Prometheus

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For other uses, see Prometheus (disambiguation).

Prometheus

Personal information

Parents Iapetus and Asia or Clymene

Siblings Atlas, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Anchiale
Prometheus depicted in a sculpture by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, 1762 (Louvre)

In Greek mythology, Prometheus (/prəˈmiːθiːəs/; Greek: Προμηθεύς, pronounced [promɛːtʰéu̯s],
possibly meaning "forethought") [1] is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who is credited with
the creation of man from clay, and who defies the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity, an
act that enabled progress and civilization. Prometheus is known for his intelligence and as a
champion of humankind[2] and also seen as the author of the human arts and sciences generally. He
is sometimes presented as the father of Deucalion, the hero of the Greek flood story.
The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is a major theme of his mythology,
and is a popular subject of both ancient and modern art. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced
the Titan to eternal torment for his transgression. The immortal Prometheus was bound to a rock,
where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, which would then grow
back overnight to be eaten again the next day. (In ancient Greece, the liver was often thought to be
the seat of human emotions.)[3]Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Heracles (Hercules).
In another myth, Prometheus establishes the form of animal sacrifice practiced in ancient Greek
religion. Evidence of a cult to Prometheus himself is not widespread. He was a focus of religious
activity mainly at Athens, where he was linked to Athena and Hephaestus, other Greek deities of
creative skills and technology.[4]
In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving,
particularly the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk of overreaching or unintended
consequences. In particular, he was regarded in the Romantic era as embodying the lone genius
whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy: Mary Shelley, for instance,
gave The Modern Prometheus as the subtitle to her novel Frankenstein (1818).

Contents
 1Etymology
 2Myths and legends
o 2.1Possible Sources
o 2.2Oldest legends
o 2.3Athenian tradition
o 2.4Other authors
 3Late Roman antiquity
 4Middle Ages
 5Renaissance
 6Post-Renaissance
o 6.1Post-Renaissance literary arts
o 6.2Post-Renaissance aesthetic tradition
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References

Etymology[edit]
The etymology of the theonym prometheus is debated. The classical view is that it signifies
"forethought," as that of his brother Epimetheus denotes "afterthought".[5] Hesychius of
Alexandria gives Prometheus the variant name of Ithas, and adds "whom others call Ithax", and
describes him as the Herald of the Titans.[6] Kerényi remarks that these names are "not transparent",
and may be different readings of the same name, while the name "Prometheus" is descriptive. [7]
It has also been theorised that it derives from the Proto-Indo-European root that also produces
the Vedic pra math, "to steal", hence pramathyu-s, "thief", cognate with "Prometheus", the thief of
fire. The Vedic myth of fire's theft by Mātariśvan is an analogue to the Greek account.
[8]
 Pramantha was the fire-drill, the tool used to create fire.[9] The suggestion that Prometheus was in
origin the human "inventor of the fire-sticks, from which fire is kindled" goes back to Diodorus
Siculus in the first century BC. The reference is again to the "fire-drill", a worldwide primitive method
of fire making using a vertical and a horizontal piece of wood to produce fire by friction. [10]

Myths and legends[edit]

Possible Sources[edit]
The Torture of Prometheus, painting by Salvator Rosa (1646-1648).

The oldest record of Prometheus is in Hesiod, but stories of theft of fire by a trickster figure are
widespread around the world. Some other aspects of the story resemble the Sumerian myth
of Enki (or Ea in later Babylonian mythology) who was also a bringer of civilisation who protected
humanity against the other gods.[11] That Prometheus descends from the Vedic fire
bringer Mātariśvan was a suggestion made in the 19th century which lost favour in the 20th century
but is still supported by some.[12]
Oldest legends[edit]
Hesiod's Theogony and Works of the Days[edit]
Theogony[edit]
The first recorded account of the Prometheus myth appeared in the late 8th-century BC Greek epic
poet Hesiod's Theogony (507–616). He was a son of the Titan Iapetus by Clymene, one of
the Oceanids. He was brother to Menoetius, Atlas, and Epimetheus. Hesiod, in Theogony,
introduces Prometheus as a lowly challenger to Zeus's omniscience and omnipotence.
In the trick at Mekone (535–544), a sacrificial meal marking the "settling of accounts" between
mortals and immortals, Prometheus played a trick against Zeus. He placed two sacrificial offerings
before the Olympian: a selection of beef hidden inside an ox's stomach (nourishment hidden inside a
displeasing exterior), and the bull's bones wrapped completely in "glistening fat" (something inedible
hidden inside a pleasing exterior). Zeus chose the latter, setting a precedent for future sacrifices
(556–557). Henceforth, humans would keep that meat for themselves and burn the bones wrapped
in fat as an offering to the gods. This angered Zeus, who hid fire from humans in retribution. In this
version of the myth, the use of fire was already known to humans, but withdrawn by Zeus.
[13]
 Prometheus, however, stole fire back in a giant fennel-stalk and restored it to humanity (565–566).
This further enraged Zeus, who sent the first woman to live with humanity (Pandora, not explicitly
mentioned). The woman, a "shy maiden", was fashioned by Hephaestus out of clay and Athena
helped to adorn her properly (571–574). Hesiod writes, "From her is the race of women and female
kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great
trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth" (590–594).

