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Mythical horse with a human face. Mythological horses -

Images of gods with zoomorphic and anthropogenic features - animal heads and human bodies - are found among different peoples.

A joint Australian-American expedition that studied cave paintings of primitive people in Australia and South Africa discovered more than five thousand Stone Age images, among which there are sketches of half-humans, half-animals - with the body of a lion and the head of a man or with the head of a bull and a human torso. The drawings of unknown creatures discovered by the expedition were made at least 32 thousand years ago. Cambridge anthropologist Christopher Chippendale and Sydney historian Paul Tacon, who studied ancient petroglyphs, came to the conclusion that primitive artists painted mysterious creatures “from life,” that is, they depicted what they saw with their own eyes. It is noteworthy that prehistoric Australians and Africans, who lived on different continents, decorated their caves with drawings of the same creatures.

In Australia, scientists have found images of centaurs, although it is reliably known that horses were not found on this remote continent. How the Australian aborigines managed to depict a horse with a human torso is unknown. It remains to be assumed that in time immemorial, hybrids of humans and animals really existed on our planet.

Probably all these mysterious creatures are the result of genetic experiments by aliens. Moreover, the hybrids created in vitro were intelligent. For example, the god Thoth was considered a scientist by the Egyptians:

The son of the god Cronus and Philyra, the centaur Chiron, trained by Apollo and Artemis in hunting, healing, music and divination, was the teacher of the heroes of Greek myths - Achilles, Asclepius, Castor, Polydeuces, Jason.

Centaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with the body of a horse and a human torso (there are also images of hybrids with the torso of a man and the body of a bull, donkey, sheep or goat).

According to Greek legends, centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia and were, with the exception of Chiron and Pholus, wild and violent creatures. One of the most famous acts of the centaurs was the attempt to kidnap Hippodamia, the bride of the Lapith king Pirithous. In the battle with the Lapiths they were defeated. Legends say that horse people came to Greece from the mountains, but due to an excessive craving for alcohol, they were expelled from Hellas by people.

In a superbly preserved Mayan fresco discovered in one of the temples of the city of Bonampak in the Mexican state of Chiapas, you can see strange gods with mandibles instead of mouths and crocodile faces. Similar images are found among the Olmecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs.

Before the creation of man, human-beast hybrids or animals endowed with intelligence were a kind of servants of the gods and performed some economic functions. In Egypt, near the village of Deir el-Medine, a settlement for the builders of the Theban necropolis was opened. Among them were scribes and artists who painted the walls of the tombs. Ancient Egyptian craftsmen left rough sketches and sketches of drawings made on clay fragments or limestone tiles, later called “ostracons” by the famous French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero. During excavations, about 5 thousand drawings were discovered depicting scenes from the life of the Egyptians. Many of them baffle scientists. For example, an Egyptian papyrus kept in the British Museum depicts jackals guarding kids. Both “shepherds” walk on their hind legs and carry baskets behind their backs. The procession is closed by a jackal playing the flute. In front of the whole group, a cat stands on its hind legs and chases the geese with a twig. Another drawing even depicts a “chess tournament” between a lion and a gazelle: they are sitting in chairs in front of the board; the lion bared its teeth, as if saying something, making a move; the gazelle “clasped its hands” and released the figure.

Francois Champollion, who was the first to decipher and read Egyptian hieroglyphs, believed that such drawings were a kind of political satire. But there is no evidence of the existence of this literary genre among the ancient Egyptians.

Some figurines depict mysterious animals that command people or dictate something to scribes.

People with a dog's head were also depicted on old Orthodox icons - St. Christopher

Pliny, Paul the Deacon, Marco Polo, and Adam of Bremen wrote about people with dog or jackal heads as real beings. Anubis, in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians originally the god of death, the patron of the dead, as well as necropolises, funerary rites and embalming, was usually depicted in the guise of a wolf, a jackal or a man with the head of a jackal. The god of wisdom Thoth was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or baboon, the goddess Sokhmet as a woman with the head of a lioness, etc. The killing of a sacred animal was punishable by death among the Egyptians. Sacred animals and birds were embalmed after death and buried in special cemeteries.

In the early 1960s, during the construction of a highway in Crimea, a bulldozer turned a stone “box” onto the surface of the earth. The workers opened the lid of the sarcophagus: it contained a human skeleton with the head of a ram, and the skeleton was solid, the head was integral with the skeleton. The road foreman called archaeologists, whose expedition was working nearby. They looked at the bones and decided that the road workers were playing a joke on them, and they immediately left. After making sure that the find did not represent any historical value, the workers razed the sarcophagus to the ground.

Archaeologists sometimes find ancient burials in which animal and human bones are mixed, as well as skeletons of various animals, and often the grave lacks a human head or contains an incomplete set of animal bones. It is believed that these are the remains of sacrificial gifts. But it is quite possible that these are hybrids created by aliens.

Unusual artifacts are discovered in many different areas of the world. Not far from Glauberg, a Celtic settlement of the 5th century BC was discovered in 1997. e. There, in a mound plundered in the Middle Ages, German archaeologists found a 1.8-meter-high statue of a Celtic leader. The warrior is depicted in chain mail, with a Roman-style shield. And the leader’s head is decorated with huge “bunny” ears.

It is curious that images of people with long ears are found quite often, and in areas significantly distant from each other. There are similar drawings on a rock near the Jordan River, on a burial box found in the Altai Mountains. Huge ears crown the heads of “stone women” in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia, as well as Chinese figurines of demons.

Myths about anthropoid animals have been preserved among many peoples. In Greek mythology, the Minotaur, a monster with a human body and the head of a bull, was born of Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos, from a bull sent by Poseidon to Crete for slaughter. Minos refused to sacrifice the bull, then Poseidon instilled in Pasiphae an unnatural passion for the animal. The fruit of their relationship, the Minotaur, was imprisoned in an underground labyrinth built by Daedalus. Every year, seven young men and women were sacrificed to him, sent by the Athenians as a tax to Minos and as atonement for the murder of Minos’ son in Attica. A terrible monster devoured the unfortunate people. The Athenian prince Theseus voluntarily went to Crete among those destined to be devoured by the Minotaur, killed the monster and, with the help of the thread of the royal daughter Ariadne, who was in love with him, got out of the labyrinth.

