A Centaur Or A Centauress (Or Centauride)

As seen on a building in downtown Charlottesville

Charlottesville

September 15, 2025

A centaur is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version of the myth, the centaurs were named after Centaurus, and, through his brother Lapithes, were kin to the legendary tribe of the Lapiths.

Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being as wild as untamed horses, and were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. Centaurs are subsequently featured in Roman mythology, and were familiar figures in the medieval bestiary. They remain a staple of modern fantastic literature.

A female centaur, known as a Centauride or centauress, is the female counterpart to the male centaur of Greek mythology. Though less frequently mentioned in early Greek literature, Centaurides appear in later Greek and Roman art, such as mosaics. They are often depicted as beautiful, sometimes assisting goddesses like Aphrodite, and one famous example is the Centauride Hylonome, who committed suicide after her husband was killed in the centauromachy.