CENTAURIDAE THE MYTHICAL CREATURES OF ANCIENT GREEK MYTHOLOGY

 

The Centauridae or Centauresses were fantastic creatures of ancient Greek Mythology, blending women's heads and torsos with a horse's body.  Called in ancient Greek "Centaurides" they were much like Centauroi who had men's heads and torsos and bodies of horses. 

Called in ancient Greek Kentaurides or Ceutauresses they made their first appearance as members of the tribe of Centauroi. Oddly enough, the Centauresses are only occasionally mentioned in writing sources but they appear frequently in Geek art and Roman mosaics.  

The Centauress who appeared more frequently in literature was Hylomene the wife of centaur Cyllarus.  These half-man half-horse creatures lived in the mountains and forests of the Greek region of Thessaly.

Centaurs were said to belong to tribes making their homes in caves while they hunted wild animals using rocks and branches for weapons. Among the original myths of Centaurs is that Centaurius the offspring of King Ixion mated with the cloud Nephele whom Zeus created in the form of his consort Hera. 

The Centaurs that resulted from the pairing were left on Mount Pelion where the daughters of immortal Chiron nursed them. 

Centaurs were followers of the god Dionyssos, the god of wine and revelry in ancient Greece, thus they were depicted as being boisterous, savage, and uproarious the result of them being governed by the beastial half. The implication there was clear for all those who could decern the meaning. 

Although not technically considered to have been a Centauress Medusa the fearsome female monster, featuring in many a tale in Greek mythology was early depictions portrayed with the lower body of a horse and the torso and head of a woman.  

The Greek rhetorian Philostratus the Elder, who lived in the 3rd century AD rhapsodizes about the physical appearance of the Centauredae and notes that their existence at Pelion ostensibly describing an ancient Greek painting located in Neapolis (Naples) in his words; "How beautiful the Centauridae are even if they are horses, for some grow out of white mares, others are attached to chestnut mares and the coats of others are dappled but they glisten like horses that are well looked after. There is also a white female Centaure that grows out of a black mare and the very opposition of colors helps to produce the united beauty of the world.