Prometheus Bound and Hesiod's Prometheus
Prometheus Bound is quite different from other tragedies in that it is peopled entirely by gods. The play focuses on the story of Prometheus, and we have versions of this myth in Hesiod's famous works. There is reason to think that the author of Prometheus Bound was not only acquainted with Hesiod's version but actually drew on Hesiod directly in this play. This essay therefore aims to establish in what ways the author of Prometheus Bound seems to have drawn from Hesiod's version of myth, in what ways he has diverged from it, and what reasons he might have had for making these changes and innovations. This might therefore highlight any particular emphasis or purpose of Prometheus Bound and what its author might have been trying to get across. Though there is not space in this essay to discuss the problems of attributing this play, it must be recognised that this ambiguity of authorship and dating makes it even more difficult than usual to look at views and purposes behind the play.
We don't have any exact dates for Hesiod, but it seems that his poetic activity dates from around the last third of the 8th century BC. We find his versions of the Prometheus myth in two of his works: the Theogony at lines 521-616, and the Works and Days, at lines 42-89. The Theogony in general discusses the origin and genealogies of the gods and the events that led to the establishment of Zeus as their king. The Works and Days is quite varied in content but overall could be described as giving advice for living a life of honest industry. In the Theogony the story of Prometheus comes as a narrative interlude and aims at explaining the origins of certain institutions and features of the world as his contemporaries knew it, namely the practice of dedicating only the inedible parts of sacrificed animals to the gods while eating the meat themselves. In Works and Days Hesiod briefly retells the Prometheus story in a modified form to explain why work is man's lot. We therefore have the Prometheus myth being presented in quite a different context from the Prometheus Bound, which is devoted entirely to the plight of Prometheus and fellow victims of Zeus.
There are certain little details that we find in both Hesiod and Prometheus Bound which suggest that the author of the latter has drawn directly on Hesiod's version. For example, at line 107-9 in Prometheus Bound, we have Prometheus saying:
'...I am he
Who hunted out the source of fire, and stole it, packed
In pith of a dry fennel-stalk'.
This is extremely close to the lines we get in Works and Days in Hesiod's narration of what happened when Zeus tried to keep fire from humans:
'First he hid fire. But the son of Iapetos
Stole it from Zeus the Wise, concealed the flame
In a fennel-stalk, and fooled the Thunderer' (48-51).
Both contain the detail of Prometheus having hidden the flame inside a fennel-stalk, which was seemingly because dried fennel is good kindling, when he stole it, and this seems clear evidence of Prometheus Bound's author using Hesiod's version of the myth in writing his own.
We have the same basic story in both Hesiod and Prometheus Bound - Prometheus is fettered for having stolen fire and given it to humans, but the details surrounding this are quite different. In Hesiod, the story all started when Prometheus played a trick on Zeus, getting him to choose the bones rather than the meat at a sacrifice. For this, Zeus would not give humans fire, and so Prometheus stole it and gave it to them anyway. Hesiod's main thrust seems to be that 'it is impossible to hoodwink Zeus' (Theogony 616), whereas Prometheus Bound never even mentions this trick. At 496, Prometheus does refer to teaching humans to offer up thigh-bones wrapped in fat, but this seems in a very positive way, in that he introduced sacrificing and interpreting the sacrificial flames. Perhaps the author of Prometheus Bound has removed this element of trickery to create a more positive, serious image of Prometheus. Certainly it seems that whereas is Hesiod the overriding impression seems to be of Prometheus as a sly and crafty trickster, with just a quick reference at the end of the Prometheus story in the Theogony to him being 'kind' and 'wise', the author of Prometheus Bound has removed some of the tricky side of his character and emphasised the kind and wise part. Herington1 states that unlike Hesiod's version, in the Prometheus Bound the charge of theft by trickery, though still most prominent, is only one of several charges levied against Prometheus - Herington says it is 'only an essential first step in a grandiose program of benefaction towards humanity'. From 444 to 503 we get a staggering list from Prometheus himself of all the gifts and skills he has given to mankind, including literacy, numeracy, sailing, medicine and prophecy, before he concludes:
'All human skill and science was Prometheus' gift' (503).
