| The Birth of a Centaur |
| Teacher and Mentor |
| The Precepts of Cheiron |
| The Death of Cheiron |
| Cheiron in The Iliad (reference) |
| Centaurs in The Odyssey (reference) |
| Other Text References |
The Centaurs are a race of half-horse/half-human creatures, i.e. having the head, trunk and arms of a man but with the body of a horse, and, like most other humans and Immortals, displayed the best and worst traits of character and morality. At one time, the Centaurs lived primarily on the slopes of Mount Pelion in Thessaly until they disrupted the marriage of Pirithous’ daughter, Hippodamia. Pirithous was the king of the Lapithae and their war with the Centaurs resulted in the expulsion of the Centaurs from the Greek mainland to the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
Cheiron (Chiron) was the son of Philyra and the Titan, Kronos (Cronos), and considered the most influential and intelligent of the race of Centaurs. Kronos’ wife, Rheia (Rhea), caught Kronos when he was with Philyra and, to escape detection, Kronos took the guise of a horse and thus Cheiron was conceived as a Centaur.
Cheiron was of high moral and intellectual abilities ... he was the powerful master of many arts and sciences and the tutor of Jason, Herakles (Heracles), Achilles, Asklepios (Asclepius) and other notables.
There was a book attributed to Cheiron entitled The Percepts of Cheiron but only a few tantalizing fragments remain of this ancient work. Cheiron seems to have been a devout worshiper of the Immortals and urged his students to always show obedience by making good sacrifices whenever returning to their homes. There is also the somewhat astounding, and confusing, percept which said that children under the age of seven years should not receive a literary education ... it is not clear as to why this should be important but the poet, Hesiod, is reported to have agreed with this principle.
There are only four brief extant fragments of the Precepts of Cheiron; the Precepts might be summarized as follows:
When Herakles was pursuing the Boar of Mount Erymanthos (Erymanthus) during his Forth Labor, he took hospitality from a Centaur named Pholos. During his second Labor (Killing the Hydra), Herakles had dipped his arrow tips in the Hydra’s poisonous blood ... at the time, he thought that the poison arrows would aid him in any future combat but when Pholos opened a jar of wine for his guest, the other centaurs gathered around and began to clamor for a portion ... a fight ensued and Herakles wounded Cheiron with one of the poisonous arrows. To escape the pain of the Hydra-poison, Cheiron surrendered his immortality and died. The needless death of his teacher and friend was another sad burden that Herakles had to endure during his tragic life.
The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Wyatt translations of The Iliad. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Lattimore (ISBN 0226469409); A.T. Murray/William F. Wyatt Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995791 and 0674995805); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374529051); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140275363)
Cheiron (Chiron) is not mentioned by name in The Odyssey but there are two references to Centaurs that might be of interest.
The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Dimock translations of The Odyssey. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0060931957); A.T. Murray/George E. Dimock Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995619 and 0674995627); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374525749); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140268863)
