Centaurs & Minotaurs...

With all of this modernity around, how easy is it to get your centaurs and minotaurs confused? Pretty easy. Let's get the basics straight once and for all...

Centuars, half man and half horse, were born from the union of Ixion, a king of the Lapiths, and a cloud that Jupiter changed to resemble Juno. In mythology they are described as savage and course creatures and are symbolic of the basest level of human nature. They look like this (on the left):

























The Minotaur is a singular beast, said to have the head of a bull and a human body. It is the offsprign of Pasiphae, the wife of king Minos of Crete, and a bull sent by Neptune. Upon receiving the bull, Minos decides to keep it rather than sacrifice it. Neptune is insulted and as punishment makes Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. Daedalus makes her a cow costume which she wears in order to approach the bull and make love with it. Nine months later, out popped the Minotaur. Freaked out, Minos commissions Daedalus to build a Labyrinth in which the Minotaur is locked. Seven men and seven maidens are handed over to the beast each year as a sacrifice. The Minotaur probably looked like this (from behind):



























("Minerva and the Centaur" by Sandro Botticelli, 1485)
("The Minotaur" by George Frederick Watts, 1885)