Who are the centaurs and what did they look like. Centaurs - half-humans-half-horses from Greek legends - Earth before the Flood: Disappeared Continents and Civilizations

According to ancient Greek mythology, the first centaurs were the children of the goddess Nephele and the king of the Thessalian tribe of the Lapiths. Nephele gave birth to her 4-legged children in the bowels of the Pelephronian cave. It is not known how half-humans-half-horses could have been born, since both Nephele's lover - the king of the Lapiths, and the lawful spouse - the king of Thessaly Atamant, had a completely human appearance and origin.

Be that as it may, the newborn centaurics were sent to the Thessalian Mount Pelion and nymphs were assigned to them as educators. Having matured, the guys decided to continue their family and, without thinking twice, entered into a relationship with local mares. Those gave birth to new centaurs, and mythological creatures continued.

scientific version

Scientists were not satisfied with the mythological version of the origin of the centaurs, so they began to look for their own source of legend. And, as usual, they found it. Mediterranean peoples almost never rode horseback, preferring chariots. On chariots they traveled, fought and went to visit each other. Driving along not far from mountainous areas, the Hellenes saw strange silhouettes of half-humans, half-horses: they were riders, representatives of nomadic tribes.

Almost 3 thousand years after the appearance of ancient Greek myths, the Indians experienced the same impressions when they saw the Spaniards on horseback. They decided that they were visited by unknown gods and began to worship the half-humans-half-horses that had merged together. True, the Indians did not worship the conquistadors for long: until they realized that the unknown gods had arrived in order to destroy the Indians themselves, take away their gold and occupy their lands.

Centaurs in the studies of ancient scientists

Already in antiquity, scientists questioned the fact of the existence of centaurs. In the writings of the famous scientist Plutarch, it is mentioned how a shepherd once brought an incomprehensible creature to the philosopher: a newborn foal with a human head and. According to the philosopher, the foal was born into the world by a mare. I must say that Plutarch was very fond of playing a trick on his contemporaries and descendants, so the birth of an unknown creature could well turn out to be a prank of a philosopher.

The Roman scientist Titus Lucretius did not believe in centaurs and tried to justify his disbelief. He argued that the ages of people and horses do not match, so a half-man-half-horse cannot exist. At the time when the horse turns into a fully grown individual, a 3-year-old human cub is still in its infancy. It was the discrepancy between biological ages that served Titus Lucretius as proof of the impossibility of the existence of a centaur.

It is generally accepted that the centaur was a mythological creature invented by the ancient Greeks. He was a hybrid of a man and a horse. The torso of a horse, and instead of a neck and a head with a mane, a human torso towered above it. This creature lived in mountainous and forested areas. It had an unrestrained and violent character. Some of these creatures were hostile to people, while the other, on the contrary, helped the person in everything.

Where did the legends about such original mythological creatures come from? In ancient times, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean did not know how to ride. They traveled in chariots. Those were the main strike force ancient armies. I must say that from the point of view of tactics, the chariot is much more effective than the rider. But it's too expensive. Therefore, over the course of centuries, horse-drawn units replaced carts harnessed to a pair and a trio of horses.

IN Ancient Greece there were no horse riders. However, this way of driving was perfectly mastered by nomadic tribes. Sometimes they came very close to the borders of Hellas. The inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula, seeing people on horseback, mistook them for single living organisms. The same was observed among the Indians, but only later by 3 thousand years. When the Spanish conquistadors landed on the American coast and mounted horses, the natives South America mistook them for 4-legged creatures with human bodies. Therefore, it can be assumed that nomadic horsemen became the cause of myths about centaurs.

How centaurs appeared

According to mythology, the mysterious 4-legged intelligent beings began their race from the king of the Lapiths (a tribe that lived in the northern part of Thessaly) Ixion and the goddess Nephele. How it happened there is unknown, but Nephele gave birth to the first centaurs in the Pelephronian cave. True, the goddess was the wife of the Thessalian king Atamant, but he had nothing to do with 4-legged creatures.

