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Centauri





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The Centaurs were inhabitants of Thessaly, famous for their great courage and address, in taming and training horses. The figment of the ancient poets ascribed to them a monstrous origin; and Greek artists sculpted them as combining in their form, the upper part of a human figure with the body and lower extremities of a horse.

On some coins, the centaur is standing alone, armed with a bow and arrow, or with a staff, or with a rudder and globe, on others drawing the chariot of some pagan divinity. On a denarius of the Aurelia gens (see p. 111), Hercules standing in a car is drawn at full speed by two centaurs, each of whom raises a branch in his right hand.


The above is engraved from a fine brass medallion of Antoninus Pius, in the Cabinet de France. The subject is one of the combats of Hercules, and represents him in the act of avenging the centaurs rape of Halcyone, sister of Eurystheus to whom the centaur Homadus had offered violence, and was in consequence killed by Hercules.

Several coins of Gallienus exhibit a centaur holding a bow and arrow: some as the mark of a legion, as LEG II PARThicae.

On other coins of Gallienus the same device appears in connection with the name of Apollo. APOLLINI CONServatori AVGusti. Erastosthenes states, that the centaur Chiron was numbered amongst the stars, as the constellation Sagittarius, the archer; and according to Hyginus and Pliny, he was the first to introduce the are of healing by the use of herbs. Such are the reasons assigned for selecting the centaur, as in this instance to personate Apollo, whether the god was regarded as presiding over the muses, or as the tutelary of the medical art.

Why the centaur is made to hold a globe and rudder in his hand, remains unexplained.

We find the bow-bearing centaur also on a coin of Tetricus the younger with the legend SOLI CONSERvatori; for Chiron, the Sagittarius, was the tutor of Apollo and Diana.












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Centauri





Please add updates or make corrections to the NumisWiki text version as appropriate.

The Centaurs were inhabitants of Thessaly, famous for their great courage and address, in taming and training horses. The figment of the ancient poets ascribed to them a monstrous origin; and Greek artists sculpted them as combining in their form, the upper part of a human figure with the body and lower extremities of a horse.

On some coins, the centaur is standing alone, armed with a bow and arrow, or with a staff, or with a rudder and globe, on others drawing the chariot of some pagan divinity. On a denarius of the Aurelia gens (see p. 111), Hercules standing in a car is drawn at full speed by two centaurs, each of whom raises a branch in his right hand.


The above is engraved from a fine brass medallion of Antoninus Pius, in the Cabinet de France. The subject is one of the combats of Hercules, and represents him in the act of avenging the centaurs rape of Halcyone, sister of Eurystheus to whom the centaur Homadus had offered violence, and was in consequence killed by Hercules. In this classic design, the great Alcides has already slain one centaur, who is stretched on the ground. He presses his knee on a second whom he is about to crush with his club, although another centaur comes to his assistance, armed like his companion with the branch of a tree. Meanwhile, Homadus is seen carrying away Halcyone, whom Hercules later rescued. It was the sequel of the Bacchanalian festival, that these horse-men, under the excitement of intoxication, to which they were addicted, outraged hospitality and ravished the women.

Several coins of Gallienus exhibit a centaur holding a bow and arrow: some as the mark of a legion, as LEG II PARThicae.

On other coins of Gallienus the same device appears in connection with the name of Apollo. APOLLINI CONServatori AVGusti. Erastosthenes states, that the centaur Chiron was numbered amongst the stars, as the constellation Sagittarius, the archer; and according to Hyginus and Pliny, he was the first to introduce the are of healing by the use of herbs. Such are the reasons assigned for selecting the centaur, as in this instance to personate Apollo, whether the god was regarded as presiding over the muses, or as the tutelary of the medical art.

Why the centaur is made to hold a globe and rudder in his hand, remains unexplained.

We find the bow-bearing centaur also on a coin of Tetricus the younger with the legend SOLI CONSERvatori; for Chiron, the Sagittarius, was the tutor of Apollo and Diana.












View whole page from the |Dictionary Of Roman Coins|