ZEUS' RISE TO POWER: THE CREATION OF MORTALS 89Prometheus. By Gustave Moreau (1826-1898); oil on canvas, 1868, 8OV2 X 48 in. Moreau's
Prometheus is a defiant hero who ignores the vulture's beak and gazes into the future,
knowing that his release and the defeat of Zeus lie ahead. Although chained among the
rocks of the Caucasus, he is bound to a column, like the figure in the Laconian cup (the
previous photo). At his feet lies a dead vulture, exhausted by its victim's obduracy. (Paris:
Musée Gustave Moreau.)
desolate crags. It was Hephaestus' own brilliant "flower" of fire, deviser of all
the arts, that Prometheus stole, and for this error ("sin" is not an inappropriate
translation) he must pay to all the gods "so that he might learn to bear the sov-
ereignty of Zeus and abandon his love and championship of mortals" (10-17).
Aeschylus, with great skill and economy, provides us with the essentials for
the conflict and the mood of the play. The violent struggle pits a harsh, young,