The young people who were born were sent to Mount Pelion, located in the southwest of Thessaly. Here the original creatures were brought up by nymphs. When they grew up and became sexually mature, they entered into a relationship with local mares. As a result, 4-legged creatures of both sexes were born and began to reproduce naturally.

famous centaurs

Chiron is considered the most famous of the centaurs.. It is noteworthy that he was not born from the same parents as himself, but was conceived from the love affair of Kronos and Filira. These were powerful divine beings, but they were not legally married, but were lovers. Kronos' wife Rhea took the couple by surprise. The unfaithful husband cheated and took the form of a horse, so subsequently a hybrid of a man with a horse was born.

He was granted immortality and named Chiron. And he, born from a vicious connection, was distinguished by extraordinary wisdom and kindness. He lived on Pelion, and Apollo and Artemis were his tutors. Subsequently, he himself trained the legendary heroes. Among them are Achilles, Actaeon, Orpheus and Patroclus. This centaur was a close friend of Hercules. They hunted together and lived in a cave. But one day tragedy struck. Hercules accidentally wounded Chiron with an arrow, and she was poisoned.

This doomed the legendary 4-legged creature to terrible torment. But immortality did not allow finding relief in the arms of death. Therefore, Chiron refused the priceless gift and handed it over to Prometheus. After that, the pain ended. The hero left this world and was placed by the gods on the celestial sphere in the form of the constellation Centaur.

The second celebrity is Ness. This is the son of Nephele and Ixion. For a long time he worked as a simple carrier on the Even River. Putnikov was transported through a turbulent stream right on his back for a good fee. Once Hercules approached the river with his wife Dejanira. The couple needed to cross to the other side, and they decided to use the services of a carrier.

Hercules put his beloved beauty on the back of Nessus, and he himself threw himself into a turbulent stream and very soon found himself on the other side. He looked back and saw a vile picture. The carrier did not sail across the river with his wife on his back. Captivated by the extraordinary beauty of the woman, the villain tried to rape her. She desperately resisted and screamed. Hercules took off his bow from his back and fired an arrow at the rapist. She pierced through Nessus. He fell to the ground and died.

Eurytion can be attributed to the third celebrity. This is also the son of Ixion and Nephele. He liked to drink and had a fiery temper. Once, in the company of his own kind, he got to the wedding of the Lapiths. There was a lot of wine, and the 4-legged guest got tipsy. In a state of intoxication, he began to molest women, which their husbands did not like. A fight broke out, in which people entered into battle with the centaurs. As a result, Eurytion's ears were cut off. He retired from the wedding feast in disgrace. Subsequently, he was killed by Hercules.

Did centaurs really exist?

Is it possible to assume that creatures that combine human and horse features actually existed? At one time, the ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch stated that one day a shepherd brought him a newborn cub. A mare gave birth to him. But from his mother he had only a torso, but a human head and hands.

Plutarch was a serious philosopher. He wrote over 80 essays on the most different parties life. However, this man was very fond of humor and a good joke. So it is quite possible to assume that the story of an unusual baby belonged precisely to this area.

But the Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius tried to justify the unreality of the existence of human and horse hybrids. He argued that horses live much less than people. At the age of 3, the animal turns into an adult horse, and the person at this time is a babbling baby. At the age of 20, a person reaches the peak of physical strength, and the horse becomes a pitiful old nag. That is, there is an incompatibility of biological ages. Therefore, such a creature could not live in nature.

It remains for us to state that the centaur was born of the rich imagination of ancient people. This creature lived only in myths, but never walked the earth. However, it is necessary to pay tribute to those who came up with such an original creature, endowed him with reason and forced him to do many good and evil deeds..

; or people from the city of Pelephronium, where a way was found to tame horses.

