The classic centaur is a creature with the body and legs of a horse and a human head and arms. However, there are many variations of its appearance. The centaur could also be winged. In all these cases, he remained a man-horse. In the Middle Ages, the onocentaur (a combination of a man and a donkey), the bukentaur (a buffalo man) and the leontocentaur (a lion man) appeared. IN Indian art known image of a man with the legs of a buffalo (or horse) and the tail of a fish.
To refer to creatures that do not look like a horse, but retain the features of a centaur, the term "centauroids" is used in the scientific literature.
The image of the centaur, apparently, arose in Babylon in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Kassite nomads who came to Mesopotamia from Iran around 1750 BC. e., waged a fierce struggle with Egypt and Assyria for dominion in the Middle East. Along the borders of their empire, the Kassites erected huge stone statues of guardian gods, among them centaurs. One of them depicted a winged creature with a horse's body, two faces - a human, looking forward, and a dragon, looking back, and two tails (horse and scorpion); in the hands - a bow with a stretched bowstring. Another well-known monument is a sculpture of a classical centaur without wings, with one head and one tail, ready to shoot at the enemy with his bow. Of course, the fact that the Kassites depicted the centaur in their sculptures does not mean at all that they invented it, but since the Kassite empire ceased to exist by the middle of the 12th century BC. e., we can rightfully assert that the history of the centaur has more than three thousand years.
The appearance of the image of a centaur indicates that already during the time of the Kassites, the horse played important role In human life. The oldest mention of a horse - "donkey from the west" or "mountain donkey" - we find on a clay Babylonian tablet dating back to 2100 BC. e. However, centuries passed before the horse became a familiar companion in the Middle East. It is very likely that the Kassite nomads contributed to the spread of the horse and chariots. Perhaps the ancient farmers perceived horse riders as an integral being, but, most likely, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, prone to inventing “composite” creatures, having invented the centaur, thus simply reflected the spread of the horse.
So, the creature known as the centaur appeared in the Middle East between 1750 and 1250 BC. e. and served as a guardian spirit, whose main weapon was a bow and arrow. The Kassites, who had extensive trade relations, brought the centaur to the Mycenaean civilization, which also disappeared by the middle of the 12th century BC. e. From Crete he came to Ancient Greece. Depiction of Theseus' battle with a centaur on an amphora of the 8th century BC. e. indicates that by this time the Greeks had already managed to develop a mythology that absorbed the Mycenaean heroes.
Centaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with the head and torso of a man and the body of a horse. Centaurs had horse ears, rough and bearded faces. As a rule, they were naked and armed with a club, a stone or a bow. In the earliest images, centaurs were endowed with both human and horse genitalia.
According to the "Pythian" of Pindar (c. 518-442 or 438 BC), the centaurs were considered descendants - direct or through their common ancestor Centaur - the Thessalian king of the Lapith tribe titanium Ixion, the son of Ares, and the cloud, which, at the behest of Zeus, took the form of Hera, whom Ixion attempted (according to another interpretation, the descendants of Ixion and the Titanides of the clouds of Nephele, other Greek "cloud", "cloud")
“And Ixion lit the imperious heart of the goddess Hera with the fire of a titan. That fire did not hide from the peacekeeper, he decided to punish Ixion. And, according to the insidious intention of Kronid, a cloudy ghost in the form of Hera descended from the sky to Ixion to cool the heat of the fire in the leader of the Lapits. And it was not a deceitful ghost, but the goddess of the clouds Nephele: she deceived Nephele the sly Zeus. ANDfrom Ixion the Titan gave birth to Nephele a wonder: not a man, not a horse, not a tree, not a titan, not a god and not a beast, but both, and another, and the third: he was a horse, and a man, and a tree - a piece of the beast, god and titan. He was mortal and he was immortal. Ya.E. Golosovker "Tales of the Titans"
According to the Thessalian legends as presented by Lucan (39-65 AD), Nephele gave birth to centaurs in the Pelephronian cave. According to another myth, they were the children of the Centaur - the son of Apollo and the Oceanid (daughter of the Ocean and Tethys) or the daughter of the river god Peneus and the nymph Creusa, Stilba. According to another legend, the centaurs were the sons of Apollo himself. Diodorus Siculus (approx. 90 - 30 BC) cites in the "Historical Library" the views that existed in his time that the centaurs were raised on the Pelion peninsula by nymphs and, having matured, entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares, from what were born binatural centaurs or hippocentaurs. According to another myth, a descendant of Apollo, the Centaur, entered into a relationship with the Magnesian mares.
