(Adapted from Hodge, J. (1995). Who's who in Classical mythology.
London: Bison Books, pp. 45-46.
and Tripp, E. (1970). The Meridian handbook of Classical mythology.
New American Library.)
Cheiron (or Chiron) was a Centaur, half man and half horse, and the son of the Titan Cronos. Cronos disguised himself as a horse in order to seduce Philyra without his wife Rhea discovering the affair. Unlike other centaurs, who are descended from Ixion, Cheiron was among the gentlest, wisest, and most learned of creatures. As a result, he was asked to tutor several of the greatest of Greek heroes, including Achilles, Asclepius, Heracles, Jason, Aeneas, and Peleus. Being the son of a god he was immortal, but Heracles accidentally wounded him with a poisoned arrow when fighting the other Centaurs. According to one tradition, in order to be relieved of the unrelenting torment of the wound, he gave his immortality to the Titan Prometheus and allowed himself to die. According to another, he appealed to Zeus and was transformed into the constellation Sagittarius.
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Cheiron receiving Achilles from his father Peleus for instruction (5th century B.C. stamnos; Louvre G186).
Cheiron teaching archery to Achilles (19th century engraving, Bettman Archive, New York).
Pallas (Athena) scolding Centaur, possibly Cheiron (Botticelli, c. 1482, City Palace of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco).
Centaur excavations at Volos: Cheiron's burial chamber?
Proceeedings of a series of conferences on
Contemporary Centaur Scholarship,
sponsored by the
University of Tennessee's "University Studies" Program.