Chiron.
A wise and gentle centaur, Chiron nurtured and educated many heroes, including Achilles, Aeneas, Asclepius, Heracles, Jason, Peleus, and even Apollo. He was versed in archery, music, and the use of medicinal plants and herbs.
Born immortal, Chiron was most often called the son of the Titan Cronus (who had taken the shape of a horse to trick his jealous spouse Rhea) and Philyra. He was also sometimes identified as the offspring of Zeus, or as a descendant of Ixion and the cloud Nephele.
When Heracles batded Pholus and other centaurs, Chiron was accidentally wounded in the knee by a poisoned arrow. In terrible pain, he begged to die rather than to endure eternal suffering. He was finally released by Prometheus, who took on Chiron’s immortality and allowed him to die. In Ovid, Chiron’s daughter Ocyrhoë foretells his eventual death.

Classical Sources. Homer, Iliad 11.829-35 Hesiod, Theo-gony ioooff. Pindar Pythian Odes 3.iff, 9.29ff. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.1231. Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.630—54. Fasti 5.384, 413; Apollodorus, Biblioteca 1.2.3-4, 2.5.4, 3.4.4, 3.13.3—5. Pliny, Naturalis historia 7.196. Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.5.10, 5.19.9. Hyginus, Poetica astronomica 2.38.

See also Achilles, Education; Asclepius; Centaurs; Heracles, General List; Jason, General List.