Isidore of Seville (c. 560 - 636). in "Etymology" wrote “Hippocentaurs have a mixed nature - a man and a horse, their head is covered with hair, like animals, but otherwise they look like ordinary people and can even speak, but since their lips are unaccustomed to human speech, words cannot be isolated from the sounds they make. . They are called hippocentaurs, because it is believed that they combined human and horse nature..»
Pliny (c. 23–79 AD) wrote in his Natural History that he saw a hippocentaur preserved in honey and sent from Egypt as a gift to the emperor.
“Caesar Claudius, brother of Caligula, writes that a hippocentaur was born in Thessaly and died on the same day, and during the reign of this emperor we saw how a similar creature was brought in honey from Egypt”
The Odyssey tells the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Peyritoon, got drunk with wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, they cut off his ears and nose and threw him out. The centaur called his brethren to revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.
The Greeks, who bred and loved horses, were well acquainted with their temper. It is no coincidence that it was the nature of the horse that they associated with the unpredictable manifestations of violence in this generally positive creature. The Greek centaur is practically a man, but his behavior changes dramatically under the influence of wine. Homer writes: “It is wine that is responsible for the atrocities that the famous centaur Eurytion perpetrated in the palace of the generous Peyritoon in Lapit. His mind went wild with intoxication. And in his rage, he did a lot of trouble in the house of Peyritoon ... Since then, the enmity between people and centaurs has continued. And he was the first to feel the evil of drunkenness."
The centaur was a popular subject in vase painting. Its artistic embodiment depended on which centaur was depicted on the vase. The two most "civilized" centaurs - Cheiron and Tholos - were usually depicted with human legs, while the entire back of their bodies remained horse-like. Heiron is almost always dressed, he could have human ears. Pholos, on the contrary, most often appears naked and always with horse ears.
The centaur with four horse legs was perceived by the Greeks more as an animal than as a man. Despite having a human head, his ears are almost always those of a horse, and his face is rough and bearded. The centaur, as a rule, was depicted naked, with male and horse genitals at the same time. The image of a centaur, of course, was not common to all of Greece: in its continental part, centaurs were depicted with disheveled long hair, and in Ionia and Etruria - with short ones. These creatures did not necessarily carry a bow, more often a log or cobblestone. The depiction of the death of Caineus at the battle of Lapita can be called a classic: the centaurs bury the dying hero under a mountain of logs and stones.
On the vase of the work of Clytius (560 BC), both types of centaurs are depicted: on the one hand, Cheiron, dressed in a tunic and leading the procession of the gods in honor of the newlywed couple (Peleus and Thetia), friendly welcomes the groom; on the reverse side is a scene from the Battle of Lapita. The painting symbolizes the dual nature of the centaurs, opposing Cheiron, who obeyed the order established by people, and other centaurs who threaten this order with their wild disposition.
These two types are not the only ones, but only the most common in Greece. In addition to them, winged centaurs were depicted, indicating that the Kassite tradition did not die completely. Several Cypriot terracotta figures of the 7th century BC. e. can rightly be called "centauroids." Unlike the Minotaur with a human body and a buffalo head, these creatures have human heads (sometimes with horns) and buffalo bodies, which is probably associated with the cult of the bull, the god of fertility.
Most often, centaurs were characterized as wild and unrestrained, with an unpredictable manifestation of violence, creatures in which animal nature prevailed. Centaurs were distinguished by riot, a penchant for drunkenness and hostility to people. But wise centaurs were also known among them, first of all, the already mentioned Phol and Chiron, friends and teachers of Hercules and others.
A popular poetic plot of antiquity, displayed in the Parthenon by Phidias (c. 490 BC - c. 430 BC), sung in Ovid's Metamorphoses (43 BC - 17 AD). BC) and inspired Rubens, was centauromachia - the battle of the Lapiths with the centaurs, which flared up because of the unbridled temper of the latter at the wedding feast of the king of the Lapiths, Pirithous.
“The Odyssey of Homer also describes the story of how the centaur Eurytion, invited to the wedding of Pirithous, got drunk on wine and tried to dishonor the bride. As punishment, they cut off his ears and nose and threw him out. The centaur called his brethren to revenge, and after some time a battle took place in which the centaurs were defeated.
If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in Ancient Rome he turned into a peaceful companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in Metamorphoses.
The death of the centaurs and their role in the death of Hercules
Centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly until the day when they were defeated by the Lapiths and Hercules scattered them throughout Hellas. Most of the centaurs, according to the tragedy of Euripides "Hercules" (416 BC) were killed by Hercules. Those who escaped him listened to the sirens, stopped eating and starved to death. According to one story, Poseidon hid them in a mountain in Eleusis.
