, they covered the mares, who later gave birth to the second generation of half-humans, half-horses.
The origin of the wisest representative of the semi-animal tribe is known for certain. - Centaur Chiron. He was born by the titan Kronos from the daughter of the chthonic Ocean - Filira. The titan and the sea goddess, secretly from Rhea, held a marriage. The lawful wife of Kronos Rhea caught her husband with his mistress in a moment of passion. Frightened, Kronos took on the appearance of a stallion. The son was born half-horse, half-man.
Education of Achilles (Chiron the Centaur). Gottlieb Schick
Chiron was immortal, unlike his brothers. He studied medicine, music, loved and knew how to hunt, skillfully shot from a bow, was known as an expert in military affairs, but he was kind and merciful. Apollo, the god of art, was his friend, and the most famous Greek heroes like Achilles, Hercules, Theseus and Jason were his pupils. Asclepius learned the art of healing from Chiron.
The death of a good centaur was terrible: Hercules accidentally wounded him with an arrow with poison. Chiron was immortal, and therefore his torment lasted indefinitely. An incurable wound drove the centaur crazy, he wanted to die. Chiron refused eternal life with one condition - Zeus will free Prometheus from the shackles of the titan. The Thunderer agreed to fulfill this request - he freed the titan, and turned Chiron himself into the constellation of the Centaur.
One way or another, but they were distinguished by violent temper, love of meat, drunkenness and debauchery. They were constantly at enmity with the Lapiths, since there are no women among the centaurs, and the Lapiths had wives. Half-human, half-horse constantly tried to kidnap them. When Hercules defeated and dispersed them, the centaurs dispersed throughout Greece.
A slightly different look at centaurs
They are often called the most harmonious creatures of mythical zoology. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" called the centaurs "two-form." Despite the heterogeneous (twofold) nature, along with the archetypes of the horse, man and rider, there is the archetype of the centaur. Primitive images more resembled naked people with horse croup. The temple of Zeus at Olympia on its western pediment boasts centaurs of a more familiar form: below the torso, a man flows into the body of a horse.
Sculptures of the pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (5th century BC)
In the era of the famous Homer, horse riding was not common among the Greeks - one might say, it did not exist at all. The first travelers who came to Greece on horseback seemed to them one with their horses. A similar theory is confirmed by the not so distant first clash of the conquistadors with the Indian tribes. Pissarro and Hernan Cortes with their soldiers they appeared to the redskins as real centaurs, one with horses. In one of the clashes, superstition and horror played a key role: after the first shots, one of the conquistadors fell out of the saddle - and then the Indians, confident that there was one creature in front of them, considered the division of the whole in two as nothing more than a terrible miracle. The Indians fled.
But the Greeks had horses, unlike the Indian tribes, who knew only bison. A more plausible version seems to be that the centaurs are a specially created mythical image. They reflected one of the facets of reality as the ancient Greeks saw it.
The most famous myths about centaurs
The most popular is centauromachy- the myth of the battle of centaurs and lapiths at the wedding. The Lapiths, wishing to find peace with long-standing enemies, invited a tribe of centaurs to the wedding of Hippodamia (Hippodamia) and Perifoy. But there was no peace: the tipsy guests began to insult the bride, tried to kidnap her, and then overturned the tables and started a fight. This scene inspired Rubens to create The Rape of Hippodamia. Before Rubens, Ovid described this scene in the seventh book of Metamorphoses. It is believed that the Lapiths defeated and expelled the centaurs from Thessaly. In another version of the myths, the centaurs were less fortunate: Hercules shot everyone with a bow.
Plutarch did not bypass these creatures. The "Supper of the Seven Wise Men" contains a humorous story about the Corinthian despot Periander, who was brought a newborn mare cub - up to the navel the cub was just like a man, and below it was the body of a horse. The cub let out a cry like a human baby, and the courtiers saw this as an ominous sign. But when Periander turned to the sage Thales, he examined the cub and laughingly told the ruler that he did not approve of the behavior of the shepherds.
The poet Lucretius spoke of the impossibility of the existence of such creatures. He considered the proof of his theory that horses mature before people, and a three-year-old centaur would have the body of an adult horse and the body of a babbling child. In addition, the horse part would have died half a century earlier than the human part. The Greeks objected to him that centaurs could grow like people - with both of their parts. The people held fast to their belief in myths and mystical creatures.
The main reason why centaurs are not shown to people was their small number after the massacre at the wedding of the Lapiths. Then most of the tribe died, and when the survivors began to look for a new place to live, they met. They killed them with sweet-sounding singing. The god of the seas, Poseidon, nevertheless saved some, hiding them in Eleusis, in the mountains.
