Lapith

thumb|250x250px|Metope from the Elgin Marbles depicting a [[centaur and a Lapith fighting]] The Lapiths (; , Lapithai, sing. ) were a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, who lived in Thessaly in the valley of the Pineios and on the mountain Pelion. They were believed to have descended from the mythical Lapithes, brother of Centaurus, with the two heroes giving their names to the races of the Lapiths and the centaurs respectively. The Lapiths are best known for their involvement in the Centauromachy (), a mythical fight that broke out between them and the centaurs during Pirithous and Hippodamia's wedding.

==Mythology== === Origin === The Lapiths were an Aeolian tribe who, like the Myrmidons, were natives of Thessaly. The genealogies make them a kindred people with the centaurs: In one version, Lapithes () and Centaurus () were said to be twin sons of the god Apollo and the nymph Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. Lapithes was a valiant warrior, but Centaurus was a deformed being who later mated with mares from whom the race of half-man, half-horse centaurs came. Lapithes was the eponymous ancestor of the Lapith people, and his descendants include Lapith warriors and kings, such as Ixion, Pirithous, Caeneus, and Coronus, and the seers Ampycus and his son Mopsus.