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1st Junior High School of Volos
Comenius Meeting – March 2012
The Centaur
Chiron
Magnesia – Volos – Mount Pelion
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
Magnesia
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.
Argo
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.
Centaurs
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 nonriding culture, as in the Minoan
Aegean world, to nomads who were
mounted on horses.
Chiron
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 he
transformed 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 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