According to another approach, the image of centaurs dates back to the time of the collapse of the Greek-Aryan linguistic unity, and the word itself, like other Ind. gandharva, was borrowed into Proto-Greek from some substrate language. If this version is accepted, speculation about horsemen becomes groundless, and the accepted etymology of this word should be recognized as a later folk rethinking. In general, even semantically, the images of centaurs and gandharvas are very similar.

Ideas about centaurs

Two partially preserved terracotta figurines found during excavations in Ugarit among other samples of Mycenaean ceramics are tentatively identified as centaurs, which allows us to speak of the Bronze Age as the period of origin of this myth. A painted terracotta figurine of a centaur was found in the "hero's tomb" in Lefkandi. A well-known bronze statuette of the Geometric Style period, representing a warrior face to face with a centaur, is in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In ancient Greek mythology

Centaurs were considered descendants of Ixion and Nephele - either direct, or through a common ancestor of the Centaur tribe, who foaled the Magnesian mares. In another version, the centaurs were raised on Pelion by nymphs and, having matured, entered into a relationship with mares, from which the two-natural centaurs were born. Ancient Greek authors removed some centaurs from this genealogical series, probably in order to ennoble them. So, Chiron was considered the son of Kronos and the mare Filira, Fol - the son of Silena. Sometimes centaurs are considered the offspring of Poseidon, which is explained in the mythological past of this deity, totemically associated with horses and having a horse as an attributive animal.

Typically, centaurs are shown as wild and unrestrained creatures, in which animal nature predominates, but wise centaurs are also known, primarily Phol and Chiron, friends and teachers of Hercules and some other heroes. According to ideas, they lived in the mountains of Thessaly until the day when Hercules scattered them throughout Hellas. Most of them were killed by Hercules (see Foul (centaur)). Those who escaped from Hercules listened to the Sirens, stopped eating and starved to death. According to one story, Poseidon hid them in a mountain at Eleusis.

A popular poetic plot of antiquity was the centauromachia, the battle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, which flared up because of the unbridled temper of the latter at the wedding feast of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous - Eurytus tried to kidnap the bride of Pirithous.

Hercules is found in stories about centaurs. In one myth, during the campaign for the Erifman boar, the hero fought with centaurs named Ankiy, Agriy, Orey, Giley. Pilenor was washing the wound from the arrow of Hercules in the river, which is why the river acquired a bad smell. Foul - accidentally scratched by the poisoned arrow of Hercules when he performed the fifth feat, and died. Homad - tried to dishonor Eurystheus' sister Alcyone and was killed by Hercules. Hercules himself was eventually killed by the centaur as well. It is described that the centaur Ness 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 and advised Dejanira to collect her blood, as she supposedly would help her keep the love of Hercules. Dejanira soaked the clothes of Hercules with the poisonous blood of Nessus, and he died in terrible agony.

Chiron is the teacher of Achilles, Jason and other heroes.

Appearance and qualities of centaurs

Most often, the centaur is depicted as a horse, in place of the neck of which a human torso is placed.

The wisest centaurs in antiquity had a special image. Usually their front legs were human, which emphasized their civilization, while the entire back of the body remained equine. Chiron was almost always dressed, often with human ears. Foul, on the contrary, is usually naked and only with horse ears. .

female centaurs, or centaurids(lat. Centaurides, colloquially centaurs) were rarely seen in painting and myths, playing mainly the role of episodic characters, and they were often confused with nymphs. At the same time, few authors who mention their existence described them as physically and spiritually beautiful creatures. The most famous centaurid is Gilonoma, the wife of Killar (Zillar). She is the only woman of the centaur family to attend the wedding of Pirithous, where she lost her husband and then committed suicide in grief.

Artists and sculptors of all eras often turned to the image of a centaur. The centauromachy scenes were especially popular.

In the Middle Ages, images of centaurs appear in the miniatures of Arabic and European cosmological treatises among the signs of the Zodiac.