Especially often images, reliefs and statues of bulls with human heads are found among the Assyrians and Persians.

The aliens conducted experiments on the hybridization of a variety of animals. The historian Eusebius, based on more ancient sources, describes the monsters that the gods created in time immemorial:

Human beings with goat thighs and horns on their heads; others are half people, half horses (centaurs); bulls with human heads; dog-like creatures with fish tails; horses with dog heads and other dragon-like creatures.

In 1850, the famous French archaeologist Auguste Marriet discovered huge vaulted crypts (so-called crypts) in the area of the Saqqara pyramid, in which hundreds of sarcophagi, carved from solid pieces of granite, were preserved. Their dimensions surprised scientists: length - 3.85 meters, width - 2.25 meters, height - 2.5 meters, wall thickness - 0.42 meters, cover thickness 0.43 meters; the total weight of the “coffin” and the lid was about 1 ton.

Inside the sarcophagi were crushed animal remains mixed with a viscous liquid similar to resin. In some burials, small figurines with images of ancient gods were found. After studying fragments of bodies, Marriet came to the conclusion that they were hybrids of a wide variety of animals. The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and were convinced that a living creature could only be reborn if its body was embalmed and retained its appearance. They were afraid of the creatures created by the gods and, in order to prevent the monsters from being resurrected in a new life, they dismembered their bodies into small pieces, placed them in coffins, filled them with resin, and covered them with massive lids on top.

During excavations in the Gobi Desert, the Belgian scientist Friedrich Meissner discovered a human skull with horns. At first, he assumed that the horns were somehow embedded in the skull, that is, they were transplanted, but studies by pathologists showed that these were natural formations: they formed and grew during the life of this creature.

Several human skulls with horns like this one were discovered in a burial mound in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s. With the exception of bony projections located about two inches above the eyebrows, the people to whom the skeletons belonged were anatomically normal, although they were seven feet tall. It was estimated that the bodies were buried around 1200 AD. The bones were sent to the American Exploration Museum in Philadelphia, where they happily disappeared, never to be seen again.

Similar skulls were found by an Israeli archaeological expedition led by Professor Chaim Rasmon during excavations of the ruins of Subeit. In the lowest cultural layers dating back to the Bronze Age, archaeologists discovered human skeletons whose skulls were crowned with horns. They were held in the skulls so firmly that experts could not come to a clear conclusion whether the horns grew naturally or were somehow “implanted.” Images and reliefs of people with horns are also found in other regions of the world, for example, in Peru.

Doctor of Biological Sciences P. Marikovsky, studying Stone Age rock paintings in the western spurs of the Dzungarian Alatau in the territory of Mesopotamia, discovered images of obvious mutants: mountain goats with two heads; goats with long tails like wolves; unknown animals with straight, stick-like horns; horses with humps like a camel; horses with long horns; camels with horns; centaurs.

Rock paintings, reliefs, sculptures depicting hybrid animals can be seen in different parts of the globe among different peoples. Particularly common are images of the sphinx - a creature with a human head and the body of some animal (lion, snake, dog, etc.), sometimes with the wings of an eagle. The Egyptians depicted three types of sphinxes: with the head of a man and the body of a lion, with the head of a ram and with the head of a falcon. The ancient Greeks created images of half-maidens and half-lionesses.

Perhaps the aliens conducted genetic experiments to create humanoids, as well as various hybrids of humans and animals in the Middle Ages. In the chronicles of the Mongols, curious evidence of unusual children has been preserved:

A khan named Sarva, who was the son of Kushal, the khan of Indian Magada, had the youngest of five sons with turquoise hair and flat arms and legs; his eyes closed from bottom to top...

Since Duva Sokhor had a single eye in the middle of his forehead, he could see at a distance of three nomads.

Medieval scientists reported about the birth of various freaks: A Pare, U. Aldrovandi, Lycosthenes. There is information about the birth of children with the head of a cat, dog, and also with the body of a reptile.

Currently, the media provides numerous information about the birth of deformed children with gills, with cat-like, vertically located pupils, cyclops with one eye in the forehead, with membranes between the fingers and toes, with green or blue skin. In March 2000, a message appeared that in India, in one of the hospitals in the city of Pollachi (Tamil Nadu), a “mermaid” was born - a girl with a fish tail instead of legs. She lived very briefly; her body was transferred to one of the medical institutions for study. In March 2001, the Ananova news agency reported that in India, near Parappanangadi, a strange baby was born to an ordinary sheep. The unusual lamb had no hair on its body, and its nose, eyes, mouth, tongue and teeth were similar to human ones, and its entire face generally resembled the face of a bald man in dark sunglasses. The mutant (or hybrid?) lived only a few hours after birth. Perhaps all these freaks are echoes of experiments conducted by aliens on people in the distant past. Another option cannot be ruled out - genetic experiments on our planet continue.

The classic centaur is a creature with the body and legs of a horse and a human head and arms. However, there are many variations in its appearance. The centaur could also be winged. In all these cases he remained a horse man. During the Middle Ages, Onocentaur (a combination of man and donkey), Bucentaur (buffalo man), and Leontocentaur (lion man) appeared. In Indian art there is a famous image of a man with the legs of a buffalo (or horse) and the tail of a fish.

To designate creatures that are not similar in appearance to a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term “centauroids” is used in the scientific literature.

