Marie

🏹 — What are some of this Theos important epithets and their meanings?

Chiron had very few epithets that we know of.

Old / Sage / Sire of Pharmacy¹ - all coined by Homer.

Chiron, "the wisest and most just of the centaurs," is said to come from Homer too, but I couldn't find the translation.

Son of Philyra, a matronymic.

Of Double-Form² - refers to Chiron's half-god, half-horse build.

🏹 — What are the historical associations of this Theos (e.g animals, types of locations, etc)?

Horses, of course. Ancient Thessaly, the home of Chiron and the centaurs, was renowned for their horses.³

Caves. Chiron is said to reside in a cave, somewhere within Mount. Pelion - affectionately called the Cave of Chiron. In myth, the cave is often referred to as holy, or sacred - and is home to the many heroes Chiron mentored. In antiquity, caves were seen as gateways to the underworld, suggesting that Chiron may have been honored as a type of chthonic deity.

Medicine/Pharmakeia ("Pharmacy"). Ancient Thessaly is often referenced to as the "land of magic" - home to witches and sorcerers. Pharmakeia, the use of medicine, was commonplace here in a region overflowing with herbs and fertile land. The use of medicine to treat wounds and aliments was seen as a type of magic in antiquity - and Chiron was considered to be the 'father' (inventor) of the discipline. In Magnesia (part of Thessaly), the Cheironidae (Herakleides)⁴ family were said to be descendants of Chiron. They offered free medicine services to locals, and were known to have extensive knowledge of the herbs on Mount Pelion. The trade would be exclusively passed down from father to son. They could be classified as a family of "root-cutters," (rhizotomoi) specialists common to the area that collected herbs and made drugs, although there's not much known about the profession.⁴

The Anigrus River in Elis is said to be where Chiron went to wash his wound after being shot with the Hydra's poison - giving the river a "nasty" smell.⁵

⚫️ When? Πότε;

🏹 — When is the earliest possible mention/worship of this Theos?

The earliest possible depiction of Chiron comes from a clay centaur piece, dated to 1050-950 BC - the Greek Dark Ages.

This is widely considered the first example of a complete centaur - with some calling this the beginning of Greek art as a whole. Homer's epics, the earliest mention of Chiron by name, would not be written until two centuries later.

The clay centaur - referred to as the Centaur of Lefkandi was found in two pieces (head and body) among the offerings left at two graves on the island of Euboea. The statue is believed to be Chiron due to the wound on the centaur's leg, which mirrors Chiron's wound in myth - where he's shot in the leg by Hercules and gives up his immorality to die instead of suffer from the poison, and it's human-like front legs and horse-like backside.

🏹 — When was the earliest undisputed evidence, of this Theos being worshipped?

The earliest evidence of cultic worship of Chiron comes from Plutarch, in which he writes that the Magnetes (an ancient Thessalian tribe) left offerings at Chiron's cave in Mount. Pelion.⁶ Unlike other deities, Chiron seemingly didn't have a dedicated building or sanctuary, but rather the Cave of Chiron was where people went.

So with Chiron, [...] what we tend to find is not the firm structures and practices of many other cults but a vague and general sacrosanctity covering a broad area [...]. This quality does not preclude acts of worship...⁶

🏹 — When else was this Theos honored? Did they have any ancient festivals?

As far as I can tell, Chiron didn't have any ancient festivals by himself.

Chiron was believed to be honored in a local ritual on Mount Pelion's summit, at the Shrine of Zeus Actaeus. In this ritual, boy's would enter the Cave of Chiron wearing the sheepskin of a recent sacrifice. It's been hypothesized that the objective is that the sacrificer identifies with the sacrificed - or, alternatively, the sacrificer experiences of a moment of "transhumance," - the seasonal movement of livestock.⁶

In the Dark Ages (1050-900 BC), the Centaur of Lefkandi is created.

The Archaic Period (8/7th century) saw the creation of Homer's Iliad, which marks the earliest literary reference of Chiron by name.

Similarly, Homer's contemporaries, Hesiod and Pindar further reference Chiron. Hesiod's lost Precepts of Chiron, and Pindar's Pythian Odes 3, 4 and 9; Nemean Odes 3 and 4, and Isthmian Ode 8,

In the Hellenistic period, the coins of Magnesia would sometimes shown Chiron on one-side, and Zeus on the opposite.⁶

[1] Homer, Iliad, 480, 351. [2] Apollonius, Library, 13. [3] Milli, Religion and Society in Ancient Thessaly, 260. [4] Milli, Religion and Society in Ancient Thessaly, 290. [5] Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece, 5.5.10. [6] Dawson, The Absence of Chiron, 356-358.