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| Chiron and the young Achilles |
In Greek mythology, Chiron was a learned centaur. The Greeks were fond of horses. Other mythological monsters were wholly devoid of good traits, but the centaur, half horse and half man, while savage at times, is represented often as wise and, to a greater or less extent, the friend of man. Chiron was instructed by Apollo and Diana, and became skilled, especially in medicine, music, hunting, and the art of prophecy. Many renowned Grecian heroes were his pupils. The wise Chiron instructed Achilles, Hercules, Ulysses, Aeneas, and others. While chasing the boar Erymantheus, the capture of which was one of the twelve labors assigned him by Eurystheus, Hercules had a fight with the centaurs, drove them from Mount Pelion, and pursued them into the abode of Chiron. Here an arrow from his bow accidentally wounded his old teacher, and Chiron suffered tortures from its poison. In pity the gods put an end to his mortal life, but he was placed among the stars as the constellation Sagittarius or The Archer.
