That the life of the centaurs should be a school for heroes, that they should be trained away from the human home, beneath the open sky, in the caves of the wild mountains, seems strange at first, when one considers the overall image of the centaur. There is a raw and wild side to it, corresponding to the life of primitive hunters. They do not possess the gentle powers of Hestia and Demeter, they do not shepherd nor cultivate fields. They are naked, rough, impulsive, have their own weapons and lead a wandering life as free hunters who follow their prey and need plenty of territory. The bull hunters of Thessaloniki, centaurs in human form, recede into the background, giving way to the hippocentaurs. It is out of the abundance of raw animal nature that the human form grows and rises as an attachment that cannot free itself from the heavy and powerful animal body and remains attached to it. Pindar tells us that Ixion gave birth to Hippocentaurus by means of a cloud, but Ixion has a rocky origin. The horsemen and horsewomen are united in the centaur; their weapons are sticks, spears, firebrands, and pieces of stone – there are neither bows nor arrows. Their food is raw flesh; they love milk and wine, which makes them drunken and exuberant, but at the same time puts them under the moderating influence of Dionysus, for they have communed with Pan from time immemorial, as is evident from their territory, their tails, and the fact that they are raised by nymphs. They are fast, strong, and full of a great desire to unite with human women. The female Taurus horses, which are more rare, have a beautifully feminine upbringing. It is said that Hippocentaurs are gradually being pushed out of their large hunting grounds and must give way to remote wastelands. This is seen in their struggle with the Lapiths when they are driven from Pelion and flee to the borders of Pindos and Epirus, and then in the Centauromachy, in their struggle with Heracles, who divides and separates them so that they seem to disappear from sight. Heracles, Theseus, and Pirithous are the main antagonists in these battles. Mountain forests, grassy plains, in general those landscapes where untouched wild populations live, are the centaurs’ earliest habitat. The heroes’ hostile encounters with them are invasions of their hunting and living grounds, and reprisals for stealing women. Moreover, these encounters are not only hostile and episodic, but their impact is deep and lasting. The centaurs and heroes make friendly, even intimate, contact with one another. A separate element is Heracles’ welcoming reception by the centaur Pholos, in which the centaur’s brute, unbridled strength is tempered. Through the ancient strength of the proverb shines through the images of an indestructible nobility, which in the immortal Chiron destroys any trace of savagery. Chiron differs from the other centaurs by his origin: he is a son of Kronos and Phylra, daughter of Oceanos, and this origin testifies to his unique dignity. He is a great teacher and educator of heroes. The heroic life turns to the world of the Centaurs, takes root there, and emerges from it strengthened and educated. What can heroes learn from the centaur and how does he educate them? They come to him from their parents’ home at a young age, yearning and inquisitive. They are returned to the elements, and although they are foster children, they are exposed, so to speak, immersed in the freshness of rich nature. There they become hardened, gain strength and independence, and learn to live independently. Education, which has become secretive, urban, and even theoretical, is far from being centauric. Added to this is the freshness of the morning dew that falls on the young, the wilderness as a playground for the life of youth and their games – contact with air, light, and water. Chiron nurtures more through his intimacy, relationships, and life than through constant learning. He is pictured surrounded by his students. Chariklo, Chiron’s wife, and his mother Phylira take part in this upbringing. In the fourth Pythian ode, Pindar makes young Jason say that he comes from Chariklo and Phylira, from the caves where he was raised by the noble centaur maidens, and that in twenty years he has never offended a woman, either by his actions or his words. Chiron primarily teaches a simple, self-sufficient, free and independent life, with the use of weapons, hunting, and the gathering of herbs. Early on Apollo takes with him the physician of the gods, Asclepius, for Chiron to learn how to cure diseases and heal wounds. His disciples include the sons of Asclepius, the heroic physicians Machaon and Podaleirios. His pupil was the wise and learned Palamedes. Chiron is a master not only of hunting and healing, but also of divination, music, and gymnastics. His skill reaches musical perfection. Therefore the musical education of the heroes is guarded by him, and thanks to him the whole heroic life is filled with musical forces, without which it would remain crude and meagre. The centaur, like the satyr, whom he reminds us of with his hair and pointed ears, is full of musical feeling, and Chiron, the teacher, reminds us of the enthusiastic Silenus, tutor and teacher of Dionysus. Apollo and Artemis are closely associated with Chiron, to whom temperance, sobriety, prudence and a high sense of justice are attributed. On the herb-rich Pelion, where he lives, his adopted children play, and in one of the peaceful and gentle depictions of this cohabitation little Achilles is shown riding and playing. The royal house to which Achilles belongs is closely related to Chiron, for Thetis is his daughter, Peleus is his grandson, and Achilles is his great-grandson. Peleus is already in the school of Pelion, and with him Nestor, who begins his long life there; Telamon and Theseus, the great hunters Meleagros and Actaeon, Castor and Polydeukes, Jason and many others are also there. Pelion is the school that receives the flowers of heroic youth, the center of all schools, and nourished by all of Hellas. The beginnings of heroic life go back to Pelion and are fed by the source of the Centauric spirit. This large and cool mountain world, where the medicinal herb Centauria grows in abundance, leads into the desert, to the beginning of the springs, to the source. What Chiron does, the wilderness follows with its power of raising heroic children who are abandoned, raised up by wild animals, and then taken in by shepherds.
Anyone who ponders the centaur’s connection to the heroes will realise that there is something of the centaur in man himself that draws him back to the roots. In him the contradictions of struggle are united. But in this union, which Chiron teaches, there is great happiness.
The Jünger Translation Project 