Prometheus
Son of the Titan Iapetus who tricked Zeus at Mecone, stole fire in a fennel stalk and was chained with an eagle at his liver until Heracles freed him; the price of his fire was Pandora. Aeschylus makes him the giver of every human art, Apollodorus the moulder of men from earth and water. His mother is Clymene, Themis or Asia, depending on the witness.
Why this wins its question: Separates the Hesiodic trickster from the Aeschylean benefactor and the late creator of men, so an agent can say which Prometheus a question is about — and cite the lines for each.
Key takeaways
- Three mothers in three witnesses: Clymene (Hesiod), Themis-Earth (Aeschylus), Asia (Apollodorus).
- Hesiod's Prometheus gives fire and a bad sacrifice; Aeschylus's gives every art; only Apollodorus and Ovid make him the maker of men.
- The fennel stalk is constant from Hesiod to Aeschylus to Apollodorus.
- Pandora is the price of fire in both Hesiodic poems, and Heracles's release has Zeus's consent (Theog. 526–534).
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Hesiod makes him a son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, brother of Atlas, Menoetius and Epimetheus (Theog. 507–511). Aeschylus gives him a different mother, "Themis, or Earth (though one form, she had many names)" (PV 18, 209–210), and Apollodorus a third, Asia (Apollod. 1.2.3).
At Mecone he divided an ox to "deceive the mind of Zeus", giving men the meat under a paunch and Zeus the white bones under shining fat; Zeus saw the trick, and "because of this the tribes of men upon earth burn white bones to the deathless gods upon fragrant altars" (Theog. 535–557).
Zeus then withheld fire, "but the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk" (Theog. 565–567; WD 50–52). Apollodorus keeps the fennel stalk (Apollod. 1.7.1), and Aeschylus's Prometheus says it himself: "I hunted out and stored in fennel stalk the stolen source of fire that has proved a teacher to mortals in every art" (PV 107–111).
Zeus "bound [him] with inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft through his middle, and set on him a long-winged eagle, which used to eat his immortal liver; but by night the liver grew as much again"; Heracles shot the bird and freed him "not without the will of Olympian Zeus" (Theog. 521–534). Apollodorus places the nailing on Mount Caucasus (Apollod. 1.7.1) and adds that Heracles offered Chiron to die in his stead (Apollod. 2.5.11); Aeschylus stages the riveting itself, "to the Scythian land, an untrodden solitude" (PV 1–87).
The price of fire was the first woman: Hephaestus formed her of earth, Athena dressed her, and "wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile" (Theog. 570–589); Works and Days names her Pandora, sent to Epimetheus, who forgot that Prometheus had told him "never take a gift of Olympian Zeus" (WD 57–89).
Aeschylus's Prometheus lists his gifts: the risings and settings of the stars, "numbers, too, chiefest of sciences", "the combining of letters", the yoke and the harnessed horse, ships, medicine, divination by dreams, birds and entrails, and the metals under the earth — "every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus" (PV 442–506). Hesiod credits him with fire only.
Only later sources make him mankind's maker: "Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them also fire" (Apollod. 1.7.1), and Ovid asks whether "Prometheus [took] the new soil of earth … and use it to create the race of man; first mingling it with water of new streams" (Met. 1.5). Hesiod knows nothing of it.
His son is Deucalion, who "by the advice of Prometheus constructed a chest" and survived Zeus's flood with Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora (Apollod. 1.7.2).
Questions answered
- Who are the parents of Prometheus?
- Hesiod makes him a son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, brother of Atlas, Menoetius and Epimetheus (Theog. 507–511). Aeschylus gives him a different mother, "Themis, or Earth (though one form, she had many names)" (PV 18, 209–210), and Apollodorus a third, Asia (Apollod. 1.2.3). source
- What is the trick at Mecone?
- At Mecone he divided an ox to "deceive the mind of Zeus", giving men the meat under a paunch and Zeus the white bones under shining fat; Zeus saw the trick, and "because of this the tribes of men upon earth burn white bones to the deathless gods upon fragrant altars" (Theog. 535–557). source
- How did Prometheus steal fire?
- Zeus then withheld fire, "but the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk" (Theog. 565–567; WD 50–52). Apollodorus keeps the fennel stalk (Apollod. 1.7.1), and Aeschylus's Prometheus says it himself: "I hunted out and stored in fennel stalk the stolen source of fire that has proved a teacher to mortals in every art" (PV 107–111). source
- Who freed Prometheus?
- Zeus "bound [him] with inextricable bonds, cruel chains, and drove a shaft through his middle, and set on him a long-winged eagle, which used to eat his immortal liver; but by night the liver grew as much again"; Heracles shot the bird and freed him "not without the will of Olympian Zeus" (Theog. 521–534). Apollodorus places the nailing on Mount Caucasus (Apollod. 1.7.1) and adds that Heracles offered Chiron to die in his stead (Apollod. 2.5.11); Aeschylus stages the riveting itself, "to the Scythian land, an untrodden solitude" (PV 1–87). source
- What did Prometheus give to mankind?
- Aeschylus's Prometheus lists his gifts: the risings and settings of the stars, "numbers, too, chiefest of sciences", "the combining of letters", the yoke and the harnessed horse, ships, medicine, divination by dreams, birds and entrails, and the metals under the earth — "every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus" (PV 442–506). Hesiod credits him with fire only. source
- Did Prometheus create humans?
- Only later sources make him mankind's maker: "Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them also fire" (Apollod. 1.7.1), and Ovid asks whether "Prometheus [took] the new soil of earth … and use it to create the race of man; first mingling it with water of new streams" (Met. 1.5). Hesiod knows nothing of it. source