Prometheus Brings Fire by Heinrich Friedrich Füger. Prometheus brings fire to mankind as told by Hesiod, with
its having been hidden as revenge for the trick at Mecone.
Prometheus is chained to a rock in the Caucasus for eternity, where his liver is eaten daily by an
eagle,[14] only to be regenerated by night, due to his immortality. The eagle is a symbol of Zeus
himself. Years later, the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules) slays the eagle and frees Prometheus from
his torment (520–528).
Works and Days[edit]
Hesiod revisits the story of Prometheus and the theft of fire in Works and Days (42–105). In it the
poet expands upon Zeus's reaction to Prometheus's deception. Not only does Zeus withhold fire
from humanity, but "the means of life" as well (42). Had Prometheus not provoked Zeus's wrath, "you
would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working; soon would
you put away your rudder over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to
waste" (44–47).
Hesiod also adds more information to Theogony's story of the first woman, a maiden crafted from
earth and water by Hephaestus now explicitly called Pandora ("all gifts") (82). Zeus in this case gets
the help of Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, the Graces and the Hours (59–76). After Prometheus steals
the fire, Zeus sends Pandora in retaliation. Despite Prometheus' warning, Epimetheus accepts this
"gift" from the gods (89). Pandora carried a jar with her from which were released mischief and
sorrow, plague and diseases (94–100). Pandora shuts the lid of the jar too late to contain all the evil
plights that escaped, but Hope is left trapped in the jar because Zeus forces Pandora to seal it up
before Hope can escape (96–99).
Interpretation[edit]
Angelo Casanova,[15] professor of Greek literature at the University of Florence, finds in Prometheus
a reflection of an ancient, pre-Hesiodic trickster-figure, who served to account for the mixture of good
and bad in human life, and whose fashioning of humanity from clay was an Eastern motif familiar
in Enuma Elish. As an opponent of Zeus he was an analogue of the Titans and, like them, was
punished. As an advocate for humanity he gains semi-divine status at Athens, where the episode
in Theogony in which he is liberated[16] is interpreted by Casanova as a post-Hesiodic interpolation. [17]
According to the German classicist Karl-Martin Dietz, in Hesiod's scriptures, Prometheus represents
the "descent of mankind from the communion with the gods into the present troublesome life". [18]
The Lost Titanomachy[edit]
The Titanomachy is a lost epic of the cosmological struggle between the Greek gods and their
parents, the Titans, and is a probable source of the Prometheus myth. [19] along with the works
of Hesiod. Its reputed author was anciently supposed to have lived in the 8th century BC, but M. L.
West has argued that it can't be earlier than the late 7th century BC.[20]Presumably included in the
Titanomachy is the story of Prometheus, himself a Titan, who managed to avoid being in the direct
confrontational cosmic battle between Zeus and the other Olympians against Cronus and the other
Titans[21] (although there is no direct evidence of Prometheus' inclusion in the epic). [22] M.L. West
notes that surviving references suggest that there may have been significant differences between
the Titanomachy epic and the account of events in Hesiod; and that the Titanomachy may be the
source of later variants of the Prometheus myth not found in Hesiod, notably the non-Hesiodic
material found in the Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus.[23]
Athenian tradition[edit]
The two major authors to have an influence on the development of the myths and legends
surrounding the Titan Prometheus during the Socratic era of greater Athens
were Aeschylus and Plato. The two men wrote in highly distinctive forms of expression which for
Aeschylus centered on his mastery of the literary form of Greek tragedy, while for Plato this centered
on the philosophical expression of his thought in the form of the various dialogues he wrote or
recorded during his lifetime.
Aeschylus and the ancient literary tradition[edit]
Prometheus Bound, perhaps the most famous treatment of the myth to be found among the Greek
tragedies, is traditionally attributed to the 5th-century BC Greek tragedian Aeschylus.[24] At the centre
of the drama are the results of Prometheus' theft of fire and his current punishment by Zeus. The
playwright's dependence on the Hesiodic source material is clear, though Prometheus Bound also
includes a number of changes to the received tradition. [25] It has been suggested by M.L. West that
these changes may derive from the now lost epic Titanomachy [26]
Before his theft of fire, Prometheus played a decisive role in the Titanomachy, securing victory for
Zeus and the other Olympians. Zeus' torture of Prometheus thus becomes a particularly harsh
betrayal. The scope and character of Prometheus' transgressions against Zeus are also widened. In
addition to giving humanity fire, Prometheus claims to have taught them the arts of civilisation, such
as writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science. The Titan's greatest benefaction for
humanity seems to have been saving them from complete destruction. In an apparent twist on the
myth of the so-called Five Ages of Man found in Hesiod's Works and Days (wherein Cronus and,
later, Zeus created and destroyed five successive races of humanity), Prometheus asserts that Zeus
had wanted to obliterate the human race, but that he somehow stopped him. [citation needed]

Heracles freeing Prometheus from his torment by the eagle (Attic black-figure cup, c. 500 BC)

