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An older pic that turned up on some website where it did not belong. Why is "centaur" not a species listed here?
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Fantasy
Species Exotic (Other)
Size 604 x 660px
File Size 75.6 kB
Properly speaking, the picture is a Hippocentaur; a creature which is half horse and half centaur. 'centaur' translates as 'bull piercer', and is probably the name of a specific tribe.
I think that part of the problem is, 'centaur' doesn't man what most people think it means. No early classical source describes centaurs as half-man, half-horse.
Centaurs are described as half-bestial, which is to say, they are uncivilized, not half animals. They may even have been a real, specific tribe, possibly Celtic.
I think that part of the problem is, 'centaur' doesn't man what most people think it means. No early classical source describes centaurs as half-man, half-horse.
Centaurs are described as half-bestial, which is to say, they are uncivilized, not half animals. They may even have been a real, specific tribe, possibly Celtic.
WRONG. so very very wrong.
The origin of the word "centaur" is in debate and has been for years. "bull piercer" is just one theory. Centaurs have been depiced as half-human/half-horse beings since they first appeared in Greek art and literature several centuries before Christ.
Before you spout off bullshit, make sure you're spouting it to people stupid enough to believe you and ignorant enough to not know the truth already.
The origin of the word "centaur" is in debate and has been for years. "bull piercer" is just one theory. Centaurs have been depiced as half-human/half-horse beings since they first appeared in Greek art and literature several centuries before Christ.
Before you spout off bullshit, make sure you're spouting it to people stupid enough to believe you and ignorant enough to not know the truth already.
er,
'Centaurs have been depiced as half-human/half-horse beings since they first appeared in Greek art and literature several centuries before Christ.'
Well, let's take this piece by piece. 1) Find me a piece of Classical Greek literature that describes Centaurs as being half human, half horse. Bullfinch's doesn't count. His translations, while classic, are also incredibly bad. 2) Cart before the (half) horse. Pictures of centaurs are identified because they show a half human, half horse. How would you identify an earlier picture from before this became common? Perhaps you could find an example of a classical Greek depiction of a centaur, wherein the centaur is labelled, in Greek?
Seeing as you know the truth, what're YOUR sources? I'm big on Graves, myself. He has his limitations as a translator, but he's hardly bullshit. OK. waiting for truth, Mr. ancient Greek.
Anyway, I forgive you your silly ad homonym attack.
'Centaurs have been depiced as half-human/half-horse beings since they first appeared in Greek art and literature several centuries before Christ.'
Well, let's take this piece by piece. 1) Find me a piece of Classical Greek literature that describes Centaurs as being half human, half horse. Bullfinch's doesn't count. His translations, while classic, are also incredibly bad. 2) Cart before the (half) horse. Pictures of centaurs are identified because they show a half human, half horse. How would you identify an earlier picture from before this became common? Perhaps you could find an example of a classical Greek depiction of a centaur, wherein the centaur is labelled, in Greek?
Seeing as you know the truth, what're YOUR sources? I'm big on Graves, myself. He has his limitations as a translator, but he's hardly bullshit. OK. waiting for truth, Mr. ancient Greek.
Anyway, I forgive you your silly ad homonym attack.
Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined being. Previous authors (Homer) only uses words such as "beasts" that were also used for ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses. However, contemporaneous representations of hybrid man-and-horse centaurs can be found in archaic Greek art.
A Macedonian mosaic of the 4th century BC is one of the earliest examples of the Centaur in art. Ovid also mentions a centauress named Hylonome who committed suicide when her husband Cyllarus was killed in the war with the Lapiths.
In a description of a painting in Neapolis, the Greek rhetorician Philostratus the Elder describes the sisters and wives of the male centaurs who live on Mount Pelion with their children: "How beautiful the Centaurides are, even where 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 those of horses that are well cared for. There is also a white female Centaur that grows out of a black mare, and the very opposition of the colours helps to produce the united beauty of the whole."
Seems rather clear to me that a centaur is, and always has been, a human torso atop a horse's shoulders. You're arguing that centuries of established myth, literature, and art, and the words of well-known and acknowledged translations, are junk, in favor of your unprovable claims they are some Celtic tribe. Yours is a losing battle.
A Macedonian mosaic of the 4th century BC is one of the earliest examples of the Centaur in art. Ovid also mentions a centauress named Hylonome who committed suicide when her husband Cyllarus was killed in the war with the Lapiths.
