PROMETHEUS

The Greek figure Prometheus is perhaps the

best-known example in Western mythology
of a trickster as a builder of culture.
According to the story told by Hesiod, he
stole fire from the gods and gave it to
human beings. Fire is necessary to work
metal and thus underlies all technology. It is
also an essential element in the production
of energy and represents the basis of
ancient as well as modern industry. Thus
the story told by Hesiod implies that
Prometheus is a great culture hero.

Ancient Greece was not the only culture that saw the trickster as a transformer of culture, or a culture
hero. Even though tricksters from other mythological systems are in many ways quite different, they
often share this characteristic. In Native American stories, the trickster is a figure often obsessed with his
appetites for food and sex. However, as time passes, other stories of the trickster may arise, representing
him as a savior, a creator, and a benefactor of the people.

In African tales, the trickster forges a contract with dupe and then betrays him. Why does this make him a
culture hero? In times of extreme physical hardship, this figure uses his wits to obtain the supplies he
needs. However, his behavior is not viewed as a model to be followed by others. He does not represent
the proper way to behave in this culture; rather, he is the exception that proves the rule. His negative
example affirms the community’s values and identity: his behavior is wrong, but necessary.

John W. Roberts explains that for African-Americans, the meaning of the trickster has changed. In Africa,
food shortages were due to natural disasters or war. In America, shortage of food and material goods was
artificially imposed by white masters in the midst of abundance produced by the slaves themselves. Thus,
African-American trickster stories represent a grim world in which the masters and slaves are pitted
against each other, and the slave survives only by the combination of cunning and luck. The role of the
trickster is based not on building culture, but on resisting and surviving culture that is out to use (or
abuse) him up. The trickster is a culture hero only in the sense of preventing the complete elimination of
his culture by forces out to destroy it.

In all of these instantiations, the trickster is a “liminal” creature. That is, he is on the threshold between
two worlds. He is part of society, but functions at its outer limits. He lives between nature and culture
and, because of his dual identity, is able to unmask or disorder the world of those with a more solid stake
in the established norms of society. He is a revolutionary who is likely to destroy the world as we know it
and forge a new reality from its ruins.

Prometheus, too, is a liminal figure. He is a god, but he takes the side of humans. His role is not to bolster
the power of Zeus but to question it. He is not just a builder of civilization who gave humans fire; he is the
revolutionary who rebels against the despot and stirs up the existing order. Another story told by Hesiod
about this great hero makes this clear. It is Prometheus who makes Zeus angry by tricking him into
accepting the less desirable of the two offerings. On the one hand, this makes Prometheus behave as
tricksters always do: he is the clever figure who outwits a dupe and takes his food away. On the other
hand, this represents Prometheus as a rebel against a certain divine order, the cosmic system in which
human beings are not cherished, valued, and protected.
HESIOD ON PROMETHEUS

Hesiod, a Greek poet, lived about 700 B.C.E. and composed two poems, the Theogony and the The Works
and the Days. The excerpt below comes from Theogony, a poem describing the nature and generations of
the gods, and it is in this context that the poet tells the story of Prometheus.

In this poem, Hesiod wants to show how Zeus became the supreme head of the gods. In recounting the
struggle of Prometheus against Zeus, he is not very favorable to the rebel. Rather, he portrays
Prometheus as playing an essentially pointless trick against the head god merely to win the better share
of the food for humans. Hesiod does not tell the story in chronological order; the sequence of events in his
story is as follows

Event
1. Prometheus cheats Zeus of the better
sacrifice
2. Zeus withholds fire from humans
3. Prometheus steals fire for humans
4. Zeus punishes him by inflicting Pandora, the
first woman, on humans
5. Zeus binds Prometheus to a rock in chains
6. Zeus allows his son Heracles to free
Prometheus, to increase his son's fame
Source
Described in detail by Hesiod in the Theogony
Mentioned in both Theogony and the Works and Days
Mentioned in both Theogony and the Works and Days
Described in detail by Hesiod in the Works and Days
Mentioned in both Theogony and the Works and Days
Mentioned in the first part of the story that Hesiod
describes, in the Theogony

