Centaurs

Centaurs, historically, were probably a mounted race of hunters in Thessaly - a kind of Gaucho of olden times. Homer mentions them as "gigantic, savage, and covered with hair," and by Pindar's time they had reached the mythological stage, and were become half man and half horse. Centauries, their father, was represented as the son of Ixion and the cloud, and their mothers were mares. They are spoken of as having fought with the Lapithae at the marriage of Peirithous with Hippodamia, and with Hercules. The most noted of them was Chiron, who was the instructor of Achilles.