And from other characters in the play we have references that back up these claims. Io calls Prometheus the 'universal benefactor of mankind (612). We certainly have much more pity displayed for Prometheus in Prometheus Bound. Even Hephaestus, who perhaps should feel most wronged of all since he was the holder of fire, shows great pity for Prometheus. Oceanus and particularly the chorus of Oceanus' daughters are very sympathetic. But there are also criticisms of Prometheus. He is portrayed as extremely stubborn in the play. The Chorus state:
'You are defiant, Prometheus, and your spirit,
In spite of all your pain, yields not an inch' (176-77).
As they also point out, he is also too free with his words. Neither of these elements of Prometheus' character seem present in Hesiod. Here, this combination creates tension because we see that under Zeus' regime this can only lead to more punishment and certainly won't bring about any end to his suffering, of which there does seem to have been some hope right from the beginning of the play. Strength stated at 9-11:
'he must now suffer,
Till he be taught to accept the sovereignty of Zeus
And cease acting as champion of the human race'.
Zeus is portrayed as equally stubborn, and this also creates a great deal of tension in the play.
In the first scene of the play we have Prometheus being manacled to a rock-face, and we get a detailed representation of this event. In Hesiod, this punishment of being shackled is present, but it is only briefly described:
'Clever Prometheus was bound by Zeus
In cruel chains, unbreakable, chained round
A pillar' (Theogony 524-26).
In Prometheus Bound, the author has expanded on this to create a whole scene, and much pity for Prometheus is derived from this. And he is not only chained, but we even have a wedge of rock being driven through his chest:
'Now drive straight through his chest with all the force you have
The unrelenting fang of the adamantine wedge'.
Hesiod says that his chains are cruel and unbreakable, but we do not have any such brutality as this. Strength also orders that the shackles be made as tight as possible by hitting them hard because 'our work has a stern judge' (76-7). The lengths of the brutality of the punishment are therefore attributed to Zeus, because Strength implies that Zeus would be satisfied with nothing less. In fact, all the way through this torturous punishment we are reminded that it is Zeus' will by such references to him.
Prometheus is in fact silent throughout all this, and only speaks once the shackling in complete and he has been left alone. This adds further to the pathos of the representation of Prometheus' situation, and perhaps makes us even more eager to hear Prometheus' side of the story. In Hesiod there does not seem to be much focus on Prometheus' side; we are seeing the events more from the point of view of Zeus. We get much more of what Zeus thinks, feels and says than Prometheus in the Theogony. In Prometheus Bound, however, Zeus doesn't appear or speak at all, while Prometheus is of course on stage for the whole play.
Despite his absence, we still seem to get a great deal of description of Zeus and his way of ruling in the course of the play, and it seems very different from the picture of we get in the Hesiod passages in question. Zeus really seems vilified in Prometheus Bound. He has inflicted the same punishment on Prometheus, but the brutality of it is emphasised, and all the characters except Strength express disdain for this brutality. He is really presented as a tyrant, and while Prometheus is presented as a rebel and has done wrong, no defence of Zeus' actions seems to be given by any of the characters in the play - Solmsen2 says that no-one argues in the play that Zeus was right to crush Prometheus' rebellion in the way he has, or that he has the right of political necessity on his side.
There is an emphasis on the anger of Zeus in Prometheus Bound, particularly at 375-8, where Prometheus and Oceanus both refer to Zeus' 'angry mood', his 'anger' and his 'rage'. This sense of the anger and rage of Zeus can be found in Hesiod too, at Theogony 554:
'He took the fatted portion in his hands
And raged within, and anger seized his heart
To see the trick'.
But in Prometheus Bound there seems more a sense of Zeus having too quick a temper, as Prometheus warns Oceanus at 390 to:
'Take care; he may turn angry'
and at 68 Strength issues Hephaestus a similar warning:
'Take care; or you may need your pity for yourself'.
