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Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Centaurs
| Description | Half
horse, half man.
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| Features | Often
depicted as violent and war-like, although they can get along with
men. An example is Chiron, who was wise and knowledgeable about
music, medicine and archery. He was a teacher of Jason, Hercules,
and Achilles. He died when accidentally hit with a poison arrow shot by
Hercules. Picture of Chiron
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| Might be | Thessalians,
who were among the first tribes to fight on horseback. To prove this
theory, it is often related how the native South Americans were frightened by
Pizarro's expedition, mounted on horseback, and thought that they were a
horse-man combination.
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| Related to | Ichthyocentaur
(marine version)
Ipotane (2-legged version) Pterocentaur (flying version) Onocentaur (half man, half donkey.) Bucentaur (half man, half bull; like the Minotaur) Lamassu (Assyrian winged bulls and lions, with human heads.) Hea-bani (Assyrian version of Chiron, but half man, half bull- also wise, and killed accidentally.)
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| Described By: | Lucretius,
who discounts the possibility of centaurs. He reasons that men and
horses have different life spans, so the horse end would die before the
man.
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