Prometheus and Pandora Presentation PDF

5 Prometheus and Pandora The Nature of Human Life  5 Prometheus and Pandora 5.1 Hesiod: Prometheus and Human Life 5.2 Hesiod: Pandora & Human Life 5.3 Aeschylus: Prometheus vs Zeus ...

5 Prometheus and Pandora The Nature of Human Life  5 Prometheus and Pandora 5.1 Hesiod: Prometheus and Human Life 5.2 Hesiod: Pandora & Human Life 5.3 Aeschylus: Prometheus vs Zeus  Myth and Culture The particular body of stories we have examined so far, in which the eternal order and light of Zeus is opposed to ever-threatening but mostly contained instability, darkness and chaos expresses a world-view that encompasses flux and plurality on the one hand, and permanence and singularity on the other. Oppositions: Light and Darkness, Eros and Eris (Ananké), Metis and Thumos … Prometheus, and humanity, will be shown to be two manifestations of a continuing tendency towards disorder.  Myth and Culture The interlocking nature of these myths is what Geertz refers to when he says that “man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun” (Geertz 1973:5), and that to analyse that web we need to understand “the imaginative universe within which their acts are signs” (13).  5.1 Hesiod: Prometheus and Human Life  A 3-Act Drama Act I: Cosmogony Act II: Titans and Olympians Act III: The Human Story (Prometheus and Pandora) Scene 1: The Sacrifice at Mecone; Zeus withdraws fire Scene 2: Prometheus Steals Fire Scene 3: Punishment of Men: Pandora Scene 4: Punishment of Prometheus: (Tartarus), Imprisonment and the Eagle  Prometheus Act III in the Cosmic Drama Differing traditions/accounts: typical of Greek myth Creation of humans not central feature of Greek myth Men created first: live an idyllic existence (under Kronos): unclear how they got there (Hesiod’s “5 Races”: see Unit 6) Women created later as a punishment to men: Prometheus and the theft of fire  Hesiod’s “Five Races of Man” (Unit 6) Golden Age (under Kronos): men ate with the gods, without toil or pain (death was like sleep) Silver Age: (early reign of Zeus) foolish and god- neglecting men Bronze Age: (early reign of Zeus) vicious fighting giants all over earth Age of Heroes: semi-divine more-than-men (several generations: Theseus, Oedipus, Antigone, Trojan War: Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus, etc) Current (wretched) Iron Age: destructiveness spiraling out of control  Deucalion and the Flood (Unit 6) Told most fully in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Zeus fed up with humanity, decided to obliterate it (as he frequently wanted to do) Fire from thunderbolt? Heavens might burn Flood: similar to Noah’s Ark Deucalion (son of Prometheus) and Pyrrha in the arc alone; eventually flood subsides; they are given an enigmatic Deucalion & Pyrrha casting stones, directive … relief in the Parc del Laberint d'Horta, Barcelona They throw stones over shoulders to create men (Deucalion) & woman (Pyrrha)  Sources for Story of Prometheus/Pandora Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days (longer account, includes and related stories “The 5 Races of Man”) Some visual representations Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound (and fragments of lost 2 plays in the trilogy) Plato: Protagoras, Timaeus, Symposium (Prometheus & Epimetheus apportion characteristics to humans & animals; Prometheus as Demiurge) Pindar: Olympian 9 & (primarily) Ovid: Metamorphoses (Deukalion & the Flood) Pseudo-Apollodorus: Library (very brief: Prometheus; the Flood)  Prometheus Hesiod: a relatively brief account: a figure who tried to trick Zeus by stealing fire - rightly punished for it (“you cannot go against the will of Zeus”) Other: comical, a thief Benefactor of mankind; explanation for nature of human life Source of all arts, culture, technology, science and knowledge etc Important in cosmic battles and the development of a ‘just’ and stable universe Post-Aeschylus: A figure whose importance has continued Aeschylus for 1000s of years  Prometheus (Kerényi 1951, 208) Son of Iapetus (Titan) and Klymene (daughter of Oceanus, with beautiful ankles) or Asia or Asopis (208) Indeterminate status: child of Titan so not “Titan” as