Tales of Chiron

Chiron was a half man, half horse being known to the ancient Greeks as a centaur. He was the son of the Titan Cronus, which made him one of the immortals. Though he looked like the other centaurs in appearance, he was very different in his character. Instead of the brutish and crude behavior that was so typical of his brethren, Chiron was a scholar and a gentleman. He lived in a cave on Mount Pelion and was frequently given the honor of teaching the Greek children. Some of his many pupils include Jason, Achilles, Asclepius and Actaeon. Asclepius inherited Chiron's vast knowledge of medicine while Actaeon became extremely proficient at the sport of archery.

When Actaeon met his unfortunate end at the hands of Artrmis, Chiron being a very talented sculptor fashioned a statue of the hunter to comfort the lonely hounds that were left behind.

Chiron was also responsible for bringing Peleus together with the goddess Thetis. This union brought about the birth of the hero Achilles. As a child Achilles was placed in the care of the old centaur, and was fed nothing but the entrails of wild animals, for Chiron believed this would instill great courage into the boy. It was also said that Achilles was so swift, he could outrun a wild deer. As an adult, Achilles was destined to become a great warrior and would be the pride of the Greeks during the Trojan War. In spite of all his goodness, Chiron came to an unfortunate end.

During the course of his labors, Heracles found himself in the company of a friendly centaur named Pholus. Pholus set a hospitable table filled with smoked meats for his guest and raw meat for himself.

As Heracles was enjoying his meal, he looked around the table and saw that no wine had been set out before him. When the strong man requested a sip to quench his thirst, Pholus apologized and explained that there was only one cask. It had been a gift from the god Dionysus and it belonged to all the centaurs as a group.

Though it took much persuasion on his part, Heracles managed to convince Pholus to open the cask. Soon the fragrant fumes of the strong brew filled the air, rousing the attention of the other centaurs. Enraged that someone else was drinking their wine, the herd launched a furious attack on Pholus and Heracles. Fortunately for the two, Heracles was armed with his poisonous arrows. After slaying the Hydra, the hero made the missles deadly by dipping them into the blood of the dying beast.

The centaurs fled and tried to take refuge in the cave of Chiron, but Heracles followed after them and the battle fought on.

As the fighting progressed, Chiron was accidently wounded by one of the toxic arrows. Because he was immortal, death could not rescue the wise centaur from his torment. Rather than leaving Chiron to suffer with pain for the rest of eternity, Zeus took pity on him and placed him among the stars as the constellation Centaurus. Chiron was not the only fatality, for when the battle was over Pholus also lost his life.

As he was burying some of his fellow centaurs, he accidently dropped one of the venomous arrowheads on his foot bringing about his own death. Heracles was deeply saddened by this and buried his faithful friend with honors.

Peirithous and the Centaurs

There is another famous story involving centaurs and a conflict they had with a tribe known as the Lapiths. The problem started when Peirithous, King of the Lapithae was engaged to be married to a woman named Hippodameia. All the Olympians received invitations to the wedding, that is except Ares and his sister Eris. It was no secret that in a jealous fit over the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Eris had brought about the start of the Trojan War. Please see the page dedicated to Aphrodite for more information. Wanting to avoid a repeat epiosde, Peirethous saw to it that the two were omitted from the guest list.

Among those invited were the centaurs, who happened to be cousins of the groom. Because there were too many guests for the palace to hold, the centaurs were seated at tables in a nearby cave.

Soon the aroma of wine filled the air, and the centaurs preferring the sweet taste of the crushed grapes over their sour milk pushed ahead and raced towards the wine skins. Being very thirsty, they quickly swallowed down the liquid before first diluting it with water.

Because they were not used to consuming vast sums of alcohol, it was not long before the group became very intoxicated. When the bride came to the cave to greet her guests a centaur called Eurytion jumped up from his stool and in a drunken rage dragged her away by her hair. Seeing this, the other centaurs joined him in seizing some of the Lapith women. Peirithous and his friend Theseus, who was also a guest at the wedding came to the rescue. A huge struggle occurred and Eurytion was mutilated before being thrown from the cave. The fight lasted until nightfall, causing many fatalities on both sides.

Thanks to the help of Theseus, the Lapiths were finally victorious, chasing the other centaurs away from their homes on Mount Pelion. This incident was the beginning of a long feud between the Lapiths and the centaurs, and was the second time Ares and Eris took credit for ruining a wedding.

Nessus and Deianira

For my last tale, I will tell a story about Heracles and a centaur named Nessus. Heracles came to Calydon and fell in love with a woman named Deianira, the daughter of King Oineus. The princess was very beautiful and had many admirers, including the river god Achelous. The two suitors fought a hard battle over the maiden, but Achelous was no match for the mighty son of Zeus. Heracles carried her away, but they soon reached a place in the road that was flooded by a stream. A centaur named Nessus was waiting by the water kindly offering to carry stranded travelers across on his back. Heracles laughed at the prospect of this and chose to swim to the opposite side. Deianira, fully placed her trust in Nessus and promptly climbed aboard for a ride. Finding his passenger to be quite beautiful, the randy centaur turned and tried to flee, but when Heracles heard the frightened cry of the princess aimed and shot her kidnapper with one of his poison arrows.

Before he died, Nessus whispered in Deianira's ear and told her to take a shirt belonging to Heracles and dip it into his blood. The garment could then be used as a powerful love charm should her husband's affections ever wane. Deianira did as she was told but decided to keep her actions a secret. When Heracles ended his labors, he was not content to leave things as they were.

He instead went on to seek amends from all those who had wronged him in the past. One man in particular was King Eurytus of Oechalia. For it seems that years earlier the king offered his daughter Iole to anyone who could beat him in a contest of archery. Though Heracles clearly was the winner, the king did not stay true to his word. Heracles returned to Oechalia, slew Eurytus and took Iole away as his concubine.

This caused Deianira to become mad with jealousy and she decided it would be a good time to see if Nessus' secret love charm really worked. Unfortunately she did not know the blood of Nessus had been poisoned when the centaur was pierced by Heracles' arrow.

Deianira sent Heracles the special cloak, begging him to wear it while making his sacrifices. When the alter flames caused the blood on the garment to warm, Heracles was overwhelmed with burning pain. In agony he tried to rip the clothing from his body but his efforts were of no avail. Any attempt to remove the garment also caused the shredding of his own flesh. Knowing that his death was near, Heracles pulled down two tree trunks and made a funeral pyre. As he climbed on top he begged his companions to ignite the wood lying beneath him. With a burst of thunder, Athena appeared and carried the dying hero off to Olympus. When the flames died down all that remained upon the pyre were the mortal ashes Heracles had inherited from his mother.

His immortal half now lived in the divine palace with his father Zeus and the rest of the gods. When Deianira heard what she had caused her husband's death she was so overcome with both grief and guilt that she took her own life.

Medea's Lair Of Greek Mythology © 1999-2012.