CENTAURS (Κένταυροι), in Greek mythology, were beings part horse part man, is., a horse had its neck and head replaced by the head and body of a man down to the waist. The oldest form was that of a man altogether in front with the body and hind legs of a horse attached to his back. In peopling solitary and wild places with imaginary beings it was usual to assign to these beings a bodily form in some obvious way consistent with the features of the locality; thus, Pan, the spirit of rocky hills, was imagined as having goat’s legs, and Scylla, the spirit of sea-storms, as having the body and tail of a fish. In most cases the animal adjunct was made to supersede the human legs, as if the first consideration had been that the spirit should have a non-human means of locomotion. In the case of the Centaurs whose home was in mountainous and wooded regions with wild torrents, chiefly in Thessaly and Arcadia, the horse may have been chosen either as symbolic of the impetuosity of streams and winds, or from the circumstance of such districts being favourable for horse rearing. One of the Centaurs, Chiron, who lived in a cave on Mount Pelion, was a friend of gods and heroes, skilled in medicine and music, and as an instructor of youth; but as a race they were best known for their battle with the Lapithae, which arose at the marriage of Peiri-thous and Deidamia, when the Centaurs, excited wiχh wine, attempted to carry off the bride, but were overpowered by the help of Theseus, who was present; hence this subject, generally suitable for sculpture, was a favourite with Athenian artists. The Centaurs formed part of the retinue of Bacchus. No satisfactory derivation of the name has yet been given.