Starting from the 19th century, interest in the image of the centaur began to increase both among writers and poets, and among artists. In the 21st century, centaurs become characters not only in myths and literary works (especially in the fantasy genre), but also in computer games.

In the culture of other nations

Gopatshah - in Iranian mythology - a bull with a human torso.

The centaur was depicted on coins minted in the Serpukhov-Borovsk principality in the 14th century.

It is noteworthy that during the Spanish conquest of Central America, conquistadors on horseback also appeared to the Indians, who knew only llamas and tapirs, as one creature with a horse.

The Indians had never seen horses before, and it seemed to them that the horse and the rider were one creature, powerful and merciless. The meadows and fields were filled with Indians fleeing to the nearest forest.

see also

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Notes

1. (English)
2. (English)
5. Palefate. About the incredible 1; Heraclitus the allegorist. About incredible 5 in short
6. First Vatican Mythographer II 61.
7. Napolskikh V.V.
8. Shear, Ione Mylonas (2002). "Mycenaean Centaurs at Ugarit". The Journal of Hellenic Studies 122 . DOI:10.2307/3246210. ISSN.
9. . Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
10. Diodorus Siculus. Historical Library IV 70, 1
11. Euripides. Hercules 364-373
12. Lycophron. Alexandra 671&comm.; Ptolemy Gefestion // Commentary by D. O. Torshilov in the book. Hygin. Myths. SPb., 2000. S. 58
14. - Fantasy world
16. Ovid. Metamorphosis X 223
18. Nonn. Acts of Dionysus V 611-615; XIV 193-202; XXXII 71
19. Aristotle. Poetics 1
20. Notes by A. A. Grigoryeva, B. M. Nikolsky in the book. Athenaeus. The feast of the sages. Book. 1-8. M., 2003. S. 544

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Links

• on the Encyclopedia of Fictional Creatures website
• Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 1991-92. In 2 vols. T. 1. S. 638-639, Lubker F. Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. M., 2001. In 3 vols. T. 1. S. 313; Pseudo Apollodorus. Mythological Library II 5, 4 next

Initial deities Titans Titanides Children of the Titans Olympic gods Other Olympians Gods water element Main Chthonic deities Main born on earth Earth

