Prometheus

• In Greek Mythology, Prometheus was the son of one of the Titans who gave Man the use of Fire.
• This infuriated the God Zeus, who chained him to a cliff in Punishment.

The Myth of Prometheus

• Prometheus tries to trick Zeus
  • Prometheus was the son of Iapetus (Titan) and Clymene (Oceanid).
  • He and other men, met with Zeus and the other Gods at Mekone, to decide how to divide the Sacrifice between them.
  • Prometheus decided to try and trick Zeus. He slaughtered an ox and created two piles. He hid the valuable fat and meat in the ox’s stomach. Then he took the less valuable bones and disguised them under a layer of fat.
  • Prometheus then asked Zeus which pile he would prefer. Zeus pretended to be fooled and chose the bones disguised by fat.
  • It was then decided men would offer the bones as a sacrifice to the Gods, and keep the meat and fat for themselves.
• Prometheus steals Fire
  • Zeus decided to punish Prometheus by denying Man the use of fire.
  • But, Prometheus stole the fire from Mount Olympus, hidden in a fennel stalk, and gave it to Mankind.
• Zeus punishes Mankind by creating Pandora
  • Zeus decided to punish Mankind by commanding Haphaestus and Athena to create Pandora, the first woman, to make the lives of men insufferable.
• Pandora’s Box
  • Pandora was given many skills by the other Gods, but in particular a jar, Pandora's Box.
  • When the box was opened, it released insufferable pain, disease and sickness bringing death to men. Up to then Man had been Immortal.
• Zeus punishes Prometheus
  • Zeus also punished Prometheus by chaining him to a cliff.
  • Every day, an eagle would eat his liver, which would grow again, only to be eaten the next day.
  • Eventually, he was saved by Heracles, the son of Zeus.

Sources

• Prometheus Bound
  • Prometheus Bound was a Greek Tragedy written by the Playwright Aeschylus in c.450 BCE.
• Theogony
  • The Theogony was written by Hesiod (c.700 BCE) and consists of a Cosmogony (Origin of the Universe) explaining the creation of the Gods and their descendants.
  • Hesiod’s Theogony is considered to be the source of Greek Mythology.