Centaur

The centaur is a fabulous being originating from Greek mythology. Although in the earliest narratives they are described as a race of giants, completely covered in hair, who inhabited the region of Thessaly and lived roughly. Utterly savage, they devoted themselves to roaming the countryside while abducting women. But later texts began to spread the image that has endured to the present day: a hybrid, half man and half horse.

Thus, centaurs had a reputation for violence and for enjoying pleasures such as wine, women, and hunting. They were considered the embodiment of feelings such as rage and, therefore, representatives of barbarism and masculine lust.

Some centaurs, such as Pholus and Chiron, escaped this reputation for savagery. Pholus played host to Hercules and his companions, and Chiron learned the arts of medicine and was also wise, just, and the tutor of notable figures such as Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.

In Christianity, the centaur is a symbol of the man tormented by the struggle between good and evil.

Onocentaur

This is a variation of the centaur found in medieval bestiaries, which describe it as a creature with a human head, torso, and arms, but with the lower body of a donkey. While the upper part is rational, the lower part is wild and cannot be mastered, and so instinct predominates. It is a symbol of masculine lust.

Bucentaur

Another variant of the centaur, it would be a combination of the upper torso of a man with the body and strength of a bull.