such; cousin of Zeus, but not an Olympian either (not of their stock) Siblings: Menoitios, Atlas, Epimetheus … all associated with suffering (hence association with humankind) Menoitios: struck down by Zeus (thunderbolt) for unspecified foolhardy aggression Atlas: condemned (in lost Titanomachy?) to eternal toil holding up the heavens; father of many goddesses (incl. Calypso); associated with “dangerous wisdom” (Odyssey 1.52); “Pillars of Atlas” held apart Sky and Earth in extreme West of earth (Prometheus toils at eastern edge of earth: Caucasus)  Prometheus (Kerényi 1951, 212-14) Prometheus (fore-sight, cunning) and Epimetheus (after-sight; learning only from the event): another contrasting pair Story that they both helped get Athena out of Zeus’ head using axes Prometheus associated with metis; like Kronos: “of crooked thoughts” (Hesiod, Theogony 546); in some versions (including Prometheus Bound) he assisted Zeus in the war against the Titans by advising him to use metis rather than brute force alone Similar to Zeus: crafty intelligence, wiliness (cf. Athena, Odysseus); evident in Sacrifice at Mecone (Act III, Scene 1) & in Prometheus Bound Associated with Hephaistos (fire & smithy god) in various ways: equivalent to, father of, by way of connection to fire, chained up by …  Prometheus (Kerényi 1951, 212-14) Most strongly associated with humanity: intermediate status, co-suffering “His condition is similar to that of humans, because they too are ambiguous creatures: They both contain some strain of the divine–they did live side by side with the gods, early on–and at the same time some strain of animality, of bestiality. So both in men and in Prometheus, there are contradictory elements.” (Vernant 2001, 49) A voice of internal dissent: “he is not seeking to supplant Zeus, but within the system that Zeus has established, Prometheus is that small voice of contention inside the gods’ world…” (Vernant 49); strongly evident in Prometheus Bound  Act Three, Scene One To help establish the hierarchy and division of roles and honours between the gods and mortal men in the new era under his rule, Zeus calls on Prometheus to perform a crucial sacrifice at the ancient palace at Mecone (Sicyon, near Corinth: Kirk 1974, 138) Because in some versions (including Prometheus Bound) he assisted Zeus in the war against his fellow Titans by advising him to use metis rather than brute force alone Sacrifice: the means by which man communicates with the gods, by which he is unified in some way with divinity; giving in the hope of receiving (“do ut des”) Mecone symbolises “the whole dilemma of the relations between men and gods” (Kirk 1974:142)  Hesiod, Theogony “For when gods & mortal men disputed at Mekonê, Prometheus divided up & set before them the portions of a great bull with eager heart, deceiving the mind of Zeus. For he set out before him on the hide the flesh & the entrails rich with fat, concealing them with the bull’s stomach, & then he set out before him in turn the white bones of the bull as a cunning trick, attractively concealing them with shining fat. Then the father of men & gods said to Prometheus: “O son of Iapetos, most excellent of all the gods—wow! How you have divided the portions unequally!” So Zeus spoke with a sneer, knowing all things forever. But wily Prometheus answered him, with a slight smile, not forgetting his cunning deception: “Most glorious & greatest of the everlasting gods, of this offering take whatever your spirit within urges you to.” So he spoke, keeping his trick in mind. Zeus, who knows all things forever, knew & recognized the trick, but he intended evil for mortal man, which was to come to pass.