Centaurs - half-humans, half-horses from Greek legends - Earth before the Flood: disappeared continents and civilizations. Disappeared inhabitants of the Earth
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 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
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."
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 -Images of gods with the heads of animals and human bodies, or vice versa with the bodies of animals and the heads of people, are found among different nations. It is possible that these creatures are the fruit of genetic experiments by aliens.
Australian sensation
A joint Australian-American expedition that studied cave paintings of primitive people in Australia and South Africa recently discovered more than five thousand Stone Age images, among which there are sketches of half-humans, half-animals: with the body of a horse and the head of a man, or with the head of a bull and a human torso. Drawings of these unknown creatures were made no less than 32 thousand years ago.
Cambridge anthropologist Christopher Chippendale and Sydney historian Paul Tacon, who studied ancient petroglyphs, came to the firm 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. What is especially surprising, however, is that in Australia scientists have found images of centaurs.
It is reliably known that horses have never been 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. And it is by no means excluded, ufologists believe, that these mysterious creatures are the result of genetic experiments by aliens.
Service staff
The hybrids created in vitro, or at least many of them, were intelligent. For example, the god Thoth, who was depicted with the head of an ibis or a baboon, was considered by the Egyptians to be an outstanding scientist: “He knows the heavens, is able to count the stars, list everything that is on earth, and measure the Earth itself.”
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. 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.
Human-beast hybrids or animals endowed with intelligence could be a kind of service personnel and perform 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. During excavations, about 5 thousand drawings were discovered depicting scenes from the life of the Egyptians. Many of them baffle scientists.
Anubis, in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians originally the god of death, the patron of the dead, as well as necropolises, funeral rites and embalming, was usually depicted in the guise of a man with the head of a jackal. Pliny, Paul the Deacon, Marco Polo, and Adam of Bremen wrote about people with dog or jackal heads as real beings. People with a dog's head are also on old Orthodox icons - this is how, in particular, St. Christopher was depicted.
"Mass Graves"
"
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 the skeletons of animals and humans are mixed, and often the human head is missing from the grave, and the set of animal bones is not complete. It is believed that these are the remains of sacrificial gifts. But it is quite possible that these are actually hybrids created by aliens.
The aliens apparently conducted experiments on the hybridization of a variety of animals. 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. 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. 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.
Mysterious cuckolds
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 implanted. However, studies by pathologists have shown that these are 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. The bodies were buried around 1200 AD. The bones were sent to the American Exploration Museum in Philadelphia.
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.
Are the experiments ongoing?
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:
“To a khan named Sarva, the youngest of five sons was born with turquoise-colored hair, his arms and legs were flat; his eyes closed “from bottom to top...”; “since Duva Sokhor had a single eye in the middle of his forehead, he could see a distance of three migrations." Medieval scientists reported about the birth of various freaks: Ambroise Pare, Hugo Apdrovandi, Lycosthenes. There is information about the birth of children with the head of a cat, a dog, and also with the body of a reptile.
Defects transmitted over centuries
What about hermaphrodites? As you know, Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. The legend tells that while traveling, he once stopped at a lake, wanting to swim. The nymph Salmakis, seeing a naked young man, fell madly in love with him, however, not achieving reciprocity, she turned to the gods with a prayer to unite their bodies forever...
There are many bisexual creatures known in Greek mythology. Aesop explained their appearance this way: “One night, after staying with Bacchus, a drunken Prometheus began modeling human bodies in clay, but made several mistakes...”
“First of all, there were people of three sexes, and not two, as today; the third sex combined the qualities of both men and women at the same time; The name that has become abusive remains from him - androgyne, although he himself has disappeared. Terrible in their strength and power, these people harbored great plans and even encroached on the power of the gods: they tried to ascend to heaven in order to attack the inhabitants of heaven.
And then Zeus found a way to save people and put an end to their rampage. He cut them in half, and then they became weaker and more useful to God, because their number increased. When the bodies of these people were cut in half, each half rushed with lust towards its other half, they hugged, intertwined and, passionately wanting to grow together, died of hunger and generally from inaction, because they did not want to do anything separately...
One of the most famous androgynists was Charles d'Eon de Beaumont, also known as Genevieve d'Eon de Beaumont. Born in France at the beginning of the 18th century, this hermaphrodite was raised as a girl until she was three years old, but then decided she wanted to be a boy and spent most of her life disguised as a man.
