WHAT WERE CENTAURS?

Most of us have heard of Centaurs.  They figure in Greek mythology and were half human, half horse.  They were generally considered to be uncouth and ruffianly, but the centaur Chiron was the exception.  He was a scholarly centaur and the tutor of Hercules.

But what was the origin of the belief in Centaurs?  It is thought they may have been a tribe of horsemen living in the north of Greece.  The Greeks, not having seen horses previously, thought man and horse were one animal.