Editing Centaur (section)

==Artistic representations==

===Classical art===
[[File:Cantharus Stathatou Louvre CA1987.jpg|thumb|[[Boeotia]]n ''[[kantharos]]'', [[Geometric art|Late Geometric period]]]]
The extensive Mycenaean pottery found at [[Ugarit]] included two fragmentary Mycenaean terracotta figures which have been tentatively identified as centaurs. This finding suggests a [[Bronze Age]] origin for these creatures of myth.<ref>[[Ione Mylonas Shear]], "Mycenaean Centaurs at Ugarit" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' (2002:147–153); but see the interpretation relating them to "abbreviated group" figures at the [[Temple of Aphaea|Bronze-Age sanctuary of Aphaia]] and elsewhere, presented by Korinna Pilafidis-Williams, "No Mycenaean Centaurs Yet", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''124''' (2004), p. 165, which concludes "we had perhaps do best not to raise hopes of a continuity of images across the divide between the Bronze Age and the historical period."</ref> A painted terracotta centaur was found in the "Hero's tomb" at [[Lefkandi]], and by the [[Geometric art|Geometric period]], centaurs figure among the first representational figures painted on Greek pottery. An often-published Geometric [[Bronze man and centaur (Metropolitan Museum of Art)|period bronze of a warrior face-to-face with a centaur]] is at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.2072 |title=Bronze man and centaur |website=The MET |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=July 16, 2019 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114001524/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.190.2072 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Ancient Greek art|Greek art]] of the [[Archaic Greece#Art|Archaic period]], centaurs are depicted in three different forms.

* Some centaurs are depicted with a human torso attached to the body of a horse at the [[withers]], where the horse's neck would be; this form, designated "Class A" by Professor Paul Baur, later became standard.
* "Class B" centaurs are depicted with a human body and legs joined at the waist to the hindquarters of a horse; in some cases centaurs of both Class A and Class B appear together.
* A third type, designated "Class C", depicts centaurs with human forelegs terminating in hooves. Baur describes this as an apparent development of [[Aeolis|Aeolic]] art, which never became particularly widespread.<ref>Paul V. C. Baur, ''Centaurs in Ancient Art: The Archaic Period'', Karl Curtius, Berlin (1912), pp. 5–7.</ref>

There are also paintings and motifs on [[Amphora|''amphorae'']]<ref>Maria Cristina Biella and Enrico Giovanelli, ''Il bestiario fantastico di età orientalizzante nella penisola italiana'' (Belfast, ME: Tangram, 2012), 172-78. {{ISBN|9788864580692}}; and J. Michael Padgett and William A. P. Childs, ''The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art'' (Princeton University Press, 2003). {{ISBN|9780300101638}}</ref> and  Dipylon cups<ref>{{cite book| author = Martin Nilsson | title = The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zGvfEAAAQBAJ| publisher = University of California Press | date = 2023 | page = 158 | isbn = 9780520335899}}</ref> which depict winged centaurs.

Centaurs were also frequently depicted in Roman art. One example is the pair of centaurs drawing the chariot of [[Constantine I|Constantine the Great]] and his family in the Great Cameo of Constantine (''circa'' AD 314–16), which embodies wholly pagan imagery, and contrasts sharply with the popular image of Constantine as the patron of early Christianity.<ref>The Great Cameo of Constantine, formerly in the collection of [[Peter Paul Rubens]] and now in the Geld en Bankmuseum, Utrecht, is illustrated, for instance, in Paul Stephenson, ''Constantine, Roman Emperor, Christian Victor'', 2010:fig. 53.</ref><ref>Iain Ferris, ''The Arch of Constantine: Inspired by the Divine'', Amberley Publishing (2009).</ref>

===Medieval art===
[[File:Grape harvest Abbatiale Mozac 2007 06 30.jpg|thumb|Centaurs harvest grapes on a 12th-century capital from the [[Mozac Abbey]] in the [[Auvergne (region)|Auvergne]]]]
[[File:P. 26 'The Zodiac Man' a diagram of a human body and astrological symbols with instructions explaining the importance of astrology from a medical perspective.jpg|thumb|"The Zodiac Man", a 15th-c. diagram of a human body and astrological symbols with instructions in [[Welsh language|Welsh]] explaining the importance of astrology from a medical perspective; a centaur is depicted around the thighs as Sagittarius below Scorpio [genitalia] and above Capricorn [knees].]]