De Beaumont graduated from military school and achieved considerable success in his army career (possessing, by the way, a magnificent female figure). As a secret agent, he was sent to Russia to spy on Empress Elizabeth, and at the Russian court the androgynous figure appeared as... a maid of honor.
Contemporaries recalled that the bisexual Frenchman had a tremendous influence on the political life of Europe at that time. The benefit he brought to his native country was so great that the great Beaumarchais himself exclaimed: “D"Eon is the new Joan of Arc!" By the way, Beaumarchais saw a woman in Charles and even wanted... to marry him. De Beaumont spent his last years in London, where he lived as a woman, but at the same time earned his living... by fencing lessons.
It is known that the mythical hermaphrodites were indeed happy with their bisexual appearance, but their earthly counterparts, who, by the will of fate, came into this world with abnormalities of the genital organs, can hardly be called happy. After all, the idea that a hermaphrodite is a creature with two full-fledged genital organs, which he can “act” with equally dexterity, is far from the truth.
Program failure or echo of old experiments?
This is what is around us. Transsexuals are people with a discrepancy between the anatomical sex of an individual and his gender identity (mental sex), there are millions of them, they are among us.
In recent decades, more and more evidence has been accumulating that the structure of some areas of the brain of transsexuals differs from the structure of the corresponding areas of the brain of ordinary men and women and is close (though not identical) to the structure of these areas in people of the opposite anatomical sex. There is an assumption that the phenomenon of transsexuality is connected precisely with this.
We have what we have
Nowadays, 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.
Centaurs are creatures from Greek myths, mixanthropic and powerful. Their human head and torso are connected to the body of a horse. Centaurs live in the mountains and forest thickets, often, together with nymphs and satyrs, they are part of the retinue of Dionysus.
In the article:
Centaurs and their origins
The main distinguishing feature is a violent temper and intemperance. According to some sources, centaurs initially appeared as the embodiment of stormy mountain rivers and rapid streams. Heroic myths divide centaurs into two types - benevolent sages, educators of heroes, and hostile savages.
The word “centaur” itself, or its Latinized counterpart “centaur”, is divided into two Greek roots - “ken”, that is, “to chop”, And "tauros" - "bull". Many nations have an image of such a creature. It probably appeared after the collision of sedentary civilizations, which had no traditions of horse riding, with nomadic ones, where horse riders were an integral part of the culture. These were the northern nomadic tribes: Scythians, Kassites, Taurians. Hence the common feature of all centaurs - their ferocity, as well as a traceable connection with bulls, since cattle breeding forms the basis of the nomadic economy.
The euhemeric interpretation of ancient times attributes the appearance of centaurs to two settlements. In the first of them, the village of Tucha, lived young men who saddled horses for the first time. They became skilled riders and destroyed all the wild bulls that lived nearby. In the second city, Pelephronia, people learned to tame horses earlier than the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements.
Another interpretation attributes even greater antiquity to the centaurs: supposedly their appearance occurred during the period of the Indo-European language and the collapse of the unity of the Greco-Aryan dialect. According to this theory, the word "centaur" is a modified version of "gandharva". Vedic mythology speaks of the Gandharvas as minor gods, drivers of the solar chariot. The theory is partly confirmed by archaeological finds: two figurines of centaurs were discovered during excavations in Ugarit among Mycenaean ceramics. This suggests, at a minimum, that centaurs were known back in the Bronze Age. The “Hero’s Tomb” in Lefkandi is decorated with a terracotta centaur - this is also a famous monument with a similar mythical creature.
Greek mythology and centaurs
Half-human, half-horse people in Greek legends have varied origins. Otherwise she gave birth to them cloud with the appearance of Hera with whom he copulated King of Thessaly Ixion, son of Ares, or else Kronos and Philyra, not that Apollo from one of the nymphs. Could give birth to this tribe and Poseidon, the first creator of horses in the Greek pantheon - his animalistic attribute was the horse. In addition, parents were also considered Ixion with Nephele.
A number of legends indicate the ancestor of this tribe first Centaur, from which the Magnesian mares suffered. In this case, it is believed that the Pelionians were involved in their upbringing. When the centaurs matured, they mated mares, which later gave birth to the second generation of half-humans, half-horses.
