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 ...

, Centaurus () is the son of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

and

Stilbe Stilbe (; Ancient Greek: Στίλβη, ''Stílbē'', "glittering", "gleaming") in Greek mythology may refer to the following personages: * Stilbe, mother of Callisto by Ceteus. *Stilbe, a nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus and the Naiad ...

, daughter of the

river-god A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with Water and religion, water or various Body of water, bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a gr ...

Peneius In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers, a child of Oceanus and Tethys. Family The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three dau ...

and the

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

Creusa In Greek mythology, Creusa (; ''Kreousa'' "princess") may refer to the following figures: * Creusa, a naiad daughter of Gaia. * Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. * Creusa, also known by the name Glauce, was ...

. He is the twin brother of the hero Lapithes

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

4.69.1
/ref> and father of the race of mythological beasts known as 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 ...

s or Ixionidae (Ιξιονίδαι, ''Ixionidai''). The Centaurs are half-man, half horse; having the torso of a man extending where the neck of a horse should be. They were a kindred people with the

Lapiths The Lapiths (; , ''Lapithai'', Grammatical number, sing. Λαπίθης) were a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, who lived in Thessaly in the valley of the Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios and on the mountain Pelion. They were believed to ...

and were said to be wild, savage, and lustful.

Mythology

After

Ixion In Greek mythology, Ixion ( ; ) was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly. Family Ixion was the son of Ares, or Leonteus (mythology), Leonteus, or Antion and Perimele, or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes " ...

, king of the

, fell into insanity and was ostracized by his people,

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

sympathized greatly with Ixion and brought him up to

Olympus Olympus or Olympos () may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Lesbos * Mount Olympus (Euboea) ...

to dine with the gods. There Ixion saw

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

, Zeus' wife and queen of the gods, with whom he fell instantly in love and began to desire her sexually. Zeus, suspicious of Ixion, set for him a trap by fashioning a figure from cloud (

Nephele In Greek and Roman mythology, Nephele (; ; corresponding to Latin ''nebula'') is the name of two figures associated with clouds, sometimes confused with each other, who figures respectively in the stories of Ixion and in the story of Phrixus and ...

) in the likeness of Hera and laying it next to Ixion whilst he was asleep in a field. When Ixion awoke, he began to make love to Hera's double, which so enraged Zeus that he drove Ixion from Mount Olympus, struck him with a thunderbolt, and damned Ixion to be eternally bound to a flying burning wheel that would spin around the heavens non-stop (though it was later moved to

Tartarus In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; ) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's '' Gorgias'' (), souls are judged after ...

). Nephele's child by this union was Centaurus, a deformed child who hunched over and found no peace amongst other humans, and so removed to the mountain of

Pelion Pelion or Pelium (Modern , ''Pílio''; Ancient Greek/Katharevousa: Πήλιον, ''Pēlion'') is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in northern Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea. Its ...

. There he mated with the Magnesian mares who lived there. This resulted in the birth 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 ...

race.

Constellation

Centaurus for those who have not memorised greek IAU credited

Centaurus was the first person to group stars into constellations and taught others how to read them. One explanation of the constellation is that Centaurus put a picture of himself in the sky to guide his sailor friends the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

. The most popular interpretation of the constellation is as the form of

Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology for ...

. Chiron was the king of the centaurs and unlike his race he was intelligent and wise. So wise, in fact, that he tutored

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

who became one of his great friends. The myth goes that Heracles was visiting his dear friend Pholus. Pholus was a centaur and was having dinner with Heracles. After dinner was over Heracles decided that he was thirsty and took it upon himself to get some wine. The wine that he took, however, was the sacred wine of the centaurs. It was meant to only be drunk by the centaurs and only on special occasions. Pholus saw this and could not muster up the courage to tell his strong friend that he was not allowed to drink the wine. It was not long before the sacred scent reached the other centaurs. The infuriated centaurs grabbed weapons and charged towards Pholus' house. The coward Pholus fled almost immediately and left Heracles to fend for himself. Heracles killed several of the centaurs and soon enough of them were dead that the rest became afraid and tried to flee. Upon shooting at the fleeing beasts, Heracles' poison arrow grazed the knee of Chiron. Chiron was not involved in the fight but came out to try to stop it. The immortal Chiron could not die from his wound and thus would be doomed to live in great pain forever. He cried to

to give him relief and end his life. Zeus took pity on the centaur and let him die. To honour him, Zeus gave Chiron a place amongst the stars.

References

{{reflist # Kronberg, C. "Centaurus." Constellations and Maps. 17 January 2004. Web. 15 November 2009. . # Credner, Till, and Sven Kohle. "Centaurus, Circinus." The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations. Web. 15 November 2009. . # Dolan, Chris. "Centarus." Constellations. Web. 15 November 2009. . Centaurs Mythological human–animal hybrids Mythological horses