ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS

ENRICHMENT SECTION

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS, BRINGER OF FIRE

Another Version of the Story
After Zeus became the ruler on Mount Olympus, he decided it was too lonely on Earth. He asked
Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus to make animals and humans. Epimetheus began the job by
forming animals and giving them each a gift so they could protect themselves. To some he gave claws,
wings, feathers, fangs, horns, shells, thick skin or fur. To some he gave speed, size, strength, cunning or
courage. He was just about ready to make humans when he realized he did not think to save a gift for
them.

Prometheus said, “I will take over now.” He picked up a ball of clay and shaped a creature with two legs so
it could walk upright and a head that could look up and see the stars and the gods. He made fingers that
could do many fine things, and a mind that could think and invent. But that was not quite enough.
Prometheus could see that humans would not get along very well with wooden or stone weapons, eating
everything raw and always in danger from wild animals. He decided to give them the gift of fire.

Prometheus begged Zeus to let humans have fire, but Zeus refused. He did not want anyone to defeat
him, as he had defeated his own father. One day Prometheus sneaked up to the ever-burning fire on
Mount Olympus, lit a tiny piece of wood, and hid it in the stalk of a plant called fennel. He sneaked back to
earth, then gave the fire to humans. He showed them many of the wonderful ways they could use it: to
make iron tools and weapons, clay jars, brick and tile houses, and beautiful ornaments; to cook delicious
food; and to protect themselves from wild animals.

Zeus became very angry at this, but then Prometheus showed humans how
to burn animals for sacrifice to the gods. This made Zeus a little happier,
until he discovered the trick Prometheus played to make sure that humans
got the best parts of the animals to eat instead of burning them for the
gods. The mighty Zeus was so furious he ordered that Prometheus should
be taken away to a mountain in the east and chained to a rock. Every day a
huge eagle (some say vulture) flew by and pecked out his liver, and every
night it grew back in. This went on for a very, very long time until the great
hero Heracles broke the chains and released him.

SOURCES
d’Aulaire, Ingri & Edgar P. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Doubleday, 1962.
Gibson, Michael. Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths. New York: Schocken Books, 1982.
Richardson, I. M. Prometheus and the Story of Fire. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1983.

Susan Hengelsberg
Perry, NY

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

ACTIVITIES
Prometheus, Bringer of Fire
1. DISCUSS: What if Zeus had caught Prometheus as he was stealing the fire and punished him right
then? Imagine a world without fire of any kind (including electricity). List some of your
ideas below.

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DECIDE: Work in a large group, small groups, or individually.

DIRECT: Produce a mural, a series of pictures (storyboard), a skit, or a story that will show what our
lives would be like if there were no fire at all.

2. Thomas Edison has been called the Prometheus of our time. Look up all you can about Edison,
tell/write what he did, and explain why he might be considered a modern Prometheus.

Rebecca Walker Ingram

Los Angeles, CA

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS
According to Apollodorus
The following information comes from a book called The Library written by Apollodorus, a Greek man who
lived sometime after the middle of the first century BC.

At the beginning of time, Uranus was the first to rule over the universe. Uranus and Gaea were the
parents of the Titans and one of these Titans, Iapetus, was the father of Prometheus. Prometheus had
three brothers: Atlas who held the sky on his shoulders; Epimetheus who was faulty in judgment; and
Menoetius whom Zeus struck with a thunderbolt in the Titan battle and confined to Tartarus, the
Underworld. This was because of Menoetius’ excessive pride. The name Prometheus means “forethinker
or one who thinks ahead,” and Epimetheus means “afterthinker or one who plans too late.” Prometheus
could foretell the future.

There are many stories about Prometheus from many sources, and they do not always agree on details.
One such story concerns the birth of Athena who was the daughter of Metis and Zeus. Metis told Zeus
that after their daughter was born, she would then bear a son who would be lord of the sky. In fear of this,
Zeus swallowed Metis. When it came time for the birth, Prometheus (or as others say, Hephaestus) struck
the head of Zeus with an ax and from his crown Athena sprang up, clad in her armor and giving a loud war
cry!

Prometheus, after forming men from water and earth, gave them fire which he had hidden in a stalk of
giant fennel to escape the notice of Zeus. When Zeus found out, he ordered Hephaestus to rivet the body
of Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, a Scythian mountain, where he was kept fastened and bound for many
years. Each day an eagle would fly to him and munch on the lobes of his liver which would then grow back
at night.