Both these warnings come to those displaying pity for Prometheus. It seems that this Zeus will not stand for any opposition, and is indeed described as a tyrant in the play, for example at 225 and 943. This is quite different from the impression of him as a just ruler that we seem to get in Hesiod, and there certainly doesn't seem to be any suggestion of him being a cruel tyrant in Hesiod, though he deals out the same punishments. In fact, Hesiod seems so supportive of Zeus that he makes his narrative contradictory and confused in his anxiousness to avoid making Zeus look bad by saying he falls for a trick. Hesiod says that Zeus was never fooled at all, but this clashes uncomfortably with the rest of the story. We seem to get the story much more from Zeus' side in Hesiod too. One piece of information given in Prometheus Bound that was not present in Hesiod and which might be expected to colour the audience's opinion against Zeus is Prometheus' statement that Zeus was going to annihilate mankind (233-34). This also enables Prometheus to say:
'I saved the human race from being ground
To dust, from total death' (236-37)
This seems a sure-fire way of getting the audience on his side! It seems to directly place Prometheus as the hero and Zeus as the villain from a human point of view. The author of Prometheus Bound has certainly changed the emphasis. In fact, in Hesiod, by far the greatest emphasis is on the suffering that Prometheus' actions caused humans - the creation of woman. Hesiod talks about this in the Theogony all the way from 572 to 601, and in Works and Days from 60 to 102. And though it is Zeus who orders this punishment, Hesiod's seems to place the blame firmly with Prometheus for making him have to do so. The author of Prometheus Bound omits this part of the story completely and the reason for this again could be to maintain a positive image of Prometheus. The play casts him as the benefactor of mankind, not the cause of all their strife as Hesiod tells us.
As well as completely omitting aspects of Hesiod, the author of Prometheus Bound also adds completely different elements. One aspect of Prometheus Bound that is certainly a dramatic departure is the presence of Io in the play. Io is a most unexpected twist to the story since she belongs to an entirely separate tradition. The scene with Io is in fact the longest in the play. The story of her journey past and future given, with all its references to and descriptions of foreign races and landmarks was perhaps intended to satisfy an interest of the audience in travel or exploration. But the principle purpose of introducing Io would seem to be to show another pitiful victim of Zeus. And her situation is certainly presented as most pitiful. We are told that because of Zeus' lust for her, her father was forced to throw her out of his house 'by the cruel bridle-rein of Zeus' (670-71), and then she was turned into a cow and tormented incessantly by a stinging gadfly from which she has been running ever since. Presenting all her suffering brought about by Zeus seems surely to have been intended in the play to create further animosity towards Zeus, which just wasn't there in Hesiod.
Another clear, but not quite so dramatic, departure from Hesiod which has quite an effect is the way the author of Prometheus Bound has transferred to Prometheus the role of providing the very address that got Zeus into power. In Hesiod, it was Earth or Gaia who gave this advice, as we are told in the Titanomachy that comes directly after the Prometheus passage in the Theogony:
'She told them everything: the gods would gain
Glorious pride and victory, with the help
Of those whom they had saved' (927-29).
'Those whom they had saved' were the sons of Ouranos who had been imprisoned beneath the earth but whom Gaia had advised Zeus to bring back up to earth to help them (624-26). In Prometheus Bound too, Earth is acknowledged as having helped Zeus get into power, but her son Prometheus is actually said here to have had an even more prominent role than her in his accession. Prometheus says that his mother, whom he calls Earth or Themis, had told him the advice but that it was he that actually told Zeus, after the Titans took no notice of him:
'It was I who gave
That counsel through which ancient Cronos and his crew
Lie buried now in the black Abyss of Tartarus' (219-21).
Solmsen3 seems right in saying that the motive for attribution to Prometheus is to make Zeus' treatment of Prometheus seem all the more outrageous if he is so indebted to him. Prometheus himself then says:
'That was the help I gave the king of the gods; and this
Is my reward - this is his black ingratitude' (222-23).
The actual advice also seems to change between Hesiod and Prometheus Bound. In Prometheus Bound, we are told that the advice that helped Zeus win was that:
'not brute strength,
Not violence, but cunning must give victory' (211-12),
whereas, in Hesiod, the advice of releasing the sons of Ouranos seems to be because their 'size and overwhelming masculinity' made them good fighters, which seems to be saying instead that it is precisely 'brute strength' that would ensure Zeus' victory.
