The Constellation
Centaurus |
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Mythology and History |
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The Centaur. |
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It is unclear which centaur Centaurus is to represent.
It is either Chiron or Pholus. Both centaurs are present in the stars,
one as Centaurus and the other as Sagittarius. |
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The centaurs were the half-man, half-horse creatures in Greek
mythology. They were rude, untrustworthy, cheating, violent, deceptive
and they drank too much. But one centaur named Chiron was different.
Chiron was educated by the Sun-god Apollo and Diana, Goddess of the Moon
and Wild Animals. Chiron was as kind, gentle, and wise as the other
centaurs were mean, fierce, and unthinking. Chiron's many skills
and wisdom became so widely known that children of many a famous king were
sent to him to be taught all manner of skills. Among his students
were the mighty Hercules, the sailor Jason, the warrior Achilles and Aesculapius,
who became so skilled at medicine. |
As the story goes, Hercules had traveled
far one day and was very thirsty so he asked a centaur friend, Pholus,
to open a jar of the excellent wine kept in his house but belonging jointly
to all the centaurs. Pholus did, and when the aroma of this fine
wine flowed out over the countryside the other centaurs furiously galloped
up to the house and demanded to know how he had dared open the wine without
first consulting them.
The centaurs began to attack him and
Hercules. Pholus fled and left the battle to Hercules. Hercules
soon settled matters by killing many of them and driving the rest from
the countryside, telling them never to return. Chiron was nearby
observing the event, although he has not taken part. Although Hercules
knew Chiron, and deeply respected him, he could not recognize his friend
from a great distance and accidentally shot him with one of his poisoned
arrows. Seeing these events and knowing of his son Hercules' sadness,
Zeus gave the good centaur a resting place among the stars as the constellation
Sagittarius.
Pholus looks over the dead and dying
and wonders how Hercules' arrows could be so fatal. He pulled one
arrow out of a body and looks at it, but it slips through his fingers and
strikes him on the foot, killing him instantly.
Hercules heard of the tragedy and
returned to bury his friend at the foot of the mountain that bears his
name, Mt. Pholoe. This high plateau region in the interior of the
Greek peninsula is just up the road from Olympia. The mountain is
now called Pholois, this is where the Centaur stories of old originated.
It is said that Zeus had held Pholus
in very high regard, and therefore also put his likeness in the heavens.
The constellation Centaurus represents a centaur, Pholus.
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