A centaur is a dimorphic creature, which is a hybrid of man and horse. It is most clearly represented in ancient Greek mythology, which gives most of the information about half-humans, half-horses. It is from these legends that the centaur switched to the screens of films and pages of fiction books, turning into a famous character of modern fantasy. Nevertheless, initially the centaur was not invented by the Greeks at all.
general description
Typically, centaurs are powerful creatures with a strong muscular body that live in the mountains or forest thickets. The bow is considered to be the traditional weapon of half-humans, half-horses, however, in the ancient Greek art culture, images with a cobblestone or log were much more common.
These creatures symbolize savagery and violence, but are generally positive characters. Centaur character traits are as personalized as humans. Some heroes were endowed with special qualities and noble origin. Such was, for example, the famous Chiron - the teacher of Hercules. In mythical literature, there are many negative centaur characters (Khomad, Dejanir, Ness, etc.).
The origin of the centaur
When the image of the centaur first appeared, it was not reliably established. However, it is known that this creature was introduced into the mythical culture of Ancient Greece by the inhabitants of Crete. The latter learned about the centaurs from the Kassites who communicated with the Mycenae for trade purposes.
The oldest historical evidence of half-humans half-horses dates back to the II millennium BC. e. It is assumed that the image of the centaur was formed between 1750 and 1250 BC. e. in the Middle East.
Among the Kassites (a nomadic tribe whose lifestyle was strongly associated with horses), this creature symbolized a pagan guardian deity, the weapon of which was a bow and arrow. Half-people half-horses were carved on stone sculptures. However, this does not prove that the Kassites first came up with a centaur, and did not adopt the idea from another people. But whatever the origin of the half-humans, half-horses, they got the real literary development precisely in the ancient Greek culture.
Centaurs in ancient Greek mythology
Like other creatures of ancient Greek mythology, centaurs have their own history of appearance. Their origin is associated with two legends. According to the first, centaurs are mortal creatures born of the king of the lapith tribe Ixion and Nefela (a cloud that appeared to the ruler in the image of the goddess Hera). According to another version, their descendant was only the ancestor of the centaurs. He gave rise to a new tribe, foraging Magnesian mares.
Some centaurs had a different, unique origin. So, the famous Chiron was born from the union of the titan Kronos and the oceanian Filira, and Foul was the son of Selene (companion Dionysus) and an unknown nymph. These centaurs stood out from their tribe for their civility and education.
According to ancient Greek myths, half-humans half-horses lived in the mountains of Thessaly and were part of the retinue of Dionysus. After the battle with the Lapiths, the centaurs were driven out of the house and spread throughout Greece. Later, this violent tribe almost completely destroyed Hercules, and the surviving part was captured by the singing of sirens and died of starvation.
The only immortal representative of the tribe - Chiron - was accidentally wounded by a poison arrow. Suffering severely, he voluntarily wished to end his life and asked the gods for help. As a result, the immortality of Chiron was transferred to Prometheus, and Zeus placed the centaur himself in the sky in the form of a constellation.
Appearance
The essence of the centaur is that the lower part of the creature’s body is completely similar to the horse’s body, and in place of the neck there is a human torso. Such an image corresponds to the classical idea of these creations formed in Ancient Greece.
Some earlier images of the centaur represented a full-fledged human body with the back of a horse. Then the front legs also became horseback.
The centaur's human body in the photo of various artistic images has many variations. As a rule, he is deprived of any clothes. Male centaurs more often had a rough face, beard and disheveled long hair, and in place of human ears were horseback. Noble representatives of the tribe were portrayed somewhat differently. So, Chiron had clothes (tunic) and human ears. Often this centaur was depicted with laurels. Foul also symbolized civilization, but never wore clothes and had horse ears. In mythology, a truly beautiful centaur is also known - a blond youth named Zillar. He had a no less beautiful wife - Gilonoma.
Thus, the Greeks simultaneously had 2 types of centaurs, which were opposed to each other. Most of these creatures personified animal nature, and only a small part were the patrons of people. These differences were reflected both in the literary description of the heroes and in their artistic images.
In modern fantasy, there are many options for the image of centaurs, which depend solely on the imagination of the authors.
Character and qualities
On the one hand, the centaur was a creature stuck between the human and animal worlds, and therefore prone to savagery, violence, carnal passions and violence. Such an image was probably formed on the basis of the close acquaintance of the Greeks with equine disposition. The centaurs were especially impressed by the alcohol, which aroused the fury of their nature. An illustrative example of this is the famous battle of half-horses with lapiths.
However, in Greek mythology there was also a noble image of a centaur. These were educated, endowed with the wisdom of creation. Such centaurs were more an exception to their tribe than a rule. The most famous of them was Chiron, who was even credited with a different origin and endowed with immortality.
The duality of the nature of the centaur probably goes back to the representations of the Kassites. The latter sometimes depicted this creature with two heads, one of which was human, and the other a dragon.
Centaurids
Centaurids were women centaurs. In mythological literature they were mentioned very rarely and for the most part were secondary episodic characters.
Centaurids represented a harmonious image of external beauty and wonderful spiritual qualities. The most famous representative of these creatures is Gilonoma, who was present at the most epic event related to the centaurs - the battle against the lapiths. In this battle, the beloved husband of the centauride, Zillar, died. He died right in the arms of his wife. Unable to bear grief, Gilonoma committed suicide by piercing herself with the same spear that killed her lover.