The origin of the wisest representative of the half-animal tribe is known for certain - centaur Chiron. He was begotten by the titan Kronos from the daughter of the chthonic Ocean - Philira. The Titan and the sea goddess celebrated their wedding secretly from Rhea. Kronos' legal wife Rhea caught her husband with his mistress in a moment of passion. Frightened Kronos took on the appearance of a stallion. The son was born half horse and half man.
Education of Achilles (Centaur Chiron). Gottlieb Chic
Chiron was immortal, unlike his brothers. He studied medicine, music, loved and knew how to hunt, masterfully shot a bow, was known as an expert in military affairs, but was kind and merciful. His friend was the god of art Apollo, and his students were the most famous Greek heroes like Achilles, Hercules, Theseus and Jason. Asclepius learned the art of healing from Chiron.
The death of the good centaur was terrible: Hercules accidentally wounded him with an arrow containing poison. Chiron was immortal, and therefore his torment lasted indefinitely. The incurable wound drove the centaur crazy, he wanted to die. Chiron refused eternal life on one condition - Zeus would free the titan Prometheus from the shackles. The Thunderer agreed to fulfill this request - he freed the titan, and turned Chiron himself into the constellation Centaur.
One way or another, they were distinguished by their violent temperament, love of meat, drunkenness and debauchery. They were constantly at enmity with the Lapiths, since there are no women among the centaurs, and the Lapiths had wives. Half-humans, half-horses constantly tried to kidnap them. When Hercules defeated and dispersed them, the centaurs scattered throughout Greece.
A slightly different look at centaurs
They are often called the most harmonious creatures of mythical zoology. Ovid's Metamorphoses called the centaurs "two-formed." Despite its heterogeneous (dual) nature, along with the archetypes of horse, man and rider, there is the archetype of the centaur. Primitive images more closely resembled naked people with the croup of a horse. The Temple of Zeus in Olympia, on its western pediment, can boast of centaurs of a more familiar appearance to us: below the torso, a man flows into the body of a horse.
Pediment sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (5th century BC)
In the era of the famous Homer, horse riding was not common among the Greeks - one might say, it did not exist at all. The first travelers who came to Greece on horseback seemed to them to be one with their horses. A similar theory is confirmed by the not so distant first clash of the conquistadors with Indian tribes. Pissaro and Hernan Cortes with their soldiers, they seemed to the redskins to be real centaurs, one with the horses. In one of the clashes, superstition and horror played a key role: after the first shots, one of the conquistadors fell out of the saddle - and then the Indians, confident that there was one creature in front of them, considered the division of the whole in two nothing less than a terrible miracle. The Indians fled.
But the Greeks had horses, unlike the Indian tribes, who knew only bison. A more plausible version seems to be that centaurs are a specially created mythical image. They reflected one of the facets of reality as the ancient Greeks saw it.
The most famous myths about centaurs
The most popular is centauromachy- a myth about the battle of centaurs and lapiths at a wedding. The Lapiths, wanting to find peace with their old enemies, invited the tribe of centaurs to the wedding of Hippodamia (Hippodamia) and Perithous. But peace did not work out: the tipsy guests began to insult the bride, tried to kidnap her, and then overturned tables and started a fight. This scene inspired Rubens to create The Rape of Hippodamia. Before Rubens, Ovid described this scene in the seventh book of Metamorphoses. It is believed that the Lapiths defeated and expelled the centaurs from Thessaly. In another version of the myths, the centaurs were less fortunate: Hercules shot everyone with a bow.
Plutarch did not ignore these creatures either. “The Supper of the Seven Wise Men” contains a humorous story about the Corinthian despot Periander, who was brought a newborn mare calf - up to the navel the calf was just like a man, and below it had the body of a horse. The cub cried like a human baby, and the courtiers saw this as an ominous sign. But when Periander turned to the sage Thales, he examined the cub and laughingly informed the ruler that he did not approve of the behavior of the shepherds.
The poet Lucretius insisted on the impossibility of the existence of such creatures. He considered the proof of his theory that horses mature earlier than people, and a three-year-old centaur would have the body of an adult horse and the body of a babbling child. In addition, the horse part would have died half a century earlier than the human part. The Greeks objected to him by the fact that centaurs could grow like people - with both parts of themselves. The people held tightly to their belief in myths and mystical creatures.
