Although commonly depicted with equine halves, centaurs have since been expanded to cover a variety of animal halves. Some of these have precedent in mythology, while others are wholly modern inventions. These include the bull-centaur, fish-centaur, winged centaur and leonine-centaur, the subjects of this post. More below the break...
Bull-centaurs
The word "
bucentaur" supposedly refers to a fabulous half-man half-ox creature resembling the centaur. In actuality, this is the result of
an erroneous folk etymology and the word itself does not appear in any Ancient Greek text. However, half-men half-bull centaurs do appear in myth and art under different names. Greek myth includes two groups of horned centaurs, albeit not bovine: the
Cyprian Centaurs and the
Lamian Centaurs. In Renaissance art, the Minotaur is depicted
with the anatomy of a centaur rather than the more famous bull-headed man. In some analyses of Mesopotamian myth the character
Heäbani or
Eäbani (a misreading of
Enkidu), a half-man half-bull resembling a satyr, is sometimes compared
with the Greek centaur Chiron due to their similarities in behavior and exploits if not appearance.
Using bull-centaurs in gaming
Bull-centaurs are either a sub-race of centaurs with bovine lower bodies or minotaur-centaurs. That is, the latter has the upper body of a minotaur (a humanoid torso with a bull's head) and the lower body of a bull.
According to Tome of Horrors 4, minotaur-centaurs are the progeny of a minotaur and a heifer (yuck!) although 1% of minotaur couples will bear a minotaur-centaur. They are considered a blessing by minotaur clans. (I have my own ideas for minotaurs in my setting, which will mention minotaur-centaurs.)
According to The Minotaur Isles, bull-centaurs are an honor-bound race with a culture modeled after ancient Sparta. According to the random generation information on their appearance, only a minority of the population possess horns or other bullish features on their human half.
Fish-centaurs
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| Detail from the Projecta casket- A.D. 380. This is a Roman wedding casket, and is on display at the British Museum. |
The ichthyocentaurs ("fish-centaurs") in Greek mythology were the brothers of Chiron, children of Cronus and Philyra. There were two of them, named Aphros ("sea foam") and Bythos ("sea depths"). They may have been considered a kind of triton.
Their exact appearance varies in art. They generally had the upper bodies of men, the lower bodies of horses, the forelegs of a horse or a lion (sometimes ending in fins), the tail of a dolphin or fish, and were sometimes depicted with lobster claws for horns. In other words, the ichthyocentaur may be described as having the lower body of a heraldic sea-horse or sea-lion.
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| Ichthyocentaurs from the Fountain of the Centaurs by AA Weinman, Jefferson City MO USA, 1927 |
Research links
Using fish-centaurs in gaming
Fish-centaurs have the upper bodies of merfolk or tritons and the lower bodies of hippocampi. They may also be called "sea centaurs." There is nothing memorable about their culture in either of the bestiaries I read (see the links below), which just depict them as generic marine centaurs. Since there isn't much on them in mythology, that's the best starting point we have.
Gaming links
Winged centaurs
Winged centaurs are common in modern fantasy art and fiction, but seemingly absent from mythology aside from scant Babylonian and Etruscan art. Thus there is no historical word for a winged centaur, though in modern times artists and authors have devised several neologisms. These include "alacentaur" (
ala +
centaur), "alicentaur" (
ali- +
centaur) and "pterocentaur" (
ptero- +
centaur). The prefixes all mean "wing," so these are just fancy words for a winged centaur. The correct Greek term would probably have been
kentauros pterôtos (plural
kentauroi pterôtoi), meaning "winged centaur," which would have been Latinized as
centaurus pterotus (plural
centauri pteroti).
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| Etruscan winged centaur |
As seen above, a 6th-5th century B.C. Etruscan black figure amphora depicts a centaur with wings and human genitals between his equine forelegs. As I explained in my post on the "centaur problem," one art historian divided centaur depictions into three types A, B and C depending on their forelegs; this black figure falls into type C (human legs ending in hooves).
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| Babylonian Pabilsaĝ |
In Babylonian art, a hippocentaur with wings and a scorpion's tail is
depicted in some carvings. This figure is named Pabilsaĝ, who is elsewhere
described as a deity, and
sometimes identified with the Greek Sagittarius. In fact, the variously tutelary deities or sphinxes of Near Eastern art are commonly depicted with the heads or whole torsos of men.
During my research I came across
Rich's Pegopedia, which claimed that the
immortal horse Arion coupled with his sister
Aganippe in the form of a pterocentaur to sire the race of Thessalian centaurs (here named "Magnetes") and "possibly" pterocentaurs. However, I could find no support for this in the original mythology (e.g. Arion never assumed centaur form, never had a sister named Aganippe, and was unrelated to the Thessalian centaurs) and I suspect this anecdote is a modern invention. That said, it makes sense to me that if winged centaurs did exist in myth, then they would be the offspring of centaurs and pegasi aka
hippoi pteretoi ("winged horses").
In the
Xanth fiction, winged centaurs are the result of centaur and hippogriff couplings. Strangely, they lack the talons of a hippogriff. Speaking of which, hippogriff-centaurs sound cool!
Winged centaurs in gaming
To my knowledge, winged centaurs or "pegataurs" (
pegasus +
centaur) have only once been
mentioned in Mystara. They are depicted as elf/pegasus centaurs. They live in the mountains and hills, live in clans and tribes, and emphasize discipline and dedication. They usually interact with other races by selling trained pegasi or their services as mercenaries. They are also profoundly arrogant.
Research links
Leonine-centaurs
In heraldry, centaurs are considered a standard heraldic beast. A centaur archer with a bow was known as a "sagittary," after the constellation Sagittarius. A variation was the leonine-centaur (or, with a bow, leonine-sagittary). Although similar creatures appeared in Middle Eastern art, they are seemingly absent from mythology.
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| Ornament frieze with winged Centaur, Giulio Bonasone, 1531–76 |
Leonine-centaurs in gaming
If you wish to include leonine-centaurs as a fantasy race, you have your work cut out for you.
The only treatment I found included only the most minimalist "generic nomadic plaints hunter" background. That said, lion-headed leonine centaurs are fairly common: e.g. "wemic" from Forgotten Realms, "entare" (antaré?) from Nyambe, "the proud" from Scarred Lands, "maned one (leothra)" from
Monster Geographica: Plain and Desert, etc.
Research links
Yet other centaurs
Logically speaking, there is really no reason why you cannot mix and match the anatomy of your centaurs. These "species" are just examples, more guidelines than rules. Heck, many of them were absent from mythology. For example, the ichthyocentaur could have the lower body of a sea-lion, making it a leonine-ichthyocentaur! Or a centaur with the upper body of a man, the lower body of a horse, and the head of a tiger...
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| "Centiguar" |
Really good
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