CENTAUR!, cen-tau'-ri, a fabulous people of Thcssaly, half-men, half-horses, were the offspring of Apollo's son Centaurus by Stilbia, daughter of the Peneus, or of Centaurus and the mares of Magnesia, or of Ixion and the cloud. The shape of the Centauri was that of the upper part of a man's body, rising from the breast of a horse. The ancients firmly believed in their existence : Plutarch mentions one seen by Periander of Corinth, and Pliny says he saw one embalmed in honey, which had been brought from Egypt to Rome temp. Claudius. The battle of the Centaurs with the Lapithm has employed the pen of Hesiod, Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, &c., the chisel of Phidias, and the pencil of Parrhasius: it origi nated in a quarrel at the nuptials of Pirithfius and Hippodamia, when the Centaurs insulted the women present, and were defeated by Hercules, Theseus, and the Lapithm, and obliged to retire to Arcadia. When Hercules was going to hunt the boar of Erymanthus, he was entertained by the centaur Pholus with some wine, which had been given to the Cen taurs on condition of treating Hercules with it if he ever passed through their country.
Regretting the loss of their wine, they assailed Hercules, who compelled them to fly to the famous centaur Chiron. He had been Hercules' preceptor ; but the hefo did not desist from the engagement in his presence, and accidentally wounded the knee of Chiron, who, in his ex cessive pain, exchanged immortality for death. The death of Chiron irritated Heretics the more, and he killed nearly all the Centaurs. The most celebrated Centaurs were Chiron, Eur$hus, Amjicus, Gryneus, Caumas, Lycidas, Arneus, Medon, Rhcetus, Pisenor, MerMeros, Pholus. The fable probably arose from the Thracians having been the first to ride horses. CENTAURUS, ceu-tad-rus, one of IEneas's ships, with a Centaur as figure-head. CENTOBRICA, con-fob-ncca, a town of Cel tiberia.