For thousands of years of suffering, every day has been the same for Prometheus. Chained against the mountain-side of Caucasus, Prometheus endures the pain and agony that Zeus, God of all Gods, has bestowed upon him. Every day, the eagle feasts on his liver until there is no more, but every night, again under Zeus’ control, his liver regenerates only to be eaten again the next day by the same eagle. Prometheus, the fire-bearer and the fore-thinker, has nothing to do but sulk in the sun and endure his punishment. But under the beaming rays of sun, he thinks of two things: how happy he is to know that the humans have potential to thrive, as fire can bring them many things, such as heat to cook food, heat to forge weapons, and they can use the energy from fire to create other human advancements. He also thinks of plotting his revenge against Zeus. Athena, Goddess of wisdom and intelligence, speaks to Prometheus every time revenge crosses his mind. She reminds him that he must not act too quickly, and only retaliate at the right time. Eventually, Heracles frees Prometheus by killing the eagle that causes his sufferings. As he is free, he becomes aware that his brother Epimetheus accepted a terrible gift from Zeus, being Pandora and her box. From opening of the box, humans are now suffering with disease and hardships as evil is released unto them. This was the last straw for Prometheus, and vows to create a plan to use this gift against Zeus to make him or a loved one suffer, just as humans suffer from the hardships bestowed on them by Zeus, and just as Prometheus has suffered under the hot rays of the sun on the side of Caucasus. For thousands of years, Prometheus has shown humans ways to use energy from the fire he has gifted them. Most notably, he showed humans how to burn fossil fuels to create electricity, and from this rose another wave of human advancements! But for Prometheus, the fore-thinker, not only did he help his beloved humans, he also knew how dangerous this advancement can be for Gaia, mother of Zeus and Goddess of the Earth. From burning these fossil fuels produces an air-pollutant called Carbon Dioxide which gets trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere, and eventually results in the rising global temperature. Year after year, this makes Gaia suffer little by little. So slowly, it is said that Zeus and Gaia herself hasn’t noticed yet. But this is all part of Prometheus’ plan, as he knows of another human advancement that can make humans produce electricity in a much safer and efficient way which can reduce the Earth’s carbon footprint. But Prometheus has not showed this advancement to the humans yet, as he is waiting for Zeus’ cry for help once he notices how much Gaia suffers from the rising temperatures year after year, and when that time arrives, Prometheus’ revenge will finally be complete.
Analysis of the Myth
This myth explains the phenomenon of global warming by creating a revenge story for Prometheus to retaliate against Zeus. Prometheus, God of fire, forethought and trickery, uses his intelligence and patience to create a plan to get revenge against Zeus. From the thousands of years of suffering under Zeus’ punishment while under the beaming rays of the sun, he only thinks of two things during this punishment: first and foremost, how happy he is to know that humans have the gift of fire, and that they can use this gift for many things, such as, heat to cook food, heat to forge weapons, and eventually the burning of fossil fuels for technological advancements like gas for transportation and energy for electricity. Secondly, he thinks of a plan to retaliate against Zeus, as he is the God of forethought and trickery. As he is freed by Heracles, he then realizes that his brother, Epimetheus, accepts a gift from Zeus, in the form of a beautiful women named Pandora, and a mysterious box. Once the box is open, it releases all evil and hardships for the humans. Prometheus realizes this is a punishment for the humans for having the gift of fire. Prometheus then uses this punishment as an advantage; he helps the human civilization with the progression of technological advancements, and teaches them to use the gift of fire to burn fossil fuels to create energy for electricity. This backfires on Zeus, because by burning fossil fuels, it hurts Gaia, mother of Zeus and Goddess of the Earth, by polluting the earth’s atmosphere and eventually warming the global temperatures every year. This is all part of Prometheus’ plan to retaliate against Zeus for punishing the humans.
This myth consists of many myths that we have learned about throughout the course. Namely, the story of Prometheus stealing the fire form Zeus to give to the humans, the story of Pandora and the opening of Pandora’s box, and Athena, Goddess of wisdom and intelligence, helping Prometheus to plan his retaliation.
