Editing Centaur (section)

==Origin of the myth==
[[File:Boeotian Geometric pottery with Centaur, AM of Thebes, 201171.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Centaur on [[Boeotia]]n pottery from the [[Geometric period]] (c. 900–700 BC)]]
The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Aegean Sea|Aegean world]], to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as half-man, half-animal. [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]] reported that the [[Aztec]]s also had this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Stuart |last=Chase |title=Mexico: A Study of Two Americas |chapter=Chapter IV: The Six Hundred |access-date=April 24, 2006 |chapter-url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper2/chase/ch04.html |via=University of Virginia Hypertexts |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210459/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper2/chase/ch04.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described as the inventors of horse-riding by Greek writers. The Thessalian tribes also claimed their horse breeds were descended from the centaurs.

[[Robert Graves]] (relying on the work of [[Georges Dumézil]],<ref>Dumézil, ''Le Problème des Centaures''  (Paris 1929) and ''Mitra-Varuna: An essay on two Indo-European representations of sovereignty'' (1948. tr. 1988).</ref> who argued for tracing the centaurs back to the [[Hindu|Indian]] [[Gandharva]]), speculated that the centaurs were a dimly remembered, pre-Hellenic fraternal earth cult who had the horse as a [[totem]].<ref>Graves, ''The Greek Myths'', 1960 § 81.4; § 102 "Centaurs"; § 126.3;.</ref> A similar theory was incorporated into [[Mary Renault]]'s ''[[The Bull from the Sea]].''