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Prometheus and Man.

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Presentation on theme: "Prometheus and Man."— Presentation transcript:

1 Prometheus and Man

2 Prometheus Prometheus is mainly remembered as the creator/friend of human beings, who stole fire from the gods. As a result, he suffered terrible punishment.

3 Prometheus is chained to a rock and tortured by an eagle
This is freakin’ delicious! Biblical Parallel

4 Every day an eagle would arrive and devour the lobes of his liver, which would then grow back each night.

5 Before becoming the ruler of heaven, Zeus had to defeat his predecessor (and father) Cronus and the Titans. In this war, the Titanomachy (the War in which the Titans fought Zeus), Prometheus sided with Zeus, who is seen in the picture brandishing the thunderbolt against his enemies. Biblical Parallel

6 Creator of Man Prometheus is usually regarded as one of the greatest friends of mankind, and the savior of all men. In addition to providing, life and fire, Prometheus gave instructions to his son Deucalion, so that he would survive and mankind could start anew after Zeus attempted to destroy the men of the Bronze Age through The Flood According to myth, man was molded out of water and earth by Prometheus himself, who gave man the form of the gods and… " ... bade him to stand erect and turn his eyes to heaven." [Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.85] Biblical Parallel

7 Prometheus watches as Athena gives a soul to the molded man

8 Gifts for Man Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus, lacking in wisdom and forethought, distributed all properties suited for survival among animals, leaving unequipped the race of men. When the day arrived for the emergence of all creatures, Prometheus came to examine his brother's work and noticed that Epimetheus had not devised anything for the preservation of humans. So in order to correct his brother's mistake, Prometheus stole wisdom in arts from Hephaestus and Athena, along with fire, so that men could exercise those crafts, and gave all these gifts to humanity. Accordingly, Prometheus was later charged with theft.

9 More Cleverness It has also been said that Prometheus taught men to sacrifice to the gods in a clever way, casting only a part of the victim into the fire, and keeping the rest for their own food. It is told that Prometheus deceived Zeus with a trickery concerning the part which should be sacrificed to the god and the part which would remain for men. Prometheus concealed the different parts, and having given Zeus the chance to choose among them, the god, without any forethought, chose just the bones for his half. It may be because of this trickery that Zeus decided to hide the fire, and prevent men to use it.

10 Pandora Probably fearing the consequences of his own cleverness, Prometheus told his brother Epimetheus never to take a gift from Zeus, but Epimetheus, accepted Zeus' gift (Pandora), and only later understood what had happened. For until that time men lived free from ills, toil, and sickness, but Pandora opened a jar containing all earthly evils, and these flew out, afflicting mankind ever since. Only Hope remained inside. Biblical Parallel

11 “Prometheus, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire
“Prometheus, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire ... but I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad while they embrace their own destruction." (Zeus to Prometheus. Hesiod, Works and Days 55) Biblical Parallel

12 Pyrrha Prometheus fashioned man from clay, while the gods fashioned the first woman, Pandora. This is the reason why Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, is called the first mortal woman ever born. After the great flood, she and Deucalion were instructed to throw stones behind them. As they landed, the stones transformed into a new population of human children. Biblical Parallel

13 Others affirm that Pandora was not a curse sent from Zeus, but that she was given to men because the gods wished to show all mortals that they could do even better than Prometheus, who had given them fire. Either way, she totally screwed up with the whole “box” thing. Biblical Parallel

14 Heracles sets Prometheus free
Thanks Bro.

15 It is said that Zeus did not release Prometheus from all binding, since he had sworn to that, but for commemoration bade him bind his finger with stone and iron; and that is why men adopted the custom of wearing rings fashioned of stone and iron, that they may seem to appease Prometheus.


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