Another extension of Prometheus' role that is very important in the plot of Prometheus Bound but which does not seem to have been part of the Prometheus of Hesiod's version is his knowledge of the future relating to Zeus. In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus knows that there is a woman that will bear Zeus a son more mighty than himself and who will overthrow him, or at least it seems clear that this is what Prometheus is hinting at 910-15 when he talks of a 'disastrous' marriage that will be Zeus' downfall. Later in the Theogony, at 886-900, we do have Gaia providing vital knowledge about Zeus' marriage with Metis and the birth of Athena, but a more clear source may be Pindar's Isthmian Ode 8 (lines 27ff.), where Themis saves Zeus and Poseidon from trying to marry Thetis with her knowledge of a prophecy that Thetis will bear a son mightier than his father, The naming of 'Themis' rather than any of Earth's other titles in both Pindar and Prometheus Bound perhaps shows a link. Solmsen4, though, believes that Pindar and the author of Prometheus Bound are both drawing on another source entirely. Whatever the source may be, it is certainly a departure from Hesiod and it means that Zeus' rule depends on Prometheus for survival and so the author of Prometheus Bound has a new dimension to the conflict between Prometheus and Zeus and new tension in the play. The fact that Prometheus reveals that he possesses this knowledge causes further trouble for him - Zeus finds out and demands to know and when Prometheus refuses to tell him, he increases Prometheus' punishment. The activation of this further punishment is how the play ends, very dramatically: the rock collapses on top of him, entombing him underground. This is the first part of the punishment that Hermes warned him about if he refused to tell Zeus what he knew (1015-28), and so we know that still to come for Prometheus will be the eagle pecking out his liver. In Hesiod this punishment seems to have been administered at the same time as the chaining. Perhaps here the delaying of this punishment was intended to again emphasise how dangerous it is to defy Zeus, and so again to illustrate how harsh his regime is. We leave the play seeing Zeus once again dealing out a terrible punishment, just as we entered the play.
It seems clear from all the similarities and common elements that Hesiod was the starting point for Prometheus Bound. In constructing the plot of Prometheus Bound, it looks as if the author has drawn quite heavily on the Hesiodic poems. But in transforming Hesiod's morality tale into tragic drama, he's done quite a lot of selecting, adapting and innovating. Most prominently, we seem to have this stark contrast between Hesiod's portrayal of Prometheus as a petty trickster and thief, who brought miseries on mankind by competing with Zeus, and with this hero in Prometheus Bound, who has helped to bring Zeus to power, has rescued mankind from destruction planned by Zeus (231-6), and who knows the secret which can save or destroy Zeus himself. The role of hero and villain seems to have been intensified and reversed. It also seems as if the author of Prometheus Bound has taken the short reference to Prometheus' punishment in Hesiod and thought about how inhumane this punishment is, as if he was thinking about it from the perspective of it had happened to a human being. Hesiod seems clearly never swerving from the fact that he is talking about the gods, so much so that it seems his piety and awareness that he is talking about the supreme god prevents his from telling the story of the trickery at Mekone lucidly. Out of Hesiod the author of Prometheus Bound, whoever he was, seems to have created something quite different.
Bibliography
* Conacher, D.J., Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound: a Literary Commentary (Toronto 1980)
* Falkner, T.M., 'Slouching Towards Boeotia: Age and Age-Grading in the Hesiodic Myth of the Five Races', CQ 8 (1989) 42-60
* Frazer, R. M. The Poems of Hesiod (University of Oklahoma Press, U. S. A., 1983)
* Griffith, M. Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound (Cambridge, 1983)
* Most, G.W., 'Hesiod's Myth of the Five (or Three or Four) Races', PCPS 43 (1997) 104-127
* Scully, J & Herington, C.J., Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound (Oxford University Press, New York 1975)
* Solmsen, F. Hesiod and Aeschylus (Ithaca, New York, 1949)
* Wender, D. Hesiod and Theognis (Harmondsworth, 1973)
* West, M. L. Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days (Oxford, 1988)
* West, M.L., 'The Prometheus Trilogy', JHS 99 (1979) 130-48
* Vellacott, P. Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound, Supplicants, Seven against Thebes, The Persians (Harmondsworth, 1961)
Endnotes
1. Herington (1986) p158-9
2. Solmsen (1949) p136
3. Solmsen (1949) p130
4. Solmsen (1949) p129 Partner sites: Spanish school Costa Rica, Skin Cancer, and Free Essays and Term Papers