(Adapted from Radice, B. (1973). Who's who in the Ancient
world (Rev. ed.). Penguin.
and Tripp, E. (1970). The Meridian handbook of Classical
mythology. New American Library.)
Greek hero, Son of Peleus, King of Thessaly, and a nereid named Thetis. Dipped in the river Styx in infancy, Achilles was invulnerable to attack, expect on his heel (the one point on his body that had not been submerged). He was educated by Cheiron in medicine and combat. A central figure of the Iliad, Achilles refused to fight with the other Greeks against the Trojans, following a dispute with Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. After his lifelong companion, Patroclus, was killed in battle, Achilles returned to the fray, defeating the Trojan champion Hector. Achilles himself was killed by a poisoned arrow shot from Hector's brother, Paris. His psyche is met in Hades by Odysseus in the Odyssey.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Trojan hero, son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. After the fall of Troy, Aeneas is said by Virgil to have sailed to Carthage, where he became the companion of Queen Dido. Driven by destiny, he eventually sailed away to Italy, where he founded the city which would become Rome.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Greek hero and god of healing. In Homer he is mortal and has been taught medicine by the Centaur Cheiron; in Pindar and Ovid, he is said to be the son of the God Apollo and the Thessalian princess, Coronis, and was associated with Apollo as a god of healing.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
One of the Titans of mythology, son of Uranus and Gaia (heaven and earth), he castrated his father to gain his kingship. Fearing a son of his might do the same, he swallowed his children as they were born to his wife, Rhea. Rhea hid their youngest son, Zeus, on the island Crete, giving Cronos a stone to swallow instead. Zeus ultimately overthrew Cronos and the Titans, rescuing his older siblings, and establishing the hegemony of the Olympian gods.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Son of the God Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal woman. He continually suffered the enmity of Zeus' wife Hera, who eventually drove him to a madness that caused him to kill his children. As penance, he was required to perform twelve heroic labors in the service of Hera's favorite, Eurystheus, King of Argos. Accidentally poisoned by his second wife, Deianira , he is said to have risen from his from his funeral pyre, cleansed of his mortal half to join his father on Mt. Olympus.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
King of the Lapiths, and according to Pindar, the first man to murder a blood relative. Though absolved by Zeus, he went on to commit the even greater crime of attempting to rape Zeus' wife, Hera. He is said to have fathered the race of Centaurs (except for Cheiron), who shared his lustful and depraved ways.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Son of Aeson, King of Iolcos in Thessaly, who was overthrown by his brother, Pelias. Jason returned from exile to challenge his uncle, but is convinced he must recover the legendary golden fleece before ascending to the throne. With his heroic crew, the Argonoauts, he survived many adventures, found the fleece, and became King. His longtime mistress, Medea, killed their children upon his marriage to another.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Son of Aeacus, King of Aegina, and grandson of Cheiron. He was saved from an attack by hostile centaurs by Cheiron, who befriended him and taught him many things. He later became king of Thessaly, married the nereid Thetis, and fathered Achilles, who was also tutored by Cheiron. It was at Peleus wedding to Thetis that Eris, goddess of discord, first revealed the golden apple that Paris would later award to Aphrodite for her beauty, infuriating Hera, and setting in motion the events leading to the Trojan War.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Daughter of Oceanus (the river that encircles the world) and the Titan Tethys. Cronos, while searching for Zeus, seduced her in the form of a horse. Rhea's discovery of the affair forced her into hiding, where she bore Cheiron. Her shame was so great that she asked Zeus to turn her into a linden tree, a request he granted.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
A Titan, fathered by the Titan Iapetus and variously reported to be born either to the Titan Themis, or to one of the Oceanids, Clymene or Asia. According to one tradition, Prometheus created men from clay. (According to this same tradition, women were, in turn, created by Zeus.) He later earned Zeus' hatred when he brought fire from heaven to men on earth, in order to add to their comfort. For his misdeed, Zeus had Prometheus nailed to a cliff, where an eagle would pick out his liver daily. He has finally rescued from this fate by Hercles, though there are many versions of the details of this tale.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Wife of the Titan Cronos, who swallowed his children as they were born, to prevent them from conspiring against him. Rhea hid their youngest son, Zeus, on the island Crete, giving Cronos a stone to swallow instead. Zeus ultimately overthrew Cronos and the Titans, rescuing his older siblings, and establishing the hegemony of the Olympian gods.
(return to Myth of Cheiron)
Youngest son of the Titans, Cronos and Rhea. He established the hegemony of the Olymian gods by overthrowing his father. By lot, he gained rule of the sky, while his brothers Poseidon and Hades gained rule of the Sea and the Underworld, respectively. In later traditions, he was regarded as the unquestioned King of the gods, and ultimate arbiter of destiny. In one tradition, after Cheiron has been wounded by the poisoned arrow of Heracles, Zeus made him into the constellation, Sagittarius
(return to Myth of Cheiron)