Centaurus

The ancestor and eponym of the Centaurs.

Centaurus was usually said to be a son of Ixion and the phantom Hera, made out of a cloud.

When Ixion tried to seduce or ravish the goddess Hera, her husband fashioned her look-alike from a cloud. Zeus set the phantom Hera in the king's bed chamber, as a trap for Ixion. When Ixion had sex with the cloud, Zeus caught him in the act, and sent Ixion to Tartarus,

According to Diodorus Siculus, Centaurus was a son of Apollo and the nymph Stilbe, who was a daughter of the river god Peneius and the naiad Creusa. Centaurus was also the brother of Lapithes, who was eponym of the Lapiths.

Centaurus mated with mares from the plains of Magnesia, in Thessaly, so that his children were cross-bred between humans and horses. The half-men, half-horses were called Centaurs.

The constellation Centaurus was probably him, but it was most likely the wise Centaur Cheiron.