During his residence in Thrace he joined the expedition of the Argonauts, whose leader Jason had been informed by Chiron that only by the aid of Orpheus would they be able to pass by the Sirens unscathed.
According to Homer, he was brought up by his mother at Phthia with his cousin and intimate friend Patroclus, and learned the arts of war and eloquence from Phoenix, while the Centaur Chiron taught him music and medicine.
The boy was afterwards entrusted to the care of Chiron, who, to give him the strength necessary for war, fed him with the entrails of lions and the marrow of bears and wild boars.
Capture of the boar of Erymanthus, while chasing which he fought the Centaurs and killed his friends Chiron and Pholus, this homicide leading to Demeter's institution of mysteries.
It is famous in Greek mythology; the giants are said to have piled it on Ossa in order to scale Olympus, the abode of the gods; it was the home of the centaurs, especially of Chiron, who had a cave near its summit, and educated many youthful heroes; the ship "Argo" was built from its pine-woods.