° He took up in both his hands the white fat, & he was angry in his heart, & anger overcame his spirit when he saw the white bones of the bull cunningly decked out. And this is the reason that the tribes of men upon the earth burn the white bones to the gods on the smoking altars.” (Theogony, Powell 2017, ll.429-47)  The Sacrifice at Mecone Sacrifice of great βους (ox/cow) Division into 2 portions: 1. Meat enclosed within animal hide then inside ugly stomach (gaster) [belly theme] 2. Clean, stripped bones wrapped in glistening fat Deception: difference between outside and inside (pattern that will be repeated) Zeus choice “to determine the dividing line between men and gods” (Vernant 50) = the bones in fat; to humans goes the meat inside animal’s stomach  The Sacrifice at Mecone Has Zeus (who swallowed Metis) been tricked, even though he never can be? Humanity gets meat because we need to eat to survive; Gods don’t need to eat at all, especially not human food; they feast on ambrosia and nectar for entertainment Bones don’t decompose; contain marrow that Greeks associated with vital life force (also in mind & semen: continuity via offspring)  Greek Religious Practice Worshipping the Gods Assumes basic belief in gods, heroes Different gods worshipped in a different ways in different locations/landscapes (Simon 2021, 9) Act of sacrifice essential in all cases: direct connection (hoped for) between human and divine; blood sacrifices most common (cattle, goats, oxen) Do ut des (I give so that you might give) Difference Olympian & Chthonic gods: Olympians as at Mecone; Chthonic gods received sacrifice into earth in pit, animal burnt whole – not shared by worshippers But not exclusive: Zeus, Hermes, Demeter sacrificed to in both Olympian & Chthonic way (all connected to Hades)  The Sacrifice at Mecone Etiology of common Greek religious practice: “On the altar outside the temple, aromatic herbs are set on fire and they send up a fragrant smoke; then the white bones are laid on the branches. The gods’ share is the white bones, shiny with grease, that rise up the skies in the form of smoke. Men, meanwhile, get the rest of the animal, which they will consume either grilled or boiled.” (Vernant 2001, 51); liver particularly valued (64) “So in the end, what the gods get through Prometheus’s hoax is the animal’s life force, whereas what men receive–the meat– is only dead animal. Men must nourish themselves by a chunk of dead animal; and this division marks them for good as mortal in nature. Humans are henceforth the mortals, the ephemeral creatures, as opposed to the gods, who are nonmortals.” (Vernant 2001, 52)  Scene 2: Zeus’ Fury Prometheus’ (attempted) deception “Greatly enraged, cloud-gathering Zeus spoke to (the inside vs the outside) causes Zeus Prometheus: “O son of Iapetos, always up to your to become enraged tricks! So, you have still not let up from your trickery!” Thus spoke Zeus in anger, who knows all Zeus’ (thunderbolt) fire previously things forever. From that time, always mindful of freely available to men: on tops of ash the trick, he has not given to ash trees the strength trees (Vernant 2001, 53) of untiring fire for mortal men.° But the brave son Zeus now withdraws/conceals fire: of Iapetos deceived him when he stole the far-seeing essential for humans to cook meat/food, gleam of untiring fire in a hollow stalk of fennel.° keep warm This act stung him to the depths of his spirit, Zeus, who thunders on high, and his heart grew angry Zeus conceals “bios, life–that is to say, when he saw the far-seeing gleam of fire among the nourishment that supports life: the men. He immediately fashioned an evil for men, to cereals, wheat, barley” (Vernant 2001, balance out the fire.” (Theogony 447-57: Powell 54) 2017)  Fire and Fennel Prometheus steals fire from Olympus in a fennel stalk (inside/outside again); or from workshop of Hephaistos (Kerényi 1951, 216) “Fennel has a peculiar feature: Its structure is somewhat opposite to other trees. Most are dry outside, at the bark, and moist inside, where the sap circulates; but fennel is moist and green outside and utterly dry on the inside.” (Vernant 2001, 54) Difference between Inside & Outside Same fennel stalk used for Dionysian thyrsus (wand/staff)  Bachelard Inside & Outside (Bachelard 1964) “Outside and inside form a dialectic of division, the obvious geometry of which blinds us as soon as we bring it into play in metaphorical domains. It has the sharpness of the dialectic of yes and no, which decides everything.” (211) “Outside and inside are both intimate [and vast] – they are always ready to be reversed, to exchange their hostility. If there exists a border-line surface between such