An excerpt characterizing the Centaur

Soon after the prince's departure, so soon that he could not yet reach Semyonovsky, the prince's adjutant returned from him and reported to his lordship that the prince was asking for troops.
Kutuzov grimaced and sent an order to Dokhturov to take command of the first army, and asked the prince, without whom, as he said, he could not do at these important moments, he asked to return to himself. When the news of the capture of Murat was brought and the staff congratulated Kutuzov, he smiled.
“Wait, gentlemen,” he said. - The battle is won, and there is nothing unusual in the capture of Murat. But it is better to wait and rejoice. “However, he sent an adjutant to pass through the troops with this news.
When Shcherbinin rode up from the left flank with a report about the occupation of the fleches and Semenovsky by the French, Kutuzov, guessing from the sounds of the battlefield and Shcherbinin’s face that the news was bad, stood up, as if stretching his legs, and, taking Shcherbinin’s arm, took him aside .
“Go, my dear,” he said to Yermolov, “see if anything can be done.”
Kutuzov was in Gorki, in the center of the position of the Russian troops. Napoleon's attack on our left flank was repulsed several times. In the center, the French did not move further than Borodin. From the left flank, Uvarov's cavalry forced the French to flee.
At three o'clock the French attacks ceased. On all the faces coming from the battlefield, and on those who stood around him, Kutuzov read an expression of tension that reached the highest degree. Kutuzov was pleased with the success of the day beyond expectation. But physical forces left the old man. Several times his head sank low, as if falling, and he dozed off. He was served dinner.
Wing adjutant Wolzogen, the same one who, passing by Prince Andrei, said that the war should be im Raum verlegon [transferred into space (German)], and whom Bagration hated so much, drove up to Kutuzov during lunch. Wolzogen came from Barclay with a report on the progress of affairs on the left flank. The prudent Barclay de Tolly, seeing the crowds of wounded fleeing and the disorganized behinds of the army, having weighed all the circumstances of the case, decided that the battle was lost, and with this news he sent his favorite to the commander in chief.
Kutuzov chewed the fried chicken with difficulty, and with narrowed, cheerful eyes looked at Wolzogen.
Wolzogen, casually stretching his legs, with a half-contemptuous smile on his lips, went up to Kutuzov, lightly touching his visor with his hand.
Wolzogen treated his Serene Highness with a certain affected carelessness, intended to show that, as a highly educated military man, he leaves the Russians to make an idol out of this old, useless man, while he himself knows with whom he is dealing. “Der alte Herr (as the Germans called Kutuzov in their circle) macht sich ganz bequem, [The old gentleman calmly settled down (German)] thought Wolzogen and, looking sternly at the plates that stood in front of Kutuzov, began to report to the old gentleman the state of affairs on the left flank as Barclay ordered him and as he himself saw and understood him.
- All points of our position are in the hands of the enemy and there is nothing to recapture, because there are no troops; they are running, and there is no way to stop them,” he reported.
Kutuzov, stopping to chew, stared at Wolzogen in surprise, as if not understanding what he was being told. Wolzogen, noticing the excitement of des alten Herrn, [the old gentleman (German)], said with a smile:
- I did not consider myself entitled to hide from your lordship what I saw ... The troops are in complete disorder ...
- Have you seen? Did you see? .. - Kutuzov shouted, frowning, quickly getting up and advancing on Wolzogen. “How dare you… how dare you…!” he shouted, making menacing gestures with shaking hands and choking. - How dare you, my dear sir, say this to me. You don't know anything. Tell General Barclay from me that his information is incorrect and that the real course of the battle is known to me, the commander-in-chief, better than to him.
Wolzogen wanted to object something, but Kutuzov interrupted him.
- The enemy is repulsed on the left and defeated on the right flank. If you have not seen well, dear sir, then do not allow yourself to say what you do not know. Please go to General Barclay and convey to him my indispensable intention to attack the enemy tomorrow, ”Kutuzov said sternly. Everyone was silent, and one could hear one heavy breathing of the out of breath old general. - Repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave army. The enemy is defeated, and tomorrow we will drive him out of the sacred Russian land, - said Kutuzov, crossing himself; and suddenly burst into tears. Wolzogen, shrugging his shoulders and twisting his lips, silently stepped aside, wondering at uber diese Eingenommenheit des alten Herrn. [on this tyranny of the old gentleman. (German)]
“Yes, here he is, my hero,” Kutuzov said to the plump, handsome black-haired general, who at that time was entering the mound. It was Raevsky, who had spent the whole day at the main point of the Borodino field.
Raevsky reported that the troops were firmly in their places and that the French did not dare to attack anymore. After listening to him, Kutuzov said in French:
– Vous ne pensez donc pas comme lesautres que nous sommes obliges de nous retirer? [So you don't think, like the others, that we should retreat?]
- Au contraire, votre altesse, dans les affaires indecises c "est loujours le plus opiniatre qui reste victorieux," Raevsky answered, "et mon opinion ... [On the contrary, your grace, in indecisive matters, the one who is more stubborn remains the winner, and my opinion …]
- Kaisarov! shouted Kutuzov to his adjutant. - Sit down and write an order for tomorrow. And you,” he turned to another, “drive along the line and announce that tomorrow we will attack.
While the conversation was going on with Raevsky and the order was being dictated, Wolzogen returned from Barclay and reported that General Barclay de Tolly would like to have a written confirmation of the order that the field marshal had given.
Kutuzov, without looking at Wolzogen, ordered that this order be written, which, quite thoroughly, in order to avoid personal responsibility, the former commander-in-chief wanted to have.
And by an indefinable, mysterious connection that maintains the same mood throughout the army, called the spirit of the army and constituting the main nerve of the war, Kutuzov’s words, his order for battle on the next day, were transmitted simultaneously to all parts of the army.
Far from the very words, not the very order, were transmitted in the last chain of this connection. There was not even anything similar in those stories that were passed on to each other at different ends of the army, to what Kutuzov said; but the meaning of his words was communicated everywhere, because what Kutuzov said did not follow from cunning considerations, but from a feeling that lay in the soul of the commander in chief, as well as in the soul of every Russian person.
And having learned that tomorrow we will attack the enemy, having heard confirmation from the highest spheres of the army of what they wanted to believe, the exhausted, hesitant people were comforted and encouraged.

