Fire-Bringer, Creator and Benefactor of Humankind
The Titan whose name means "forethought." He shaped humans from clay and stole fire from heaven for them, and paid for it chained to a Caucasus cliff while an eagle ate his liver by day — the liver regrowing each night, the torment endless. He is the archetype of every "betrayal of the gods for humanity’s sake" in Western culture.
Dividing the sacrifice at Mecone, Prometheus hid the good meat inside the ox’s stomach and wrapped the bones in glistening fat, then let Zeus choose first. Zeus took the better-looking pile — so from then on only bones were burned in sacrifice and humans kept the meat. Fooled, Zeus took his revenge on humanity by taking away fire.
Prometheus slipped into heaven and carried fire down to earth hidden inside a hollow fennel stalk. With fire, humans learned to smelt, to cook, to light the dark — civilization was kindled. Seeing the pinpricks of firelight across the earth, Zeus resolved to make both the fire-thief and humankind pay.
He was nailed to a cliff in the Caucasus, and Zeus’s eagle ate his liver each day. Through a sentence of thirty thousand years he never yielded, and never revealed the prophecy he knew that could topple Zeus. In the end Heracles shot the eagle and struck off his chains.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
That email didn’t look right? Free · unsubscribe anytime · Privacy