Moreover, Aeschylus anachronistically and artificially injects Io, another victim of Zeus's violence and
ancestor of Heracles, into Prometheus' story. Finally, just as Aeschylus gave Prometheus a key role
in bringing Zeus to power, he also attributed to him secret knowledge that could lead to Zeus's
downfall: Prometheus had been told by his mother Themis, who in the play is identified
with Gaia (Earth), of a potential marriage that would produce a son who would overthrow Zeus.
Fragmentary evidence indicates that Heracles, as in Hesiod, frees the Titan in the trilogy's second
play, Prometheus Unbound. It is apparently not until Prometheus reveals this secret of Zeus's
potential downfall that the two reconcile in the final play, Prometheus the Fire-Bringer or Prometheus
Pyrphoros, a lost tragedy by Aeschylus.
Prometheus Bound also includes two mythic innovations of omission. The first is the absence
of Pandora's story in connection with Prometheus' own. Instead, Aeschylus includes this one oblique
allusion to Pandora and her jar that contained Hope (252): "[Prometheus] caused blind hopes to live
in the hearts of men." Second, Aeschylus makes no mention of the sacrifice-trick played against
Zeus in the Theogony.[24] The four tragedies of Prometheus attributed to Aeschylus, most of which
are lost to the passages of time into antiquity, are Prometheus Bound (Prometheus
Desmotes), Prometheus Unbound (Lyomenos), Prometheus the Fire Bringer (Pyrphoros),
and Prometheus the Fire Kindler (Pyrkaeus).
The larger scope of Aeschylus as a dramatist revisiting the myth of Prometheus in the age of
Athenian prominence has been discussed by William Lynch. [27] Lynch's general thesis concerns the
rise of humanist and secular tendencies in Athenian culture and society which required the growth
and expansion of the mythological and religious tradition as acquired from the most ancient sources
of the myth stemming from Hesiod. For Lynch, modern scholarship is hampered by not having the
full trilogy of Prometheus by Aeschylus, the last two parts of which have been lost to antiquity.
Significantly, Lynch further comments that although the Prometheus trilogy is not available, that
the Orestia trilogy by Aeschylus remains available and may be assumed to provide significant insight
into the overall structural intentions which may be ascribed to the Prometheus trilogy by Aeschylus
as an author of significant consistency and exemplary dramatic erudition. [28]
Harold Bloom, in his research guide for Aeschylus, has summarised some of the critical attention
that has been applied to Aeschylus concerning his general philosophical import in Athens. [29] As
Bloom states, "Much critical attention has been paid to the question of theodicy in Aeschylus. For
generations, scholars warred incessantly over 'the justice of Zeus,' unintentionally blurring it with a
monotheism imported from Judeo-Christian thought. The playwright undoubtedly had religious
concerns; for instance, Jacqueline de Romilly[30]suggests that his treatment of time flows directly out
of his belief in divine justice. But it would be an error to think of Aeschylus as sermonising. His Zeus
does not arrive at decisions which he then enacts in the mortal world; rather, human events are
themselves an enactment of divine will."[31]
According to Thomas Rosenmeyer, regarding the religious import of Aeschylus, "In Aeschylus, as in
Homer, the two levels of causation, the supernatural and the human, are co-existent and
simultaneous, two ways of describing the same event." Rosenmeyer insists that ascribing portrayed
characters in Aeschylus should not conclude them to be either victims or agents of theological or
religious activity too quickly. As Rosenmeyer states: "[T]he text defines their being. For a critic to
construct an Aeschylean theology would be as quixotic as designing a typology of Aeschylean man.
The needs of the drama prevail."[32]
In a rare comparison of Prometheus in Aeschylus with Oedipus in Sophocles, Harold Bloom states
that "Freud called Oedipus an 'immoral play,' since the gods ordained incest and parricide. Oedipus
therefore participates in our universal unconscious sense of guilt, but on this reading so do the gods"
[...] "I sometimes wish that Freud had turned to Aeschylus instead, and given us the Prometheus
complex rather than the Oedipus complex." [33]
Karl-Martin Dietz states that in contrast to Hesiod's, in Aeschylus' oeuvre, Prometheus stands for the
"Ascent of humanity from primitive beginnings to the present level of civilisation." [18]
Plato and philosophy[edit]
Olga Raggio, in her study "The Myth of Prometheus", attributes Plato in the Protagoras as an
important contributor to the early development of the Prometheus myth. [34] Raggio indicates that
many of the more challenging and dramatic assertions which Aeschylean tragedy explores are
absent from Plato's writings about Prometheus.[35]
As summarised by Raggio,
After the gods have moulded men and other living creatures with a mixture of clay and fire, the two
brothers Epimetheus and Prometheus are called to complete the task and distribute among the
newly born creatures all sorts of natural qualities. Epimetheus sets to work but, being unwise,
distributes all the gifts of nature among the animals, leaving men naked and unprotected, unable to
defend themselves and to survive in a hostile world. Prometheus then steals the fire of creative
power from the workshop of Athena and Hephaistos and gives it to mankind.
Raggio then goes on to point out Plato's distinction of creative power (techne), which is presented as
superior to merely natural instincts (physis).
For Plato, only the virtues of "reverence and justice can provide for the maintenance of a civilised
society – and these virtues are the highest gift finally bestowed on men in equal measure." [36] The
ancients by way of Plato believed that the name Prometheus derived from the Greek prefix pro-
(before) + manthano (intelligence) and the agent suffix -eus, thus meaning "Forethinker".
In his dialogue titled Protagoras, Plato contrasts Prometheus with his dull-witted brother Epimetheus,
"Afterthinker".[37][38] In Plato's dialogue Protagoras, Protagoras asserts that the gods created humans
and all the other animals, but it was left to Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus to give defining
attributes to each. As no physical traits were left when the pair came to humans, Prometheus
decided to give them fire and other civilising arts.[39]
Athenian religious dedication and observance[edit]
It is understandable that since Prometheus was considered a Titan and not one of the Olympian
gods that there would be an absence of evidence, with the exception of Athens, for the direct
religious devotion to his worship. Despite his importance to the myths and imaginative literature of
ancient Greece, the religious cult of Prometheus during the Archaic and Classical periods seems to
have been limited.[40] Writing in the 2nd century AD, the satirist Lucian points out that while temples to
the major Olympians were everywhere, none to Prometheus is to be seen. [41]

Heracles freeing Prometheus, relief from the Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias

Athens was the exception, here Prometheus was worshipped alongside Athene and Hephaistos.