The image of the centaur apparently originated in Babylon in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Kassite nomads who came to Mesopotamia from Iran around 1750 BC. e., waged a fierce struggle with Egypt and Assyria for dominion in the Middle East. Along the borders of their empire, the Kassites erected huge stone statues of guardian gods, among them centaurs. One of them depicted a winged creature with a horse's body, two faces - a human one, looking forward, and a dragon one, looking back, and two tails (a horse and a scorpion); in his hands is a bow with a taut string. Another famous monument is a statue of a classic centaur without wings, with one head and one tail, ready to shoot his opponent with his bow. Of course, the fact that the Kassites depicted a centaur in their sculptures does not mean at all that they invented it, but since the Kassite empire ceased to exist by the middle of the 12th century BC. e., we can rightfully say that the history of the centaur goes back more than three thousand years.

The appearance of the image of a centaur suggests that already during the Kassites the horse played an important role in human life. The oldest mention of a horse—the “donkey of the west” or “mountain donkey”—we find on a clay Babylonian tablet dating back to 2100 BC. e. However, centuries passed before the horse became a common human companion in the Middle East. It is very likely that the Kassite nomads contributed to the spread of horses and chariots. It is possible that the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as a whole being, but most likely the Mediterranean inhabitants, who were prone to inventing “composite” creatures, simply reflected the spread of the horse when they invented the centaur.

So, the creature known as a centaur appeared in the Middle East between 1750 and 1250 BC. e. and served as a guardian spirit, whose main weapon was a bow and arrow. The Kassites, who had extensive trade connections, brought the centaur to the Mycenaean civilization, which also disappeared by the middle of the 12th century BC. e. From Crete he came to Ancient Greece. Depiction of the battle between Theseus and a centaur on an amphora from the 8th century BC. e. indicates that by this time the Greeks had already developed a mythology that incorporated Mycenaean heroes.

Centaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with the head and torso of a man and the body of a horse. Centaurs had horse ears, rough and bearded faces. As a rule, they were naked and armed with a club, a stone or a bow. In the earliest depictions, centaurs were endowed with both human and equine genitalia
According to Pindar's Pythian (c. 518-442 or 438 BC), the centaurs were considered descendants - direct or through their common ancestor Centaur - the Thessalian king of the Lapith tribe titanium Ixion, the son of Ares, and the cloud, which by the will of Zeus took the form of Hera, on whom Ixion attempted (according to another interpretation, the descendants of Ixion and the Titanide of the clouds Nephele, ancient Greek “cloud”, “cloud”)

“And Ixion lit the powerful heart of the goddess Hera with the fire of titanium. That fire did not hide from the world ruler; he decided to punish Ixion. And, according to Kronid’s insidious intent, a cloudy ghost in the form of Hera descended from the sky to Ixion to cool the heat of the fire in the Lapita leader. And it was not a deceiving ghost, but the goddess of the clouds Nephele: Nephele deceived the crafty Zeus. ANDfrom Ixion the Titan gave birth to Nephele a wonder: not a man, not a horse, not a tree, not a titan, not a god and not a beast, but both, and another, and a third: he was a horse, and a man, and a tree - a piece of a beast, god and titan. He was mortal and he was immortal." Y.E. Golosovker “Tales of the Titans”

According to Thessalian legends as presented by Lucan (39-65 AD), Nephele gave birth to centaurs in the Pelephronian cave. According to another myth, they were the children of the Centaur - the son of Apollo and the oceanid (daughter of Ocean and Tethys) or the daughter of the river god Peneus and the nymph Creusa, Stilba. According to another legend, the centaurs were the sons of Apollo himself. Diodorus Siculus (approx. 90 - 30 BC) cites in the “Historical Library” the views that existed in his time that the centaurs were raised on the Pelion Peninsula by nymphs and, having matured, entered into relations with the Magnesian mares, from what were you born for? binatural centaurs or hippocentaurs. According to another myth, a descendant of Apollo, the Centaur, entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares.

Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 636). wrote in “Etymology” “Hippocentaurs have a mixed nature - human and horse, their heads are covered with hair, like animals, but otherwise they look like ordinary people and can even speak, but since their lips are unusual for human speech, words cannot be isolated from the sounds they make . They are called hippocentaurs, because it is believed that they combined human and horse nature.»

Pliny (c. 23–79 AD) wrote in Natural History that he saw a hippocentaur preserved in honey and sent from Egypt as a gift to the emperor.
“Caesar Claudius, brother of Caligula, writes that a Hippocentaur was born in Thessaly and died on the same day, and during the reign of this emperor we saw how a similar creature was brought in honey from Egypt.”

The Odyssey describes the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Peirytoon, got drunk on wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, his ears and nose were cut off and thrown out. The centaur called on his brothers for revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.

The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temperament. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive creature. The Greek centaur is practically human, but his behavior changes dramatically under the influence of wine. Homer writes: “It was wine that was to blame for the outrages that the famous centaur Eurytion committed in the palace of the magnanimous Peiritoon in Lapita. His mind went wild with intoxication. And in his rage he caused a lot of trouble in the house of Peiritoon... Since then, enmity between people and centaurs has continued. And he was the first to feel the evil of drunkenness.”
The centaur was a popular subject in vase painting. Its artistic embodiment depended on which centaur was depicted on the vase. The two most "civilized" centaurs, Cheiron and Pholos, were usually depicted with human legs, while the entire back of their bodies remained equine. Heiron is almost always clothed and may have had human ears. Pholos, on the contrary, most often appears naked and certainly with horse ears.

The centaur with four horse legs was perceived by the Greeks more as an animal than as a person. Despite the human head, his ears are almost always horse ears, and his face is rough and bearded. The centaur was usually depicted naked, with male and equine genitalia at the same time. The image of a centaur, of course, was not common to all of Greece: in the continental part of it, centaurs were depicted with disheveled long hair, and in Ionia and Etruria - with short hair. These creatures did not necessarily have a bow with them - more often a log or cobblestone. The depiction of the death of Caineus at the Battle of Lapita can be called classic: the centaurs bury the dying hero under a mountain of logs and stones.

