Centaur

Centaurs were creatures of Greek myth with the body of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man. They lived in the mountains of Thessaly and were known for drunken violence, with a few exceptions such as Chiron and Pholus. Their battles with the Lapiths and with Heracles are among the best-known fights in Greek legend.

Origin of the Centaurs

According to Apollodorus (Epitome 1.20), Ixion, a Thessalian of Lapith descent and the father of Pirithous (Diodorus 4.69.3; Apollodorus 1.8.2), fell in love with Hera and tried to force her. Zeus made a cloud in the likeness of Hera and laid it beside him, and the cloud, impregnated by Ixion, bore Centaurus. When Ixion boasted that he had enjoyed Hera, Zeus bound him to a wheel on which the winds whirl him through the air. Pindar (Pythian 2.21–48) tells the same story and adds that Centaurus mated with the Magnesian mares in the foothills of Mount Pelion, and from them was born a race that resembled both parents, the mother below and the father above. In another version (Diodorus 4.69.5) Ixion’s union with the cloud produced the centaurs directly, which is why they are often called the children of Ixion and Nephele.

Chiron the wise centaur

One of the best known centaurs is Chiron (Cheiron), who differs from the others in being civilised, kind and learned. He was not of Ixion’s stock at all: Apollodorus (1.2.4) makes him the son of Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra, which is why he was immortal. He lived on Mount Pelion in Thessaly and taught several heroes. Homer says that Achilles learned the use of healing drugs from him (Iliad 11.831–832); Pindar says that Jason was reared in his cave (Pythian 4.102–115) and that Apollo gave him the infant Asclepius to bring up and to teach the art of medicine (Pythian 3.45–53); Apollodorus adds Actaeon (3.4.4).

Heracles and Pholus

In Apollodorus (Library 2.5.4), Heracles was hunting the Erymanthian boar when he passed through Pholoe and was entertained by Pholus, a centaur who was the son of Silenus and a Melian nymph. Pholus set roast meat before his guest while eating his own raw. Pholus hesitated to open the jar of wine that belonged to all the centaurs in common. Heracles opened it anyway, and the smell drew the other centaurs, armed with rocks and fir trees, to the cave. Heracles drove off the first attackers with firebrands and shot the rest, chasing them as far as Malea, where they took refuge with Chiron, who had been driven from Mount Pelion by the Lapiths and now lived there.

There one of Heracles’ arrows, which had been dipped in the Hydra’s poison, passed through the arm of the centaur Elatus and struck Chiron in the knee. Heracles drew out the shaft and applied a drug that Chiron gave him, but the wound was incurable; Chiron retired to his cave and wished to die, though as an immortal he could not. Pholus also died. He had pulled an arrow out of a dead centaur to see how such a small thing could kill, and it fell from his hand and struck his foot. Heracles buried him and went on to catch the boar.

Chiron dies to free Prometheus

Apollodorus gives the end of the story twice. In the account of the boar hunt (2.5.4) he says that Prometheus offered himself to Zeus to become immortal in Chiron’s stead, and so Chiron died. In the account of the apples of the Hesperides (2.5.11) the order is reversed: Heracles freed Prometheus from the Caucasus by shooting the eagle that fed on his liver, and presented Chiron to Zeus as one who, though immortal, consented to die in Prometheus’ place. In both tellings Chiron’s immortality passed to Prometheus and the wounded centaur was released from his pain.

The Centauromachy

The best-known centaur battle took place at the wedding of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths, and Hippodamia. Apollodorus (Epitome 1.21) says that Pirithous feasted the centaurs because they were kinsmen of the bride; unused to wine, they drank greedily, got drunk and tried to violate her when she was brought in. Pirithous, fully armed, and his friend Theseus joined battle with them, and Theseus killed many. Diodorus (4.70.3) adds that the survivors were driven out of the city. The fight has its own page, Centauromachy.

Ovid tells the story at length in Metamorphoses 12.210–535, in the voice of Nestor. Eurytus, the wildest of the centaurs, was the first to seize Hippodamia, and Theseus struck him down with a great mixing bowl. The Lapith Caeneus, who had once been a woman and had been made invulnerable by Poseidon, killed many centaurs until the others buried him under fir trees (Apollodorus Epitome 1.22). In Ovid, the lovers Cyllarus and Hylonome are among the centaurs who die; Hylonome throws herself on the spear that killed him.

Nessus and Eurytion

After Chiron’s wounding, Apollodorus says, the surviving centaurs scattered: Eurytion went to Pholoe and Nessus to the river Evenus, while Poseidon hid the rest in a mountain at Eleusis (2.5.4). Nessus settled at the Evenus and ferried travellers across for hire. When Heracles and his wife Deianira came to the river, Nessus carried her over and tried to violate her; Heracles shot him through the heart as he came out of the water. Dying, Nessus told Deianira that his spilt blood, mixed with the seed he had dropped, would serve as a love charm. Years later, when Heracles brought home the captive Iole, Deianira feared she would lose him and smeared the blood on a tunic. The Hydra’s poison in the blood caused Heracles terrible agony and led to his death (Apollodorus 2.7.6–7).

Later Heracles found King Dexamenus of Olenus being forced to betroth his daughter Mnesimache to Eurytion, and at the king’s request he killed the centaur when he came to fetch his bride (Apollodorus 2.5.5). The daughter’s name varies: Diodorus calls her Hippolyte and has Eurytion assault her at her wedding to Azan (4.33.1), while Hyginus calls her Deianira and makes Eurytion a son of Ixion and the Cloud (Fabulae 33).

See Also: Centauromachy, Chiron, Ixion, Nephele, Heracles, Prometheus, Theseus, Pirithous, Nessus