The history of the most famous hero of the Greeks, Hercules, is closely connected with the centaurs. He was taught by Chiron, Hercules entered into a confrontation with Ankii, Agria, Orey and Giray. The centaur Pilenor was wounded by Hercules. He washed his wound in the waters of the river, which made it smell disgusting. Foul became an accidental victim of the poisoned arrows of Hercules. Alcyone became the object of harassment by Homad, also a centaur, and was killed by the hero.
The life path of Hercules ended with the indirect participation of the centaur. A certain Ness kidnapped the wife of Hercules, but he shot him. When Nessus was dying, he advised the maiden to collect his blood, and when, over the years, Hercules cools down to his wife, use it as a love potion. This is exactly what happened: years later, the hero took a mistress and turned away from his wife. Then Dejanira soaked her husband's clothes with poisonous blood. Hercules died in terrible agony.
The constellation Sagittarius is the half-brother of the Muses. His abode was Helikon, and his name was Krotos. His parents were Pan and Euthema. He had a classic half-human, half-horse appearance, but instead of a horse's tail, he had a satyr's tail - inherited from his father. He shot a bow no worse than Chiron - it is Krotos who is credited with the invention of the bow and arrows, as well as the first successful hunt for wild animals with a bow. Applause is also his invention, which has become an analogue of prayer to the muses. For the invention of applause, Krotos was raised to the sky, where he took the form of Sagittarius.
The famous Chiron and Phol were portrayed in a special way, emphasizing their attitude towards civilized people. Their front legs were made human, and the croup was made horse. Chiron had more to do with people - he wore clothes, his ears were human. And Fol did not wear clothes, he had horse ears.
Despite the fact that centaurs are exclusively male, in some legends there are still women, centaurs. This is not the most common point of view in myths. They do not carry much weight in mythology. Often they are confused with nymphs - they are beautiful in body and soul. The most famous centaurid is Gilonoma, the wife of Zillar. Zillar and Gilonoma were invited to the wedding of the Lapiths. When the massacre began, Hercules killed the wife of Gilonoma. She grieved for a long time and eventually committed suicide.
Cynocephali, dog-headed, dog-headed or dog-headed, according to the description of ancient Greek historians and writers (Hesiod, Herodotus, Megasthenes, Pliny the Elder and, first of all, Ktesias, who lived in the 5th century BC), lived in India, Libya, Ethiopia and Scythia. Simmius of Rhodes (IV-III centuries BC) wrote in "Apollo": " And I saw the famous tribe of half-pissed people, in whose strong shoulders grew a dog's head with the strongest jaws; they, like dogs, bark, and they do not at all know the glorious name of the speech of other mortals " ( ) Centaurs - half people, half horses from Greek legendsCentaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with the head and torso of a man and the body of a horse. Centaurs had horse ears, rough and bearded faces. As a rule, they were naked and armed with a club, a stone or a bow. In the earliest images, centaurs were endowed with both human and horse genitalia. According to Pindar's Pythian, the centaurs were considered descendants - direct or through their common ancestor Centaur - the Thessalian king of the Lapith tribe, the titan Ixion, the son of Ares, and the cloud, which, at the behest of Zeus, took the form of Hera, which Ixion attempted( ) Harpies - hideous winged maidens from Greek lore
In ancient Greek myths, harpies are depicted as vicious winged creatures of a hideous appearance with the head, chest and hips of a woman and the body of a bird with vulture wings, long sharp hooked claws and cheeks eternally pale from hunger. Images of harpies and sirens similar to them (they were considered cousins) were preserved on tombstones and antique vases. Thanks to these images, one can judge what these creatures looked like (at least, as the ancient Greeks saw them). Harpies were considered one of the most ferocious and ugly characters in Greek mythology. They suddenly swooped in and disappeared( ) Sirens - half-maiden-half-birds with a divine voice from Greek mythology
Sirens were presented in the form of winged maidens, maidens with a fish tail or maidens with a bird's body and clawed bird paws. Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus in the "Mythological Library" wrote about three sirens: Peisinoe, Aglaoth and Telxiepia. They were virgins of wonderful beauty with a charming voice, which they inherited from their mother Melpomene, Terpsichore or Calliope. One of the sirens played the cithara, the other sang, the third played the flute. With the sounds of their songs, the sirens lulled the travelers, and then tore them apart and devoured them. The wild and vicious disposition of the sirens was inherited from their father Phorkis or Achelous( )