Prometheus of Ancient Greek Mythology

The heavens and the earth were created, and the waves of the sea rose and fell and lapped against the shore. Fish frolicked in the water and birds sang in the air. The earth was teeming with animals, but there was not yet a single higher being with a soul that could dominate the world around it. At this time Prometheus was born, a descendant of the ancient race of gods banished by Zeus, the son of Iapetus, born of Caius, the mother of the earth, and Uranus. Intelligent and wise, he knew that the seed of the gods was in the clay, so he took up the clay,

moistened it with river water, mixed it, and formed it into a human form in the likeness of the god of the world, the god of the heavens. To give life to this clay man, he took the two characters, good and evil, from the souls of animals, and sealed them into the human breast. Among the gods of heaven he had a girlfriend, Athena, the goddess of wisdom; and marvelling at this creation of the son of the Titan god, she breathed her divine breath upon the clay man with half a soul, and gave it spirituality.

In this way the first men appeared in the world, and they multiplied, and soon formed a great multitude, which spread everywhere. But for a long time they did not know how to use their limbs, nor their divinely given souls. They turned a blind eye and a deaf ear, like human forms in a dream, and walked about aimlessly, but did not know to play their part. They do not know how to quarry stone, burn bricks, cut down forest trees to make rafters and beams, and then build houses out of these materials. Like ants, they hibernated in sunless holes and did not perceive the winter or the spring or the summer; they did everything without a plan.

So Prometheus came to the aid of his creatures. He taught them to observe the rising and setting of the sun, the moon and the stars; he invented numbers and writing for them, so that they could calculate and exchange ideas in words; he also taught them to drive animals to share their labour, so that they knew how to harness a horse to pull a cart or use it as a mount. He invented the ship and the sail to enable them to navigate the sea. He cared for every other activity in human life. Once upon a time, sick people did not know how to cure themselves with medicines, how to apply ointments or take pills to ease their pain, and many sick people died miserably for lack of medical care. Now Prometheus taught them to make potions to combat various diseases. In addition, he taught them to divine, to fulfil dreams, to interpret the flight of birds and the various signs shown by sacrifices. He guided them in prospecting for minerals underground so that they could discover ores and mine iron and gold and silver. He taught them the art of farming so that they could live more comfortably.

Not long ago, Zeus banished his father, Cronus, and overthrew the ancient race of gods from which Prometheus came. Now that Zeus and his sons were the new rulers of the heavens, they began to take notice of the newly formed human race. They demanded that mankind honour them, and in doing so, they protected mankind. One day, in Mercogne, Greece, the gods assembled and conferred to determine the rights and duties of mankind. Prometheus attended the meeting as the defender of mankind. At the meeting, he managed to keep the gods from making harsh sacrificial conditions for promising to protect mankind. This son of Titan was determined to use his wisdom to deceive the gods. He slaughtered a large bull on behalf of his creation and asked the gods to choose their favourite part. He cut the sacrificial bull into pieces and divided it into two piles. One pile was filled with meat, offal and fat, covered with cowhide and topped with the stomach of the bull; the other pile contained all the bones of the bull, skilfully wrapped in the slate oil of the bull. This pile was somewhat larger than the other. Zeus, the all-knowing father of the gods, saw through the trickery and said, ‘Son of Iapetus, honourable king, my good friend, how unfairly you have divided the offerings!’ At this Prometheus, more and more convinced that he had deceived Zeus, laughed secretly and said, ‘Honourable Zeus, eternal father of the gods, pick a heap as your heart desires!’ Zeus was furious in his heart, but deliberately stretched out his hands for the snow-white slate oil. When he peeled off the oil and saw that it was all polished bones, he said angrily, as if he had not realised that he had been deceived until now, ‘I see, son of Iapetus, that you have not forgotten your trick of deception!’