[42]
 The altar of Prometheus in the grove of the Academy was the point of origin for several significant
processions and other events regularly observed on the Athenian calendar. For the Panathenaic
festival, arguably the most important civic festival at Athens, a torch race began at the altar, which
was located outside the sacred boundary of the city, and passed through the Kerameikos, the district
inhabited by potters and other artisans who regarded Prometheus and Hephaestus as patrons.
[43]
 The race then travelled to the heart of the city, where it kindled the sacrificial fire on the altar of
Athena on the Acropolis to conclude the festival.[44] These footraces took the form of relays in which
teams of runners passed off a flaming torch. According to Pausanias (2nd century AD), the torch
relay, called lampadedromia or lampadephoria, was first instituted at Athens in honour of
Prometheus.[45]
By the Classical period, the races were run by ephebes also in honour of Hephaestus and Athena.
[46]
 Prometheus' association with fire is the key to his religious significance [40] and to the alignment with
Athena and Hephaestus that was specific to Athens and its "unique degree of cultic emphasis" on
honouring technology.[47] The festival of Prometheus was the Prometheia. The wreaths worn
symbolised the chains of Prometheus.[48] There is a pattern of resemblances between Hephaistos
and Prometheus. Although the classical tradition is that Hephaistos split Zeus's head to allow
Athene's birth, that story has also been told of Prometheus. A variant tradition makes Prometheus
the son of Hera like Hephaistos.[49] Ancient artists depict Prometheus wearing the pointed cap of an
artist or artisan, like Hephaistos, and also the crafty hero Odysseus. The artisan's cap was also
depicted as worn by the Cabeiri,[50] supernatural craftsmen associated with a mystery cult known in
Athens in classical times, and who were associated with both Hephaistos and Prometheus. Kerényi
suggests that Hephaistos may in fact be the "successor" of Prometheus, despite Hephaistos being
himself of archaic origin.[51]
Pausanias recorded a few other religious sites in Greece devoted to Prometheus.
Both Argos and Opous claimed to be Prometheus' final resting place, each erecting a tomb in his
honour. The Greek city of Panopeus had a cult statue that was supposed to honour Prometheus for
having created the human race there.[39]
Aesthetic tradition in Athenian art[edit]
Prometheus' torment by the eagle and his rescue by Heracles were popular subjects in vase
paintings of the 6th to 4th centuries BC. He also sometimes appears in depictions of Athena's birth
from Zeus' forehead. There was a relief sculpture of Prometheus with Pandora on the base of
Athena's cult statue in the Athenian Parthenon of the 5th century BC. A similar rendering is also
found at the great altar of Zeus at Pergamon from the second century BC.
The event of the release of Prometheus from captivity was frequently revisited on Attic and Etruscan
vases between the sixth and fifth centuries BC. In the depiction on display at the Museum of
Karlsruhe and in Berlin, the depiction is that of Prometheus confronted by a menacing large bird
(assumed to be the eagle) with Hercules approaching from behind shooting his arrows at it. [52] In the
fourth century this imagery was modified to depicting Prometheus bound in a cruciform manner,
possibly reflecting an Aeschylus-inspired manner of influence, again with an eagle and with Hercules
approaching from the side.[53]
Other authors[edit]

Creation of humanity by Prometheus as Athena looks on (Roman-era relief, 3rd century AD)

Prometheus watches Athena endow his creation with reason (painting by Christian Griepenkerl, 1877)

Some two dozen other Greek and Roman authors retold and further embellished the Prometheus
myth from as early as the 5th century BC (Diodorus, Herodorus) into the 4th century AD. The most
significant detail added to the myth found in, e.g., Sappho, Aesop and Ovid[54] was the central role of
Prometheus in the creation of the human race. According to these sources, Prometheus fashioned
humans out of clay.
Although perhaps made explicit in the Prometheia, later authors such as Hyginus, the Bibliotheca,
and Quintus of Smyrna would confirm that Prometheus warned Zeus not to marry the sea
nymph Thetis. She is consequently married off to the mortal Peleus, and bears him a son greater
than the father – Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan War. Pseudo-Apollodorus moreover clarifies a
cryptic statement (1026–29) made by Hermes in Prometheus Bound, identifying the
centaur Chiron as the one who would take on Prometheus' suffering and die in his place. [39]Reflecting
a myth attested in Greek vase paintings from the Classical period, Pseudo-Apollodorus places the
Titan (armed with an axe) at the birth of Athena, thus explaining how the goddess sprang forth from
the forehead of Zeus.[39]
Other minor details attached to the myth include: the duration of Prometheus' torment; [55][56] the origin
of the eagle that ate the Titan's liver (found in Pseudo-Apollodorus and Hyginus); Pandora's
marriage to Epimetheus (found in Pseudo-Apollodorus); myths surrounding the life of Prometheus'
son, Deucalion (found in Ovid and Apollonius of Rhodes); and Prometheus' marginal role in the myth
of Jason and the Argonauts (found in Apollonius of Rhodes and Valerius Flaccus).[39]
"Variants of legends containing the Prometheus motif are widespread in the Caucasus" region,
reports Hunt,[57] who gave ten stories related to Prometheus from ethno-linguistic groups in the
region.
Zahhak, an evil figure in Iranian mythology, also ends up eternally chained on a mountainside –
though the rest of his career is dissimilar to that of Prometheus.