The vase by Clytius (560 BC) depicts both types of centaurs: on the one hand, Cheiron, dressed in a chiton and leading a procession of gods in honor of the newlywed couple (Peleus and Thetias), greets the groom in a friendly manner; on the reverse side is a scene from the Battle of Lapita. The painting symbolizes the duality of the nature of the centaurs, contrasting Heiron, who submitted to the order established by people, and other centaurs who threaten this order with their wild disposition.

These two types are not the only ones, but only the most common in Greece. In addition to them, winged centaurs were depicted, indicating that the Kassite tradition had not completely died. Several Cypriot terracotta figures from the 7th century BC. e. can rightfully be called “centauroids”. Unlike the Minotaur with a human body and a buffalo head, these creatures have human heads (sometimes with horns) and buffalo bodies, which is probably associated with the cult of the god of fertility - the bull.

Most often, centaurs were characterized as wild and unrestrained, with unpredictable manifestations of violence, creatures in which animal nature predominated. Centaurs were distinguished by their violence, tendency to drunkenness and hostility towards people. But wise centaurs were also known among them, first of all, the already mentioned Phol and Chiron, friends and teachers of Hercules and others.

A popular poetic subject of antiquity, depicted in the Parthenon of Phidias (c. 490 BC - c. 430 BC), glorified in the Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD). BC) and inspired Rubens, was centauromachy - the battle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, which flared up due to the unbridled temper of the latter at the wedding feast of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous.
“Homer’s Odyssey also describes the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Pirithous, got drunk on wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, his ears and nose were cut off and thrown out. The centaur called on his brothers for revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.

If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in Ancient Rome he turned into the peace-loving companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in “Metamorphoses”.

The death of the centaurs and their role in the death of Hercules

The centaur Nessus, according to Sophocles, played a fatal role in the death of Hercules. He tried to kidnap Hercules' wife Dejanira, but was struck down by an arrow containing the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Dying, Nessus decided to take revenge on Hercules, advising Deianira to collect his blood, as it would supposedly help her retain the love of Hercules. Dejanira soaked Hercules' clothes with the poisonous blood of Nessus, and he died in terrible agony.

Centaurids - female centaurs

Along with male centaurs, Greek legends sometimes described centaurids(centaurs). Their image is quite rare in myths and paintings, and even then, they are more often characterized as nymphs. The few authors who mention the existence of centaurids described them as physically and spiritually beautiful creatures. The most famous centaurid was Gilonoma, the wife of the centaur Killar (Tsillar).

Varieties of centaurs. Centauroids

There are quite a few variations in the appearance of centaurs. Sometimes they were even depicted as winged, with a second dragon head (in Babylon, Crete). To designate creatures that look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term “k” is used in the literature. entauroids" Centauroids were especially popular in the Middle Ages. These included onocentaur(donkey man) bookentaur(bull man) kerasts(buffalo man) Leontocentaur(lion man), ichthyocentaur(a creature that combines in its appearance elements of fish, horses and humans). The most ancient terracotta figurines of centauroids with a human head and a buffalo body from the 7th century. BC. found in Cyprus.

I observed a large number of various creatures - chimeras, close to the centauroids described above, in the Thai temple of Wat Pho in Bangkok.

Polkan and Kitovras

Centaurs also included Slavic demigods Polkan And Kitovras(daemon Asmodeus among the Jews) and their relatives (probably Polkan and Kitovras were one and the same creature). Polkan was unusually strong and quick. He had the body and build of a man up to the waist, and below the waist he was like a horse. When the ancient Slavs fought, Polkan and his relatives tried to come to their aid and fought so bravely that their glory survived the centuries. Kitovras had the same appearance as Polkan and was famous for his intelligence. Caught by King Solomon, he surprised him with his wisdom

No less a mystery than the image of the centaur itself is his name. Neither Homer nor the other ancient Greek poet Hesiod, when mentioning centaurs, describe their appearance, unless, of course, the characteristic “hairy people-beasts” is considered one. Although images of horses with human heads have been found since the 8th century BC. e., there is no reason to believe that in Homer’s time the idea of “semi-bestial” creatures was so widespread that it did not need comment. The modern English writer Robert Graves, who turned a lot to the era of antiquity in his work, believed that Homer called centaurs representatives of a warlike tribe who worshiped horses. Under the leadership of their king Heiron, the centaurs opposed their enemies, the Lapitas, together with the Achaeans.

The debate about the origin of the word "centaur" has never subsided. According to different versions, it could come from the Latin “centuria” - “hundred” or the Greek “centron” - “goat”, “kenteo” - “hunt, pursue” and “tavros” - “bull”.

The first ancient Greek poet to mention the equine nature of centaurs was Pindar (c. 518-442 or 438 BC). In "Pythian" he talks about the emergence of centaurs. A lapit named Ixion falls in love with Hera, and Zeus, in revenge, sends to him a cloud resembling a goddess in appearance. Ixion copulates with the cloud, and it gives birth to a child: “This mother brought him monstrous offspring. There has never been such a mother, nor such a child, whom neither people nor gods accepted. She raised him and named him Centaur. From his union with the Magnesian mare, an unprecedented tribe arose, the lower part inherited from the mother, and the upper part from the father.” On the other hand, according to Pindar, the origin of Cheiron was completely different. He is “the son of Philir, a descendant of Cronus, who once ruled a huge kingdom and was the son of Heaven.” Heiron married a girl named Hariko, and they had completely human-looking daughters. He, apparently, was the only “home” centaur. It was Cheiron who was the teacher of Achilles and Hercules.

The story of another centaur - Nessos - came to us thanks to the tragedy of Sophocles (5th century BC). Hercules takes his bride Deianeira to his house. The centaur makes money by transporting people across the Even River. Deianeira sits on his back to get to the other side, but in the middle of the Nessos River he grabs her and tries to dishonor her. Hercules saves the bride by piercing the centaur in the chest with a spear. Dying, Nessos advises Deianeira to collect his blood and use it as a love potion in case Hercules ever falls in love with another woman. Deianeira dips the edge of her tunic in the centaur's blood. When Hercules puts on his tunic, the poison-soaked fabric sticks to his body and causes such excruciating pain that he throws himself into the fire. If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in Ancient Rome he turned into the peace-loving companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made, of course, by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in Metamorphoses. The poet adds many details to the story of Peirithoun's marriage and the subsequent battle. Not only Tholos and Nessos take part in the battle, but also other centaurs, who are the figment of Ovid’s imagination. Among them, Tsillar and Gilonoma are of greatest interest.

