ANCIENT GREECE 39
Prometheus was punished by
the gods for giving humans fire. He
was chained to Mount Caucasus to
endure constant torture, as depicted
by Jacob Jordaens (1640).Prometheus fashions the
first man from clay ...... saves his son from
Zeus’s flood ...... and steals fire from
the gods.... tricks Zeus with false
sacrifices ...Prometheus is punished
for his defiance.rudimentary tools and old bones for
weaponry, in what could scarcely
qualify even as a “primitive”
existence. As they fought a daily
battle to stave off starvation, any
possibility of shaping their wider
destiny was unthinkable.Stolen fire
Prometheus came to humanity’s
rescue. He took some glowing
embers from a blaze built by the
gods high up on Mount Olympus
and, secreting this fire inside a
hollow fennel stalk, he carried it
down to the little encampments
where mortal men and women
shivered on the plains below. Soon,
“visible from afar,” fires twinkled
across the length and breadth of
the peopled world. In that moment,
human life was instantly and
permanently transformed.
Heat, warmth, light, and safety
from predatory beasts was just the
start. In no time at all, humankind
began to thrive—smelting metal,
fashioning fine jewelry and strong
tools, and blacksmithing all kinds
of weapons, from hoes andhammers to spears and swords.
Each new innovation opened
the way to others—suddenly,
humanity was progressing at
a breakneck pace.Harsh punishment
Zeus was enraged by Prometheus’s
theft of fire. Not only had he been
defied in the most public way,
but his power over humanity had
been significantly weakened. Zeus
decided that Prometheus deserved
an eternal and painful punishment.
He had the thief seized by his
henchmen, Bia (“Violence”) and
Kratos (“Power”), and carried to a
high mountain peak. Here, with the
help of Hephaestus, the blacksmith
god, they chained Prometheus to a
rock. An eagle flew down, tore at
his abdomen, then pulled out the
living, pulsing liver, and gorged on
it. Despite the agony of this torture,
it was no more than a beginning for
the rebellious Titan. Each night his
internal organs and his skin grew
back, ready to be attacked afresh
by the eagle the next day.
For centuries, Prometheus was
tied to the rock. He was finally
rescued from his torments by
Herakles, who found him while
hunting for the elusive apples of the
Hesperides. Prometheus would only
give Herakles the apples’ location
after he killed the eagle and set
Prometheus free. Prometheus
was not the only one punished
for stealing fire from the gods.
Zeus also inflicted his rage upon
humankind, instructing Hephaestus
to create the woman Pandora to
punish the humans by bringing
them hardship, war, and death. ■It stung anew Zeus,
high thunderer in his spirit,
and he raged in his heart
when he saw among men
the far-seen beam
of fire.
TheogonyUS_036-039_Prometheus.indd 39 30/11/17 4:55 pm