Late Roman antiquity[edit]

The three most prominent aspects of the Prometheus myth have parallels within the beliefs of many
cultures throughout the world (see creation of man from clay, theft of fire, and references for eternal
punishment). It is the first of these three which has drawn attention to parallels with the biblical
creation account related in the religious symbolism expressed in the book of Genesis.
As stated by Olga Raggio,[58] "The Prometheus myth of creation as a visual symbol of the
Neoplatonic concept of human nature, illustrated in (many) sarcophagi, was evidently a contradiction
of the Christian teaching of the unique and simultaneous act of creation by the Trinity." This
Neoplatonism of late Roman antiquity was especially stressed by Tertullian [59] who recognised both
difference and similarity of the biblical deity with the mythological figure of Prometheus.
The imagery of Prometheus and the creation of man used for the purposes of the representation of
the creation of Adam in biblical symbolism is also a recurrent theme in the artistic expression of late
Roman antiquity. Of the relatively rare expressions found of the creation of Adam in those centuries
of late Roman antiquity, one can single out the so-called "Dogma sarcophagus" of the Lateran
Museum where three figures are seen (in representation of the theological trinity) in making a
benediction to the new man. Another example is found where the prototype of Prometheus is also
recognisable in the early Christian era of late Roman antiquity. This can be found upon a
sarcophagus of the Church at Mas d'Aire[60] as well, and in an even more direct comparison to what
Raggio refers to as "a coursely carved relief from Campli (Teramo) [61] (where) the Lord sits on a
throne and models the body of Adam, exactly like Prometheus." Still another such similarity is found
in the example found on a Hellenistic relief presently in the Louvre in which the Lord gives life to Eve
through the imposition of his two fingers on her eyes recalling the same gesture found in earlier
representations of Prometheus. [58]
In Georgian mythology, Amirani is a culture hero who challenged the chief god and, like
Prometheus, was chained on the Caucasian mountains where birds would eat his organs. This
aspect of the myth had a significant influence on the Greek imagination. It is recognisable from a
Greek gem roughly dated to the time of the Hesiod poems, which show Prometheus with hands
bound behind his body and crouching before a bird with long wings. [62] This same image would also
be used later in the Rome of the Augustan age as documented by Furtwangler. [63]
In the often cited and highly publicised interview between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers on
Public Television, the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces presented his view on the
comparison of Prometheus and Jesus.[64] Moyers asked Campbell the question in the following
words, "In this sense, unlike heroes such as Prometheus or Jesus, we're not going on our journey to
save the world but to save ourselves." To which Campbell's well-known response was that, "But in
doing that, you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there's no doubt about it. The
world without spirit is a wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things
around, changing the rules [...] No, no! Any world is a valid world if it's alive. The thing to do is to
bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become
alive yourself." For Campbell, Jesus mortally suffered on the Cross while Prometheus eternally
suffered while chained to a rock, and each of them received punishment for the gift which they
bestowed to humankind, for Jesus this was the gift of propitiation from Heaven, and, for Prometheus
this was the gift of fire from Olympus.[64]
Significantly, Campbell is also clear to indicate the limits of applying the metaphors of his
methodology in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces too closely in assessing the comparison
of Prometheus and Jesus. Of the four symbols of suffering associated with Jesus after his trial in
Jerusalem (i) the crown of thorns, (ii) the scourge of whips, (iii) the nailing to the Cross, and (iv) the
spearing of his side, it is only this last one which bears some resemblance to the eternal suffering of
Prometheus' daily torment of an eagle devouring a replenishing organ, his liver, from his side. [65] For
Campbell, the striking contrast between the New Testament narratives and the Greek mythological
narratives remains at the limiting level of the cataclysmic eternal struggle of the eschatological New
Testament narratives occurring only at the very end of the biblical narratives in the Apocalypse of
John(12:7) where, "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels
fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven." This
eschatological and apocalyptic setting of a Last Judgement is in precise contrast to
the Titanomachia of Hesiod which serves its distinct service to Greek mythology as
its Prolegomenon, bracketing all subsequent mythology, including the creation of humanity, as
coming after the cosmological struggle between the Titans and the Olympian gods. [64]
It remains a continuing debate among scholars of comparative religion and the literary reception [66] of
mythological and religious subject matter as to whether the typology of suffering and torment
represented in the Prometheus myth finds its more representative comparisons with the narratives of
the Hebrew scriptures or with the New Testament narratives. In the Book of Job, significant
comparisons can be drawn between the sustained suffering of Job in comparison to that of eternal
suffering and torment represented in the Prometheus myth. With Job, the suffering is at the
acquiescence of heaven and at the will of the demonic, while in Prometheus the suffering is directly
linked to Zeus as the ruler of Olympus. The comparison of the suffering of Jesus after his sentencing
in Jerusalem is limited to the three days, from Thursday to Saturday, and leading to the culminating
narratives corresponding to Easter Sunday. The symbolic import for comparative religion would
maintain that suffering related to justified conduct is redeemed in both the Hebrew scriptures and the
New Testament narratives, while in Prometheus there remains the image of a non-forgiving deity,
Zeus, who nonetheless requires reverence.[64]
Writing in late antiquity of the fourth and fifth century, the Latin commentator
Marcus Servius Honoratus explained that Prometheus was so named because he was a man of
great foresight (vir prudentissimus), possessing the abstract quality of providentia, the Latin
equivalent of Greek promētheia (ἀπὸ τής πρόμηθείας).[67] Anecdotally, the
Roman fabulistPhaedrus (c.15 BC – c.50 AD) attributes to Aesop a
simple etiology for homosexuality, in Prometheus' getting drunk while creating the first humans and
misapplying the genitalia.[68]

