ChironKheiron

A wise and beneficent Centaur (half-horse/half-man); the son of Kronos (Cronos) and Philyra.

Rheia (Rhea) caught Kronos when he was with Philyra and, to escape detection, Kronos took the guise of a horse and thus Kheiron was conceived as a Centaur; he was the teacher of Akhilleus (Achilles), Asklepios (Asclepius) and Iason (Jason).

At the marriage between Thetis and Peleus, Kheiron presented the newlyweds with an ashen spear which he had fashioned from wood cut from Mount Pelion; the spear was polished by the goddess, Athene (Athena), and, as a finishing touch, Hephaistos (Hephaestus) fitted it with a head; eventually the spear was used by Akhilleus (Achilles) during the siege of the city of Troy.

Although he was immortal, when he was accidentally wounded by Herakles (Heracles), during his Forth Labor (Capturing the Boar of Mount Erymanthus), he surrendered his immortality and died.

His name may also be rendered as Kheiron or Cheiron.

• Theogony, line 1001
• Kypria, fragment 5
• Iliad, book 4, line 219; book 11, line 832; book 16, line 143; book 19, line 390