The centaur Nessus, according to Sophocles, played a fatal role in the death of Hercules. He tried to kidnap Hercules' wife Dejanira, but was struck down by an arrow with the poison of the Lernaean Hydra. Dying, Ness decided to take revenge on Hercules, advising Dejanira to collect his blood, as she supposedly would help her keep Hercules' love. Dejanira soaked the clothes of Hercules with the poisonous blood of Nessus, and he died in terrible agony.
Centaurids - female centaurs
Along with male centaurs, Greek legends sometimes described centaurids(centauri). Their image is quite rare in myths and paintings, and even then, they are more often characterized as nymphs. The few authors who mention the existence of centaurids described them as beautiful creatures physically and spiritually. The most famous centaurid was Gilonoma, the wife of the centaur Killar (Zillar).
Varieties of centaurs. Centauroids
There are quite a few variations in the appearance of centaurs. Sometimes they were even depicted as winged, with a second dragon head (in Babylon, Crete). To refer to creatures similar to a horse, but retaining the features of a centaur, the term "to entauroids". Centauroids were especially popular in the Middle Ages. They were treated onocentaur(donkey man) bucentaur(bull man) kerasts(buffalo man) Leontocentaur(lion man) ichthyocentaur(a creature that combines elements of fish, horses and humans in its appearance). The most ancient terracotta figures of centauroids with the head of a man and the body of a buffalo of the 7th century BC. BC. met in Cyprus.
A large number of various creatures - chimeras, close to the centauroids described above, were observed by me in the Thai temple of Wat Po in Bangkok.
Polkan and Kitovras
Slavic demigods also belonged to the centaurs Polkan And Kitovras(daemon Asmodeus Jews) and their relatives (probably Polkan and Kitovras were one and the same creature). Polkan was unusually strong and quick. He had the body and build of a man to the waist, and below the waist he was a horse. When the ancient Slavs fought, Polkan and his relatives tried to come to their aid and fought so bravely that their glory survived the centuries. Kitovras had the same appearance as Polkan and was famous for his intelligence. Caught by King Solomon, he amazed him with his wisdom
No less a mystery than the image of the centaur itself is its name. Neither Homer nor the other ancient Greek poet Hesiod, mentioning centaurs, describe their appearance, unless, of course, one considers the characteristic “hairy animal people”. Although images of horses with human heads have been found since the 8th century BC. e., there is no reason to believe that in the time of Homer the idea of \u200b\u200b"semi-animal" creatures was so widespread that it did not need comment. The modern English writer Robert Graves, who turned a lot in his work to the era of antiquity, believed that Homer refers to the representatives of a warlike tribe who worshiped the horse as centaurs. Under the leadership of their king Heiron, the centaurs opposed their enemies, the Lapits, together with the Achaeans.
The debate about the origin of the word "centaur" has never subsided. According to different versions, it could come from the Latin "centuria" - "hundred" or the Greek "centron" - "goat", "kenteo" - "hunt, pursue" and "tavros" - "bull".
The first ancient Greek poet to mention the horse nature of the centaurs was Pindar (c. 518-442 or 438 BC). In the Pythian, he speaks of the rise of the centaurs. Lapit named Ixion falls in love with Hera, and in retaliation Zeus sends a cloud to him, resembling a goddess in appearance, Ixion copulates with the cloud, and it gives birth to a child: “This mother brought him a monstrous offspring. There has never been such a mother, nor such a child, which was not accepted by either people or gods. She raised him and named him the Centaur. From his union with the Magnesian mare, an unprecedented tribe was born, inheriting the lower part from the mother, and the upper part from the father. On the other hand, according to Pindar, the origin of Cheiron was quite different. He is "the son of Philir, a descendant of Kron, who once ruled a vast kingdom and was a son of Heaven." Heiron married a girl named Hariko, and they had a completely human-looking daughter. He, apparently, was the only "home" centaur. It was Cheiron who was the tutor of Achilles and Hercules.
The story of another centaur - Nessos - has come down to us thanks to the tragedy of Sophocles (5th century BC). Hercules brings his bride Deianeira to his house. Centaur earns money by transporting people across the river Even. Deianeira sits on his back to cross to the other side, but in the middle of the river Nessos grabs her and tries to dishonor her. Hercules saves the bride by spearing the centaur in the chest. Dying, Nessos advises Deianeira to collect his blood and use it as love potion in case Hercules ever falls in love with another woman. Deianeira dips the hem of her tunic in centaur blood. When Hercules puts on the tunic, the poison-soaked cloth sticks to his body and causes such excruciating pain that he throws himself into the fire. If in Greece the centaur was the embodiment of animal qualities incompatible with human nature, unbridled passions and immoderate sexuality, then in ancient Rome he turned into a peaceful companion of Dionysus and Eros. The greatest contribution to the formation of the Roman version of the image of the centaur was made, of course, by Ovid (43 BC - c. 18 AD) in Metamorphoses. The poet brings many details into the story of Peyritoon's marriage and the ensuing battle. Not only Tholos and Nessos participate in the battle, but also other centaurs, who are the fruit of Ovid's imagination. Among them, the most interesting are Zillar and Gilonoma.
