DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15092#0014
5
overtaken were seized by their pursuers, who caught hold of them
by the horns, in a manner not less dexterous than daring.(5) Hence,
these hunters acquired the name of Centauri and Hippocentauri,
from the Greek words iWo? a horse, xivreco to goad or lance, and
roivpog a bull. The novel sight of a man seated on the back of
a horse, and galloping over the plains with more than human ve-
locity, might easily suggest to the minds of an ignorant peasantry,
the idea of an animal composed partly of a man and partly of a
horse ; and it was from this simple origin that the fable of the
Centaurs first sprung. Though it cannot be imagined that the
Greeks ever regarded this tradition otherwise than as a fable, (6)
so far as the double nature of the animal was concerned, yet it
£7rivoouo"iv Imrov; Xi\i\rac Sio"a£«i.---Ourco Vs dvafiavTs; tou; xsXrjru; yXxuvov, If' ou oi raupoi
rj&civ, xoa hmur&aWovTSS t>) «y;At), rjxwrigov. Kai ore p.ev IZiiixovTO vno tuw rctupw, a-zsQzvyov ol
veuvlocf 7roScaxE<TTspoi yap rpca o't (Wof ots 8e eTTi\<Ta.v o! TaOpoi, uxotTTpsfovTE; rjxovTt^ov' xcti
tovtov tov Tponov ctv£i\oit airou;' xai to (xev ovojxa evreiitv e\a(5ov oi KfVraupoi, on rob; Tocupov;
xotracevTOW. Palasphat. de incred. c. i.
5 Thessalorum gentis inventum est, equo juxta quadrupedante cornu intorta cervice
tauros necare: primus id spectaculum dedit Roma2 Cassar dictator. Plin. Nat. Hist,
lib. viii. c. 70.
It may be remarked that many of the coins struck in the ancient towns of Thessaly,
represent a horse, sometimes with a rider, but often running loose with a long rein trail-
ing on the ground, to show that the bridle was the invention of the Thessalians. The
horse occurs on the coins of Atrax, Crannon, Gyrton, Larissa, Magnesia, Peliima, Per-
rhasbia, Phacium, Phalanna, Pharcadon, Pharsalus, Pherae, Scotussa, and Tricca. On
some of these coins, not only the horse is represented, but the bull is also introduced on
the reverse, just at the moment of his being seized by the horns. Instances of the latter are
to be found on the coins of Larissa, Pellerin, pi. xxvii. fig. 21, 22.; of Pelinna, Pellerin,
pi. xxviii. fig. 36., of Perrhasbia, Eckhel, Sylloge, Num. Vet. Anec. p. 113.; of Pheras,
an unpublished coin of which is in the collection of the British Museum ; and of Tricca,
Mus. Hunt. tab. lx. fig. 23. Euripides, in the following passage, speaks of the skill which
the Thessalians displayed both in the slaughter of bulls, and in the management of horses:
'Ex toov xolXcuv xofj-Trouiri toIq-i 0=o"craAoi5
Elyai to'S', can; Tciupov apTap-ei xuXui;,
"Inwove, T oyy.xX£' Aa/3s cr/Srjpov, cu
AsTPo'i/ t6 fjjfujv hvp.ov ctp.fi 0=o-<raA«jv. Eurip. Elect, v. 815.
6 Ne forte ex homine et veterino semine cquorum
Confieri credas Centauros posse. Lucret. lib. v. 88.
Quis enim Hippocentaurum fuisse, aut Chimaeram putet? Cic. de Natura Deor.
lib. ii. c. 2.
overtaken were seized by their pursuers, who caught hold of them
by the horns, in a manner not less dexterous than daring.(5) Hence,
these hunters acquired the name of Centauri and Hippocentauri,
from the Greek words iWo? a horse, xivreco to goad or lance, and
roivpog a bull. The novel sight of a man seated on the back of
a horse, and galloping over the plains with more than human ve-
locity, might easily suggest to the minds of an ignorant peasantry,
the idea of an animal composed partly of a man and partly of a
horse ; and it was from this simple origin that the fable of the
Centaurs first sprung. Though it cannot be imagined that the
Greeks ever regarded this tradition otherwise than as a fable, (6)
so far as the double nature of the animal was concerned, yet it
£7rivoouo"iv Imrov; Xi\i\rac Sio"a£«i.---Ourco Vs dvafiavTs; tou; xsXrjru; yXxuvov, If' ou oi raupoi
rj&civ, xoa hmur&aWovTSS t>) «y;At), rjxwrigov. Kai ore p.ev IZiiixovTO vno tuw rctupw, a-zsQzvyov ol
veuvlocf 7roScaxE<TTspoi yap rpca o't (Wof ots 8e eTTi\<Ta.v o! TaOpoi, uxotTTpsfovTE; rjxovTt^ov' xcti
tovtov tov Tponov ctv£i\oit airou;' xai to (xev ovojxa evreiitv e\a(5ov oi KfVraupoi, on rob; Tocupov;
xotracevTOW. Palasphat. de incred. c. i.
5 Thessalorum gentis inventum est, equo juxta quadrupedante cornu intorta cervice
tauros necare: primus id spectaculum dedit Roma2 Cassar dictator. Plin. Nat. Hist,
lib. viii. c. 70.
It may be remarked that many of the coins struck in the ancient towns of Thessaly,
represent a horse, sometimes with a rider, but often running loose with a long rein trail-
ing on the ground, to show that the bridle was the invention of the Thessalians. The
horse occurs on the coins of Atrax, Crannon, Gyrton, Larissa, Magnesia, Peliima, Per-
rhasbia, Phacium, Phalanna, Pharcadon, Pharsalus, Pherae, Scotussa, and Tricca. On
some of these coins, not only the horse is represented, but the bull is also introduced on
the reverse, just at the moment of his being seized by the horns. Instances of the latter are
to be found on the coins of Larissa, Pellerin, pi. xxvii. fig. 21, 22.; of Pelinna, Pellerin,
pi. xxviii. fig. 36., of Perrhasbia, Eckhel, Sylloge, Num. Vet. Anec. p. 113.; of Pheras,
an unpublished coin of which is in the collection of the British Museum ; and of Tricca,
Mus. Hunt. tab. lx. fig. 23. Euripides, in the following passage, speaks of the skill which
the Thessalians displayed both in the slaughter of bulls, and in the management of horses:
'Ex toov xolXcuv xofj-Trouiri toIq-i 0=o"craAoi5
Elyai to'S', can; Tciupov apTap-ei xuXui;,
"Inwove, T oyy.xX£' Aa/3s cr/Srjpov, cu
AsTPo'i/ t6 fjjfujv hvp.ov ctp.fi 0=o-<raA«jv. Eurip. Elect, v. 815.
6 Ne forte ex homine et veterino semine cquorum
Confieri credas Centauros posse. Lucret. lib. v. 88.
Quis enim Hippocentaurum fuisse, aut Chimaeram putet? Cic. de Natura Deor.
lib. ii. c. 2.