an inside and outside, this surface is painful on both sides.” (217-18)  Humans now have Promethean Fire, but … “Just as Prometheus had to conceal a seed of fire inside his stalk to bring it home to men, from now on men must hide the seeds of wheat and barley in the belly of the earth [the belly theme again] … Agriculture suddenly becomes necessary. Man has now to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow … There was the sperma of fire, and there is the sperma of wheat. Men are now obliged to live by labor … [Moreover, Unlike Zeus’ eternal flame] This fire has an appetite like mortal man’s; unless it is constantly fed, it goes out … For the Greeks, wheat is a plant that is ‘cooked’–primarily by the sun’s heat, but also by man’s labor. Then it must be cooked again at the bakery, by putting it in the oven. So fire is truly the marker of human culture. This Promethean fire, stolen away by trickery, is in fact a ‘technological’ fire–an intellectual process that distinguishes man from beasts and consecrates his nature as a civilized creature. And yet insofar as this human fire needs constant fresh fuel to live, unlike divine fire, it is also something like a wild beast that, once unleashed, cannot stop” (Vernant 2001, 55-6)  5.2 Pandora  Act III, Scene 3 The Creation of Pandora To punish mortal men … Zeus calls together Hephaistus, Athena, Aphrodite, the Hours (Horai) & others Orders Hephaistos: moisten some clay with water; model a statue like a parthenos (young woman, ready for marriage); a diadem & marriage veil on head Hermes: bring her to life, endow her with strength & the voice of a human being Athena & Aphrodite: dress her, adorn her, make her immensely beautiful; like a Calyx-krater showing the creation of Pandora, goddess attributed to the Niobid Painter (ca. 460–450 BCE). British Museum She is thauma idesthai (a wonder to behold); all are stupefied (Vernant 2001, 56-7)  Scene 3 The Creation of Pandora: Theogony “The famous crippled god, Hephaistos, made from earth the likeness of a modest young woman through the devisings of the son of Kronos. Flashing-eyed Athena wrapped and adorned her in silvery cloth, and with her hands she drew down over her head an embroidered veil, a marvel to see. And around her head Pallas Athena placed garlands, the flowers of fresh-blooming grass, seductive. And around her head she placed a golden band that the very clever lame god himself had made, working it in his hands, giving pleasure to Father Zeus. He worked into it many ingenious designs, a wonder to see, of wild animals of the kind that inhabit the sea and the dry land—of these wonderful things he placed many examples, like living things with voices, and a great beauty shone from it. But when he had made the beautiful evil as the price for the good, he brought her forth to where the other gods were, and men, rejoicing in the finery of the flashing-eyed daughter of loud-thundering Zeus.° Amazement filled the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw the bitter deception, which men could not withstand. From her comes the race of tender women, who dwell among men as a great affliction for mortals, not bearing up well in Poverty, but happy in Plenty. As when bees in roofed hives feed the drones, always up to their evil deeds —the bees are busy by day, and all day long until the sun goes down they lay out the white honeycombs while the drones stay inside the roofed hives and gather the labor of others into their bellies—even so Zeus, who thunders on high, made women an evil for mortal men, conspirators in harsh deeds.” (Hesiod, Theogony, Powell 2017 ll.457-80)  Scene 3 The Creation of Pandora: Works & Days “In anger Zeus the cloud-gatherer spoke to him: “O son of Iapetos, who surpass all in cunning, you rejoice because you have stolen fire, because you have deceived my mind, but you have contrived for yourself & for men to come a gigantic evil. I will give them in retribution for the fire an evil in which all will take delight in their spirit while embracing their own evil.” So he spoke. And the father of men & gods laughed out loud. He ordered the famed Hephaistos immediately to mix earth with water & to place