The Legend of Centaurus Centaurus: this half man, half horse marked the southernmost constellation visible to astronomers of classical times.
Mesopotamia: the heavenly embodiment of Enkidu, the friend and aid to Gilgamesh. See the Mesopotamian legend of Orion.
Greece: this constellation represents the centaur, Chiron, practitioner of the medical arts and wise council to Hercules. After being accidentally shot by Hercules with an arrow dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra, Chiron lingered in ceaseless pain. The Titan Prometheus, punished for eternity for bringing fire to early man, was bound to a rock in Tartarus, a vulture pecking his liver forever. It was foretold that an immortal could release Prometheus from this torture only if the immortal voluntarily took his place. Knowing that Chiron was in agony from his wound, Hercules asked that Prometheus be released. Chiron would take his place. Hercules shot an arrow into the vulture ending the torture of the Titan and Chiron took his place in Tartarus. Seeing his son's grief over killing his friend, Chiron was placed in the sky by Zeus as a gesture of paternal love.
In other stories, the constellation represents the death of Lupus, the wolf, on the spear of a heavenly centaur. Early representations of the two constellations actually reveal the figure of a centaur holding a staff called the thyrsus and a wolf. The thyrsus is covered with ivy and grape vines and tipped with a pine cone. These are the ingredients of the godly drink called nectar. The she-wolf is Selene, the moon, who helps in the preparation of the drink. See the Greek legends of Hercules and Sagitta.Back to the Constellations
