Centaur Mythology
According to Greek mythology, the Centaur was a race of creatures which consisted of part man and part horse. The Centaurs had the head and torso to the waist, of a human and the back half of the body, and legs of a horse. The Centaurs were born of Ixion and Nephele. In another version, they were children of a Centaurus who mated with the Magnesian mares. Centaurus was said to be the son of Ixion and Nephele or of Apollo and Stilbe. The Centaurs lived in the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion, in Thessaly. Mount Pholoe in Arcadia and in the Malean peninsular in south Laconia. It was said that the creatures were caught between two natures.
The Cebtaurs were remembered most for their fight with the Lapithae when they tried to carry off Hippodamia and the other Lapith women, on the same day that Hippodamia was to be married to Pirithous, the king of the Lipithae, who was also the son of Ixion. According to the Greek myths, In Greek mythology, the Lapiths were a legendary people, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain called Pelion. Theseus was present at the time of the wedding and he helped Pirithous win the battle against the Centaurs. They were driven off and some were killed. It was said that the Centaurs were as wild as untamed horses.
It is believed by some that the theory of the Centaurs began when the first people who rode horses were often seen as half man and half horse by those who did not ride horses yet. The first ones reported to have tamed and rode the horses was the Spanish. This first began in the grasslands of Central Asia somewhere around Kazakhstan.
The Lapith tribe were related to the Centaurs and they were described by the Greek writers as the first known horseback riders. The Thessalian tribes also said that their horse breeds were descendants of the Centaurs.
The female Centaurs were called, Kentaurides, and were mentioned in early Greek literature and art as well. One of the earliest examples of them in art was in a Macedonian mosaic from the 4th century B. C..The resource known as Ovid, also mentioned that a Centauress named Hylonome, committed suicide when her lover named, Cyllarus, was killed in the war against the Lapiths.
It is said that the Greek took the constellation of Centaurus, and it’s name which means, ‘Raging Bull’, from Mesopotamia. It symbolized the God named Baal who was the god of rain and fertility. Baal fought with the demon known as Mot, who represented the summer draught.
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