Friday 4 October 2013

Prometheus

Prometheus
                               Prometheus was the son of Iapetus. His name mean 'forethought' and he was able to foretell the future. He was a master craftsman and a supreme trickster, and he was sometimes associated with the the creation of humans. According to legend, Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of populating the earth with animals and men.
Athena breathed life into man
                                  Prometheus shaped man out of mud and Athena breathed life into his clay figure. Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, wings, etc. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there was nothing left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and gave them fire. When Zeus gave an order that man must present a portion of each animal they sacrificed to the gods. 
            Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created two piles, one with the bone wrapped in juicy fat and other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He than bade Zeus to pick, Zeus pick the bones. Since Zeus had given his word Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices. In his anger over the trick he took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again to man. Zeus decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both human and Prometheus.
Pandora
                                 Zeus order Hephaestus to make a woman out of earth, who by her charms and beauty should bring misery upon the human race. Aphrodite adorned her with beauty, Hermes gave her boldness and cunning and gods called her PandoraZeus also ordered Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to a rock in Sujthia, which was done in the presence of Cratos and Bai two ministers of Zeus.

Eachday an eagle the emblem of Zeus was sent to feed on his liver, which would then grow back to be eaten again the next day. (In ancient Greece, the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotion.) Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who the mother of the child that would dethrone him or meet two conditions, first that an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus and second that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. 
Prometheus and Hercules

Eventually Chiron the Centaur agree to die for him and Hercules killed the eagle and unbound him.  

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