The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal Horse taming and horseback culture arose first in the southern steppe grasslands of Central Asia, perhaps approximately in modern Kazakhstan.
Centaur carrying off a nymph (1892) by Laurent Marqueste (Tuileries Garden, Paris)
Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined monster.Previous authors (Homer) tend to use words such as pheresthat could also mean ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses, though Homer does specifically refer to a centaur ("kentauros") in the Odyssey
Contemporaneous representations of hybrid centaurs can be found in archaic Greek art.Lucretius in his first century BC philosophical poem On the Nature of Things denied the existence of centaurs based on their differing rate of growth. He states that at three years old horses are in the prime of their life while, at three humans are still little more than babies, making hybrid animals impossible.Robert Graves (relying on the work of Georges Dumézil[16] argued for tracing the centaurs back to the Indian gandharva), speculated that the centaurs were a dimly remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as a totem.[17] A similar theory was incorporated into Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea. Kinnaras, another half-man half-horse mythical creature from the Indian mythology, appeared in various ancient texts, arts as well as sculptures from all around India. It is shown as a horse with the torso of a man in place of where the horse's head has to be, that is similar to a Greek centaur.
The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal Horse taming and horseback culture arose first in the southern steppe grasslands of Central Asia, perhaps approximately in modern Kazakhstan.
Centaur carrying off a nymph (1892) by Laurent Marqueste (Tuileries Garden, Paris)
Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined monster.Previous authors (Homer) tend to use words such as pheresthat could also mean ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses, though Homer does specifically refer to a centaur ("kentauros") in the Odyssey
Contemporaneous representations of hybrid centaurs can be found in archaic Greek art.Lucretius in his first century BC philosophical poem On the Nature of Things denied the existence of centaurs based on their differing rate of growth. He states that at three years old horses are in the prime of their life while, at three humans are still little more than babies, making hybrid animals impossible.Robert Graves (relying on the work of Georges Dumézil[16] argued for tracing the centaurs back to the Indian gandharva), speculated that the centaurs were a dimly remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as a totem.[17] A similar theory was incorporated into Mary Renault's The Bull from the Sea. Kinnaras, another half-man half-horse mythical creature from the Indian mythology, appeared in various ancient texts, arts as well as sculptures from all around India. It is shown as a horse with the torso of a man in place of where the horse's head has to be, that is similar to a Greek centaur.
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