The Centaurides (, ''Kentaurides'') or centauresses are female
centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
s. First encountered in
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
as members of the tribe of the
Centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
oi, the Centaurides are only occasionally mentioned in written sources, but appear frequently in
Greek art and
Roman mosaic
A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...
s. The centauress who appears most frequently in literature is
Hylonome, wife of the centaur
Cyllarus.
Names
As a proper noun, ''Centauride'' or ''Kentauride'' refers specifically to a female of the tribe of the Centauroi or Kentauroi (Κένταυροι), commonly rendered in English as the common noun "centaurs"; as a common noun, ''centauride'' refers to any female centaur. ''Centauress'' is the more usual term in English, but ''centaurelle'' and ''centaurette'' may also occur.
Literary depictions
In the ''"
Imagines"'', the
rhetorician Philostratus the Elder gives a brief description of the Centaurides:
In the ''"
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...
"'',
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
gives a brief description of Hylonome:
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
refers to centauresses in ''
King Lear
''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
'', Act IV, Scene VI, lines 124–125:
"Down from the waist they're centaurs,
Though women all above".
Other appearances
A British family named Lambert used a female centaur holding a rose in her left hand as a
heraldic device, and depicted this figure in their monuments. However, they were unable to establish official authority for these arms, and in the eighteenth century changed them to a male centaur holding a bow.
[ Arthur Fox-Davies, ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'', T.C. and E.C. Jack, London, 1909, p 229, https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft.]
In
Walt Disney's film ''
Fantasia'',
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony is illustrated with scenes from Greek mythology, in which male and female centaurs, referred to by the studio as "centaurettes", feature prominently. The centaurettes appear in various situations, some of which depict them affecting the mannerisms of fashionable women in 1940. The centaurettes are shown in a variety of colours other than human skin tones, including blue, and were originally drawn bare-breasted, but applying the
Hays code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...
, the
Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America forced the animators to cover their breasts with garlands. Changing attitudes toward racial stereotypes in the 1960s led to the cutting of scenes depicting black centaurettes waiting on the others.
The song ''Witch Of The Westmoreland'', originally sung by
Barbara Dickson on the folk album
''From The Beggar's Mantle'', features a benevolent witch, described in the song as "
e half the form of a maiden fair/And a jet-black mare's body."
Since the late 2000s, as a part of the
monster girl trend in Japan, female centaurs have appeared in several Japanese
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
and
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
such as ''
Monster Musume'' and ''
A Centaur's Life''.
See also
*
Anggitay
References
External links
Theoi Project - Kentaurides
{{Greek religion
Centaurs
Female legendary creatures