Centaurs
The centaurs of Greek mythology are creatures that are part human and part horse. They are usually portrayed with the torso and head of a human, and the body of a horse. Centaurs are the followers of the wine god Dionysus and are well known for drunkenness and carrying off helpless young maidens. They inhabited Mount Pelion in Thessaly, northern Greece. According to one myth, they are the offspring of Ixion, the king of Lapithae (Thessaly), and a cloud. He had arranged a tryst with Hera, but Zeus got wind of it and fashioned a cloud into Hera's shape. Therefore, the Centaurs are sometimes called Ixionidae.
Notorious is their bestial behavior on the wedding of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths. They violated the female guests and attempted to abduct the bride. What followed was a bloody battle, after which they were driven from Thessaly. An exception was the kind and wise centaur Chiron, the teacher of the Greek heroes Hercules, Jason, and Achilles.
Origins of the Centaurs
The centaur probably began as a horse totem of a tribe of early Greeks in prehistory. The earliest drawings of hippocentaurs (a kind of demon given human form, or kallikantzaroi, in ancient Greek myth) show men wearing fetishes of hindquarters of horses joined to their waists. These hobby-horse fetishes, common (in varying form) to European crop and fertility rituals, only later became depictions of human torsos joined to actual horse bodies. The hypothesis that the centaur represents a terrified tribal reinterpretation of a horse and rider is probably without merit. The Greek love for the horse led to the ennoblement of the centaur in myth and legend (the only version of the kallikantzaroi to be so honored). The Centaur Chiron was known for his wisdom and healing abilities. Other centaurs did not fare so well in myth: Nessus was killed by Hercules for trying to rape (variously) his wife or a woman under his charge, and other centaurs were renowned for their weakness for drink. The centauromachy - the depiction of one or more of the fights between humans and centaurs in myth - became a popular feature of Greek art. The centaur was also used by some writers to symbolize man's dual nature as an intellectual creature (the human half) which was also an physical animal (the horse half).
In the Medieval period, the centaur fared more poorly, often becoming a demonic image. Nevertheless, the centaur remained a popular character in art, no doubt due to the vast influence of Greek art and literature on Western culture.