Tsillar is a young, blond centaur, Gilonoma is his beloved, a centaur girl with long hair decorated with roses, violets and white lilies, “whose beauty was not in the forests.” When Tsillar dies in battle, Gilonoma throws herself on the spear that pierced her lover and merges with him in a final embrace. This story of a beautiful centaur, his feminine lover, their faithful love and touching suicide contrasts with the image of the wild and untamed Greek centaur.

The oldest horoscope that has come down to us was compiled around 410 BC. e. in Babylon. There is no doubt that the zodiac Sagittarius (Centaur), as well as Scorpio and Capricorn (Ey’s “antelope of the underground ocean”), are images inspired by Kassite border monuments. Along with the constellation Centaur-Sagittarius, there is also the Southern Centaur. Under the name of the zodiac Capricorn, the centaur also entered the art of the Islamic world.

The consolidation of the centaur as one of the zodiac symbols played a role in the fact that the memory of him was preserved in the Middle Ages. In the bestiaries, the image of the onocentaur, the donkey man, was clearly associated with the devil. The medieval centaur was always depicted dressed in a tunic or cloak and certainly holding a combat bow in his hands. This is how he can be seen on the coat of arms of the English king Stephen I. There are also images of a centaur with human hands, awkwardly standing on the only hind legs of a horse.

In the Bayonne tapestry, which depicts scenes from the Norman conquest of England (11th century AD), in the episode depicting Harold on his way to William the Conqueror, there are five long-haired, clothed centaurs, two of them winged. And in the episode "Harold Saves Two Soldiers" a centauroid with lion paws is depicted. A stone statue of another Leontocentaur can be seen in Westminster Abbey in London.

In Dante's Divine Comedy we meet Cheiron, Nessos and Tholos in the seventh circle of hell, where they throw the souls of “rapists” into a river of boiling blood. Dante manages to list most of the mythological features of centaurs in a short passage. When Cheiron notices Dante and Virgil, he takes an arrow from the quiver hanging at his hips and straightens his beard so that it does not interfere with his conversation. Heiron is not devoid of intelligence: he sees that the foot of “the one behind moves what it touches” and understands that Dante is alive. Nessos remembers his lifetime craft and transports Dante and Virgil across the bloody river Phlegethon. Centaurs of the seventh circle are “guardians and stewards of eternal justice.”

The only thing that Dante missed in the description of the “fleet-footed beasts” was that he did not indicate their equine nature. The educated Italian, no doubt, not only read Ovid, but also saw the bronze Roman centaurs, believing that his readers were no less familiar with them. However, comedy illustrators seem to have had a significant gap in this regard. One of them depicted a centaur with a human head growing straight from the chest of a horse, without arms or torso, of course. Faced with the task of depicting centaur archers, the artist was completely at a loss and painted them simply as naked men.

In Lefebvre's History of Troy, a centaur for some unknown reason becomes an ally of the Trojans. The centaur “with a mane like a horse, eyes red as coals, shot accurately from his bow; This beast struck terror into the Greeks and struck many of them with his arrows.” Apparently, this particular story was known to Shakespeare. In Troilus and Cressida, the hero of the Trojan War, Menelaus, says: “The terrible centaur has struck fear into our warriors.” In Shakespeare's Centaur, the Greek image of this creature is revived - a threat to social order.

In the 19th century, the image of the centaur attracted even greater interest in literature and art. Goethe made Cheiron one of the central figures in the description of Walpurgis Night in Faust. Here Heiron again becomes a wise and kind creature. It is he who takes Faust to meet Helen. For Goethe, Heiron is the personification of male beauty - “he is half-human and an impeccable runner.”

The centaur was depicted on their canvases and in the cultures of Botticelli, Pisanello, Michelangelo, Rubens, Beckling, Rodin, Picasso and many others. Many literary works and scientific works are dedicated to him. In the 19th century, the centaur also did not remain forgotten.

Even such controversial information can be found on the Internet:

However, it would be strange if an absolutely fictional creature were so

was often mentioned in various literary sources, so often
depicted by sculptors and painters. It is widely known that
the prototype of sea sirens were real animals with the same
name, and on the island of Komodo there are truly dragon-like monitor lizards
sizes.

Recently, supporters of the version about the reality of centaurs received
irrefutable evidence that you are right. Archaeological excavations
near El-Ayoum (Western Sahara) all the secrets and speculations were dispelled - there
more than a dozen centaur skeletons were discovered, many of which
quite well preserved. Professor at the California Institute
natural sciences by J.R.R. Epstein using the method of Professor Gerasimov
restored the appearance of the centaur (see Fig. N1).

The dimensions of the centaur are by no means gigantic: at the withers - about a meter, from
front hooves to the top of the head - about eighty meters. Brain volume
slightly less than in humans, but more than in chimpanzees and gorillas.
Of great interest to researchers was the question of how they were located
internal organs in two cavities. It turned out that the entire upper anterior
The (humanoid) part was filled with respiratory organs. Powerful
lungs with large bronchi made centaurs unusually hardy,
besides, obviously, the centaurs were very loud, and
therefore, hearing loss. In the lower back part just behind the middle belt
limbs, protected by the collarbones and shoulder blades, there was a huge
heart. Behind the heart there is a voluminous stomach and long intestines, which
indicates that the centaurs ate mainly grass. By
on the sides, near the ribs, the centaurs had air bubbles similar to those
Birds have it. During inhalation, they were filled with air, so that later, during
exhalation time, fill your lungs with this air. So the centaurs
were the only mammals with double breathing.