In a description of a painting in Neapolis, the Greek rhetorician Philostratus the Elder describes the sisters and wives of the male centaurs who live on Mount Pelion with their children: "How beautiful the Centaurides are, even where 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 those of horses that are well cared for. There is also a white female Centaur that grows out of a black mare, and the very opposition of the colours helps to produce the united beauty of the whole."
Seems rather clear to me that a centaur is, and always has been, a human torso atop a horse's shoulders. You're arguing that centuries of established myth, literature, and art, and the words of well-known and acknowledged translations, are junk, in favor of your unprovable claims they are some Celtic tribe. Yours is a losing battle.
One man, versus centuries of artwork and literature.
Pretty sure he's got it wrong, compared to the esteemed works of Bulfinch and countless others.
And yes, I did look up Mr. Graves.
I noted his "The Greek Myths", published in 1955, was deemed by many scholars, both during his lifetime and afterwards, as "a compendium of misinterpretations", "cranky nonsense", "a guide to the author's personal mythology", full of wild guesses, omissions, and outright errors, and, essentially, dismissed as the mythological equivalent of bad fanfiction and was never given a reprinting; on the other hand, "Bulfinch's Mythology", originally written a full hundred years before Graves' text, is still being published today and widely considered a form of "textbook" for most followers of classical myth, deemed by many as a "standard" work on classical mythology for over a century.
Given the choice, I prefer Bulfinch over bullshit.
Your ignorance has my pity, and I bid you good night.
Pretty sure he's got it wrong, compared to the esteemed works of Bulfinch and countless others.
And yes, I did look up Mr. Graves.
I noted his "The Greek Myths", published in 1955, was deemed by many scholars, both during his lifetime and afterwards, as "a compendium of misinterpretations", "cranky nonsense", "a guide to the author's personal mythology", full of wild guesses, omissions, and outright errors, and, essentially, dismissed as the mythological equivalent of bad fanfiction and was never given a reprinting; on the other hand, "Bulfinch's Mythology", originally written a full hundred years before Graves' text, is still being published today and widely considered a form of "textbook" for most followers of classical myth, deemed by many as a "standard" work on classical mythology for over a century.
Given the choice, I prefer Bulfinch over bullshit.
Your ignorance has my pity, and I bid you good night.
I've read Bulfinch, yes. Whose name is written with one "L", incidentally. Not recently, mind you, but I have. I found it quite enjoyable and full of interesting information. However, just from seeing what others have said about his work, I have no interest in reading Graves' writings on mythology-as-he-saw-it, as it sounds akin to studying vampire lore by reading Twilight Saga and assorted Anne Rice novels.
And it amuses me just how much you keep trying to suggest that Wikipedia is worthless as a resource and/or that quoting from it is sme sign of a lack of intellectual opinion. When neither is true. As I said, they likely are not deemed valid for collegiate term-papers or scientific journals, but they are amply certifiable enough for general use.
Either way, I tire of arguing with a fool, as doing so long enough means you will eventually drag me down to your level, and I have no interest in being deemed as ignorant and as stubborn as you persist in trying to be...
To quote Cave Johnson, "We're done here."
And it amuses me just how much you keep trying to suggest that Wikipedia is worthless as a resource and/or that quoting from it is sme sign of a lack of intellectual opinion. When neither is true. As I said, they likely are not deemed valid for collegiate term-papers or scientific journals, but they are amply certifiable enough for general use.
Either way, I tire of arguing with a fool, as doing so long enough means you will eventually drag me down to your level, and I have no interest in being deemed as ignorant and as stubborn as you persist in trying to be...
To quote Cave Johnson, "We're done here."
I'll admit, I'm not a huge 'taur fan, but you draw them so well that I can't help but be fascinated.
With that hair and those eyes, the first thing that popped into my head was the centaur incarnation of the Mavra Chang character in Jack L. Chalker's "Well of Souls" series. Loved those books.
With that hair and those eyes, the first thing that popped into my head was the centaur incarnation of the Mavra Chang character in Jack L. Chalker's "Well of Souls" series. Loved those books.
In one of my favourite Sci-Fi storys a woman called Mavra Tchang gets turned amongst other bodies into a centaur once.
Is this in any way related? Wonderful pic btw!
I notice all the time on centaur drawings (the classic human/horse version) that people tend to get the proportions of the
upper and lower torsos wrong, but you nailed it perfectly!
Is this in any way related? Wonderful pic btw!
I notice all the time on centaur drawings (the classic human/horse version) that people tend to get the proportions of the
upper and lower torsos wrong, but you nailed it perfectly!
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