D’Andre Paul

AP/HUMA 1105

TUTR 05

DANIEL KNEZETIC

217269317

February 13, 2020

Prometheus and Heracles

In terms of the similarity, In Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound” and Appollodorus’ “Heracles and

Heraclids”, both Prometheus and Heracles are benefactors of human being. Especially Prometheus’

borderless love to men, he sacrificed his freedom in exchange a better life for mortals. While

chained Prometheus exclaims: “it was mortal man to whom i gave great privileges and for that

was yoked in this unyielding harness. I hunted out the secret spring of fire, that filled the narthex

stem, which when revealed became the teacher of each craft to men, a great resource.”

(Prometheus 108-111). This act of generosity shows that Prometheus cared about the humans

enough to defy Zeus and bestow his knowledge.Prometheus stolen fire from Zeus and gave it to

human. (Aeschylus,?B.C., Prometheus Bound,P469, Lines8-12) We all know the importance of

fire, even in modern society, fire is still in integral part to people. Back in ancient time, people

could use fire to cook and keep warm in winter. Undoubtedly, fire improves human’s

civilization.

Unlike Prometheus, Heracles benefited people in a different way. In his journey to become a

god, Heracles did contributions to the local inhabitants. During his 12 labors, he defeated a

number of monsters and tyrants in order to bring people peace. For instance, in Heracles’ second

labor, he killed Lernaean hydra who always invaded village and destroyed countryside and

cattle. . While Laomedon’s patience is being tested, “Apollo sent a plague, and Poseidon a sea-
monster which was carried along on a flood and used to snatch away the inhabitants of the plain.

When oracles declared that they would be delivered form these misfortunes if Laomedon offered

his daughter, Hesione, as prey to the monster, Laomedon offered her up binding her to some

rocks by the sea. When heracles saw her exposed there, he promised to rescue her '' (79).

Heracles goes out of his way, mid trial to save Laomedon’s daughter after seeing her be used as

prey for a sea monster (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the Heraclids, P516, Line2-6)

Heracles also killed a tyrant named Bousiris who brutally caught every stranger and sacrificed

them to Zeus. (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the Heraclids, P524, Line20-31)

Base on the information above, we know that Prometheus and Heracles are brave. For

Prometheus, he knew everything from past and future. He was not fear to challenge Zeus’

absolute power, fighting for human’s good. Meanwhile, Heracles demonstrated his power and

courage by fighting with wild beasts. Overall, both of the them are benefactors to human.

When considering their dissimilarities, Prometheus and Heracles are different in two

aspects. First, in terms of their identity, Prometheus was one of Titans which means he was born

as a god. Prometheus already received warship and faith from people. But Heracles who is the

son of Zeus and a mortal. It means Heracles is a semi god - a hero. (Appollodorus, 2B.C.,

Heracles and the Heraclids, P512, Line21-25) ordered Hercules to perform 12 “heroic

labors” for the Mycenaen king Eurystheus. Once Hercules completed every one of the

labors, Apollo declared, he would be absolved of his guilt and achieve immortality.

Heracles had to finish ten labors in order to earn faith from people. Only after he conquered all

the difficulties, he could become an immortal. (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the Heraclids,

P515, Line1-6)
 The second difference between Prometheus and Heracles is the attitude that Zeus and all

the other gods towards them. As shown, Zeus could defeat his father Kronos and win dominion

with some connection to Prometheus. (Aeschylus, B.C., Prometheus Bound, P477,217-214)

When Prometheus crossed the boundary and disobeyed Zeus, Zeus punished him with no mercy,

even though Prometheus had helped Zeus. The punishment Prometheus received was much

harsher than what he was supposed to get. (Aeschylus, B.C., Prometheus Bound, P484,

Line399-405) Because Zeus’ love was distributed unevenly among gods. Zeus liked other gods

better than Prometheus. In addition, Prometheus was hated by almost all the gods and goddess.

(Aeschylus, B.C., Prometheus Bound, P505, Line976-977) From the moment he disobeyed Zeus.

Prometheus became an enemy to all gods and goddess. Even his relative - Hephaestus would not

help him. (Aeschylus, B.C., Prometheus Bound, P471, Line63)

Heracles shows an opposite example. Although he was hated by Hera, all other gods and goddess

favored him. Hera tried to murder him a few times, but Heracles could solve the crisis

eventually. (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the Heraclids, P512, Line33-36) It was

impossible for an eight-month baby to kill two serpents without Zeus’ help. Zeus loved his son

so much that he would do anything to protect Heracles from Hera, as well as from other gods and

goddess. In ancient Greek, it was important to warship gods and never challenge them. If there

were people offending them, gods and goddess would always punish those people strictly, even

costing their own or family’s lives. However, in Heracles 12 labors, he did numbers of wrongs,

such as killing many sons and daughters of gods, (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the

Heraclids, P522-523, Line37-12) combating with Mars (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the

Heraclids, P524, Line1-4) and challenging Apollo (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the
Heraclids, P522, Line527, Line19-20), which would be considered disrespectful to gods and

goddess. If those things happened on other persons or heroes, they would definitely lose

something because of those behaviors. Taking his third labor as an example, Heracles irritated

Artemis, but he walked away freely with Cerynitian hind. (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and

the Heraclids, P517, Line2-7) The same story happened to Agamemnon, but his payment is his

daughter’s life. This remission was not an exception for Heracles, every god showed tolerance to

him. In his 12 labors, he killed more than four Poseidon’s sons. But the god of sea expressed no

anger and never ask Heracles to pay for his recklessness. In spite of Mars wanted to take revenge

for his son and combat with Heracles. But Zeus would always solve the dilemmas for Heracles,

and defend him from getting hurt. (Appollodorus, 2B.C., Heracles and the Heraclids, P524,

Line1-4) This is also the reason, Heracles was not afraid to finish any mission. Some of missions

were even impossible be accomplished by other hero. But with Zeus’ protection, everything was

possible for Heracles.

As both Prometheus from Aeschylus’ tragedy “Prometheus Bound” and Heracles

from Apollodorus’ fragmented encyclopedia “Heracles” overlap in their stories, they portray

similar qualities while both being different legends with contrasting morals and goals.

Prometheus and Heracles both show heroic character traits such as charity to the people and

heroism in their actions. Prometheus goes against Zeus to bring fire to the humans and teaches

them craftsmanship inorder for the humans to survive, ruining Zeus’ plans for the human race.

Heracles undergoes twelve trials which help the community in different ways such as killing

beasts which wreak havoc. They both also contrast each other in their morals and values.

Prometheus helps humans because he loves them and goes to stand up to Zeus. Hercules

performs the trials which does help people, but his reasoning is to become immortal himself.
Overall, the characters Prometheus and Heracles both fulfill the heroic role while being different

all together.