CENTAURS

By: Kevin Barahona

What they are?
• Centaurs are half-human, half-horse creatures in Greek mythology. They have the
body of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man. They were considered to
be the children of Ixion, king of the Lapiths, and Nephele, a cloud made in the
image of Hera. According to a different myth, however, they were all born from
the union of a single Centaurus with the Magnesian mares.
Culture
• 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 also had
this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen.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.
What to they do?
• Centaurs were said to be primal, existing in tribes and making their
homes in caves, hunting wild animals and arming themselves with
rocks and tree branches.
• Centaurs were followers of DIONYSUS, the God of Wine and were
thus known for being savage, rowdy and boisterous.
Time they have existed

• The above information served to create the hypothesis that the

Centaurs were in fact members of a native Greek tribe — possibly of
Pelasgian origin — that lived around mountain Pelio, in Thessaly,
during the Mycenaean Age (circa 1750–1050 BCE). This comes as no
surprise as Thessaly is known to be the home of native proto-Greek
tribes, since the Neolithic age.
How they merged into our culture

• They have been useful for popular culture and the stories they’ve
made about them, like people has made movies with centaurs similar
topics or legends about them.
References
• Unknown. (2019, September). Centaurs (No. 4). Harper Collins.
https://ultimatepopculture.fandom.com/wiki/Centaur
• The editors of GreekMythology.com. (2021, April). Centaurs (No. 3).
Unknown.
• https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Centaur/centaur.html
• Unknown. (2016, December). Centaurs (No. 2). Greek gods & goddesses.
• https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/myths/centaurs/
• Stefanos Skarmintzos Wordpress, (2017), Centaurs and Centauromachy in
the Greek world
• https://stefanosskarmintzos.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/centaurs-and-centaur
omachy-in-the-greek-world/