Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 8 - Centaurs

Jun 23, 200913 min read

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Published: Jun 23, 2009

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Realms of Fantasy and Myth: Week 8 - Centaurs

Welcome to the eighth issue of my weekly news article! I hope you enjoy it, and please, show the featured artists some love and recognition through pageviews,

's and

's!
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This week's creature feature is: Centaurs.

From Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur :

In Greek mythology, the centaurs (from Ancient Greek: Κένταυροι - Kéntauroi) are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. In early Attic vase-paintings, they are depicted with the torso of a human joined at the waist to the horse's withers, where the horse's neck would be.
This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, both as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron.
Centaurs were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, Mount Pholoe in Arcadia and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia.

Some "facts" about Centaurs:

It is believed that the legend of Centaurs first started when civilizations that had never seen horses (or at least had never ridden them) saw horse-riding warriors for the first time. Maybe they saw them from the back?
The Zodiac sign of Sagittarius is represented by a Centaur archer.
Centaurs are featured in movies, books and video games quite frequently. Some include The Chronicles of Narnia, Artemus Fowl, Harry Potter, The Neverending Story, Disney's Fantasia, Age of Mythology, Mortal Combat, World of Warcraft and Tomb Raider.
Female Centaurs are technically called Kentaurides, but no one seems to care (including me, so I put them in here with the Centaurs).

Now, for the features! Works are featured from various categories, in no particular order:

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Male Centaur Amigurumi Doll by voxmortuum

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Self portrait as a centauress by centauressa

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Mature Content

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Thank you so much for viewing, and come back next week for a different inhabitant of the Realms of Fantasy and Myth!