As Heracles was working on his labors, he passed through Libya to the sea beyond. When he reached
the mainland on the other side, he killed with an arrow the eagle, the offspring of Echidna and Typhon
who had been eating the liver of Prometheus. Then he selected for himself a restraining bond of olive and
released Prometheus.

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

ACTIVITIES
Prometheus According to Apollodorus
1. Make a map of the Mediterranean area showing specifically Libya and the Caucasus. Include at least
five other countries labeled with the names used today.

2. Find out about the restraining bond of olive that Heracles took for himself. How is this bond of olive
possibly related to the Olympic Games? How did the wearing of crowns on the head and rings on
the fingers become a memorial of Prometheus? (See The Library, Book II, v.11)

3. Who were the other children of Echidna and Typhon? With which myths are they associated? How did
Echidna and Typhon die?

4. Find the words in the reading that have the following meanings

a. to fasten firmly as with a nail or pin

b. held or kept inside of
c. too much, more than what is proper
d. a plant that grows tall and has a hollow stem
e. the stem of a plant
f. dressed or covered as with clothing
g. holding back
h. set free
i. the highest part of the head
j. chose

Bernice Jefferis
Cleveland Heights, OH

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS BOUND
Prometheus as the benefactor of mankind has been the subject of art, music and literature from ancient
times to the present day. Aeschylus was an ancient Greek dramatist who wrote plays about Prometheus,
but only one survives. In his play, Prometheus Bound, he describes how Hephaestus fastened Prometheus
to the side of a mountain with the help of two servants of Zeus, Kratos whose name means “strength” and
Bia whose name means “force.” When the three have finished their work, Prometheus calls out:

Oh divine air and sky and swift-winged breezes,

springs of rivers and countless laughter of sea waves,
earth, mother of everything, and all-seeing circle of the
sun, I call on you. See what I, a god, suffer at the hands of the gods.

Prometheus is bitter because he fought with Zeus against the Titans and so Aeschylus has him say the
following words.

PROMETHEUS: Listen to the troubles that there were among

mortals and how I gave them sense and mind, which they did not
have before. I shall tell you this not out of any censure of mankind
but to explain the good intention of my gifts. In the beginning they
had eyes to look, but looked in vain, and ears to hear, but did not
hear, but like the shapes of dreams they wandered in confusion the
whole of their long life. They did not know of brick-built houses
that face the sun or carpentry, but dwelt beneath the ground like
tiny ants in the depths of sunless caves. They did not have any
secure way of distinguishing winter or blossoming spring or fruitful
summer, but they did everything without judgment, until I showed
them the rising and setting of the stars, difficult to discern.

And indeed I discovered for them numbers, a lofty kind of wisdom,

and letters and their combination, an art that fosters memory
of all things, the mother of the Muses’ arts. I first harnessed
animals enslaving them to the yoke to become reliefs for mortals in
their greatest toils, and I led horses docile under the reins and
chariot, the delight of the highest wealth and luxury. No one before
me discovered the seamen’s vessels which with wings of sail are
beaten by the waves. Such are the contrivances I, poor wretch, have
found for mortals, but I myself have no device by which I may
escape my present pain.

CHORUS: You suffer an ill-deserved torment, and confused in mind

and heart are all astray; like some bad doctor who has fallen ill,
you yourself cannot devise a remedy to effect a cure.

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PROMETHEUS BOUND (continued)

PROMETHEUS: Listen to the rest, and you will be even more amazed
at the kinds of skills and means that I devised; the greatest this:
if anyone fell sick, there existed no defense, neither food nor drink
nor salve, but through lack of medicines they wasted away until I
showed them the mixing of soothing remedies by which they free
themselves from all diseases. I set forth the many ways of the
prophetic art. I was the first to determine which dreams would of
necessity turn out to be true and I established for them the difficult
interpretation of sounds and omens of the road and distinguished the
precise meaning of the flight of birds with crooked talons, which
ones are by nature lucky and propitious, and what mode of life each
had, their mutual likes, dislikes, and association; the smoothness of
the innards and the color of the bile that would meet the pleasure of
the gods, and the dappled beauty of the liver’s lobe. I burned the
limbs enwrapped in fat and the long shank and set mortals on the
path to this difficult art of sacrifice, and made clear the fiery
signs, obscure before. Such were these gifts of mine. And the
benefits hidden deep within the earth, copper, iron, silver, and gold
-- who could claim that he had found them before me? No one, I
know full well, unless he wished to babble on in vain. In a brief
utterance learn the whole story: all arts come to mortals from
Prometheus.

