A Greek narrative, told fully by Hesiod, in which the Titan Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to humanity, for which Zeus has him chained to a rock where an eagle devours his regenerating liver each day, a punishment ended only when Heracles frees him.
Facts
History
Historical NoteHesiod's account, the earliest surviving version, dates to around 700 BC, with the fuller dramatic treatment in Prometheus Bound following in the fifth century BC. 1 Historical NotePrometheus Bound is generally read as the first part of a lost trilogy; ancient testimony names a sequel, Prometheus Unbound (Prometheus Lyomenos), surviving only in fragments, in which Heracles kills the eagle and Prometheus is eventually reconciled with Zeus, an ending the surviving play itself never reaches. 1 Scholarship and Forensics
Scholarly NoteClassicists read Hesiod's two tellings of the myth, in the Theogony and in Works and Days, as deliberately different in emphasis, one framed around divine order and punishment, the other around the toil fire's theft brings into human life. 2 Sources
Primary SourceHesiod's Theogony and Works and Days are the earliest surviving witnesses, collated against the later Prometheus Bound. 1 Meaning
Central MotifA trickster Titan's theft of fire for humanity and the eternal punishment it earns him 1 Text
Source TextHesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, and the tragedy Prometheus Bound attributed to Aeschylus 1 Controversy
Point in DisputeScholars dispute the authorship of Prometheus Bound, the fullest dramatic source for the myth, with a substantial body of modern scholarship doubting the traditional attribution to Aeschylus on stylistic grounds. 2 Connections
Associated With
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th editionSimon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.)
Sources
1. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition
Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012View the Source 2. Greek Religion
Prometheus (Wikipedia)
In Group: Origins of Fire, Death and Sacred Gifts, Introduction, sentence 2Quote, In Group: Origins of Fire, Death and Sacred Gifts, Introduction, sentence 2
He defied the Olympian gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity.
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