Zillar is a young, fair-haired centaur, Gilonoma is his beloved, a centaur girl with long hair adorned with roses, violets and white lilies, "who was not more beautiful in the forests." When Zillar dies in battle, Gilonoma throws herself on the spear that pierced her lover and merges with him in a last embrace. This story of a beautiful centaur, his feminine lover, their true love and touching suicide contrasts with the image of a wild and unbridled Greek centaur.
The oldest horoscope that has come down to us was compiled around 410 BC. e. in Babylon. There is no doubt that the zodiac Sagittarius (Centaur), as well as Scorpio and Capricorn (Ay's "antelope of the underground ocean") are images inspired by the Kassite border monuments. Along with the constellation Centaur-Sagittarius, there is also the Southern Centaur. Under the name of the zodiac Capricorn, the centaur also passed into the art of the Islamic world.
The fixation of the centaur as one of the zodiac symbols played a role in the fact that the memory of him was preserved in the Middle Ages. In bestiaries, the image of the onocentaur, the donkey-man, was unambiguously associated with the devil. The medieval centaur was always depicted wearing a tunic or cloak and certainly holding a combat bow in his hands. This can be seen on the coat of arms of the English King Stephen I. There are also images of a centaur with human hands, awkwardly standing on the only hind horse legs.
On the Bayonne tapestry depicting scenes of the Norman conquest of England (11th century AD), in the episode depicting Harold on the way to William the Conqueror, there are five long-haired dressed centaurs, two of them are winged. And in the episode "Harold Saves Two Soldiers", a centaur with lion's paws is depicted. A stone statue of another leontocentaur can be seen in Westminster Abbey in London.
In Dante's "Divine Comedy" we meet Cheiron, Nessos and Tholos in the seventh circle of hell, where they dump the souls of the "rapists" into the river from the boiling blood. Dante manages in a small passage to list most of the mythological features of the centaurs. When Cheiron spots Dante and Virgil, he takes an arrow from the quiver hanging at his hips and straightens his beard so that it does not interfere with his conversation. Heiron is not devoid of intelligence: he sees that the foot of "the one who is behind moves what he touches" and understands that Dante is alive. Nessos remembers his lifetime craft and transports Dante and Virgil across the bloody Phlegeton River. The centaurs of the seventh circle are "guardians and stewards of eternal justice."
The only thing that Dante missed in describing the “fast-footed animals” was that he did not indicate their equine nature. The educated Italian, no doubt, not only read Ovid, but also saw the bronze Roman centaurs, believing that his readers are no less familiar with them. However, comedy illustrators seem to have had a significant gap in this regard. One of them depicted a centaur with a human head growing directly from the chest of a horse, of course, without arms and torso. Faced with the task of depicting centaurs-archers, the artist was completely at a loss and painted them simply as naked men.
In the "History of Troy" by Lefevre, the centaur, for some unknown reason, becomes an ally of the Trojans. The centaur “with a mane like a horse, eyes red as coals, accurately shot from his bow; This beast inspired fear in the Greeks and struck many of them with his arrows. Apparently, this story was known to Shakespeare. In "Troilus and Cressida" the hero of the Trojan War Menelaus says: "The terrible centaur has instilled fear in our warriors." In Shakespeare's centaur, the Greek image of this creature is revived - a threat to public order.
In the 19th century, the image of the centaur attracted even greater interest in literature and art. Goethe made Cheiron one of the central figures in the description of Walpurgis Night in Faust. Here Heiron again becomes a wise and kind being. It is he who takes Faust to meet Elena. For Goethe, Cheiron is the personification of male beauty - "he is half-human and flawless in running."
The centaur was depicted on their canvases and in the occultures of Botticelli, Pisanello, Michelangelo, Rubens, Beckling, Rodin, Picasso and many others. He is the subject of many literary works and scientific papers. In the 19th century, the centaur also did not remain forgotten.
Here is even such controversial information can be found on the Internet:
However, it would be strange if an absolutely fictional creature
often mentioned in various literary sources, so often
portrayed by sculptors and painters. Indeed, it is widely known that
real animals with the same
name, and on the island of Komodo, a truly draconian monitor lizard has been preserved
sizes.
