Editing Prometheus (section)

{{short description|Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp-move}}
{{infobox deity
| deity_of = God of forethought and crafty counsel
| father = [[Iapetus]]
| mother = [[Asia (Oceanid)|Asia]] or [[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]]
| siblings = [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Epimetheus]], [[Menoetius]]
| image = Prometheus and Atlas, Laconian black-figure kylix, by the Arkesilas Painter, 560-550 BC, inv. 16592 - Museo Gregoriano Etrusco - Vatican Museums - DSC01069.jpg
| caption = Prometheus tortured by the eagle<br>(black-figure [[kylix]],  560-550 BC)
| type = greek
| children = [[Deucalion]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Prometheus''' ({{IPAc-en|p|r|ə|ˈ|m|iː|θ|i|ə|s}}; {{Langx|grc|Προμηθεύς}}, {{IPA|grc|promɛːtʰéu̯s|}}, possibly meaning "forethought")<ref name="Prometheus">Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D47%3Aentry%3Dprometheus-bio-1 "Prometheus"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225132658/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D47%3Aentry%3Dprometheus-bio-1 |date=2021-02-25 }}.</ref> is a [[Titans|Titan]].<ref>Tripp, s.v. Prometheus, p. 499.</ref> He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking [[theft of fire|fire]] from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge and, more generally, civilization.

In some versions of the myth, Prometheus is also credited with the [[Creation of life from clay|creation of humanity from clay]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Volume 2A: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries |publisher=[[Pearson Education, Inc.]] |year=2006 |isbn=0-321-33394-2 |location=United States |pages=704}}</ref> He is known for his intelligence and for being a champion of mankind<ref>[[William Hansen (classicist)|William Hansen]], ''Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans'' (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 32, 48–50, 69–73, 93, 96, 102–104, 140; as trickster figure, p. 310.</ref> and is also generally seen as the author of the human arts and sciences.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/frankenstein-and-its-classics-the-modern-prometheus-from-antiquity-to-science-fiction |title=Frankenstein and Its Classics: The Modern Prometheus from Antiquity to Science Fiction |date=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-05491-2 |editor-last=Weiner |editor-first=Jesse |doi=10.5040/9781350054912.0006 |editor-last2=Stevens |editor-first2=Benjamin Eldon |editor-last3=Rogers |editor-first3=Brett M. }}</ref> He is sometimes presented as the father of [[Deucalion]], the hero of the [[flood story]].<ref>Dougherty, C. (2006). Prometheus. Abingdon: Routledge.</ref><ref>West, S. (1994). Prometheus Orientalized. Museum Helveticum, 51(3), 129–149.</ref><ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus1.html#7 1.7.1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023141940/https://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus1.html#7 |date=2021-10-23 }}.</ref>

The punishment of Prometheus for stealing fire from Olympus and giving it to humans is a subject of both ancient and [[Prometheus in popular culture|modern culture]]. [[Zeus]], king of the [[Olympian gods]], condemned Prometheus to eternal torment for his transgression. Prometheus was bound to a rock, and an eagle—the emblem of Zeus—was sent to eat his liver (in ancient Greece, the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotions). His liver would then grow back overnight, only to be eaten again the next day in an ongoing cycle. According to several major versions of the myth, most notably that of [[Hesiod]], Prometheus was eventually freed by the [[Greek hero|hero]] [[Heracles]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 526–8</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Greenberg|first1=Mike|last2=PhD|date=2020-05-04|title=Prometheus: The Complete Guide to the Greek Titan (2021)|url=https://mythologysource.com/prometheus-greek-titan/|access-date=2021-05-11|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511222124/https://mythologysource.com/prometheus-greek-titan/|url-status=live}}</ref> The struggle of Prometheus is located by some at [[Mount Elbrus]] or at [[Mount Kazbek]], two volcanic promontories in the [[Caucasus Mountains]] beyond which for the ancient Greeks lay the realm of the ''[[Barbarian|barbari]]''.<ref name="bhm">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Lowell |title=Book of the High Mountains |date=1964 |publisher=Julian Messner |page=159}}</ref>

In another myth, Prometheus establishes the form of [[animal sacrifice]] practiced in [[Religion in ancient Greece|ancient Greek religion]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prometheus – Greek Titan God of Forethought, Creator of Mankind |url=https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=www.theoi.com |archive-date=2022-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325053053/https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Evidence of a cult to Prometheus himself is not widespread. He was a focus of religious activity mainly at [[ancient Athens|Athens]], where he was linked to [[Athena]] and [[Hephaestus]], who were the Greek deities of creative skills and technology.<ref name=lrf>[[Lewis Richard Farnell]], ''The Cults of the Greek States'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896), vol. 1, pp. 36, 49, 75, 277, 285, 314, 346</ref><ref name=dough>Carol Dougherty, ''Prometheus'' (Routledge, 2006), pp. 42ff</ref>

In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving (particularly the quest for scientific knowledge) and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. In particular, he was regarded in the [[Romanticism|Romantic era]] as embodying the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy: [[Mary Shelley]], for instance, gave ''The Modern Prometheus'' as the subtitle to her novel ''[[Frankenstein]]'' (1818).

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