Chiron in mythology

Chiron was the first of the centaurs and also their leader. Though a warrior, Chiron was kind, wise, noble, hearted and just (unlike other savage, unruly centaurs). In the sanctuary cave ‘the Chironian’ on Mount Pelion, Chiron lived in the nocturnal part and his half brother Jupiter in the diurnal part (dayside).

Chiron’s animal side invested him with an earthly wisdom and a closeness to nature. He was what the American Indians called a Shaman, a wise medicine-man.

According to the myth Saturn took a fancy to the graceful seanymph Philyra and in covering his mischief for his wife Rhea, he took the form of a stallion. Thus Chiron was born a centaur - half man, half horse.

In her misfortune of giving birth to what she thought of as a monster Philyra prayed to the gods to release her from the burden. As an answer they removed Chiron and turned her into a citrus tree….

Chiron grew up studying ethics, hunting, music, astrology, natural science, archery, martial arts and healing – including medicine, naturopathy, surgery and chiropractic (yes, that word originates from his name) – Apollo and Artemis being his foster parents. He got universally known as ‘the wisest of all things beneath the sky’, so the Gods send their demi-god breed to him for training and he became a mentor for many greek heroes a.o. Jason, Achilles, Hercules, Perseus and Asklepios.

Accidentially, Chiron was wounded by his student Hercules by an arrow with poison from the lethal Hydra, and he found himself in a paradoxical situation: the great, half divine and immortal, master of natural healing was inflicted with an incurable wound. Though his search for a cure made him continually wiser and more compassionate, he could not find relief from the pain, or die a natural death. Thus, Chiron’s epithet ‘the wounded healer’. However, Chiron was eventually released from his sufferings by a swap of fates with Prometheus the Awakener (Prometheus was a titan who, in one story, molded man from clay. In another he rebelled against the Gods and helped overthrow the tyrannical Kronos).

Prometheus had been mocking Zeus and stealing fire from him. As punishment Zeus had his servants Force and Violence seize him, and Prometheus was bound to a rock on Caucasus in adamantine chains exposed to horrible torment. Every day a griffon would eat from his liver, only to have it grow out again the next. He was to be liberated on one condition only; an immortal being taking his place in Hades. Chiron agreed on the conditions and was immortallized by Zeus in the night sky as the constellation Centaurus.