Classifying a centaur proved extremely difficult. Quicker
In total, this is a special class of six-legged vertebrates of the chordate type -
dead-end branch. The prehistoric ancestors of the centaurs apparently lived in
forests, moved on all six limbs and were much more
slow. Protocentaurs (Protocentaurus vulgaris) looked like
otherwise: the limbs were short and clumsy, the front part was not at all
resembled a human one. They lived in dens and were omnivores. However, with
climate change made the protocentaurs steppe animals, which
required them to move at a higher speed. Wherein
the front part of the body lifted off the ground and lightened, and the back part
on the contrary, the middle and hind limbs have become more massive
noticeably stretched out. Further, in the process of evolution, the back part of the body is all
more reminiscent of a horse, since the living conditions and lifestyle
centaurs were exactly the same as wild horses. The front one
part, having lightened and become vertical, was freed up for useful
labor, the forelimbs gradually began to resemble human
hands. Thus, we can say with complete confidence that labor
made from a protocentaur - a real centaur (Centaurus centaurus).

It remains a mystery whether the centaurs were intelligent. Mythology says
“Yes” (see the myths about Jason, about Lapith, etc.), but science does not have
reliable data on this matter. Unfortunately this is a mystery
insoluble, since all the centaurs have already died out. It can be assumed, that
people are to blame for this. Many literary sources - for example, the myth of
Lapitha - tells about the enmity between people and centaurs. Obviously bulky and
clumsy, the centaurs could not stand the competition with the dexterous and
mobile people. Presumably, already in the first millennium BC
era, centaurs were completely ousted from the territory of Ancient Greece and from
Europe in general. Driven into the sands of the Sahara, shrinking groups
Centaurs could survive until the first centuries of our era. Last thing
a mention of a meeting with centaurs can be found in Capaglia’s treatise “My
travel to distant shores."

sources

http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/sf/schen021.htm

http://www.dopotopa.com/kentavru_-_poluljudi_-_polukoni_iz_grecheskih_predaniy.html

http://godsbay.ru/paint/centaurs.html

http://m.mirtesen.ru/groups/30029300044/blog/43936541976

And I’ll also remind you whether it really came from and where it came from. Do you know the answer to the question, and maybe The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

Most often, centaurs were characterized as wild and unrestrained, with unpredictable manifestations of violence, creatures in which animal nature predominated. Centaurs were distinguished by their violence, tendency to drunkenness and hostility towards people.But wise centaurs were also known among them, first of all, the already mentioned Phol and Chiron, friends and teachers of Hercules and others.

A popular poetic subject of antiquity, depicted in the Parthenon of Phidias (c. 490 BC - c. 430 BC), glorified in the Metamorphoses of Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD). BC) and inspired Rubens, was centauromachy - the battle with the centaurs, which flared up due to the unbridled temper of the latter at the wedding feast of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous.
“Homer’s Odyssey also describes the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Pirithous,got drunk on wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, his ears and nose were cut off and thrown out. The centaur called on his brothers for revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.

The death of the centaurs and their role in the death of Hercules

The centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly until the day when they were defeated by the Lapiths and Hercules scattered them throughout Hellas. Most of the centaurs, according to Euripides’ tragedy “Hercules” (416 BC), were killed by Hercules. Those who escaped from him listened to the sirens, stopped eating and died of hunger. According to one story, Poseidon hid them in a mountain at Eleusis.
The centaur Nessus, according to Sophocles, played a fatal role in the death of Hercules. He tried to kidnap Hercules' wife Dejanira, but was struck down by an arrow containing the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Dying, Nessus decided to take revenge on Hercules, advising Deianira to collect his blood, as it would supposedly help her retain the love of Hercules. Dejanira soaked Hercules' clothes with the poisonous blood of Nessus, and he died in terrible agony.

Centaurids - female centaurs

Varieties of centaurs. Centauroids

Knightmare is a mythical unicorn with a flaming fire instead of a mane. The Knightmare's fur is black with a bluish tint, its eyes are yellow or orange, without pupils. They are afraid of sunlight. They live in forests and near mountain meadows. The hooves of these unicorns are charged with a lot of negative energy. The blood of Knightmares is used by black magicians to prepare powerful poisons. These creatures are dangerous to approach, they are capable of breathing fire and tearing flesh with a single bite. Even a self-rescuer cannot save you from Knightmares. At the site of the death of the knightmare, a plant with dark poisonous berries grows. Untamed knightmares serve only their own thirst and anger. Unlike normal horses, Knightmares are intelligent and use the horse form only to deceive others. These black unicorns know your worst fears, and if you fall asleep in a place where they are found, they will appear in your dreams in the form of your fear.

Leber is a horse with swan wings. Lebers usually live in small herds, and most often fly to the coast of Loch Ness. Leber is distinguished not only by his specific swan appearance, but also by the so-called swan loyalty... This horse will be with you until your death, and will never betray you.

Continued under the cut. A lot of!

Kirin is a Japanese unicorn, a mythical creature that personified the desire for a bountiful harvest and personal security. It is said that he is a fierce follower of justice and law, and that he sometimes appeared in court, killed the guilty and saved the innocent. Kirin is the most important animal deity. The Japanese Kirin, unlike the Chinese Qilin, acquired much more “aggressive” features. So, for example, the ability to demand sacrifice for the bestowal of strength began to be attributed to him.
The Japanese kirin has many descriptions, but is most often depicted as having a scaly body reminiscent of a sika deer, a single horn, and a bushy tail. His body is often enveloped in flames, and the creature can breathe fire. According to mythology, he came out of the He Tu River, and on his back was a numerological diagram, which was called “He Tu”. This amazing animal does not step on plants and does not eat animal food. It is believed that Kirin is a messenger of favorable events, a symbol of prosperity and good luck. This celestial being lives for two thousand years, and can be seen only once every millennium, at the beginning of a new era - as they say, he appears at the birth of a great leader. Supposedly, Confucius's mother met Kirin before the birth of her child.
If the name is literally translated, “ki” and “rin” mean the male and female principles of the animal, and connect it with the yin-yang philosophy. In modern Japanese, "kirin" translates to "giraffe".