The regiment of Prince Andrei was in reserves, which until the second hour stood behind Semenovsky in inactivity, under heavy artillery fire. In the second hour, the regiment, which had already lost more than two hundred people, was moved forward into a worn-out oatmeal field, to that gap between Semenovsky and the kurgan battery, on which thousands of people were beaten that day and on which, in the second hour of the day, intensely concentrated fire was directed from several hundred enemy guns.
Without leaving this place and without releasing a single charge, the regiment lost another third of its people here. In front, and especially on the right side, in the smoke that did not dissipate, cannons boomed, and from the mysterious area of ​​​​smoke that covered the entire area in front, cannonballs and slowly whistling grenades flew out without ceasing, with a hissing quick whistle. Sometimes, as if giving rest, a quarter of an hour passed, during which all the cannonballs and grenades flew over, but sometimes for a minute several people were pulled out of the regiment, and the dead were constantly dragged away and the wounded carried away.
With each new blow, fewer and fewer accidents of life remained for those who had not yet been killed. The regiment stood in battalion columns at a distance of three hundred paces, but, despite the fact, all the people of the regiment were under the influence of the same mood. All the people of the regiment were equally silent and gloomy. Rarely was a conversation heard between the rows, but this conversation fell silent every time a blow was heard and a cry: “Stretcher!” Most of the time, the people of the regiment, by order of the authorities, sat on the ground. Who, having removed the shako, diligently disbanded and again gathered the assemblies; some with dry clay, spreading it in their palms, polished the bayonet; who kneaded the belt and tightened the buckle of the sling; who diligently straightened and bent over the new hems and changed shoes. Some built houses from Kalmyk arable land or wove braids from stubble straw. Everyone seemed quite immersed in these activities. When people were wounded and killed, when stretchers were pulled, when ours were coming back, when they were visible through the smoke large masses enemies, no one paid any attention to these circumstances. When artillery and cavalry rode forward, the movements of our infantry were visible, approving remarks were heard from all sides. But the events that were completely extraneous, which had nothing to do with the battle, deserved the greatest attention. As if the attention of these morally tormented people rested on these ordinary, everyday events. The artillery battery passed in front of the front of the regiment. In one of the artillery boxes, the tie-down line intervened. “Hey, that tie-down! .. Straighten it! It will fall ... Oh, they don’t see it! .. - they shouted from the ranks in the same way throughout the regiment. Another time, a small brown dog with a firmly raised tail drew general attention, which, God knows where it came from, ran in an anxious trot in front of the ranks and suddenly squealed from a close-hitting shot and, tail between its legs, rushed to the side. There were chuckles and squeals all over the regiment. But entertainment of this kind continued for minutes, and for more than eight hours people had been standing without food and doing nothing under the unceasing horror of death, and pale and frowning faces grew paler and more and more frowning.
Prince Andrei, just like all the people of the regiment, frowning and pale, walked up and down the meadow near the oat field from one boundary to the other, with his hands folded back and his head bowed. There was nothing for him to do or order. Everything was done by itself. The dead were dragged behind the front, the wounded were carried away, the ranks closed. If the soldiers ran away, they immediately hurriedly returned. At first, Prince Andrei, considering it his duty to arouse the courage of the soldiers and set an example for them, walked along the rows; but then he became convinced that he had nothing and nothing to teach them. All the strength of his soul, just like that of every soldier, was unconsciously aimed at refraining from contemplating the horror of the situation in which they were. He walked in the meadow, dragging his feet, scratching the grass and watching the dust that covered his boots; either he walked with long strides, trying to get into the tracks left by the mowers in the meadow, then, counting his steps, he made calculations how many times he had to go from boundary to boundary in order to make a verst, then he scoured the wormwood flowers growing on the boundary, and He rubbed these flowers in his palms and sniffed the fragrant, bitter, strong smell. From all yesterday's work, there was nothing left of thought. He didn't think about anything. He listened with a tired ear to the same sounds, distinguishing the whistle of flights from the rumble of shots, looked at the closer faces of the people of the 1st battalion and waited. “Here it is… this one is here again! he thought, listening to the approaching whistle of something from a closed area of ​​smoke. - One, the other! More! Horrible ... He stopped and looked at the ranks. “No, it moved. And here it is.” And he again began to walk, trying to take long steps so that in sixteen steps he would reach the boundary.
Whistle and blow! In five steps from him, the dry earth blew up and the core disappeared. An involuntary cold ran down his back. He looked again at the ranks. Probably vomited many; a large crowd gathered at the 2nd battalion.
“Mr. Adjutant,” he shouted, “tell them not to crowd. - The adjutant, having fulfilled the order, approached Prince Andrei. On the other side, the battalion commander rode up on horseback.
- Watch out! - a frightened cry of a soldier was heard, and, like a bird whistling on a fast flight, squatting on the ground, a grenade splashed softly, a few steps from Prince Andrei, near the horse of the battalion commander. The first horse, without asking whether it was good or bad to express fear, snorted, soared, almost dropping the major, and galloped off to the side. The horror of the horse was communicated to people.
- Lie down! - shouted the voice of the adjutant, lying on the ground. Prince Andrew stood in indecision. A grenade, like a top, smoking, spun between him and the recumbent adjutant, on the edge of arable land and meadows, near a sagebrush bush.
“Is this death? - thought Prince Andrei, looking with a completely new, envious look at the grass, at the wormwood and at the wisp of smoke curling from the spinning black ball. “I can’t, I don’t want to die, I love life, I love this grass, earth, air ...” He thought this and at the same time remembered that they were looking at him.