Recently, supporters of the version of the reality of the centaurs received
irrefutable proof of their correctness. Archaeological excavations
near El Ayum (Western Sahara) dispelled all secrets and conjectures - there
more than a dozen skeletons of centaurs have been discovered, many of which
pretty well preserved. Professor at the California Institute
natural science J.R.R. Epstein according to the method of Professor Gerasimov
restored the appearance of the centaur (see Fig. N1).
The dimensions of the centaur are by no means gigantic: at the withers - about a meter, from
front hooves to the top of the head - about eighty meters. brain volume
somewhat less than that of humans, but more than those of chimpanzees and gorillas.
Of great interest to researchers was the question of how the
internal organs in two cavities. It turned out that the entire upper anterior
The (humanoid) part was filled with respiratory organs. Powerful
lungs with large bronchi made centaurs unusually hardy,
besides, obviously, the centaurs were very loud, and
hence, deafness. In the lower-back part just behind the middle belt
limbs, guarded by the clavicles and shoulder blades, there was a huge
heart. Behind the heart is a voluminous stomach and a long intestine, which
indicates that centaurs ate mainly grass. By
sides, near the ribs, the centaurs had air bubbles similar to those that
birds have. During inhalation, they were filled with air, so that later, during
exhalation time, fill the lungs with this air. So the centaurs
were the only mammals with double breathing.
Classifying the centaur proved extremely difficult. Quicker
In total, this is a special class of six-legged vertebrates of the chordate type -
dead end branch. The prehistoric ancestors of the centaurs apparently lived in
forests, moved on all six limbs and were much more
slow. Looked protocentaurs (Protocentaurus vulgaris)
otherwise: the limbs were short and clumsy, the front part was not at all
resembled a human. They lived in dens and were omnivores. However, with
climate change, protocentaurs became steppe animals, which
demanded more high speed movement. Wherein
the front part of the body came off the ground and became lighter, and the back -
on the contrary, it became more massive, middle and hind limbs
stretched out noticeably. Further, in the process of evolution, the back of the body is all
more reminiscent of a horse, as the living conditions and lifestyle
centaurs were exactly the same as those of wild horses. Front same
part, lightened and becoming vertical, freed up for useful
labor, the forelimbs gradually began to resemble human
hands. Thus, it can be stated with complete certainty that
made from a protocentaur - a real centaur (Centaurus centaurus).
It remains a mystery whether the centaurs were sentient. Mythology speaks
"Yes" (see the myths about Jason, about Lapith, etc.), but science does not have
reliable data in this regard. Unfortunately this is a mystery.
unsolvable, since all centaurs have already become extinct. It can be assumed, that
people are responsible for this. Many literary sources - for example, the myth of
Lapith - tell about the enmity of people and centaurs. Obviously bulky and
clumsy, centaurs could not stand the competition with dexterous and
mobile people. Presumably, already in the first millennium BC
era centaurs were completely ousted from the territory Ancient Greece and from
Europe in general. Driven into the sands of the Sahara, dwindling bands
centaurs could exist until the first centuries of our era. Last thing
mention of a meeting with centaurs can be found in Kapalla's treatise "My
journeys to distant shores.
http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/sf/schen021.htm
http://www.dopotopa.com/kentavru_-_poluljudi_-_polukoni_iz_grecheskih_predaniy.html
http://godsbay.ru/paint/centaurs.html
http://m.mirtesen.ru/groups/30029300044/blog/43936541976
And I’ll remind you again whether it really came from and where it came from. Do you know the answer to the question, and maybe The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -Animals, real, fictional or completely fantastic, have always been important characters in legends and myths. So the cultural memory of mankind remembered the times of its primitive youth, in which the worship of totem animals and identification with them was an important part of religious consciousness. Mythical horses are one of the most striking and widespread characters, representing not only a visual embodiment of beauty and nobility, but also symbolizing various instincts and virtues.
Unicorn: a symbol of chastity in theory, a genetic incident in reality
The most famous equine in world mythology is the unicorn, mythical horse with a horn growing from the middle of the forehead. Unicorns are rarely found in reality - these are individual representatives of various genera of equids, in which, as a result of a mutation, only one grew instead of two horns. For example, a few years ago, a unicorn was discovered in Italy - a male roe deer, in which the horn grew exactly from the middle of the forehead. Medical experiments on turning animals into unicorns have been known since the first half of the last century. Since the horns of equids do not grow directly from the skull, but from a special outgrowth on the skull, when transplanting these outgrowths into the center of the forehead, it is possible to obtain an animal with one horn.
