The Centaur

Chiron

1st Junior High School of VolosComenius Meeting – March

2012

Magnesia – Volos – Mount Pelion

The mountain of gods and demigods!

It has been chosen by the 12 gods of Olympus for their summer vacation and rises from the highest peak reaching 1.624 m, imposing and green, northwest of the town of Volos.

Mount Pelion

Mount Pelion

Magnesia was among the first areas in Greece to be inhabited (7th millennium B.C) .

Archaeologists have brought to light Mesolithic finds from the Sarakinos cave, Neolithic settlements such as Dimini and Sesklo, as well as forgotten Mycenaean cities that played an important role during the Bronze Age.

Among the Mycenaean cities there was the legendary Iolkos, capital of Mycenaean Thessaly and site of today's Volos.

According to Greek Mythology, the patriarch of this area has been Magnis, son of Aiolos (God of the wind), who has settled in Pelion.

Magnesia

The Argonautic expedition, which has started from Magnesia, is historically relevant with the very start of processing of the gold in Greek area.

The Myth says that when Jason decides to bring the Golden Fleece he asks all the bravest of his times for their companion in this great adventure.

It was from here that the Argo set off with Jason and the Argonauts for the distant shores of the Black Sea in quest of the "Golden Fleece".

One result of this campaign was to strengthen the maritime empire of that region, the Minyans, the other was to broaden the naval horizons of the period.

Argo

In Greek mythology, a centaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse.The Centaurs were monstrous creatures have been residing in Pelion, and were created after the poetic coupling of Iksionas and Nepheli.The most common theory holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses.

Centaurs

Chiron was the eldest and wisest of the Centaurs, a tribe of half-horse men. Unlike the rest of this tribe he was an immortal god, a son of the Titan Kronos and half-brother of Zeus. Chiron's mother was the nymph Philyra who was coupling with Kronos when his wife suddenly appeared on the scene. To escape notice hetransformed himself into a horse, and in this way sired a half-equine son. Some time later when a tribe of Centaurs were spawned on Mount Pelion by the cloud nymph Nephele, Chiron and his daughters took them into their care and raised them as their own.

Chiron

Chiron was a great teacher who mentored many of the great heroes of myth including Jason, Peleus, Asklepios, Aristaios and Achilles. Eventually, however, he passed away from the earth, after accidentally being wounded by Herakles with an arrow coated in Hydra-venom. The wound was incurable, and unbearably painful, so Chiron voluntarily relinquished his immortality and died.

However, instead of being consigned to Hades, he was given a place amongst the stars by Zeus as the constellation Saggitarius or Centaurus.

Chiron's name was derived from the Greek word for hand (cheir), which also meant "skilled with the hands.“

The name was also closely associated in myth with kheirourgos or surgeon.

In Athenian vase painting Chiron was depicted with the full-body of a man, from head to foot, clothed in chiton and boots, with a horse-body attached to the human rump

By contrast the other Kentauroi, who do not appear in Athenian drama, were depicted unclothed with fully equine forms below the waist..

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

1st Junior high school of Volos