Prometheus
Who was responsible for bring fire to mankind, who was chained to the top of a mountain and had his liver devoured by an eagle every night? The answer: Prometheus. This god was part of a mighty group of gods called Titans. The poet Hesoid described Prometheus as a trickster, and a troublemaker. Aeschylus described Prometheus as a “tragic hero”. Many plays have been written about Prometheus, including “Prometheus”.
Prometheus was a cunning, intelligent being. During the war of the Titans, he advised them to use strategy, instead of just going out and having a massive bloodbath.
(Encyclopedia Americana, 577) Beethoven, Wolfgang Von Goethe, Percy Bysshe, and Bach all created works inspired by the myths of Prometheus. Prometheus had no Roman name, only a Greek name, Prometheus. (Graves, 185) He was one of the few gods that only had a Greek name. No one knows why he only had a Greek name, we can only guess.
His father, Iapetus was also a mighty Titan, one of the first Titans. His mother, Clymene, was a beautiful nymph from the deep trenches of the oceans of the world. (Hodge, 352) The story of his birth is rather sketchy, most books just outline the story of Iapetus and Clymene being madly in love with each other, and having a son, and naming him Prometheus. He had a brother who was named Atlas. (Encyclopedia Americana, 576) (Picture taken from Microsoft Encarta, 1998)
Prometheus isn’t really in charge of anything, except bringing fire to mankind and creation on man. When responsibilities were handed out, Prometheus was left out, possibly because he was a Titan, no one really knows.)
Prometheus is recognized by his nudity, the stalk of fennel that he carried fire to mankind in, and the crown of sticks and leaves that sits atop his head. (Tripp, 439)
A giant, roaring fire symbolizes Prometheus, most people understand why, and that is because he gave the gift of fire to mankind.
Prometheus has few unique characteristics. He isn’t a massive beast, he doesn’t have magical powers, and he doesn’t have huge, rippling muscles. He does, on the other hand, have an immortal liver. In a certain Greek Myth, Prometheus stole fire from the hearth of the gods, the gods became angry, especially Zeus. (World Book Encyclopedia, 567) Zeus ordered Prometheus chained to the top of a huge mountain as punishment for stealing fire from the hearth of the gods.
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 ...
...to Prometheus because he considers himself the man who brought light likewise Prometheus the man who stole fire from the gods to provide for the people in the city. He renames himself also because he feels like a new person after his discovery of freedom.
When Prometheus asks Zeus to give the mortals fire, he states that it is best to “let [the humans] shiver with cold…..[and] to let them be poor and ignorant so that [the gods] may thrive and be happy.” (Baldwin et al. par.7). Zeus is extremely selfish and wants to keep the fire for himself, which makes him look like a villain to the humans. This shows how Prometheus does not appeal to the audience as a villainous deceiver of Zeus. Anyone who is extremely selfish can never be a hero as they only think about themselves. In this story, Prometheus is repeatedly depicted as a hero when he showed the mortals “ how to build houses out of wood and stone….tame sheep and cattle…….plow and sow and reap….protect themselves from storms of winter….[etc.]” (Baldwin et al. par. 13). Prometheus works extremely hard to teach the humans many techniques essential for survival and also risked his life when trying to steal fire. All of this is what makes him a hero to the humans. Anyone who goes out of their way to assist others in any form can be defined as a
To begin, Frankenstein is comparable to Prometheus because of his initial creation of a living being. Victor pursues his interests in the sciences by taking it a step further trying to discover the secret of life. He decides to try and create something that can live. Once brought to life though, he is immediately repulsed by its appearance and flees, allowing the monster to escape, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart,” (Pg 42) Prometheus on the other hand was a Titan whose job was to mold mankind out of clay. After this though, he grew fonder of his new creations than the actual gods like him. Prometheus then decided to trick the g...
addressing Frankenstein as a monster. Victor does not desire anything to do with this “wretch”. After seeing the creature he has created, he “[passes] the night wretchedly. Sometimes [his] pulse beat so quickly and hardly that [he] feels palpitation of every artery; at others, [he] nearly [sinks] to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.” (59) Victor acts a coward; he does not face his mistakes and try to fix them. Instead he feels weakened by the disappointment of himself. On the other hand, Prometheus reacts differently to his challenges. Prometheus acts strong minded, he thinks before he acts and trusts nobody. After Prometheus grants the villagers with fire, he “[…] [warns] his brother to beware of any gift that Jupiter might send, for he knew that the mighty tyrant [can] not be trusted.”(4) Prometheus expects consequences for his actions, just as an army general expects an attack from the enemy. Prometheus acts brave in questioning authority and waits ready for battle, if Zeus retaliates for disobeying
In the end of "Anthem", Prometheus comes to the realization that his society's teachings and ideas were not helpful in advancement to the society. Ideas like individuality, that the society tried to squash out of its people, is beneficial to the society as a whole because men are meant to think for themselves. In the book Prometheus made the light bulb back when he was in the society, but once he showed it to the World Council, they but him in jail. After this incidence he realized that no matter what brilliant things he invents, it will never be something that particular society can use. At first he is confused, but realizing that he was acting like an individual made him see that maybe society is the evil one and he is the good one. All of this made him realize that maybe he is not meant for this, and he is thrown out into the uncharted territory. He learns that men are meant to think for themselves, and that if they do society will become more advanced and they will be able to move forward instead of staying at the same spot forever. This is how he realizes his "sins" were actually good and that men are supposed to think for themselves.
