known for his wily intelligence. He stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. Zeus then punished him for this crime by having him bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. His myth has been treated by a number of ancient sources, in which Prometheus is credited with – or blamed for, the state of things for humankind.He is more affectionately known the “fire bringer” who by his gift, helped deliver man from darkness. A liberator, if you will.
This blog will try to be a Prometheus of sorts. I will attempt to bring light to some areas that we generally don’t look at. To ask questions that we don’t usually ask, but should.
This blog is about the liberation of our inner Prometheus. Our liberation from the chains that bind us to the rock of status quo, blindly accepting things they way they are.
The myth of Prometheus is as follows:
Zeus delegated the tasks of creating mankind to Prometheus and Epimetheus. Epimetheus rushed into the task, creating all the animals and endowing them with all the good gifts for survival – strength, swiftness, shrewdness, cunning, courage, fur, wings and feathers, and more, till there was not much left for mankind. He turned to his brother Prometheus for help. Prometheus created man upright and fashioned them after the gods. Prometheus also taught them the arts of civilization, such as writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science.
At Sicyon, a sacrificial meal marking the "settling of accounts" between mortals and immortals, Prometheus played a trick against Zeus. He placed two sacrificial offerings before Zeus: a selection of bull meat 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; henceforth, humans would keep the meat, the good part of the sacrifice, 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. Prometheus at once went to Athena with a plea for admittance to Olympus, which she granted. On his arrival, he lit a torch at the fiery chariot of the Sun, stole away, and gave fire to mankind.
But no good deed goes unpunished.
To punish mankind, Zeus sent to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, Pandora, the first woman. "From her is the race of women and female kind," Hesiod writes; "of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no help meets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth. Pandora carried a jar with her, supposedly the gods' wedding gift, from which were released "evils, harsh pain and troublesome diseases which give men death." Pandora hastily shut the lid as soon as she realized what had happened, too late to contain all the evil plights that escaped, but able to hold on to the one true gift in it: hope.
Prometheus’ punishment, was to be chained to a mountain, where his liver was eaten daily by a giant eagle. Since he was immortal, his liver would grow back at night and
the eagle would return the next day to devour it again.Eventually, Prometheus was freed by Hercules, who killed the eagle and broke the chains.
We have been put in position to be Epimetheus, to react impulsively, to act without thinking, to mindlessly accept things we are given or told.
This blog is about the liberation of our inner Prometheus, our freedom from the chains that bind us to accept things the way that they are.
Thanks to Wikipedia and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology for the rendition of the Prometheus Myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus
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