Chiron — The Teacher of Heroes

Chiron in the earliest poetry

Homer calls Chiron "the most just of the centaurs" (Iliad 11), and mentions him three other times, always as a giver of knowledge or gifts: he taught healing drugs to Asclepius, passed medical lore to Achilles, and gave Peleus the great ash spear from Mount Pelion that only Achilles could wield. Hesiod's Theogony adds that Chiron raised Medeius, the son of Jason and Medea, in the mountains. A lost Hesiodic poem, the Precepts of Chiron, was a collection of moral advice supposedly given to the young Achilles; only a few lines survive, including the instruction to sacrifice first to the gods on returning home.

Pindar shows Chiron most vividly. In Pythian 3 he raises Asclepius; in Pythian 4 Jason claims to have grown up in his cave alongside Chiron's wife and daughters; in Pythian 9 even Apollo asks his advice before approaching the nymph Cyrene, and Chiron answers with a gentle smile that the god already knows the answer. Nemean 3 describes the six-year-old Achilles killing lions and outrunning deer without hounds while Chiron watched.

Family, Peleus and the marriage of Thetis

Chiron was the son of Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra, which made him half-brother to Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Apollonius of Rhodes says Cronus took the form of a horse to avoid Rhea's notice; other sources say Philyra was so horrified by her child's shape that she begged to be transformed and became a linden tree (philyra in Greek). His wife was the nymph Chariclo, and his daughters included Ocyrhoe. Ovid tells in Metamorphoses Book 2 how Ocyrhoe began to prophesy, foretelling the fates of Asclepius and of her own father, and was turned into a mare to silence her. Chiron's lineage also separates him from the other centaurs, who descended from Ixion and a cloud shaped like Hera.

Chiron was especially close to Peleus. Apollodorus says that when King Acastus abandoned Peleus asleep on Pelion without his sword, hoping the wild centaurs would kill him, Chiron found him, saved him and returned the sword. Chiron then advised Peleus how to capture the sea goddess Thetis by holding on through her shape-shifting. The wedding was held at Chiron's cave, and he brought the ash spear as his gift, a scene painted on the François Vase, where Chiron leads the procession of guests. When Thetis left Peleus, it was to Chiron that the infant Achilles was given.

How Chiron actually died: the versions

Apollodorus gives the fullest account. While hunting the Erymanthian Boar, Heracles stopped with the centaur Pholus, who opened a jar of wine belonging to all the centaurs; the smell drew the others, a fight broke out, and the centaurs fled to Cape Malea in the Peloponnese, where Chiron was living after being driven from Pelion by the Lapiths. One of Heracles' arrows passed through the arm of the centaur Elatus and lodged in Chiron's knee. Heracles drew it out and applied a remedy Chiron gave him, but the Hydra's poison was incurable. Ovid's Fasti tells it differently: Chiron, welcoming Heracles on Pelion, was examining one of the arrows when it slipped and fell on his foot.

The exchange with Prometheus is also slightly more complicated than it is often told. Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound has Hermes say that Prometheus' suffering would only end when a god volunteered to go down to Hades in his place. Apollodorus says Chiron was that god, and that Prometheus "gave" Zeus someone to be immortal instead of himself.

Common misconceptions

• Chiron and Sagittarius: modern writers often equate him with Sagittarius, the archer. Ancient astronomical writers, such as Eratosthenes and Hyginus, usually identified Chiron with the southern constellation Centaurus. Sagittarius was more often explained as Crotus, a satyr-like companion of the Muses, though some ancient sources did link it to Chiron. See our constellation myths.
• "Chiropractic": the word, coined in the 1890s, comes from Greek cheir (hand) and praktikos (practical), not from Chiron's name, though Chiron's own name is probably related to the same word for hand. The ancient connection was rather with surgery (cheirourgia, "handwork") and with the medicinal plant centaury (kentaurion), named after him.
• Chiron as a centaur like the others: in early vase painting he is often shown with human front legs, wearing a tunic or cloak, to mark him out as civilised.

In Roman art, a fresco from Herculaneum (now in Naples) shows Chiron teaching the young Achilles to play the lyre, a reminder that music was central to his teaching.

Ancient sources

• Homer, Iliad 4, 11, 16 and 19 — Chiron as "most just of the centaurs", teacher of healing to Asclepius and Achilles, and giver of the Pelian ash spear.
• Pindar, Pythian 3, 4 and 9; Nemean 3 — Chiron raising Asclepius and Jason, counselling Apollo, and training the boy Achilles.
• Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4 and 3.13 — his wounding by Heracles at Malea, the transfer of immortality to Prometheus, and his help to Peleus.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses 2 and Fasti 5 — the transformation of his daughter Ocyrhoe, and a variant account of his death on Pelion.
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica — Cronus and Philyra, and Chiron with his wife holding the baby Achilles to see the Argo depart.

Frequently asked questions

Why was Chiron different from other centaurs?

He had a different parentage, born of the Titan Cronus and the nymph Philyra, whereas most centaurs descended from Ixion. That divine birth made him immortal, wise and civilised.

How did Chiron die?

He was accidentally wounded by one of Heracles' arrows poisoned with Hydra venom. Unable to heal or die, he gave up his immortality, which became linked to Prometheus' release.

Is Chiron the constellation Sagittarius?

Most ancient astronomers identified him with Centaurus instead. The Sagittarius connection is a mainly later and modern association.

Who did Chiron teach?

Ancient sources name Achilles, Asclepius, Jason, Actaeon, and in some accounts Heracles, Peleus and Aristaeus, among many others.