Both the poems of Hesiod’s tell of the curse of Pandora and both have Prometheus as the main character. Prometheus in both is the cause of why Zeus inflicted
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound portrays a greek god detained by a superior for disobedience against the latter’s rule. On the other hand in Euripides’ Hippolytus portrays lust and vengeance of the gods and the extent that they can go to to avenge it.
Prometheus writes: “The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.” (Chapter 3) Why does he think that the secrets of this earth are not for all men to see? If he thinks this, why does he decide to show his glass box to the World Council of Scholars? How do these issues relate to the theme of the novel?
Equality invented something that no ones ever seen before. He built something to make a difference in society and to brighten the world, light. Light is what he invented and it was a miracle when it worked. Another similarity between Equality and Prometheus was their sacrifices for their values. No matter what circumstances they both went through, they stuck with it and did not give up because they believed that they could make a difference in society. They did not want to give up because it was something that they believed they could do to make the world a better place for themselves and others. All though Prometheus was punished by Zeus for all time. Equality knew that if he was discovered he would be punished for what he invented but he didn’t care if he got punished or not. When Equality brought his invention to the C...
Prometheus, a Greek god, is the son of Iapetus and Themis. He was a guardian and protector of humanity, and he is greatly known for his superior intelligence. He stole fire from the Greek god Zeus and gave it to the mortals. This mistake caused the heroine Prometheus to suffer greatly. Zeus punished him for his offense and bound Prometheus to a rock, and each day an eagle came and ate out his liver. Prometheus is both credited with and blamed for playing a gigantic role in the early makings of human kind. Prometheus stole the fire from Zeus in order to help the mortals because he had befriended them and took pity upon them. At that time, the humans were in desperate need of help and Prometheus wanted to see them reach their full potential instead of dying off. Prometheus stole the fire and showed the humans how to use it because he was a very compassionate man and wanted to help. Prometheus is seen as a gentle titan whereas Zeus is seen as a dark god. Prometheus was acting on what the future held because he had the gift of foresight. He knew that humans would need help in order to survive, and he was the titan that brought help in the form of fire. Prometheus represented a man “playing God,” as did Victor Frankenstein. Both u...
Prometheus was especially known as the 'god of fire'. This was so because in one of the myths, Prometheus was said to have stolen the fire from Zeus. Later, Prometheus would pay for this. He was also considered to be a "supreme trickster", 'creator...
Prometheus' creation of man parallels Frankenstein's own creation. Prometheus, whose name means forethought, was very wise, wiser even than the gods...Epimetheus[Prometheus' brother] gave all the best gifts to the animals-until no good was left for man. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun, where he lit a torch and brought down fire. (Hamilton 71)
His primary affection was for man. Now mankind had to make animal sacrifices to the gods, but a certain portion of the animal was to be given to the gods and a certain portion to man. Zeus had to decide. So Prometheus made two piles. He wrapped the bones in juicy fat and he hid the meat under the ugly hide. Zeus chose the bones wrapped in fat, much to his anger. In retaliation Zeus deprived man of fire, but Prometheus was not to be stopped. He went up to heaven and lighted his torch at the sun and carried it back to earth. Zeus was livid and filled with rage when he saw that man had fire. He ordered that Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty, and when Hephaestus had done so the gods gave this new creature many gifts. But Hermes gave it speech, a deceptive heart, and a lying tongue. This was the first woman, Pandora, and a worse calamity never befell man. Prometheus had warned his brother Epimetheus about accepting gifts from Zeus. Yet when Epimetheus saw this radiant creature Pandora he could not resist her. She had brought with her a box that she was forbidden to open. But being a woman, her curiosity won out. As she opened the lid a multitude of evils flew out and scattered over the world to afflict man. Still, there remained in the box one consolation for man — Hope. With all the misery Pandora had unleashed hope was the only thing that could keep mankind
The creation of man was only through the will of the gods. As a result of the war between the Titans and Zeus, Hesiod, a prominent writer of the seventh century, catalogues the origins of divine beings and mankind through a history of the events in his poem Theogony.