inside the voice & strength of a human being, & to make the lovely desirable shape of a young girl with a face like the immortal goddesses. And he commanded Athena to teach her crafts, how to weave elaborately embroidered cloth, & he ordered golden Aphrodite to pour out on her head charm that inspires cruel desire, & care that devours the limbs. And he urged Hermes the messenger, the killer of Argos,° to put in her the mind of a bitch & a scheming nature. So he spoke. And they obeyed King Zeus, the son of Kronos. Straightaway the clever Lame God made her from earth in the image of a modest young girl, following the plans of the son of Kronos. And the goddess glancing-eyed Athena gave her a girdle & ornaments, & the goddess Graces & queenly Persuasion placed on her skin golden necklaces, & the Hours with beautiful locks crowned her with spring flowers.° Pallas Athena fitted all the ornaments to her body. And in her breast the messenger, the killer of Argos, fashioned lies & wheedling words & a thievish nature through the will of loud- thundering Zeus. And the messenger of the gods placed in her a voice, & he named the woman Pandora, because all who live on Olympos had given her a gift, an evil for men who devour grain.” (Hesiod, Works & Days, Powell 2017, ll.51- 72)  Pandora: Inside/Outside Theme (Vernant 2001) Pandora: first mortal woman, archetype, in the image of the immortal goddesses “Pandora”: “All-giving,” “Rich in gifts” or “Gift of all the gods” (cf. Gaia) Outside: like a goddess; “To look at a woman is to see Aphrodite, Hera, Athena (cf. The Judgement of Paris”) (62) Inside: insatiable appetites (food, adornments, sex), animalistic; a belly, a gaster (cf. the belly of Gaia, Rhea) Hermes has put lying, thieving words into her mouth [Hermes: god of Thieves] “Pandora is a fire that Zeus put into households and that burns men up without a flame being struck–a thieving fire in response to the theft of fire.” (61)  Appearance and Reality (Vernant 2001) “One of the features of human existence is the dissociation between appearances – what can be seen and heard – and realities. Such is the condition of man as Zeus has concocted it in retaliation for Prometheus’s tricks.” (63) “Outside and inside form a dialectic of division … It has the sharpness of the dialectic of yes and no, which decides everything.” (Bachelard 1964, 211)  Pandora, Epimetheus & the Jar (Vernant 2001) Prometheus warns Epimetheus: don’t accept any gift from the gods! Pandora presented to Epimetheus, with predictable results; she becomes his wife … henceforth, all humanity born of woman (cf. Gaia’s fertile belly) All farms have storage jars; 1 in particular is off-limits (how did it get there? Pan?); Zeus incites Pandora to open it When she does, all human ills fly out; she quickly puts the stopper back on, keeping inside elpis (‘hope, expectancy for what is to come”: 63); expectation of when we die? (the Moirae) Not “we still have hope” but “we have all human ills but don’t have hope” Ferry (2014): “because of Pandora, or rather, by means of Pandora” (145) Trousson (1964): Pandora’s ‘box’ as opposed to “jar” introduced by Erasmus in the Renaissance (12-13) Pandora, Epimetheus & the Jar “Before this the tribes of men lived on the earth separate and apart from evil and apart from harsh labor and grievous sickness, which brings death upon men; for in misery men soon grow old. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered its contents abroad, and she devised terrible pains for humankind. Hope alone remained within in the unbreakable house beneath the lip of the jar, and did not fly out the door.