In ancient times, the unicorn was also considered a real animal. The reports of ancient Greek and Roman authors about unicorns can have several rational explanations. Firstly, news from distant countries of the East or Africa could report on individuals of certain horned animals that either lost the second horn due to the vicissitudes of life, or were samples of a rare mutation. Secondly, the unicorn in ancient times was not always represented as a horse with a horn. In the descriptions, there are such epithets as "massive legs", "large size", "fierce temper", "thick skin" and the like. This suggests that in many cases the rhinoceros, a real animal with one horn, corresponding to the above descriptions, could be meant.
Another thing is the symbolic description of the unicorn, which was especially widespread in the Middle Ages. Having received fragmentary legends of the ancient world about the unicorn, in which this beast was associated with the service of Artemis, the virgin goddess of hunting and the animal world, medieval mystics and romantics transformed them into new myths. In these myths, the unicorn already appeared as a horse with one horn, a very rare animal of paradise origin (which was still present in Eden with Adam and Eve), personifying chastity.
In this regard, the unicorn in the visual arts became an integral attribute of the Virgin Mary, and legends said that only a virgin could tame a unicorn.
The horn of the unicorn was considered to have healing powers, so physicians and alchemists sought to get it. For the former, it was important as a remedy for all poisons; for the latter, it was supposed to help in the search for the philosopher's stone. It is curious that for hundreds of years in Europe they actively traded in the horn of a unicorn, which was given out as a long fang of a marine mammal narwhal.
horse below, man above
Another popular mythical equine character is the centaur. True, in this case, we must not forget that in ancient mythology, centaurs are half people, half horses - creatures with a horse's croup and four legs and a human torso and head. According to scientists, the emergence of ideas about centaurs among the South European peoples is associated with vague memories of the first contacts with the northern tribes of nomads. Nomads were so closely related to horses that in the perception of other peoples they seemed to be one and inseparable creatures with them. It is not surprising that in ancient Greek mythology centaurs were the embodiment of the wild forces of nature, dark passions and instincts that were not amenable to mind control.
Therefore, in most legendary plots, centaurs play a negative role, entering into a fight with heroes. Rare examples of centaurs as positive characters are associated with their function as mentors for future great heroes. For example, a teacher of such powerful and revered demigods-half-humans as the miner of the golden fleece 
Jason and the invincible Achilles, was the centaur Chiron. But the mighty Hercules, for example, was constantly at enmity with the centaurs and killed many of them. However, a centaur was also involved in his painful death, whose poisoned blood killed Hercules. Also, in some myths, centaurids are mentioned, that is, centaurs with a female human "half", but nowhere do they play an independent role.
Hindus, Vikings, Bashkirs - everyone loved horses
Another horse also figured in ancient mythology - the winged Pegasus, the favorite of the muses and the messenger of Zeus, who delivered lightning arrows forged in the vents of volcanoes by the blacksmith god Hephaestus to the supreme god on Olympus. In medieval and modern heraldry, Pegasus, due to its connection with the muses, the inspirers of arts and creativity, and the winged lifestyle, has become a symbol of inspiration, craving for beauty, love of knowledge, lofty dreams and aspirations. There is a flying horse in the legends of the nomadic peoples of Eurasia. So, in the Bashkir and Tatar epic legends winged horse Tulpar is a magical assistant and friend of the batyrs (heroes) in the exploits and adventures of the latter. Tulpar not only can fly, he also has the ability to speak, the gift of prophecy, and summon strong winds.
Mythical flying horses belong to a very deep layer of human consciousness. So, there are such characters in legends long before the maturation of ancient civilization. In many stories of Hindu mythology, the reader can meet Uchchaikhshravas, a white flying horse with seven heads, a servant of Indra, one of the main gods of the pantheon of Hinduism and Vedism. Among other things, this seven-headed flying horse had the gift of resurrecting the dead. In European religious culture, the most famous is Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse of the supreme Scandinavian god Odin. Thanks to the swift and beautiful Sleipnir, Odin could almost instantly be transferred from one world to another, thanks to which experts see in this horse the function of an intermediary between the worlds.
Alexander Babitsky
Images of gods with the heads of animals and human bodies, or vice versa with the bodies of animals and the heads of people, are found among different peoples. It is possible that these creatures are the fruit of alien genetic experiments.
Australian sensation
The joint Australian-American expedition, which studied the cave paintings of primitive people, in Australia and South Africa more than five thousand images of the Stone Age have recently been discovered, among which there are sketches of half-humans, half-animals: with the body of a horse and the head of a man, or with the head of a bull and a human torso. The drawings of these unknown creatures were made no less than 32 thousand years ago.
