Is there only one centaur in Greek mythology or are there more than one?

Answer 1

Amongst the Centaurs, the most famous individuals were Nessus, Chiron, Pholus and Eurytion, all of which featured in the stories of Heracles. Another pair named Hylaeus and Rhoetus were destroyed by Meleager when they attempted to assault Atalanta in the wilderness.

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In Greek mythology, Nessus (Greek: Νέσσος) was a famous centaur who was killed by Heracles, and whose tainted blood in turn killed Heracles. He was the son of Ixion and Nephele, the Cloud.

He fought in the battle with the Lapiths. He became a ferryman on the river Euenos.

Nessus is known for his role in the story of the Tunic of Nessus. After carrying Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, across the river, he attempted to rape her. Heracles saw this from across a river and shot a Hydra-poisoned arrow into Nessus's breast. As a final act of malice, Nessus told Deianira, as he lay dying, that his blood mixed with his semen would ensure that Heracles would be true to her forever.

Deianira foolishly believed him. Later, when her trust began to wane, she spread the centaur's blood on a shirt and gave it to her husband. Heracles went to a gathering of heroes, where his passion got the better of him. Meanwhile, Deianeira accidentally spilled a portion of the centaur's blood onto the floor. To her horror, it began to fume by the light of the rising sun.

She instantly recognized it as poison and sent her messenger to warn Heracles but it was too late. Heracles lay dying slowly and painfully as the shirt burned his skin—either in actual flames or by the heat of poison. He died a noble death on a funeral pyre of oak branches, and was taken to heaven by Hera and welcomed amongst the gods for his heroic exploits.

A similar theme appears in certain versions of the story of Medea.
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In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron ("hand") was held as the superlative centaur among his brethren. Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind. Sired by Cronus when he had taken the form of a horse and impregnated the nymph, Philyra, Chiron came from a different lineage than other centaurs, who were born of sun and raincloud, rendered by Greeks of the Classic period as from the union of the king Ixion, consigned to a fiery wheel, and Nephele ("cloud"), whom in the Olympian telling Zeus invented, to look like Hera.

Chiron was the father of Ocyrhoe with the nymph Chariclo and lived on Mount Pelion.

A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, the last remaining centaur was most revered as a teacher and tutor.

His nobility is further reflected in the story of his death as Chiron sacrificed his life, allowing humanity to obtain the use of fire. Being the son of Cronus, a titan, he was immortal and so could not die. So it was left to Heracles to arrange a bargain with Zeus to exchange Chiron's immortality for the life of Prometheus who had been chained to a rock and left to die for his transgressions. Chiron had been poisoned with an arrow belonging to Heracles that had been treated with the blood of the Hydra (in other versions, poison Chiron had given to the hero when he had been under the honorable centaur’s tutelage). This had taken place during the visit of Heracles to the cave of Pholus on Mount Pelion in Thessaly when he visited his friend during his fourth labour in defeating the Erymanthian Boar. While they were at supper, Heracles asked for some wine to accompany his meal. Pholus, who ate his food raw, was taken aback. He had been given a vessel of sacred wine by Dionysus sometime earlier, to be kept in trust for the rest of the centaurs until the right time for its opening. At Heracles's prompting, Pholus was forced to produce the vessel of sacred wine. The hero, gasping for wine, grabbed it from him and forced it open. Thereupon the vapours of the sacred wine wafted out of the cave and intoxicated the wild centaurs, led by Nessus, who had gathered outside. They attacked the cave with stones and fir trees. Heracles was forced to shoot many arrows (poisoned, of course, with the blood of the Hydra) to drive them back. During this assault, Chiron was hit in the thigh by one of the poisoned arrows. After the centaurs had fled, Pholus emerged from the cave to observe the destruction. Being of a philosophical frame of mind, he pulled one of the arrows from the body of a dead centaur and wondered how such a little thing as an arrow could have caused so much death and destruction. In that instant, he let slip the arrow from his hand and it dropped and hit him in the foot, killing him instantly.
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In Greek mythology, Pholus was a wise centaur and friend of Herakles who lived in a cave on or near Mount Pelion.

The differing accounts vary in details, but each story contains the following elements: Herakles visited his cave sometime before or after the completion of his fourth Labor, the capture of the Erymanthian Boar. When Herakles drank from a jar of wine in the possession of Pholus, the neighboring centaurs smelled its fragrant odor and, driven characteristically mad, charged into the cave. The majority were slain by Herakles, and the rest were chased to another location (in a work attributed to Apollodorus, Cape Meleia) where the peaceful centaur Chiron was accidentally wounded by the arrows of Herakles which were soaked in the venomous blood of the Lernaean Hydra. In most accounts, Chiron surrendered his immortality to be free from the agony of the poison.
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Eurytion was a centaur who demanded to marry princess Mnesimache of Olenus. Her father was forced to agree but Heracles intervened on her behalf and killed the beast.

Answer 2

There were many. But the most famous were Ixion and Chiron.

The centaurs of Greek mythology are creatures that are part human and part horse. They are usually portrayed with the torso and head of a human, and the body of a horse. Centaurs are the followers of the wine god Dionysus and are well known for drunkenness and carrying off helpless young maidens. They inhabited Mount Pelion in Thessaly, northern Greece. According to one myth, they are the offspring of Ixion, the king of Lapithae (Thessaly), and a cloud. He had arranged a tryst with Hera, but Zeus got wind of it and fashioned a cloud into Hera's shape. Therefore, the Centaurs are sometimes called Ixionidae.

Notorious is their bestial behavior on the wedding of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths. They violated the female guests and attempted to abduct the bride. What followed was a bloody battle, after which they were driven from Thessaly. An exception was the kind and wise centaur Chiron, the teacher of the Greek heroes Jason and Achilles.

Answer 3

Centaurs were a mythological race of people, like giants or unicorns, and entered into many Greek myths. It wasn't the same centaur over and over.

Answer 4

Centaurs are plentiful in Greeky mythology. They were a bit wild, liked to fight, carry off human women, drink excessively, etc. The most famous was Chiron, who was a renowned teacher and quite civilized.

Answer 5

There are more than one the "greatest" being Chiron who trained the warrior Hercules and was poisoned by an arrow. Chiron gave up his immortality and relieved Prometheus of his place in "hell".

Answer 6

According to the Xena TV series, there were herds of them--all fighters.

Answer 7

there are more than one...
http://www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/mythology/names/centaurs.htm