Thestral - Skeletal horses of enormous size. They can only be seen by those who have seen death. Thestrals are attracted to the smell of meat and blood. They are flying creatures. They are well oriented in space. But both Thestrals and Nightmares have a special dark beauty and require a very respectful attitude. Most likely the word "thestral" comes from the English word "thester" - darkness, gloom, dark. This word is rare and is not found in all dictionaries. But there is another curious fact that proves the linguistic relationship of thestrals with the Nightmares of Greek myths. The most famous Nightmares are those four individuals who were harnessed to the chariot of the Greek god of war, Ares. And Ares had two sons - Deimos (horror) and Phobos (fear). So, Phobos in Latin is “thestius”.

Amister A type of magical horse. Amisters are one of the most unusual mystical creatures. Despite their terrifying appearance, Amistras are kind and loyal companions, although it is not so easy to tame them, much less find them; they are found very rarely and, as a rule, in the most unexpected places. Amisters are immortal animals, it is impossible to kill them, since they, in fact, do not represent completely living matter, they are, as it were, woven from magic, fire and night. Graceful, black as night itself, Amistras are deadly in battle, incredibly fast, and their loyalty is legendary. The black skin of these magical horses shimmers with all shades of black and crimson, the tail and mane seem to be woven from tongues of magical flame, which does not burn only those whom the horse trusts. Amister's eyes burn with hellish fire, their breath is scorching, their hooves are hot to the limit, and stones melt under their steps. Many have tried to find Amisters, but so far not a single mortal has succeeded, although there are often rumors that they have sometimes seen a fiery horse in the night and heard its heartbreaking roar.

Tersan. No one knows for sure about their origin, but there is a legend. One day Neptune fell in love with a beautiful mermaid. There was nothing more beautiful than her in the world. They saw each other every day, but one day the mermaid did not appear. Neptune became worried. His servant sailed and notified Neptune that his beloved had been caught by evil people and wanted to show her around the world, but they had taken her to the other side of the world. Then Neptune called upon the powers of the oceans and seas and created a hundred Tersans. Faster than the speed of the wind, he rushed to the mermaid, but found that she was dead. The mermaid resisted, and the people killed her. Neptune grieved for a long time and ordered the Tersans to go ashore every night and leave bloody footprints in memory of the mermaid. They live exclusively in water, but at night they come ashore for just a couple of minutes and beat blood out of the sand or stones with their hooves. Nobody knows where they get the scarlet blood from. And why they come ashore at all also remains a mystery, because their environment is water and they feed, live and reproduce in water. Their bodies are made of their water. They are strong like a tsunami, fast like a hurricane and beautiful like the ocean. Their bodies are seething like boiling water. Their eyes are pearls of extraordinary beauty. Their blood is water from the purest waters on earth. When they come ashore, their bodies transform at the speed of the wave, and they become snow-white horses. But this lasts for several minutes.

Sleipnir - in German-Scandinavian mythology, Odin's eight-legged horse on which he travels between worlds. Odin's horse Sleipnir is also a huge ash tree that unites the heavenly, earthly and underworld worlds. So in this case, the image of a horse is associated with the universe as a whole. Sleipnir had a gray color, eight legs, and could ride on land and water. Symbolizes the wind blowing from eight main points.

Kelpie. This water demon, native to England and Ireland, can take many forms, although it most often appears as a horse with a mane of reeds. In Scottish lower mythology - a water spirit that lives in many rivers and lakes. Kelpies are mostly hostile to humans. They appear in the form of a horse grazing by the water, offering its back to the traveler. Demons also lure bathing children, and those, amazed by the beauty and docile nature of the horse, trustingly sat on it for a ride. The kelpie immediately rushed into the depths of the reservoir, carrying away its prey. The man’s legs were glued to the sides of the horse, and his hands to the mane, so there was no salvation for the man who sat on Kelpie. They say that Kelpies are able to jump on the surface of the water as if on land.

K'yaard is a very complex and difficult companion, which not every rider is able to cope with. Moreover, k'yaard chooses a rider for himself, as a rule once and for the rest of his life, and remains faithful to him to the end. Forcibly tame and enslave k'yaard is impossible. So what is a k'yaard? This beautiful, albeit frightening, animal is often called “a relative of the snake,” and obviously for good reason - at least many of the features of these creatures clearly do not belong to the horse breed. According to the build of the k'yaard equal to a medium or tall horse, its features are graceful but strong. Bred in places located on islands. Can gallop on the surface of water and through the air. Differs from ordinary ones only in the presence of huge fangs. Vampires usually use them to get out of the island onto the continent.

Herd of Coliostro. Magic horses of the Calyosto live in the taiga, from birth each individual is associated with a wolf, when one dies, another dies after it

Gurria. A variety of magical horses, the most unusual and rare of all known.
Gurria is the rarest creature in all of Avalor. Traditions and legends are written about them, songs and ballads are sung about them.
Few people have seen this mysterious creature, many consider the existence of the Gurria to be a myth, but only the ancients know that this is not the fruit of phantasia, they know that the Gurria still exist today.
Little remains of the description of these magical creatures; it is known that in appearance the Gurrii resemble the Frestals, but are also very different from them.
Gurriyas are majestic, proud creatures, dexterous and graceful, devoted and faithful, kind and at the same time merciless towards their enemies. The color of these horses is completely different but at the same time unusual, the wings are huge and wonderfully reminiscent of the huge wings of the ancient metamorphs who once lived in these lands. According to legend, the Gurria originated from metamorphs who left their lands and took the form of wonderful horses.
Gurriya magic is unique, but not fully studied, and is hidden behind many secrets and mysteries. There have been many hypotheses that the Gurrii have human speech and are able to communicate with each other at a distance using telepathy, but this is just one of many other assumptions and guesses...
During the great battle with dragons, Hurriyas were destroyed in large numbers for their loyalty and mutual assistance to the enemy. Now - they have gone down in history as well as the completely exterminated metamorphs, defeated in the battle for their faith and freedom...

