The Story of Prometheus

After Zeus became god, he introduced many changes in the world. He divided time into seasons so that there was one season of extreme heat, one of extreme cold, and two temperate seasons in between. This in turn led to other changes. Men were compelled to build shelters to protect themselves from the extremes of weather. In course of time man began to hunt and he killed and devoured many beasts of the forest which hitherto had remained undisturbed. So a new kind of war was begun and often man was not the victor but the victim. Some men were better clothed and better fed than others, and this also caused quarrels and fighting. Man was thus at war with man.

Prometheus, who had created man, wanted that something must be done to protect this race of Man from the shivering cold of winter. So he begged Zeus that he be permitted to give fire to man to yield him heat and light. But Zeus refused fire to Prometheus and ordered him to ignore mankind and leave it to its fate.

However, Prometheus did not obey him. He found a reed well dried in the sun. Then he hid himself one night close to the place where Pheobus Apollo, the Sun-god, began his blazing journey across the sky. As the god drove by, Prometheus held the reed against one of the fiery wheels and it burst into flame. Then he descended to earth and brought fire to man and taught him its many uses. For the first time Man felt superior to the beasts. Prometheus advised Man to keep this a secret, knowing that when it was discovered he would suffer dearly for his disobedience.

But one night Zeus saw a glow on earth. It was reported to him that man now had fire, and Zeus guessed at once who had given it to man. So he summoned two of the giants – Force and Violence they were named – who were even more powerful than Prometheus, the fire-giver. He ordered them to carry Prometheus to the lonely peak of a mountain in the Caucasus. Hephaestus, later known as Vulcan, forged unbreakable fetters and with these Prometheus was bound to the rock. Zeus further ordered that a vulture should each day devour the Titan’s liver but each night the liver should grow back, and in this way he should suffer eternal torture. Zeus hoped that Prometheus would repent of his crime and he promised him freedom if he would confess his crime and beg his pardon. But Prometheus refused to do so. And he knew too that one day in the distant future a hero would come to break his chains and give him freedom. It was centuries later that this hero did come to free him from his torture. It was Hercules who at last freed Prometheus. And so was partially repaid mankind’s debt to its greatest and most heroic champion.

Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound is based upon this myth.