Lapith in Greek tradition
Lapith is the ancestor who settled in Thessaly and gave his name to the Lapiths. Apollo and Stilbe were his parents, and he had a twin brother, Centaurus, who became the ancestor of the Centaurs in one account. Lapith married Orsinome and had two sons, Phorbas and Periphas, while his descendants later shared Thessaly with the Centaurs before expelling them under Peirithoos.
The quick answers
Who are the Lapith?
Lapith is a Greek being.
The myths of Lapith
3 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.
The Birth of Lapith
Apollo and the nymph Stilbe bore twin sons. They named the first Lapithes and the second Centaurus. Centaurus also appeared as Centauros in one form of the name. The birth joined the two brothers in one family and placed them at the beginnings of the Lapith and Centaur lines.
Lapithes became the ancestor of the Lapiths. Centaurus became the ancestor of the Centaurs. In this telling, the Centaurs descended from Centaurus, who was born to Apollo and Stilbe, while Lapithes became the ancestor of the people who shared his name. Another telling made Centaurus the son of Ixion and the cloud nymph Nephele, rather than the son of Apollo and Stilbe.
The later descendants took different paths. The Centaurs were wild, violent, and uncivilised, and they fought the Lapiths in the Centauromachy. The Lapith king Pirithous held a wedding feast for Hippodamia, but the feast turned into a battle when the Centaurs attacked. The Lapiths fought their kinsmen and later drove them from Thessaly into Arcadia. Chiron stood apart from the other Centaurs. Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra were his parents, so Centaurus was not his direct ancestor. Chiron taught heroes, practised medicine, and was called the wisest and justest of the Centaurs. The birth of Lapithes and Centaurus therefore began the two lines that later met in war.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
2 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1War in Greek MythologyT1
- 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1
Quote
“Apollo and Stilbe have twin sons, Lapith and Centaurus, from whom the Lapiths and Centaurs derive their names.”
Apollodorus, The Library
Lapith Founds the Lapiths
Lapith settled in Thessaly. He became the eponymous ancestor and founder of the Lapith people, who took their name from him. The tradition gives no account of his parentage, his companions, or the circumstances of his arrival. It records the settlement itself and the name that the people thereafter bore.
The Lapiths were a Thessalian people. Their territory was associated with the Centaurs, and the two groups became neighbours. In a later generation, Peirithoos ruled the Lapiths as their king. Under his command, they drove Cheiron and the other Centaurs out of Thessaly. The Centaurs were forced from the region to which the Lapith settlement belonged.
The rivalry continued after this expulsion. The Centaurs invaded Lapith territory and surprised the main Lapith army, slaughtering many of its members. The survivors fled to Pholoe in Elis, where the Centaurs expelled them again. Other accounts place Lapith communities in the Arcadian mountains and on Mount Pindus, where members of this neolithic people survived until Classical times. Polyphemos is also named as a Lapith from Thessaly. Homer describes him as taking a heroic part in the war between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, and he was said to be married to Laonome, Heracles’ sister.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1The Greek MythsT1
- 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1
Quote
“Lapith settled in Thessaly and became the eponymous founder of the Lapith people.”
Apollodorus, The Library
- 3War in Greek MythologyT1
Lapith’s Marriage and Children
Lapith married Orsinome, and they became husband and wife. The marriage had no named place, arranger, or surrounding event. No detail was given about the ceremony itself. Orsinome entered the family without named parentage, and nothing was told of her family before she married Lapith.
Orsinome bore two sons, Phorbas and Periphas. Lapith fathered both boys. They were named together as the children of Lapith and Orsinome, but their order of birth was not stated. Neither son had a recorded childhood, education, marriage, or deed in this family line. No named place, companion, enemy, or later undertaking was linked to either boy.
Phorbas and Periphas formed the next generation of Lapith’s family. The line continued from Lapith and Orsinome through their two sons, but no further succession was given. Neither Phorbas nor Periphas was said to have succeeded to authority. No descendants were named after them. Nothing further was told of Orsinome’s later life, Lapith’s later actions, or the circumstances in which the family line continued. The family line ended with Phorbas and Periphas named as the sons of Lapith and Orsinome.
In the modern world
No modern rework confirmed yet.
3 sources· checked 2026-08-19
- 1The Greek MythsT1
- 2The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1
- 3Apollodorus, The LibraryT1
Quote
“Lapith and Orsinome have two sons, Phorbas and Periphas.”
Apollodorus, The Library
Also appears in
The myths across MythSource where Lapith features, each on that figure’s page.
- The Birth and Parentage of Pirithous · on Pirithous
- The Centauromachy at Pirithous's Wedding · on Pirithous
What this page is built from
About this page
Written and maintained by MythSource. Last reviewed not yet recorded. How a page gets built.
4 sources are cited on this page, primary texts and corpus scholarship, listed below.
Cite this page
MythSource. (n.d.). Lapith. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/lapith
"Lapith." MythSource, n.d., www.mythsource.com/figures/lapith.
"Lapith." MythSource. n.d. https://www.mythsource.com/figures/lapith.
The mythology summaries and identity fields on this page are grounded in the primary texts and scholarship above. The appearance table records candidates separately; only reviewed joins are presented as modern reworks in Overview.
The film
The Underdrawing video on Lapith embeds here once it publishes.