The main reason why centaurs do not show themselves to people was their small number after the massacre at the Lapith wedding. Then most of the tribe died, and when the survivors began to look for a new place to live, they met. They destroyed them with mellifluous singing. The god of the seas, Poseidon, nevertheless saved some, hiding them in Eleusis, in the mountains.
The history of the most famous hero of the Greeks, Hercules, is closely connected with the centaurs. He was taught by Chiron, Hercules entered into confrontation with Ankiy, Agrios, Oreius and Giray. The centaur Pylenor was wounded by Hercules. He washed his wound in the waters of the river, causing it to smell disgusting. Pholus became an accidental victim of Hercules' poisoned arrows. Alcyone became the object of the harassment of Homad, also a centaur, and was killed by the hero.
The life of Hercules ended with the indirect participation of a centaur. A certain Nessus kidnapped the wife of Hercules, but he shot him. When Nessus was dying, he advised the maiden to collect his blood, and when Hercules grew cold towards his wife over the years, to use it as a love potion. That’s exactly what happened: years later, the hero took a mistress and turned away from his wife. Then Deianira soaked her husband’s clothes with poisonous blood. Hercules died in terrible agony.
The constellation Sagittarius is the muses' half-brother. His abode was Helikon, and his name was Krotos. His parents were Pan and Euphema. He had a classic half-human, half-horse appearance, but instead of a horse's tail he had a satyr's tail - inherited from his father. He shot with a bow no worse than Chiron - it was Krotos who is credited with the invention of the bow and arrow, as well as the first successful hunting of wild animals with a bow. Applause is also his invention, which has become an analogue of prayer to the muses. For the invention of applause, Krotos was ascended to the firmament, where he took on the appearance of Sagittarius.
The famous Chiron and Pholus were depicted in a special way, emphasizing their attitude towards civilized people. Their front legs were made to look human, and their croup - like a horse. Chiron had more to do with people - he wore clothes, his ears were human. And Fol did not wear clothes, he had horse ears.
Despite the fact that centaurs are exclusively male, in some legends there are still female centaurs. This is not the most common point of view in myths. They don't have much weight in mythology. They are often confused with nymphs - they are beautiful in body and soul. The most famous centaurid is Gilonoma, the wife of Tsillar. Tsillar and Gilonoma were invited to the wedding of the Lapiths. When the massacre began, Hercules killed Gilonoma's husband. She grieved for a long time and eventually committed suicide.
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, titan Ixion, son of Ares, and the cloud, which took the form of Zeus at the behest of Hera, who was attempted by Ixion (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. And from 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 this, 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 gave birth to 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). in “Etymology” he wrote “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, then from the published It is impossible to isolate words with sounds. 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 a centaur Eurytion, invited to Peirytoon's wedding, 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 the 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 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
Along with male centaurs, centaurids (centaurisses) were sometimes described in Greek legends. 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). The term "centauroids" is used in literature to refer to creatures that resemble a horse but retain the features of a centaur. Centauroids were especially popular in the Middle Ages. These included onocentaur (donkey man), bucentaur (bull man), kerast (buffalo man), leontocentaur (lion man), ichthyocentaur (a creature combining 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
The centaurs also included the Slavic demigods Polkan and Kitovras (the demon 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.
CENTAUR: ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, EVOLUTION
The centaur is an unusual, paradoxical creature, an unsolved mystery of nature. Precisely nature - now we can say this with absolute accuracy. For a long time, scientists did not have more or less reliable evidence of the reality of the existence of a centaur. It was mistakenly believed that this was a purely mythological character who does not and never existed in nature.
However, it would be strange if an absolutely fictional creature was so often mentioned in various literary sources, so often depicted by sculptors and painters. After all, 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 monitor lizards of truly dragon-sized proportions.
Recently, supporters of the version about the reality of centaurs received irrefutable evidence that they were right. Archaeological excavations near El-Ayoum (Western Sahara) dispelled all secrets and speculation - more than a dozen centaur skeletons were discovered there, many of which were quite well preserved. Professor of the California Institute of Natural Sciences J.R.R. Epstein, using the method of Professor Gerasimov, restored the appearance of the centaur.
