Centaurs
Centaurs(Greek Kentauroi), a tribe of ‘beasts’ (Iliad 1. 268, 2. 743), human above and horse below; the wild and dangerous counterpart of the more skittish satyrs, who are constructed of the same components but conceived of as amusing rather than threatening creatures. In both cases it is the very closeness of the horse to humanity that points up the need to remember that a firm line between nature and culture must be drawn. Pirithous the king of the Lapiths, a Thessalian clan, paid for his failure to absorb this lesson when he invited the Centaurs to his wedding-feast; the party broke up in violence once the guests had tasted wine, that quintessential product of human culture (Pindar fr. 166 B. Snell and H. Maehler), and made a drunken assault on the bride (see the west pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia). ‘Ever since then’, says Antinous in the...
[The entire page is 606 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