Cambridge anthropologist Christopher Chippendale and Sydney historian Paul Tacon, who studied ancient petroglyphs, came to the firm conclusion that primitive artists painted mysterious creatures "from nature", that is, depicted what they saw with their own eyes. It is noteworthy that prehistoric Australians and Africans, who lived on different continents, decorated their caves with drawings of the same creatures. Especially, however, it is surprising that in Australia, scientists have found images of centaurs.
It is authentically known that horses have never been found on this remote mainland. How the Australian aborigines managed to depict a horse with a human torso is unknown.
It remains to be assumed that in ancient times on our planet, hybrids of people and animals really existed. And it is by no means excluded, ufologists believe, that these mysterious creatures are the result of alien genetic experiments.
Service staff
The in vitro hybrids, or at least many of them, were sentient. For example, the god Thoth, who was depicted with the head of an ibis or a baboon, was considered by the Egyptians to be an outstanding scientist: "He knows the heavens, is able to count the stars, enumerate everything that is on earth, and measure the Earth itself."
The son of the god Kron and Filira, the centaur Chiron, trained by Apollo and Artemis in hunting, healing, music and divination, was the teacher of the heroes of Greek myths - Achilles, Asclepius, Castor, Polideukos, Jason. Legends say that horse people came to Greece from the mountains, but because of their excessive craving for alcohol, they were expelled from Hellas by people.
Human-animal hybrids or animals endowed with reason could be a kind of attendants and perform some household functions. In Egypt, near the village of Deir el-Medina, a settlement of builders of the Theban necropolis was opened. Among them were scribes and artists who painted the walls of the tombs. During excavations, about 5 thousand drawings depicting scenes from the life of the Egyptians were discovered. Many of them baffle scientists.
Anubis, in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, originally the god of death, the patron of the dead, as well as necropolises, funeral rites and embalming, was usually depicted in the guise of a man with a jackal's head. Pliny, Paul the Deacon, Marco Polo, Adam of Bremen wrote about people with dog or jackal heads as real beings. There are also people with a dog's head on old Orthodox icons - this is how, in particular, Saint Christopher was depicted.
"Common Graves"
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In the early 1960s, during the construction of a highway in the Crimea, a bulldozer turned a stone "box" onto the surface of the earth. The workers opened the lid of the sarcophagus: it contained a human skeleton with a ram's head, and the skeleton was solid, the head was one with the skeleton. The roadmaster called archaeologists whose expedition was working nearby. Those, looking at the bones, decided that the road builders had played a trick on them, and immediately left. Convinced that the find did not represent any historical value, the workers razed the sarcophagus to the ground.
Archaeologists sometimes find ancient burials in which animal and human skeletons are mixed, and often a human head is missing in the grave, and the set of animal bones is not complete. It is believed that these are the remains of sacrificial gifts. But it is quite possible that they are actually hybrids created by aliens.
The aliens, apparently, conducted experiments on the hybridization of a variety of animals. Doctor of Biological Sciences P. Marikovsky, studying rock paintings of the Stone Age in the western spurs of the Dzungarian Alatau in the territory of Mesopotamia, discovered images of obvious mutants: mountain goats with two heads; goats with long tails, like wolves; unknown animals with straight, stick-like horns; horses with humps, like a camel; horses with long horns; camels with horns; centaurs. In 1850, the famous French archaeologist Auguste Marryat discovered huge vaulted crypts (the so-called crypts) in the area of the pyramid of Saqqara, in which hundreds of sarcophagi carved from solid pieces of granite were preserved. Their dimensions surprised scientists: length - 3.85 meters, width - 2.25 meters, height - 2.5 meters, wall thickness - 0.42 meters, cover thickness 0.43 meters. The total weight of the "coffin" and the lid was about 1 ton!
Inside the sarcophagi were crushed animal remains, mixed with a viscous liquid similar to resin. After examining the fragments of the bodies, Marryat came to the conclusion that they were hybrids of a wide variety of animals. The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and were convinced that a living being could be reborn only if its body was embalmed and retained its appearance. They were afraid of the creatures created by the gods and, in order to prevent the resurrection of monsters in a new life, they dismembered their bodies into small pieces, placed them in coffins, filled them with tar, and covered them with massive lids on top.
Mysterious cuckolds
During excavations in the Gobi desert, the Belgian scientist Friedrich Meissner discovered a human skull with horns. At first, he suggested that the horns were somehow cut into the skull, that is, they were implanted. However, studies by pathologists have shown that these are natural formations: they formed and grew during the life of this creature.
