Why Do Centaurs Avoid Humans?
CENTAURS ARE MYTHICAL BEASTS WITH THE legs and
bodies of horses, but with human torsos, arms, and heads. In
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.
K. Rowling says “they prefer to live apart from wizards and Muggles
alike.” This feeling is echoed in Phoenix
when Bane feuds with Firenze for being friendly with humans. This
fits the ancient legends. According to those stories, centaurs come
from the mountains of Greece, where their relations with the local
people were rather mixed. Because some centaurs were fond of wine,
they tended to be boisterous, wild, and quick to anger. They fought
many battles with humans. The most famous skirmish followed a
wedding at which the centaurs, as usual, had celebrated a little
too enthusiastically. They tried to carry off the bride, which led
to a great war. (The centaurs
lost.) Scenes from that war were a favorite decoration of Greek
potters.
Centaur, from a
second-century AD sarcophagus.
The centaur Nessos, foe of
the hero Hercules, as pictured on a Greek amphora (vase) made in
the seventh century BC.
However, some ancient centaurs were recognized
to be as noble as Firenze. In fact Firenze’s surprise appearance as
a Hogwarts teacher in Phoenix is connected
to mythology. The Greek centaur Chiron, having been taught arts
such as medicine and hunting by the gods Apollo and Artemis,
founded a school where he taught some of the great heroes of the
time, including Achilles and Odysseus.
LOST IN THE STARS
Although Chiron was immortal, a wound from a
poisoned arrow threatened to cause him unceasing agony. Instead, he
chose death. But
Zeus, in recognition of Chiron’s benevolence,
placed him in the stars as the constellation
Sagittarius. Another constellation, Centaurus, is
one of the most visible in the Southern Hemisphere. These heavenly
connections may explain why the centaurs who live in the Forbidden
Forest near Hogwarts—
Firenze, Ronan, and Bane—look to the stars to
read the future.