First of all, this story heavily revolves around the events of Prometheus stealing fire for the humans. Prometheus, God of fire and forethought, tricked Zeus into choosing a plate that is filled with hollowed bones of a sacrificed bull under a thick layer of fat. Because of this trick, Zeus punishes Prometheus by stealing the gift of fire (Hesiod, Theogony Prometheus. Line 540 – 544). But Prometheus refused to see his creation not having the gift of fire among them, so being a God of fore-thought and trickery, Prometheus steals the gift of fire from Zeus and gave it back to the humans (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound. 228 - 258). Zeus then punishes Prometheus for stealing back the gift of fire by chaining him on the side of a mountain in Caucasus. Furthermore, Zeus sends an eagle to eat at his liver every day, and regenerates Prometheus’ liver every night so that the eagle can eat his liver again (Hesiod, Theogony. 526 – 527). This suffering lasts to centuries, until Heracles saves Prometheus, by freeing him from his chains and killing the eagle that feasts on his liver (Apollodorus, Apollodorus: The Library. 1. 45).
Secondly, in the myth above, it mentions the helping of Athena as Prometheus is chained on the side of the mountain. As Prometheus thinks about seeking his revenge against Zeus, Athena, Goddess of wisdom and intelligence, reminds Prometheus to not retaliate too soon, and wait until the time is right. In the myth, Athena is used as a symbol of wisdom. She is not portrayed as a physical being that is present with Prometheus, rather she is portrayed as a thought of Prometheus as he thinks of his revenge against Zeus.
Lastly, another important part to this myth is the reference of the story of Pandora. After Zeus punishes Prometheus from stealing back the gift of fire for the humans, and as he is being punished on the mountain-side of Caucasus, Zeus planned another punishment but this time it is for the humans. Zeus orders Hephaistos, Athena, and Aphrodite to create a beautiful woman named Pandora and give her to Epimetheus as a gift. Epimetheus happily accepts this gift, forgetting that his brother Prometheus warned him to not accept any gift from Zeus. Pandora is gifted with the trait of curiosity from Zeus and she is also gifted a box that is never to be opened by mortal beings. Her curiosity gets the best of her and opens the box anyways, and as a result, the release of all evil, diseases and hardships are bestowed upon all humans in the world (Hesiod, Works & Days 110-125).
Continuing on through the myth above, as Heracles frees Prometheus from his suffering by breaking his chains and killing the eagle (Hesiod, Theogony. 525 – 531), Prometheus learns about Pandora, and now sees that humans are suffering from all evils that were released from Pandora’s box. Athena, Goddess of wisdom and intelligence, comes down on Prometheus as a symbol, and help to use this punishment from Zeus against him. Prometheus then plans to guide humans through all human advancements with the help of the gift of fire, including: teaching humans to use fire to burn fossil fuels to provide them with energy that they can use towards the further development of the human civilization. From doing this, Prometheus and the humans are hurting Gaia, by polluting Earth’s air and trapping more and more heat onto the Earth’s atmosphere. This is all part of Prometheus’ plan to retaliate against Zeus, by slowly polluting the air of the Earth, and eventually hurting Gaia, mother of Zeus and Goddess of Earth.
This myth explains the phenomenon that is global warming. From the references of already talked about myths in the course, and using the character of Prometheus to be the main character, we can see how Prometheus uses his cunning and intelligent mind to finally have the last laugh against Zeus, by involving Gaia, mother of Zeus and Goddess of Earth.
Works Cited
Aeschylus, and Herbert Weir Smyth. Prometheus Bound. Cambridge University Press, 1939.
Apollodorus, and James George Frazer. Apollodorus. the Library. Harvard University Press, 1921.
Trzaskoma, Stephen, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, and Thomas G. Palaima. "Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation." Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation. Hackett, 2016. pp. 163
Trzaskoma, Stephen, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, and Thomas G. Palaima. "Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation." Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation. Hackett, 2016. pp. 164