Middle Ages[edit]
Perhaps the most influential book of the Middle Ages upon the reception of the Prometheus myth
was the mythological handbook of Fulgentius Placiades. As stated by Raggio,[69]"The text of
Fulgentius, as well as that of (Marcus) Servius [...] are the main sources of the mythological
handbooks written in the ninth century by the anonymous Mythographus Primus and Mythographus
Secundus. Both were used for the more lengthy and elaborate compendium by the English
scholar Alexander Neckman (1157–1217), the Scintillarium Poetarum, or Poetarius."[69] The purpose
of his books was to distinguish allegorical interpretation from the historical interpretation of the
Prometheus myth. Continuing in this same tradition of the allegorical interpretation of the
Prometheus myth, along with the historical interpretation of the Middle Ages, is
the Genealogiae of Giovanni Boccaccio. Boccaccio follows these two levels of interpretation and
distinguishes between two separate versions of the Prometheus myth. For Boccaccio, Prometheus
is placed "In the heavens where all is clarity and truth, [Prometheus] steals, so to speak, a ray of the
divine wisdom from God himself, source of all Science, supreme Light of every man." [70] With this,
Boccaccio shows himself moving from the mediaeval sources with a shift of accent towards the
attitude of the Renaissance humanists.
Using a similar interpretation to that of Boccaccio, Marsilio Ficino in the fifteenth century updated the
philosophical and more sombre reception of the Prometheus myth not seen since the time
of Plotinus. In his book written in 1476–77 titled Quaestiones Quinque de Mente, Ficino indicates his
preference for reading the Prometheus myth as an image of the human soul seeking to obtain
supreme truth. As Olga Raggio summarises Ficino's text, "The torture of Prometheus is the torment
brought by reason itself to man, who is made by it many times more unhappy than the brutes. It is
after having stolen one beam of the celestial light [...] that the soul feels as if fastened by chains and
[...] only death can release her bonds and carry her to the source of all knowledge." [70] This
sombreness of attitude in Ficino's text would be further developed later by Charles de
Bouelles' Liber de Sapiente of 1509 which presented a mix of both scholastic and Neoplatonic ideas.

Renaissance[edit]

Mythological narrative of Prometheus by Piero di Cosimo (1515)

After the writings of both Boccaccio and Ficino in the late Middle Ages about Prometheus, interest in
the Titan shifted considerably in the direction of becoming subject matter for painters and sculptors
alike. Among the most famous examples is that of Piero di Cosimo from about 1510 presently on
display at the museums of Munich and Strasburg (see Inset). Raggio summarises the Munich
version[71] as follows; "The Munich panel represents the dispute between Epimetheus and
Prometheus, the handsome triumphant statue of the new man, modelled by Prometheus, his
ascension to the sky under the guidance of Minerva; the Strasburg panel shows in the distance
Prometheus lighting his torch at the wheels of the Sun, and in the foreground on one side,
Prometheus applying his torch to the heart of the statue and, on the other, Mercury fastening him to
a tree." All the details are evidently borrowed from Boccaccio's Genealogiae.
The same reference to the Genealogiae can be cited as the source for the drawing
by Parmigianino presently located in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.[72] In the drawing,
a very noble rendering of Prometheus is presented which evokes the memory of Michelangelo's
works portraying Jehovah. This drawing is perhaps one of the most intense examples of the
visualisation of the myth of Prometheus from the Renaissance period.
Writing in the late British Renaissance, William Shakespeare uses the Promethean allusion in the
famous death scene of Desdemona in his tragedy of Othello. Othello in contemplating the death of
Desdemona asserts plainly that he cannot restore the "Promethean heat" to her body once it has
been extinguished. For Shakespeare, the allusion is clearly to the interpretation of the fire from the
heat as the bestowing of life to the creation of man from clay by Prometheus after it was stolen from
Olympus. The analogy bears direct resemblance to the biblical narrative of the creation of life in
Adam through the bestowed breathing of the creator in Genesis. Shakespeare's symbolic reference
to the "heat" associated with Prometheus's fire is to the association of the gift of fire to the
mythological gift or theological gift of life to humans.

