His personal skills tend to match those of his foster father Apollo, who taught the young centaur the art of medicine, herbs, music, archery, hunting, gymnastics, and prophecy, and made him rise above his beastly nature.

[4] Like satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild, lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, violent when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents.

He was the son of the Titan Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra,[6] and thus possible brother to Dolops[7] and Aphrus, the ancestor and eponym of the Aphroi, i.e. the native Africans.

[10] Like the other centaurs, Chiron was later expelled by the Lapithae from his home; but sacrifices were offered to him there by the Magnesians until a very late period, and the family of the Cheironidae in that neighbourhood, who were distinguished for their knowledge of medicine, were regarded as his descendants.

This may, then, not be a deliberate reworking of the Chiron myth on the part of the Romans, but simply a lost nuance of the character in its migration from Greece to Rome.

As F. Kelsey writes; "The Chiron of our painting, ... has a body like that of the other centaurs, but the prominence of the human element in his nature is no less marked; he is the wise and gentle teacher, the instructor of an art".

[15] Chiron has retained an element of clothing and gained a laurel wreath, suggesting the artist wished to portray nobility, or even divinity, more consistent with the traditional view.

[19] Chiron's lineage was different from other centaurs, who were born from Ixion, consigned to a fiery wheel, and Nephele ("cloud"), which in the Olympian telling Zeus invented to look like Hera.

Chiron, effectively orphaned, was later found by the god Apollo, who took him under his wing and taught him the art of music, lyre, archery, medicine and prophecy.

[citation needed] A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher and tutor.

Chiron saved the life of Peleus when Acastus tried to kill him by taking his sword and leaving him out in the woods to be slaughtered by the centaurs.

[32] Chiron was a renowned mentor, and brought up some future heroes such as: According to Ptolemy Hephaestion (probably the same as Ptolemaeus Chennus), a writer and playwright whose works are now lost, Chiron was also the mentor of the god Dionysus (who became the centaur's eromenos, and learned from him chants and dances) and of a youth named Cocytus; the latter supposedly cured Adonis when he was wounded by a wild boar using the medical techniques learned from his teacher.

Photios I, an ecumenical patriarch of the 9th century AD, harshly criticized Ptolemy, denouncing him for seemingly distorting, inventing and misinterpreting myths.

According to a Scholium on Theocritus,[37] this had taken place during the visit of Heracles to the cave of Pholus on Mount Pelion in Thessaly during his fourth labour, defeating the Erymanthian Boar.

[42] The common thread in the fragments, which may reflect in some degree the Acharnian image of Chiron and his teaching, is that it is expository rather than narrative, and suggests that, rather than recounting the inspiring events of archaic times as men like Nestor[43] or Glaucus[44] might do, Chiron taught the primeval ways of mankind, the gods and nature, beginning with the caution "First, whenever you come to your house, offer good sacrifices to the eternal gods".

The huge Centaur collapses on stone and Achilles fondly twines himself about his shoulders, though his mother is there, preferring the familiar bosom.

Later, when describing what he ate when growing up, Achilles refers to Chiron as a parent; "thus that father of mine used to feed me" (2.102), the Latin used here is 'pater' so we may judge this an accurate translation.

In addition to Achilles' descriptions of the physical lessons Chiron gives him he also refers to a more cultured education, He fixed in my mind the precepts of sacred justice (2.163–4).

Statius creates an image of Chiron that is not only a loving father, but a strict and wise teacher, disassociated with the bestial aspects of centaurs.