MIKE NORRIS: This strange creature has a human body from the waist up. But below the waist it has a horse’s body with four legs and a tail. It’s a mythical beast called a centaur. This centaur was made of copper and other metals in the early 1200s. It wears a crown on its head. This could mean that it’s the king of the centaurs, whose name was Chiron. It holds a sword in one hand. With the other, it grapples with a dragon. This dragon is actually a spout for pouring water.

This centaur was called an aquamanile, from the Latin words for water and hands. People poured water out of it to wash their hands. The hollow body could be filled with water through a hole on top of the centaur’s head. Another dragon on the centaur’s back is a handle, for tipping the aquamanile forward.

[MUSIC: SUGGESTING ANCIENT GREECE]

MIKE NORRIS: The ancient Greeks told many tales about centaurs.

[MUSIC; SOUND OF HORSES’ HOOFS GALLOPING PAST]

MIKE NORRIS: Centaurs were rowdy beasts, always fighting. But one centaur, called Chiron, was gentle and knew how to heal people with medicine. Chiron also had great skill with a bow and arrow. He was immortal—that means he would live forever, like the gods on Mount Olympus. Chiron became a great teacher. One of his pupils was the most famous of all Greek heroes, the mighty Herakles. You may know him by his Roman name, Hercules.

Herakles became a hero by performing ten labors: deeds of strength and daring beyond the power of ordinary men. For instance, Herakles’ second labor was to kill a monster called the Hydra, which had nine heads and poisonous blood.

[MONSTROUS SOUND OF HISSING, LOW GROWLS]

MIKE NORRIS: Our story happened during the fourth labor of Herakles. He set out to capture a fierce wild pig called the Erymanthian boar.

[SOUND OF FIERCE WILD BOAR]

MIKE NORRIS: Along the way, Herakles visited the cave of a centaur named Pholus. While they were eating dinner, Herakles asked Pholus for some wine. “I can’t give you any,” said the centaur. “I have only one cask of wine, and it belongs to the other centaurs.” But Herakles seized the cask of wine, opened the lid, and drank his fill.

[SOUND OF DRINKING]

MIKE NORRIS: The aroma of wine drifted out of the cave. The other centaurs smelled it, and got angry. They rushed to Pholus’ cave to take back their wine.

[SOUND OF GALLOPING HOOFS AND MEN'S VOICES YELLING]

MIKE NORRIS: Herakles sent the centaurs running for safety! He chased them, firing arrows that were poisoned with the blood of the Hydra.

[SOUND OF TWANGING BOWSTRING AND WHIZZING ARROWS]

MIKE NORRIS: The centaurs ran to Chiron, and begged him to protect them. Then one of Herakles’ poison arrows struck Chiron in the knee.

[SOUND: ARROW STRIKES A SOFT TARGET]

MIKE NORRIS: Herakles bandaged Chiron’s knee himself, and did everything he could to comfort his old teacher. But the poison was too strong. Even wise Chiron couldn’t heal himself. He would have to live with the terrible pain forever, because he was immortal and could not die. Then Zeus, the king of the gods, took pity on Chiron. He allowed the centaur to leave life on earth behind. Zeus set Chiron in the sky among the stars, where you can still see him today. He’s the constellation called Sagittarius—a group of stars in the shape of a centaur holding a bow and arrow. Sagittarius is also one of the twelve signs of the zodiac.