Post-Renaissance[edit]

Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan by Dirck van Baburen (1623)

Prometheus Bound by Thomas Cole (1847)

See also: Prometheus in popular culture

The myth of Prometheus has been a favourite theme of Western art and literature in the post-
renaissance and post-Enlightenment tradition and, occasionally, in works produced outside
the West.
Post-Renaissance literary arts[edit]
For the Romantic era, Prometheus was the rebel who resisted all forms of institutional tyranny
epitomised by Zeus – church, monarch, and patriarch. The Romantics drew comparisons between
Prometheus and the spirit of the French Revolution, Christ, the Satan of John Milton's Paradise Lost,
and the divinely inspired poet or artist. Prometheus is the lyrical "I" who speaks in Goethe's Sturm
und Drang poem "Prometheus" (written c. 1772–74, published 1789), addressing God (as Zeus)
in misotheist accusation and defiance. In Prometheus Unbound (1820), a four-act lyrical
drama, Percy Bysshe Shelley rewrites the lost play of Aeschylus so that Prometheus does not
submit to Zeus (under the Latin name Jupiter), but instead supplants him in a triumph of the human
heart and intellect over tyrannical religion. Lord Byron's poem "Prometheus" also portrays the Titan
as unrepentant. As documented by Olga Raggio, other leading figures among the great Romantics
included Byron, Longfellow and Nietzsche as well. [34] Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein is
subtitled "The Modern Prometheus", in reference to the novel's themes of the over-reaching of
modern humanity into dangerous areas of knowledge.
Goethe's poems[edit]
"Prometheus"

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Prometheus is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which a character based on the mythic
Prometheus addresses God (as Zeus) in a romantic and misotheist tone of accusation and defiance.
The poem was written between 1772 and 1774. It was first published fifteen years later in 1789. It is
an important work as it represents one of the first encounters of the Prometheus myth with the
literary Romantic movement identified with Goethe and with the Sturm und Drang movement.
The poem has appeared in Volume 6 of Goethe's poems (in his Collected Works) in a section
of Vermischte Gedichte (assorted poems), shortly following the Harzreise im Winter. It is
immediately followed by "Ganymed", and the two poems are written as informing each other
according to Goethe's plan in their actual writing. Prometheus (1774) was originally planned as a
drama but never completed by Goethe, though the poem is inspired by it. Prometheus is the creative
and rebellious spirit rejected by God and who angrily defies him and asserts himself. Ganymede, by
direct contrast, is the boyish self who is both adored and seduced by God. As a high Romantic poet
and a humanist poet, Goethe presents both identities as contrasting aspects of the Romantic human
condition.
The poem offers direct biblical connotations for the Prometheus myth which was unseen in any of
the ancient Greek poets dealing with the Prometheus myth in either drama, tragedy, or philosophy.
The intentional use of the German phrase "Da ich ein Kind war..." ("When I was a child"): the use
of Da is distinctive, and with it Goethe directly applies the Lutheran translation of Saint Paul's First
Epistle to the Corinthians, 13:11: "Da ich ein Kind war, da redete ich wie ein Kind..." ("When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put
away childish things"). Goethe's Prometheus is significant for the contrast it evokes with the biblical
text of the Corinthians rather than for its similarities.
In his book titled Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence, C. Kerényi states the key
contrast between Goethe's version of Prometheus with the ancient Greek version. [73]As Kerényi
states, "Goethe's Prometheus had Zeus for father and a goddess for mother. With this change from
the traditional lineage the poet distinguished his hero from the race of the Titans." For Goethe, the
metaphorical comparison of Prometheus to the image of the Son from the New Testament narratives
was of central importance, with the figure of Zeus in Goethe's reading being metaphorically matched
directly to the image of the Father from the New Testament narratives.
Percy Bysshe Shelley[edit]
Percy Shelley published his four-act lyrical drama titled Prometheus Unbound in 1820. His version
was written in response to the version of myth as presented by Aeschylus and is orientated to the
high British Idealism and high British Romanticism prevailing in Shelley's own time. Shelley, as the
author himself discusses, admits the debt of his version of the myth to Aeschylus and the Greek
poetic tradition which he assumes is familiar to readers of his own lyrical drama. For example, it is
necessary to understand and have knowledge of the reason for Prometheus's punishment if the
reader is to form an understanding of whether the exoneration portrayed by Shelley in his version of
the Prometheus myth is justified or unjustified. The quote of Shelley's own words describing the
extent of his indebtedness to Aeschylus has been published in numerous sources publicly available.
The literary critic Harold Bloom in his book Shelley's Mythmaking expresses his high expectation of
Shelley in the tradition of mythopoeic poetry. For Bloom, Percy Shelley's relationship to the tradition
of mythology in poetry "culminates in 'Prometheus'. The poem provides a complete statement of
Shelley's vision."[74] Bloom devotes two full chapters in this book to Shelley's lyrical
drama Prometheus Unbound which was among the first books Bloom had ever written, originally
published in 1959.[75] Following his 1959 book, Bloom edited an anthology of critical opinions on
Shelley for Chelsea House Publishers where he concisely stated his opinion as, "Shelley is the
unacknowledged ancestor of Wallace Stevens' conception of poetry as the Supreme Fiction,
and Prometheus Unbound is the most capable imagining, outside of Blake and Wordsworth, that the
Romantic quest for a Supreme Fiction has achieved." [76]
Within the pages of his Introduction to the Chelsea House edition on Percy Shelley, Harold Bloom
also identifies the six major schools of criticism opposing Shelley's idealised mythologising version of
the Prometheus myth. In sequence, the opposing schools to Shelley are given as: (i) The school of
"common sense", (ii) The Christian orthodox, (iii) The school of "wit", (iv) Moralists, of most varieties,
(v) The school of "classic" form, and (vi) The Precisionists, or concretists.[77] Although Bloom is least
interested in the first two schools, the second one on the Christian orthodox has special bearing on
the reception of the Prometheus myth during late Roman antiquity and the synthesis of the New
Testament canon. The Greek origins of the Prometheus myth have already discussed
the Titanomachia as placing the cosmic struggle of Olympus at some point in time preceding the
creation of humanity, while in the New Testament synthesis there was a strong assimilation of the
prophetic tradition of the Hebrew prophets and their strongly eschatological orientation. This contrast
placed a strong emphasis within the ancient Greek consciousness as to the moral and ontological
acceptance of the mythology of the Titanomachia as an accomplished mythological history, whereas
for the synthesis of the New Testament narratives this placed religious consciousness within the
community at the level of an anticipated eschaton not yet accomplished. Neither of these would
guide Percy Shelley in his poetic retelling and re-integration of the Prometheus myth. [78]
To the Socratic Greeks, one important aspect of the discussion of religion would correspond to the
philosophical discussion of 'becoming' with respect to the New Testament syncretism rather than the
ontological discussion of 'being' which was more prominent in the ancient Greek experience of
mythologically oriented cult and religion. [79] For Percy Shelley, both of these reading were to be
substantially discounted in preference to his own concerns for promoting his own version of an
idealised consciousness of a society guided by the precepts of High British Romanticism and High
British Idealism.[80]
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus[edit]
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Shelley when she was 18, was published
in 1818, two years before Percy Shelley's above-mentioned play. It has endured as one of the most
frequently revisited literary themes in twentieth century film and popular reception with few rivals for
its sheer popularity among even established literary works of art. The primary theme is a parallel to
the aspect of the Prometheus myth which concentrates on the creation of man by the Titans,
transferred and made contemporary by Shelley for British audiences of her time. The subject is that
of the creation of life by a scientist, thus bestowing life through the application and technology of
medical science rather than by the natural acts of reproduction. The short novel has been adapted
into many films and productions ranging from the early versions with Boris Karloff to later versions
featuring Kenneth Branagh.
Twentieth century[edit]