° Before that she stopped the lid of the jar through the will of Zeus who carries the goatskin fetish, the gatherer of clouds. But ten thousand woes roam through humankind; for the earth is filled with evil things, and the sea is filled. Sickness afflicts humans in the day, and at night sickness courses through mortals, of their own accord bringing evils in silence, because Zeus the Counselor took away their voice. Thus there is no way at all to escape the mind of Zeus.” (Works & Days, Powell 2017 ll.84-95) Powell 2017, 113  Elpis Ambiguity: what is Hope doing in the jar of evils? Ares (as child) had once been shut inside a jar; released by Hermes (Kerényi 1951, 154) What does it mean that human beings have no access to elpis, and that elpis stayed just below the lip of the jar? And that this was Zeus’ intention? Some fragments suggest “hope” is a delusive evil (eg Euripides, Suppliants, 149: "man's curse; many a state has it involved in strife”) Ferry (2014): “[H]ope, for the Greeks, is not a gift. It is rather a calamity, a negative striving, for to hope is to remain always in a state of want, to want what we do not have, and, consequently, to remain in some sense unsatisfied and unhappy.” (144)  Hope? (in Prometheus Bound) Ambiguity: Vernant’s “expectancy for what is to come” i.e. what the Moirae will bring, the day of our death? Scully & Herington Prometheus: Humans used to foresee their deaths. I ended that. Chorus: What cure did you find for such a disease? Prometheus: Blind hopes. I sent them blind hopes to settle their hearts. Grene Prometheus: I stopped mortals from foreseeing doom. Chorus: What cure did you discover for that sickness? Prometheus: I sowed in them blind hopes.  Zeus’ 2 Jars Homer, Iliad, 24: 507ff: Achilles and Priam talk; Achilles says: On Zeus' floor stand two jars which hold his gifts one has disastrous things, the other blessings. When thunder-loving Zeus hands out a mixture, that man will, at some point, meet with evil, then, some other time, with good. When Zeus' gift comes only from the jar containing evil, he makes the man despised. Fragments suggest the Jar of Ills somehow secretly got into farm of Epimetheus & Pandora … did Prometheus steal it to prevent it being given to humankind … with tragic outcome? Or was the jar full of good things meant for humankind … which then flew out of our reach, back to Zeus?  Act III, Scene 4 Prometheus Chained and Tortured Thrown into Tartarus for many thousands of years (Aeschylus) Chained to a pillar with a stake through his chest at extreme East of the world (the Caucasus Mountains) Zeus’ Eagle (fire & thunderbolt bearer) and Prometheus’ liver Eventual release via Heracles’ arrow Death of Chiron the Centaur in recompense (Vernant 2001, 64) Reconciliation between Zeus & Prometheus: Order As always, the punishment fits the crime: Prometheus gave food to humans; is now food for Zeus’ eagle, “a chunk of meat cut from the living flesh” (Vernant 2001, 64) In Greek sacrifices, the liver is inspected to see if the gods have Prometheus bound in the TV Series, Kaos (2024)  3 Kinds of Time/Life Energy (Vernant 2001, 64-65) 1. Gods’ Time: “eternity, where nothing happens & everything is already present, nothing disappears” 2. Man’s Time: “linear, always moving in the same direction: A person is born, grows up, is adult, grows old, and dies.” 3. Circular or Zig Zag Time: “It describes an existence like the moon’s, for instance, which grows large, and dies, and is reborn, and repeats the cycle endlessly.” Prometheus’ Liver: “the mobile image of immobile eternity” (65)  Transition Heracles freeing Prometheus from his torment by the eagle (Attic black-figure cup, c. 500 BC) Prometheus is strung up “between human’s linear time and the eternal being of the gods.. He represents the transition between that very remote era when the cosmos was already organized but there was as yet no time, when gods and men lived mingled together, when non-death– immortality–reigned; and the era of mortals, henceforth to be separate from the gods, subject to death and the passage of time.” (Vernant 2001, 65)  5.3 Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound  Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound Pre-eminent expression of Prometheus myth in antiquity in theatrical form Authorship debated Prometheus Bound almost certainly existed within the context of two other tragedies and probably a satyr play: 1. Prometheus Pyrphoros (Prometheus the Fire-bearer): disputed name; single line 2. Prometheus Bound: extant tragedy 3. Prometheus Luomenos (Prometheus Unbound): handful of fragments Dramatizes the struggle between Zeus, brutal new tyrant ruler of the universe, and Prometheus, rebel and supporter of humankind  Prometheus Bound