Prometheus

I’ve loved the stories of mythology since I was very young. My favorite Greek myth is the myth of Prometheus.

After the destruction of the world during the Titanomachy, Zeus assigned Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus the task of repopulating the world. Prometheus and Epimetheus were among the few Titans spared imprisonment in Tartarus for they had refused to fight alongside the Titans against the Olympians. Prometheus had the gift of foresight. His brother Epimetheus had the somewhat less useful gift of hindsight. They were given a series of gifts to grant to the creatures they would create to roam upon the world’s surface.

Epimetheus made all sorts of animals and gifted them all sorts of gifts: fur to keep them warm, feathers for flying through the air, claws for defending themselves. Prometheus crafted more carefully and made creatures in the gods’ own images, creatures that stood upright and had language. But when Prometheus went to grant his creations gifts, there were none left; Epimetheus had used them all.

Zeus demanded that humanity make burnt offerings to the gods, offering up the best of what they had to ensure the continued mercy of the Olympians. But clever Prometheus helped humanity play a trick on Zeus: he helped them create two offerings; one, a bundle of worthless bones piled around with fat and the other, the choicest meat covered with worthless hides. Zeus was fooled and picked the pile of fat, thinking it was the better offering, but received only the worthless bones inside while humanity was able to keep the meat. As punishment for this, Zeus took away fire from humanity.

Prometheus worried about his creations, defenseless in the world, shivering in the dark, at the mercy of Epimetheus’ animals and their gifts. Prometheus went to Zeus and asked that he be allowed to grant his creations the gift of divine fire so that they could cook their food, warm their bodies, and defend their homes. The father of the gods refused, saying that the divine fire was meant only for the gods.

So Prometheus stole the fire from the divine hearth and carried it down from Olympus to humanity.

As punishment, Zeus had Hephaestus forge unbreakable chains and chained Prometheus to a rock high in the mountains. Each morning an eagle, Zeus’ bird, would come and eat his liver (the seat of emotions). As Prometheus was immortal, his liver would grow back each day and he would live the night in dread of the pain in the morning.

There are so many resonant interpretations of this myth for me: fire as technology, Prometheus as a trickster figure and humanity’s champion, also as a cautionary tale about overreach and hubris.

But my favorite personal interpretation is this: Prometheus has the gift of foresight; therefore, he knew exactly what would happen as a result of his actions… But he did them anyway. Knowing full well that he would end up chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity (or, at least, for a very, very long time until freed by Heracles) he chose to do all these things to defend humanity. He knew what was right and he knew it would hurt him to do it but went ahead anyway.

I have this story tattooed on my left arm as a half sleeve.