Prometheus (1909) by Otto Greiner

Franz Kafka wrote a short piece on Prometheus, outlining what he saw as his perspective on four
aspects of his myth:
According to the first, he was clamped to a rock in the Caucasus for betraying the secrets of the
gods to men, and the gods sent eagles to feed on his liver, which was perpetually renewed.
According to the second, Prometheus, goaded by the pain of the tearing beaks, pressed himself
deeper and deeper into the rock until he became one with it.
According to the third, his treachery was forgotten in the course of thousands of years, forgotten by
the gods, the eagles, forgotten by himself.
According to the fourth, everyone grew weary of the meaningless affair. The gods grew weary, the
eagles grew weary, the wound closed wearily.
There remains the inexplicable mass of rock. The legend tried to explain the inexplicable. As it came
out of a substratum of truth it had in turn to end in the inexplicable. [81]
This short piece by Kafka concerning his interest in Prometheus was supplemented by two other
mythological pieces written by him. As stated by Reiner Stach, "Kafka's world was mythical in
nature, with Old Testament and Jewish legends providing the templates. It was only logical (even if
Kafka did not state it openly) that he would try his hand at the canon of antiquity, re-interpreting it
and incorporating it into his own imagination in the form of allusions, as in 'The Silence of the Sirens,'
'Prometheus,' and 'Poseidon.'" [82] Among contemporary poets, the British poet Ted Hughes wrote a
1973 collection of poems titled Prometheus on His Crag. The Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota (d.
1949) also wrote an epic titled Prometheus (प्रमीथस).
In his 1952 book, Lucifer and Prometheus, Zvi Werblowsky presented the speculatively derived
Jungian construction of the character of Satan in Milton's celebrated poem Paradise Lost.
Werblowsky applied his own Jungian style of interpretation to appropriate parts of the Prometheus
myth for the purpose of interpreting Milton. A reprint of his book in the 1990s by Routledge Press
included an introduction to the book by Carl Jung. Some Gnostics have been associated with
identifying the theft of fire from heaven as embodied by the fall of Lucifer "the Light Bearer". [83]
Ayn Rand cited the Prometheus myth in Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged, using the
mythological character as a metaphor for creative people rebelling against the confines of modern
society.
The artificial chemical element promethium is named after Prometheus.
Post-Renaissance aesthetic tradition[edit]
Classical music, opera, and ballet[edit]

José Clemente Orozco, Promoteodel  Pomona College

Works of classical music, opera, and ballet directly or indirectly inspired by the myth of Prometheus

have included renderings by some of the major composers of both the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. In this tradition, the orchestral representation of the myth has received the most sustained
attention of composers. These have included the symphonic poem by Franz
Liszt titled Prometheus from 1850, among his other Symphonic Poems (No. 5, S.99).[84] Alexander
Scriabin composed Prometheus: Poem of Fire, Opus 60 (1910),[85] also for orchestra.[86] In the same
year Gabriel Fauré composed his three-act opera Prométhée (1910).[87] Charles-Valentin
Alkan composed his Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges' (1847), with the 4th movement entitled
"Prométhée enchaîné" (Prometheus Bound).[88] Beethovencomposed the score to a ballet version of
the myth titled The Creatures of Prometheus (1801).[89]
An adaptation of Goethe's poetic version of the myth was composed by Hugo
Wolf, Prometheus (Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus, 1889), as part of his Goethe-lieder for voice and
piano,[90] later transcribed for orchestra and voice.[91] An opera of the myth was composed by Carl
Orff titled Prometheus (1968),[92][93] using Aeschylus' Greek language Prometheia.[94]