From Classical Mythology by Morford and Lenardon, Longman Inc., 1985

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

ACTIVITIES
Prometheus Bound
1. As you reread Prometheus’ speech, make a list of his gifts to mortals. Choose an art form to portray
these gifts. It might be a diorama, a collage, a painting, a drawing, an original poem or a piece of
music. There are at least fifteen gifts.

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2. The word PRIDE represents an idea that one dictionary defines in the following ways:

A sense of one’s own proper value or dignity; self respect

An overly high opinion of oneself; conceit

These definitions obviously conflict, one being positive and the other negative. After thinking about the
idea of pride, write an essay about Prometheus, applying one definition or the other to his situation and
using specific examples to explain why you believe as you do. The “why” part of the essay is the most
important part.

Bernice Jefferis
Cleveland Heights, OH

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

TEACHER’S KEY
ACTIVITIES
Prometheus According to Apollodorus

Question #4

a. rivet
b. confined
c. excessive
d. fennel
e. stalk
f. clad
g. restraining
h. released
i. crown
j. selected

TEACHER’S KEY
ACTIVITIES
Prometheus Bound
Question #1

consciousness
houses
carpentry
time and seasons
star patterns
mining and smelting of metals
mathematics
writing
harnessing of draft animals
breaking of horses
medicine and healing
prophecy
reading of sacrificial signs
making proper sacrifices
sailing ships

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

TITAN MOBILES
An Art Project
Prometheus and Epimetheus were Titan brothers. The Greeks believed that these brothers created the
living creatures of the earth, endowing them with gifts to help in their survival. The students can make
mobiles featuring one of these Titans.

SUPPLIES

1. Wire coat hangers

2. Bulletin board paper, 16 x 10 inches
3. Yarn and string
4. Hole punches
5. Scissors, markers, crayons, glue

PREPARATION

Precut the bulletin board paper

PROCEDURE

1. Give each child a hanger, bulletin board paper and a 36-inch piece of yarn.
2. Fold the paper in half to 16 x 5 inches. Place the bottom flat part of the hanger on the fold of
the paper.
3. Punch 12 holes on each side of the top of the paper hanger shape. Do not punch holes in the
bottom along the fold. The children will sew the paper to the hanger.
4. Open the paper shape and insert the hanger with its bottom part against the fold. The students
can sew the paper to the hanger, cutting the yarn in half, and threading it through the
holes. Tie the yarn off at both sides. It is helpful if the children work in pairs, one holding
and one sewing.
5. Decorate the paper pediments formed by the covered hanger with the name of the Titan.
6. Make illustrations that represent Prometheus or Epimetheus on 3 x 6-inch pieces of paper.
Punch holes in these and string to mobile.

Janeene Blank
Birmingham, MI

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 ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

PROMETHEUS and EPIMETHEUS

An Art Project
Prometheus and Epimetheus are Titans and brothers. Prometheus, whose name means “forethought,”
stole fire from the gods for man. Epimetheus, whose name means “afterthought,” was the husband of
Pandora. This paper-craft project was developed from the idea of the opposites that can be seen in the
names, such as “before and after” or “first and last.” It can also be used with the Roman myth of the two-
faced god Janus.

To construct the project, you will need two six-inch paper plates and a paper towel tube for each child.
Other supplies are assorted colors of construction paper, glue, scissors, yarn, and a stapler.

Directions

1. Cover the tube with construction paper. Apply glue to one edge of the paper, rolling the tube
up in it. Apply glue to other edge and fasten down. Trim off extra paper at the ends.

2. Use the backs of the plates, construction paper, and yarn to make two faces.

3. Pinch one end of the tube together and staple.

4. Fasten the plate faces to the tube with glue and staples by joining them with another staple to
the pinched part of the tube. Staple down the sides of the plates to keep them together.

Janeene Blank
Birmingham, MI

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May be reproduced for classroom use