In Thessaly there lived a tribe of warlike Lapiths, and the mighty hero Peirithous reigned over them. He heard about the great courage and strength of the invincible Theseus and wanted to measure his strength with him. To challenge Theseus to battle, Peirifou went to Marathon and there, in rich pastures, he stole a herd of bulls that belonged to Theseus. As soon as Theseus found out about this, he immediately set off in pursuit of the kidnapper and quickly overtook him. Both heroes met. Dressed in shining armor, they stood opposite each other, like formidable immortal gods. Both of them were amazed by the greatness of each other, both were equally filled with courage, both were powerful, both were beautiful. They threw down their weapons and, holding out their hands to each other, entered into an alliance of close, indestructible friendship and exchanged weapons as a sign of this. Thus, the two great heroes, Theseus and Peirifou, became friends.
Shortly after this meeting, Theseus went to Thessaly for the wedding of his friend Peirithoe with Hippodamia. This wedding was magnificent. Many glorious heroes gathered for it from all over Greece. Wild centaurs, half-humans and half-horses, were also invited to the wedding. The wedding feast was rich. The entire royal palace was full of guests reclining at the banquet tables, and some of the guests - since there was not enough space in the palace for all those gathered for the wedding - feasted in a large, cool grotto. Incense was smoked, wedding hymns and music were heard, and the cheerful cries of those feasting were heard loudly. All the guests praised the bride and groom, who shone among everyone with her beauty, like a heavenly star. The guests feasted merrily. The wine flowed like a river. The feast shouts grew louder and louder. Suddenly, intoxicated with wine, the most powerful and wild of the centaurs, Eurytus, jumped up and rushed at the bride. He grabbed her with his powerful hands and wanted to kidnap her. Seeing this, other centaurs rushed at the women who were at the feast. Everyone wanted to take possession of the spoils. Theseus, Peirifou and the Greek heroes jumped up from the banquet tables and rushed to protect the women. The feast was interrupted and a frantic battle began. Heroes did not fight with centaurs with weapons. They came to the feast unarmed. Everything served as a weapon in this battle: heavy goblets, large vessels for wine, legs of broken tables, tripods on which incense had just been burned - everything was put into use. Step by step, the heroes are pushing the wild centaurs out of the feast hall, but the battle continues outside the hall. Now the Greek heroes are fighting with weapons in their hands, covered with shields. The centaurs uproot trees and throw entire rocks at the heroes. Theseus, Peirithous, Peleus and Nestor, the son of Peleus, fight ahead of the heroes. A bloody mound of centaurs' bodies piles higher and higher around them. The slain centaurs fall one after another. Finally, they wavered, fled and took refuge in the forests of high Pelion. The heroes of Greece defeated the wild centaurs, and few of them escaped the terrible battle.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru