Creation of Man by Prometheus

Prometheus and Epimetheus, the sons of the Titan Iapetus, were the brothers who stood behind the beginnings of human life in Greek myth. In Apollodorus, Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth; in Plato’s Protagoras, the brothers were charged with equipping the newly made mortal creatures; and in Hesiod, Prometheus is the god who tricked Zeus on behalf of mortals, stole fire for them and suffered for it (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.1; Plato, Protagoras 320c–322a; Hesiod, Theogony 507–616).

In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, Prometheus says that when the Titans and Zeus quarrelled, he advised his fellow Titans to win by cunning; when they scorned his counsel, he went over to Zeus with his mother Themis (or Earth), and by his advice Tartarus now covers Cronus and his allies (Prometheus Bound 199–223). That is why, in this account, Prometheus was not among the Titans sent down to Tartarus.

Epimetheus gives qualities to creatures

Plato tells how, when the gods had fashioned the mortal races out of earth and fire, they charged Prometheus and Epimetheus with equipping each of them. Epimetheus begged to do the distributing himself, with Prometheus to inspect it afterwards, and gave out the various qualities, such as swiftness, strength, fur, hide and wings. Unfortunately, being not so wise as he might have been, he squandered all of his stock on the animals, and when he came to mankind they were left naked, unshod, unbedded and unarmed (Plato, Protagoras 320c–321c). Hesiod remarks that Epimetheus was from the first a mischief to men who eat bread (Theogony 511–514).

Prometheus gives fire to man

In Plato’s version, Prometheus found the humans in this plight and stole the fiery art of Hephaestus and Athena, together with fire itself, and gave them to man; for the theft he later stood trial (Protagoras 321c–322a). Ovid describes how Prometheus mixed earth with water and shaped men in the image of the gods, giving them an upright face to look at the stars, where other animals look to the ground (Metamorphoses 1.76–88). In Apollodorus, Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them fire, which, unknown to Zeus, he had hidden in a stalk of fennel (Library 1.7.1). Pausanias says that at Panopeus in Phocis two huge stones the colour of clay were shown, said to be left over from the creation of man (10.4.4).

Prometheus tricks Zeus

Hesiod tells the story of the sacrifice at Mecone. When gods and mortal men were settling their rights there, Prometheus cut up a great ox and set portions before them, trying to deceive the mind of Zeus. Before men he put the flesh and inner parts on the hide, covered with the ox’s stomach; for Zeus he put the white bones, dressed up cunningly and covered with shining fat. Zeus rebuked him for dividing the portions unfairly, and Prometheus smiled and told him to choose whichever he liked. Zeus saw through the trick, and yet he took the white fat in both hands and was angry when he saw the bones; and for this reason, Hesiod says, mortals burn the white bones on altars to the gods (Theogony 535–557).

From then on Zeus remembered the trick, and he would not give the power of unwearying fire to the race of mortals. But Prometheus stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk, and Zeus was stung in spirit when he saw the ray of fire among men (Theogony 562–569; Works and Days 47–52). Aeschylus’ Prometheus also says that he hid the stolen fire in a fennel stalk (Prometheus Bound 107–111). Neither Hesiod nor Aeschylus says that he took the fire from the sun.

Zeus punishes Man

To punish man, Zeus promised to give men an evil thing as the price for fire, laughing aloud. He told Hephaestus to mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, fashioning a lovely maiden in the likeness of the immortal goddesses; Athena was to teach her weaving, Aphrodite to shed grace and cruel longing upon her, and Hermes to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature (Works and Days 53–82). The gods dressed and adorned her, and Hermes called her Pandora, “All-gift”, because every god on Olympus gave her a gift (Works and Days 80–82). Hesiod makes her the first of the race of women, a “beautiful evil” given to men (Theogony 570–612). Zeus then sent Hermes to take her as a gift to Epimetheus.

Pandora's Box

Prometheus had warned Epimetheus never to take a gift from Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might be harmful to men. Epimetheus ignored the warning, took the gift, and understood only afterwards, when the evil thing was already his (Works and Days 83–89; Theogony 511–514). Before this, Hesiod says, the tribes of men lived on earth remote from ills and hard toil. Then the woman took the great lid off a jar (pithos) with her hands and scattered its contents, and sorrow and mischief came upon men. Only Hope remained within the jar, under the rim, and did not fly out, because the lid stopped her by the will of Zeus (Works and Days 90–105). Hesiod says nothing about a prohibition or about Pandora’s curiosity; the idea of a “box” is a later mistranslation of the word for a large jar.

Zeus punishes Prometheus

In Hesiod, Zeus bound the clever Prometheus with cruel chains and drove a shaft through his middle, and set a long-winged eagle on him to eat his immortal liver; by night the liver grew back as much as the eagle ate in the whole day (Theogony 521–525). Aeschylus has Zeus order Hephaestus, with his servants Force and Violence, to clamp Prometheus to a crag in shackles of adamant (Prometheus Bound 1–87), and the rock is set in the Caucasus, which Apollodorus also names (Prometheus Bound 422–423; Library 1.7.1). Zeus was angry at the trick at Mecone and at the theft of fire (Theogony 534, 561–562). In Aeschylus, Prometheus alone also knows a secret about a marriage that will one day cost Zeus his throne, and he refuses to disclose it (Prometheus Bound 755–770, 907–927). Pindar and Apollodorus tell of the prophecy, spoken by Themis, that the son of Thetis would be mightier than his father, which made Zeus and Poseidon give up their suit to her; Apollodorus adds that some say it was Prometheus who declared it (Pindar, Isthmian 8.27–35; Apollodorus, Library 3.13.5).

Prometheus Unbound

There, he was tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver; Apollodorus makes the eagle the offspring of Echidna and Typhon (Library 2.5.11). In Aeschylus, Prometheus is told that there will be no end to his agony until some god takes his woes upon himself and descends of his own will to the sunless realm of Death and the deeps of Tartarus (Prometheus Bound 1026–1029). In Apollodorus, Chiron, wounded by an arrow of Heracles and unable to die, gave up his immortality, and Prometheus offered himself to Zeus to be immortal in his place (Library 2.5.4). Heracles then shot the eagle and released Prometheus (Library 2.5.11). Hesiod says that Heracles killed the eagle with the will of Zeus, so that the glory of the Theban hero might be greater, and Zeus ceased from his anger (Theogony 526–534).

Creation of Man by Prometheus Sources

The main sources are Hesiod’s Theogony (507–616) and Works and Days (42–105), Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound (1–87, 107–111, 199–223, 1026–1029), Plato’s Protagoras (320c–322a), Apollodorus’ Library (1.7.1, 2.5.4, 2.5.11, 3.13.5), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1.76–88), Pindar’s Isthmian 8 (27–35) and Pausanias (10.4.4).

See Also: The Creation, The Creation II, Birth of Athena, Ages of Man, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Pandora, Zeus