The dimensions of the centaur are by no means gigantic: at the withers - about a meter, from the front hooves to the top of the head - about eighty meters. The brain volume is slightly smaller than that of humans, but larger than that of chimpanzees and gorillas. The question of how the internal organs were located in the two cavities aroused great interest among researchers. It turned out that the entire upper anterior (humanoid) part was filled with respiratory organs. Powerful lungs with large bronchi made the centaurs unusually hardy; in addition, obviously, the centaurs were very loud, and therefore hard of hearing. In the lower back part, immediately behind the middle girdle of the limbs, protected by the collarbones and shoulder blades, there was a huge heart. Behind the heart is a voluminous stomach and long intestines, which indicates that the centaurs ate mainly grass. On the sides, near the ribs, centaurs had air bubbles similar to those found in birds. During inhalation, they were filled with air, so that later, during exhalation, they could fill the lungs with this air. Thus, centaurs were the only mammals with double breathing.
Classifying a centaur proved extremely difficult. Most likely, this is a special class of six-legged vertebrates such as chordates of the dead-end branch. The prehistoric ancestors of the centaurs apparently lived in forests, walked on all six limbs and were much slower. The protocentaurs (Protocentaurus vulgaris) looked different: the limbs were short and clumsy, the front part did not at all resemble a human. They lived in dens and were omnivores. However, with climate change, the protocentaurs became steppe animals, which required them to move at a higher speed. At the same time, the front part of the body lifted off the ground and became lighter, while the rear, on the contrary, became more massive, the middle and hind limbs noticeably elongated. Further, in the process of evolution, the back of the body more and more resembled that of a horse, since the living conditions and lifestyle of the centaurs were absolutely the same as those of wild horses. The front part, having lightened and become vertical, was freed up for useful work; the forelimbs gradually began to resemble human hands. Thus, we can say with complete confidence that labor made a real centaur (Centaurus centaurus) from a protocentaur.
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 riddle is unsolvable, 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 Lapith - tell about the enmity of people and centaurs. Obviously, bulky and clumsy, the centaurs could not stand the competition with agile and mobile people. Presumably, already in the first millennium BC, centaurs were completely ousted from the territory of Ancient Greece and from Europe in general. Driven into the sands of the Sahara, dwindling groups of centaurs could survive until the first centuries of our era. The last mention of a meeting with centaurs can be found in Capaglia's treatise "My Travels to Distant Shores."
Cynocephali, dog-headed, dog-headed or dog-headed, according to the description of ancient Greek historians and writers (Hesiod, Herodotus, Megasthenes, Pliny the Elder and, first of all, Ctesias, who lived in the 5th century BC), lived in India, Libya, Ethiopia and Scythia. Simmias of Rhodes (IV-III centuries BC) wrote in Apollo: " And I saw a famous tribe of half-dog people, on whose strong shoulders grew a dog’s head with the strongest jaws; They, like dogs, bark, and they do not at all know the glorious name of the speech of other mortals " ( ) Centaurs - half-humans, half-horses from Greek legendsCentaurs 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”, the centaurs were considered descendants - direct or through their common ancestor the Centaur - the Thessalian king of the Lapith tribe, the titan Ixion, son of Ares, and the cloud, who, by the will of Zeus, took the form of Hera, on whom Ixion attempted( ) Harpies - disgusting winged maidens from Greek legends
In ancient Greek myths, harpies are depicted as evil winged creatures of a hideous appearance with the head, chest and thighs of a woman and the body of a bird with the wings of vultures, long sharp hooked claws and cheeks eternally pale from hunger. Images of harpies and sirens similar to them (they were considered cousins) were preserved on tombstones and antique vases. Thanks to these images, we can judge what these creatures looked like (at least as the ancient Greeks saw them). Harpies were considered one of the most ferocious and ugliest characters in Greek mythology. They suddenly swooped in and disappeared( ) Sirens - half-maiden, half-bird with a divine voice from Greek mythology
Sirens were represented as winged maidens, maidens with a fish tail, or maidens with a bird's body and clawed bird feet. Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus in the “Mythological Library” wrote about three sirens: Peisinoe, Aglaoth and Telxiepia. These were maidens of wonderful beauty with a charming voice, which they inherited from their mother Melpomene, Terpsichore or Calliope. One of the sirens played the cithara, another sang, and the third played the flute. With the sounds of their songs, the sirens lulled travelers to sleep, and then tore them apart and devoured them. The sirens inherited their wild and evil temperament from their father Forkis or Achelous( )