Several human skulls with horns like this one were discovered in a burial mound in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s. With the exception of bony protrusions located about two inches above the eyebrows, the people to whom the skeletons belonged were anatomically normal, although they were seven feet tall. The bodies were buried around A.D. 1200. The bones were sent to the American Research Museum in Philadelphia.
Similar skulls were found by an Israeli archaeological expedition led by Professor Chaim Rasmon during excavations of the ruins of Subeyt. In the lowest cultural layers dating back to the Bronze Age, archaeologists have discovered human skeletons, whose skulls were crowned with horns. They were held in the skulls so firmly that experts could not come to an unambiguous conclusion whether the horns grew naturally or were somehow "implanted". Images and reliefs of people with horns are also found in other regions of the world, for example, in Peru.
Are the experiments going on?
Perhaps the aliens carried out genetic experiments to create humanoids, as well as various hybrids of people and animals in the Middle Ages. The annals of the Mongols preserved curious evidence of unusual children:
"To a khan named Sarva, the youngest of five sons was born with turquoise hair, his arms and legs were flat; his eyes were closed" from bottom to top ..."; "since Duva Sohor had a single eye in the middle of his forehead, he could see on the distance of three camps. "The appearance of the birth of various freaks was reported by medieval scientists: Ambroise Pare, Hugo Apdrovandi, Lycosthenes. There is information about the birth of children with the head of a cat, dog, and also with the body of a reptile.
Defects transmitted for centuries
What about hermaphrodites? As you know, Hermaphrodite was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. The legend tells that, while traveling, he somehow stopped at the lake, wanting to swim. The nymph Salmakis, seeing a naked young man, fell in love with him without memory, however, not having achieved reciprocity, she turned to the gods with a prayer to unite their bodies forever ...
There are many bisexual creatures known in Greek mythology. Aesop explained their appearance this way: “One night, after visiting Bacchus, a drunken Prometheus started modeling human bodies from clay, but made several mistakes ...”
“First of all, there were people of three sexes, and not two, as now, the third sex combined the qualities of both men and women at the same time; the name that became abusive has been preserved from him - androgyne, although he himself has disappeared. Terrible in their strength and power, these people harbored great plans and encroached even on the power of the gods: they tried to ascend to heaven in order to attack the celestials.
And then Zeus found a way to save people and put an end to their rampage. He cut them in half, and then they became weaker and more useful to God, because their number increased. When the bodies of these people were cut in half, each half rushed with lust to its other half, they hugged, intertwined and, passionately wanting to grow together, died of hunger and in general from inaction, because they did not want to do anything separately ...
One of the most famous androgynics was Charles d'Eon de Beaumont, also known as Genevieve d'Eon de Beaumont. This hermaphrodite, born in France at the beginning of the 18th century, was brought up as a girl until the age of three, but then decided that he wanted to be a boy, and spent most of his life disguised as a man.
De Beaumont graduated from military school and achieved considerable success in his army career (possessing, by the way, a magnificent female figure). As a secret agent, he was sent to Russia to spy on Empress Elizabeth, and at the Russian court the androgynic figured as ... a lady-in-waiting.
Contemporaries recalled that the androgynous Frenchman had a tremendous impact on political life Europe of that time. The benefit brought by him to his native country was so great that the great Beaumarchais himself exclaimed: “D” Eon is the new Joan of Arc! By the way, Beaumarchais saw a woman in Charles and even wanted ... to marry him. De Beaumont spent his last years in London, where he lived in a female form, but at the same time earned a living ... fencing lessons.
It is known that the mythical hermaphrodites were really pleased with their bisexual appearance, but their earthly counterparts, who by the will of fate came into this world with anomalies of the genital organs, can hardly be called happy. After all, the idea that a hermaphrodite is a creature with two full-fledged genitals, with which he can equally deftly “act”, is far from the truth.
Program failure or echo of old experiments?
Here is what is around us. Transsexuals are people with a discrepancy between the anatomical sex of the individual and his gender identity (mental sex), there are millions of them, they are among us.
In recent decades, more and more data have been accumulating that the structure of some areas of the brain of transsexuals differs from the structure of the corresponding areas of the brain of ordinary men and women and is close (although not identical) to the structure of these areas in people of the opposite anatomical sex. There is an assumption that the phenomenon of transsexuality is connected precisely with this.
We have what we have
Nowadays, the media provides numerous reports of the birth of deformed children with gills, with catlike, vertical pupils, Cyclops with one eye in the forehead, with webbed fingers and toes, with green or blue skin.
In March 2000, a message appeared that in India, in one of the hospitals in the city of Pollachi (Tamil Nadu), a "mermaid" was born - a girl with a fish tail instead of legs. She lived for a very short time, her body was transferred to one of the medical institutions for study.