Centaurs preserved a [[Dionysus|Dionysian]] connection in the 12th-century [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] carved [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]] of [[Mozac Abbey]] in the [[Auvergne (region)|Auvergne]]. Other similar capitals depict harvesters, boys riding goats (a further Dionysiac theme), and [[griffin]]s guarding the [[Chalice (cup)|chalice]] that held the wine. Centaurs are also shown on a number of [[Picts|Pictish]] carved stones from north-east [[Scotland]] erected in the 8th–9th centuries AD (e.g., at [[Meigle]], Perthshire). Though outside the limits of the [[Roman Empire]], these depictions appear to be derived from Classical prototypes.

===Modern art===
The [[John C. Hodges library at The University of Tennessee]] hosts a permanent exhibit of a "Centaur from [[Volos]]" in its library. The exhibit, made by sculptor Bill Willers by combining a study human skeleton with the skeleton of a [[Shetland pony]], is entitled "Do you believe in Centaurs?". According to the exhibitors, it was meant to mislead students in order to make them more critically aware.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://notes.utk.edu/bio/unistudy.nsf/0/22d591ecc61a2cca85256efd00631d45?OpenDocument |volume=97 |issue=8 |date=August 26, 2004 |title=Library hails centaur's 10th anniversary |newspaper=The Daily Beacon|first=Maggie |last=Anderson |access-date=September 21, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920205755/http://notes.utk.edu/bio/unistudy.nsf/0/22d591ecc61a2cca85256efd00631d45?OpenDocument |archive-date=September 20, 2007 }}</ref>

===Cartography===
Depictions of centaurs in a mythical land located south beyond the world's known continents appear on a map by [[Urbano Monti]] from 1587, sometimes called Monti's Planisphere.<ref>[https://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2017/11/26/largest-early-world-map-monte-s-10-ft-planisphere-of-1587 Largest Early World Map - Monte's 10 ft. Planisphere of 1587] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407141406/https://www.davidrumsey.com/blog/2017/11/26/largest-early-world-map-monte-s-10-ft-planisphere-of-1587 |date=April 7, 2020 }}. David Rumsey Map Collection. November 26, 2017. [https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303613~90074267:Tavola-LV---Che-Ha-Sua-Superiore-La?qvq=q%3Apub_list_no%3D%2210130.000%22%3Bsort%3APub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No%3Blc%3ARUMSEY%7E8%7E1&sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&mi=60&trs=94 Close-up of 1st image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522035452/https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303613~90074267:Tavola-LV---Che-Ha-Sua-Superiore-La?qvq=q:pub_list_no%3D%2210130.000%22%3Bsort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort,Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No%3Blc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort,Pub_Date,Pub_List_No,Series_No&mi=60&trs=94 |date=May 22, 2024 }}, [https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303604~90074221:Tavola-XXXXVI--Che-Ha-Sua-Superiore?qvq=q%3Apub_list_no%3D%2210130.000%22%3Bsort%3Apub_list_no%2Cseries_no%3Blc%3ARUMSEY%7E8%7E1&sort=pub_list_no%2Cseries_no&mi=48&trs=94 Close-up of 2nd image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522035446/https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303604~90074221:Tavola-XXXXVI--Che-Ha-Sua-Superiore?qvq=q:pub_list_no%3D%2210130.000%22%3Bsort:pub_list_no,series_no%3Blc:RUMSEY~8~1&sort=pub_list_no,series_no&mi=48&trs=94 |date=May 22, 2024 }}.</ref>

===In heraldry===
Centaurs are common in European heraldry, although more frequent in continental than in British arms. A centaur holding a bow is referred to as a '''sagittarius'''.<ref name="Davies">[[Arthur Fox-Davies]], [https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry''], T.C. and E.C. Jack, London, 1909, p 228.</ref>