The image of the centaur came to 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 could 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. Centaur - mythical creature, which contains two different types 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 is written the rudeness characteristic only of animals, they long hair and a thick beard, ears can be seen, like a horse.

There is no contrasting transition between the body of a man and a horse, since centaurs were considered bay horses, and human body their 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.

The classic idea of ​​a “horse man” is a mythological character in which two creatures, a horse and a man, are combined. Even more interesting varieties are found in the medieval epic:

• Onocentaur is a cross between a man and a donkey.
• Bukentaur is a hybrid of a human and a buffalo.
• Leontocentaur (man and lion)

In India, artists depicted people with buffalo or horse legs and a fish tail.

The image of the centaur

The prototype of the legendary horses first appeared in Babylon, in those days the nomadic caste, raided Egypt and Assyria. On the borders of their lands, nomads set up giant idols made of stone, these were guardian deities, among which were centaurs. Some depicted winged idols with two heads. The human head, which looks into the distance. And the head of the dragon was facing the house. The creatures had a horse's torso and legs. And two tails. One belonged to a horse and the other to a scorpion. In the hand of the idol was a bow and a quiver of arrows. This is how a centaur from the east conquered the world.

Centaur is spiritual guardian, nomadic tribe. It combines the main attributes of a nomad's life, a bow, an arrow and a horse.


The nomads captured huge trade, so the centaur successfully “fitted” into the Mycenaean civilization. The ruins of this civilization have been found in Crete and other Greek settlements. During this period, writing already existed in Greece, the first plays were already created based on legends that embodied the character of the heroes from the Mycenaean epic.

