Centaur (ケンタウロス Kentaurosu) is a race of chimeric yōkai.
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Kitarō's World Obake Tour[]
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Legend[]
The Centaurs of legend are a race of beings from Greco-Roman mythology that live in the region of Magnesia and Mt. Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. They have the upper half of a man, but the body of a horse.
In mythology, centaurs were said to have been the children of Ixion, the king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly, and the cloud Nephele. Zeus made Nephele into the likeness of one of his wives, Hera, in a plot to trick Ixion into revealing his lust for her to him. Ixion seduced Nephele and from that relationship Centaurs were created. Another version, makes Centaurs children of Centaurus, a man who mated with the Magnesian mares. Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele (inserting an additional generation), or of Apollo and the nymph Stilbe. In later versions of the story, Centaurus's twin brother was Lapithes, ancestor of the Lapiths.
Long ago, several Centaurs were invited to a wedding ceremony and feast at the home of Pirithous, who was the king of the Lapithae and a son of Ixion. At the wedding, the creatures drank wine for the first time, and when the bride, Hippodamia, was presented to greet the guests, a Centaur named Eurytion leapt up and attempted to abduct her. All the other Centaurs were up in a moment, straddling women and boys. In the battle that ensued, Theseus came to the Lapiths' aid. They cut off Eurytion's ears and nose and threw him out. After the battle the defeated Centaurs were expelled from Thessaly to the northwest.
There was a Centaur named Pholus who was also a friend of the hero Heracles (Hercules in Roman). Heracles visited his cave sometime before or after the completion of his fourth Labor, the capture of the Erymanthian Boar. When Heracles drank from a jar of wine in the possession of Pholus, the neighboring centaurs that previously fled from Thessaly smelled its fragrant odor and, driven mad, charged into the cave. Initially, Heracles threw torches at them, but the stubborn creatures were unfazed. However, later on most of the Centaurs were slain by Heracles using a bow and arrow, and the rest were chased to another location (according to the mythographer Apollodorus, Cape Maleas) where the peaceful centaur Chiron was accidentally wounded by the arrows of Heracles which were soaked in the venomous blood of the Hydra. In most accounts, Chiron surrendered his immortality to be free from the agony of the poison when it came to helping Hercules free the Titan Prometheus.
Trivia[]
- Shigeru Mizuki's design of Demon of Water is based on Centaur.