Noggle. In the folklore of the Shetland Islanders there is a water horse. As a rule, the noggle appears on land under the guise of a wonderful bay horse, saddled and bridled. Noggle is not as dangerous as the kelpie, but he never refuses to pull one or the other of his two favorite jokes. If at night he sees work in full swing at the water mill, he grabs the wheel and stops it. You can drive it away by showing a knife or sticking a burning branch out the window. He also likes to pester travelers. As soon as someone sits on it, the noggle rushes into the water. However, apart from swimming, nothing threatens the rider: once in the water, the noggle disappears with a flash of blue flame. To avoid confusing a noggle with a horse, you should look at the tail: the noggle's tail curls over its back.

eh-eshka. In Scottish folklore there are two water horses, gray in color, treacherous and dangerous. Sometimes they turn into beautiful young men or giant birds. Eh-ear in the form of a person can be recognized by the algae in his hair. Introducing itself as a horse, the eh-ear seems to invite you to sit on itself, but whoever dares to do so faces a tragic end: the horses jump into the water and devour their rider, and then the waves throw the victim’s liver ashore. Unlike kelpies, which live in running water, ech-ears live in seas and lakes.

Lame Argamak.
Each pegasus had its own rider, but with the advent of Christianity, all magical animals began to be hunted, including pegasi. Something happened to his rider, so they seized the pegasus, but all attempts to tame him led to nothing, and as a warning to the “fiend of hell,” they cut his wings so that he could not fly without pain, and attached knives to his legs so that he could not gallop without pain. pain, and gouged out his eyes so that he could not see beauty. After all this, he became embittered with the world, and they gave him the name Lame Argamak....
Argamak is the horse of death, which gallops over the earth and cuts the threads of life. And if he throws off the bonds from his muzzle, his voice, or rather howl and groan similar to a neigh, will kill all living things...

Horse Hel.
In the old days, before they began burying the dead in a new cemetery, a live horse was buried there. This horse appears as a ghost and is known as the Horse of Hel. She walks on three legs and foretells death to anyone who sees her. This is where the saying comes from about someone who managed to recover from a dangerous illness: “He gave death oats” (to appease or bribe it).
The horse Hel sometimes appears in the cathedral in Aarus. One man, whose windows overlooked the cemetery at the cathedral, saw her one day from his window. “What kind of horse is that?” “This must be Hel’s horse,” answered the one sitting next to him. “Well, I’ll look at her!” said the man. Looking out the window, he became pale as a corpse, but did not tell anyone what he saw. Soon after, he fell ill and died.

Fasfer.
Fasfer is a demonic horse that became a victim of human cruelty. They caught him and chained him, tightened him very tightly and tied the bridle so that the rusty bit would tear his mouth. They stuck a chain into my back so that it came out of my stomach. After all the torment he endured, he became embittered with people. And he kills everyone who gets in his way. There is a legend that k"yaard is the son of Fasfer.

A horse is a person.

Proverbs of the Russian people. - M.: Fiction. V. I. Dal. 1989.

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Women horse, daughter, darling; little horse, night; horses; generally a horse; esp. neither a stallion nor a mare, a gelding. According to use, it can be: harness, horseback, pack; and the first: main, drawbar, drawbar, outrigger (seat and arm). He… … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

HORSE, horses, many horses, horses, art. horses, women (Turkic, cf. Kazakh. alasa). 1. A domestic animal walking in harness or under saddle. Workhorse. Riding horse. A pair of horses. Racing horse. Cavalry horse. Drill horse... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

- (riding, well-travelled, pack, good-riding, harness), horse (bityuk, trotter, racehorse, root horse (root), drawn; stallion, foal, nag, mare, gelding, pony, pacer), bucephalus, pegasus, rossinante; Oder. A selected pair or three of horses... ... Synonym dictionary

horse- HORSE, horse, trotter, racer, iron. Rocinante, trad. poet. sivka burka, outdated bucephalus, colloquial horse, loose, neglected nag, colloquial horse, colloquial oder, colloquial Savras and razg. Savraska, colloquial Sivka and razg. Sivko, colloquial reduction horse and colloquial reduce... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

Horse- HORSE. Asia (Iran) is considered to be the homeland of L., but the latest scientific research. The data make it undeniable that in Europe, before the migration of peoples from Asia to it, there existed its own forest. In what era the domestication of the plant occurred is unknown; but we are this animal... Military encyclopedia

- (Equus caballus; Hebrew sus, parash, rekesh; Greek hippos). Finds made during excavations at Ur show that L. was known in Mesopotamia as a draft animal already in the middle of the 3rd millennium. BC Evidence of the existence of the Mitanni... ... Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia

HORSE, and, pl. and, she, yam, dmi and dami, yah, wives. Large equid animal of the family. equine. Home l. Wild L. Horse L. A pair of horses. Harness the horses. Saddle l. Ride horses. Work like l. (a lot and hard). Well and l. this woman (oh... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Horses, plural horses, horses, art. horses, w. [Turk., cf. Kazakh. – alasa]. 1. A domestic animal walking in harness or under saddle. 2. only plural. Horse-drawn carriage (colloquial). The horses have been served. Large dictionary of foreign words. Publishing house "IDDK", 2007 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

horse- HORSE, and, w. 1. A big ugly woman. 2. only plural, and, her. Horsepower How many horses do you have? (about engine power) ... Dictionary of Russian argot

horse- About the speed and nature of running; about the strength, physical condition, and temper of the horse. Fleet-footed, fast, hardy, hot, two-stranded (colloquial), good-natured (obsolete), driven, overfed (colloquial), scorched, stagnant, exhausted, capricious, strong, ... ... Dictionary of epithets

horse- horse, plural horses, kind. horses, art horses and acceptable horses... Dictionary of difficulties of pronunciation and stress in modern Russian language

Mythical horse with a human face. Mythological horses -

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