PROMETHEUS AT MEKONE (from Hesiod’s Theogony)

[Zeus] freed his uncles from their dreadful bonds,

The sons of Heaven; his father, foolishly,
Had bound them. They remembered gratitude
And gave him thunder and the blazing bolt
And lightning, which before, vast Earth had hid.
Trusting in them, he rules both men and gods.
And Klymene, the lovely-ankled nymph,
Daughter of Ocean, married Iapetos,
And went to bed with him, and bore a son,
Strong-hearted Atlas, then, notorious
Menoitios, and then, Prometheus
Brilliant and shifty, Epimetheus
The foolish one, who first brought harm to men
Who live on bread, for he took Woman in,
The manufactured maiden, gift of Zeus.
Far-seeing Zeus cast proud Menoitios
Down into Erebos; he struck him with
The smoking Thunderbolt, because he was
Insanely bold and reckless in his pride.
And Atlas, forced by hard necessity,
Holds the broad heaven up, propped on his head
And tireless hands, at the last ends of Earth,
In front of the clear-voiced Hesperides;
For Zeus the Counsellor gave him this fate.
Clever Prometheus was bound by Zeus
In cruel chains, unbreakable, chained round
A pillar, and Zeus roused and set on him
An eagle with long wings, which came and ate
His deathless liver. But the liver grew
Each night, until it made up the amount
The long-winged bird had eaten in the day.
Lovely Alcmene's son, strong Heracles,
Killing the eagle, freed Prometheus
From his affliction and his misery,
And Zeus, Olympian, who rules on high,
Approved, so that the fame of Heracles
The Theban might be greater than before
Upon the fruitful earth; he showed respect,
And gave the honour to his famous son.
And angry though he was, he checked the rage
He felt against Prometheus, who dared
To match his wits against almighty Zeus.

For at Mekone, once, there was a test

When gods and mortal men divided up
An ox; Prometheus audaciously
Set out the portions, trying to deceive
The mind of Zeus Before the rest, he put
Pieces of meat and marbled inner parts
And fat upon the hide, and hid them in
The stomach of the ox; but before Zeus
The white bones of the ox, arranged with skill,
Hidden in shining fat. And then he spoke,
The father of gods and men, and said to him,
'Milord, most famous son of Iapetos,
The shares you've made, my friend, are most unfair!'
Thus Zeus, whose plans are everlasting, spoke
And criticized. But sly Prometheus
Did not forget his trick, and softly smiled
And said, 'Most glorious Zeus, greatest of all
The gods who live forever, choose your share,
Whichever one your heart leads you to pick'
He spoke deceitfully, but Zeus who knows
Undying plans, was not deceived, but saw
The trick, and in his heart made plans
To punish mortal men in future days.
He took the fatted portion in his hands
And raged within, and anger seized his heart
To see the trick, the white bones of the ox.
(And from this time the tribes of men on earth
Burn, on the smoking altars, white ox-bones.)

But Zeus, the gatherer of clouds, enraged,

Said, 'Son of Iapetos, cleverest god
Of all: so, friend, you do not yet forget
Your crafty tricks!' So spoke the angry Zeus
Whose craft is everlasting. From that time
He bore the trick in mind and would not give,
To wretched men who live on earth, the power
Of fire, which never wearies. The brave son
Of Iapetos deceived him, and he stole
The ray, far-seeing, of unwearied fire,
Hid in the hollow fennel stalk, and Zeus
Who thunders in the heavens ate his heart,
And raged within to see the ray of fire
Far-seeing, among men. Immediately
He found a price for men to pay for fire,

It is impossible to hoodwink Zeus

Or to surpass him, for Prometheus,
The son of Iapetos, kind though he was
And wise, could not escape his heavy rage
But he was bound by force, with heavy chains.