Centaur
In Greek mythology, the centaur (Greek Κένταυρος Kentauros bullfighter, hundred strong, plural Κένταυροι Kentauroi; Latin Centaurus/Centauri) is a creature with the head, arms, and torso of a human and the body and legs of a horse. The females are called centaurids.
In classical mythology
They lived in the mountains of Thessaly and were considered the children of Centaur —a son of Ixion and Nephele—, and some Magnesian mares. Other traditions said that Centaur, instead, was the son of Apollo and Estilbe, or that the centaurs were born directly from Ixion and Nephele.
The centaurs are well known for their fight with the Lápitas, caused by their attempt to kidnap Hippodamia on her wedding day with Piríthoos, king of the Lápitas and also the son of Ixion. The fight between these cousins is a metaphor for the conflict between low instincts and civilized behavior in humanity and by the famous centaur (Chiron). Theseus, a hero and founder of cities who was present, tipped the balance on the side of the correct order of things, and helped Pirithous. The centaurs fled. Scenes of the battle between the lapiths and the centaurs were carved in bas-relief on the Parthenon frieze, which was dedicated to the wise Athena.
Like the titanomachy, the defeat of the titans by the Olympic gods, the contests with the centaurs represent the struggle between civilization and barbarism and is known as centauromachy.
The general character of the centaurs is that of wild beings, without laws or hospitality, slaves of animal passions. Two exceptions to this rule are Pholus and Chiron, who expressed their "good" nature by being wise and kind centaurs.
Among the centaurs, the third with an individual identity is Nessus. The mythological episode of the centaur Nessus kidnapping Deianira, Heracles' betrothed, also provided Giambologna (1529-1608), a Flemish sculptor working in Italy, with splendid opportunities to conceive compositions with two forms in violent interaction. Giambologna made several versions of Neso kidnapping Deyanira, represented by the examples preserved in various museums. His followers, such as Adriaen de Vries and Pietro Tacca, continued to sculpt countless iterations of the theme. When Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse addressed the same composition of forms in the XIX century, he titled it Rapture of Hypodamia .
In ancient Attic painted vases, centaurs were depicted as human beings facing on, with the body and hind legs of a horse attached to their backs. Subsequently, they were men only up to the waist. The battle with the lapiths and the adventure of Heracles with Pholus (Apolodorus, ii. 5; Diodorus Siculus, iv. li) are favorite subjects of Greek art.
In Greece, the constellation Centaurus was observed by Eudoxus of Knidos in the IV century BCE. C. and by Arato in the III century BC. C.
Theories about its origin
Writer Robert Graves speculated that the centaurs of Greek mythology were reminiscent of a pre-Hellenic tribe that considered the horse a totem.
On the other hand, Paléfatos considered that the hybrid form of the centaurs was the result of a misperception on the part of people who had never known horse riding. When first observing horsemen, they would have been under the impression that they were half man, half horse. Paléfato also mentions a possible etymology of the name, which would come to mean "killer of bulls".
Some say that the Greeks took the constellation Centaurus, and also its name "piercing bull", from Mesopotamia, where the god Baal, representing rain and fertility, is symbolized, fighting and piercing with his horns the demon Mot, representing the summer drought.
Centaurs in contemporary fiction
Centaurs have appeared many times and in many places in modern works of fiction.
Although the Greek word kentauros is said to be composed of a single morpheme—perhaps not Greek in origin—the suffix -taurus has been invented by writers and game designers at the turn of the XX century for other fantastic animal-human hybrids.
Centaurids
Although female centaurs, called centaurides (κενταύριδες), are not named in archaic literature or archaic art, they appear occasionally from the Hellenistic period onwards. A Macedonian mosaic from the early III century BC. C. that is currently in the archaeological museum of the city of Pela is one of the first examples of the presence of centaurides in art.
The Roman author Ovid in his Metamorphoses mentions a centauride named Hilonome, who committed suicide when her lover Cylarus was killed during the war against the Lápitas.
In a description of a painting he saw in Neapolis, the Greek rhetorician Philostratus the Elder portrays centaurides as sisters and wives to the male centaurs who lived on Mount Pelion with their children.
How beautiful are the centaurides, even though they have a mare body; for some grow of white mares, others of chaste mares, and the fur of others is stained, but they all shine like the well-kept mares. There are also white centaurides that grow from black mares and the opposition of colors produces a creature united with great beauty.
In the field of medicine
Within the field of medicine, the physical condition that some people have of bending their knees beyond 180° is known by the name of Genu recurvatum, and some cases have been known throughout history, such as those of Robert Huddleston, nicknamed the "pony man" or that of Ella Harper also called "the camel girl".
Centaurs in art
- Centauro de Royos (gaponesic healers).
Etymology
The Greek word kentauros is generally considered to be of obscure origin. The etymology of ken + tauros, 'piercing bull' 39;, was a suggestion by the euhemerist in Paléphatus's rationalizing text on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales (Περὶ ἀπίστων), which included the mounted archers of a people called Néphele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scourge of the kingdom of Ixion. (Scobie, 1978, p. 142) Another possible related etymology may be "matador de toros".
Related Myths
Indian
The Kalibangan cylinder seal, dated to around 2600-1900 BC. C., found at the site of the Indus Valley civilization shows a battle between men in the presence of centaur-like creatures. Other sources state that the depicted creatures are actually half-human and half-tiger, which later evolved into become the Hindu Goddess of War. These stamps are also evidence of India-Mesopotamia relations in the 3rd millennium BCE. c.
In a folk legend associated with the Pazhaya Sreekanteswaram Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, a curse by a Brahmin saint transformed a handsome Yadava prince into a creature with the body of a horse and the prince's head, arms, and torso instead of the head and neck. horse's neck.
The Kinnara Kingdom, another half-man, half-horse mythical creature of Indian epic poetry, featured in various ancient texts, arts and sculptures across India. It is shown as a horse with a man's torso where the horse's head would be, and is similar to a Greek centaur.
Russia
In Russian folk art and lubok prints of the XVII and XIX a centaur-like half-human, half-horse creature called Polkan appeared. Polkan is originally based on Pulicane, a half-dog from Andrea da Barberino's poem I Reali di Francia, which was once popular in the Slavic world in prose translations.
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