Centaurs in Greek mythology

Usually the Greeks represented the centaur as a shaggy bearded man with rough features and horse ears. Creatures with a human head, and a body attached to a horse's rump. upper limbs centaurs belong to a man, and the lower ones to a horse. They were depicted naked with weapons in their hands. Most often it was a bow, sometimes the artists "armed" the centaur with a club, or a stone. IN early period artists depicted centaurs with human and horse genitalia.

Origin

There are several versions in the pedigree of legendary creatures. According to one of the legends, centaurs are relatives of the titans, and possibly the Olympic gods themselves. There is another implausible version of the centaurs - they are representatives of a special race that was supposed to impoverish people and animals. Perhaps, for this reason, they were credited with a divine origin, this version could be safely discarded if it were not for the mention of “hybrids” in natural history (80 years from the birth of Christ).


The scientific treatise mentions the story of Pliny that he saw a dead hippocentaur, which the Egyptians brought as a gift to the emperor, the outlandish beast was preserved in honey.


Greek mythology not only does not refute this thorium, it provides irrefutable evidence about the relationship between people and centaurs. The centaur combines the qualities of man and animal. However, all actions are guided by instincts. In a grotesque form, all human shortcomings are revealed.

• Drunkenness.
• Lust.
• Thirst for profit.
• If the Greeks condemned the centaur for his rampage, then in Ancient Rome he was respected. And this is not surprising, according to the Greeks, the Romans themselves did not go far from the centaurs. For them, the Romans were the same embodiment of militant savages who only did what they fought and robbed. In Roman mythology, the Kreen did nothing but participate in the festive processions of Dionysus and Eros.

constellation centaur

Almost all centaurs were mortal, the exception was, they differ from their counterparts not only in character, but also in appearance. Usually he was depicted with human legs, while the entire back of the body remained equine. Chiron wore clothes. Unlike his other relatives, this centaur was immortal.

There are many legends:

1. Chiron was the son of the beautiful mare Filira, and the titan Kronos.
2. According to another version of Philidas, the daughter of Oceanus was a nymph. According to legend, the titan Kronos turned into a horse so that his wife Rhea would not find out about his betrayals. So Chiron was born.
3. Rhea found lovers, and Kronos turned into a horse, because Chiron was born with the body of a horse, but with a human head, arms and legs.

The divine origin endowed Chiron not only with an outstanding mind, but also with many talents. He was not an excellent hunter and warrior (he knew how to develop battle tactics). He knew medicine, astronomy, wandered into music. And most importantly, unlike his relatives, he will be famous for his kindness. He was patronized by Apollo. Chiron was the tutor of Achilles, Hercules, Theseus and Jason, according to legend, he taught medicine to Asclepius.

According to legend, Chiron suffered from an incurable wound that Hercules accidentally inflicted on him. He traded his immortality for the freedom of Prometheus. For this, Zeus immortalized the memory of Chiron. He transformed him into the constellation of the Centaur.

Heracles and the Centaurs

According to legend, the first centaurs appeared in the Thessalian mountains. According to legend, the son of Ares, the Thessalian king Ixion, fell in love with Hera, the wife of Zeus. Then Zeus ordered the Cloud to transform into Hera and seduce Ixion, that's how the centaurs appeared.


The inhabitants of Thessaly had a hard time, the centaurs only did what they drank, hunted, raided their neighbors, kidnapping their women. But after Hercules drove them away, they had to wander around the Greek cities.

According to legend, the Centaur Ness decided to take revenge on Hercules. According to legend, the centaur wanted to steal his wife from Hercules, Hercules killed Nessus, but before his death, the centaur managed to tell Dianira to collect his blood, they say, then her husband would love her forever. The stupid woman did just that, she soaked her husband's clothes with poisoned blood, from which he died in cruel agony.