Prometheus is bound in 1st scene: cannot move for entire play Visited by (1) Chorus of Oceanids; (2) Oceanus; (3) Io; (4) Hermes Chorus sympathetic; others try to convince him to give in - refuses to compromise in battle with Zeus (he has secret knowledge of potential downfall of Zeus) Famous opening speech: all civilization comes from Masks of Prometheus Promethe us Central and longest “Io” scene: she cannot stop (above) & moving, except for story-telling (Prometheus relates Io (R) to Io her past and future) from 1927 End of play: cataclysm, fall into Tartarus Delphi Eagle’s feast on his liver will be after that productio n  Prometheus and Human Culture Main innovation: Prometheus crucial in the creation of all human culture (material & intellectual) ll.436-506 Prometheus to chorus: it was his work that allowed humanity to develop from a state of savagery into one of civilisation and self-reliance; many interpretations over the centuries have followed this line Prometheus’ gifts to mankind, and their subsequent development, as well as human courage in the face of suffering – embodied by both Io and Prometheus - are pitted against the dreadful tyranny of Zeus and the miseries that mortals must endure This aspect of the Prometheus myth endures right up to the Modernist period Prometheus’s claims in PB (Grene in Grene & Lattimore 1991, pp.155-57)  Why Humans are a Disruptive Force (Ferry 2014) “What Greek mythology dramatizes here … is the definition (entirely modern, moreover) of a species whose freedom and creativity are fundamentally at odds with both nature and cosmos … the human species is alone among mortal creatures capable of hubris, the only species capable of defying the gods and disturbing, even destroying, nature herself.” (156-57)  But … Prometheus and Ananke Ananke, Eros and Eris are active in all the principal motifs in Prometheus Bound The word Ananke is used seven times in the play: Prometheus himself refers to Ananke four times (lines 105, 108 514, 1052), and it occurs twice more in the opening ‘binding’ scene before Prometheus speaks (lines 16, 72), and once by the chorus immediately after Prometheus’ second use of it (line 515) Hephaestus says at line 16 that, despite his reluctance to chain and pin Prometheus to the mountain-side, Ananke (in the form of Zeus’ command) compels him to At line 72 he tells Kratos that Ananke already compels him to chain Prometheus; Kratos does not need to tell him to do it  Prometheus and Ananke In his opening speech (105, 108), Prometheus connects the unbreakable and irresistible chains of Ananke on him to his theft of fire as a gift to mankind and the many years of suffering he will endure because of this action At lines 514-15f Prometheus tells the Chorus that Ananke is far stronger than all the skills and abilities (technai) he possesses and that he has given to mankind; indeed Ananke is steered by the Moirae and is stronger than Zeus  Prometheus and Ananke The last occurrence of Ananke in the play (1052) is during the confrontation with Hermes immediately preceding the final cataclysm. Here Prometheus urges on the next act of Ananke, where he will be hurled into Tartarus In each instance, the evocation of Ananke is tied to Prometheus’ Eros and actions in regard to humanity, the chains that bind him, and the trajectory of his consequent sufferings The unity or at least virtual equality of Prometheus and Zeus is one of the innovations in the play, and thus the separation from Zeus (Eris), and possible reunion with Zeus (Eros), is strongly connected to the seven occurrences of the word ananke in the text  Prometheus and Zeus Aeschylus emphasises their similarity (stubborn temperament, possession of metis: Griffith 1983:9-10; Thomson 1983:106), and sets up the virtual unity of the two fiercely oppositional antagonists, thus making them worthy opponents of each other Status of Prometheus increased to equality with Zeus: In Hesiod, Gaia provides Zeus with crucial advice that allows him to defeat the Titans (free Cyclopes & Hecatoncheires), but in Prometheus Bound it is Prometheus who advises him to use metis rather than brute force alone (200ff) Here Prometheus is Zeus’ uncle rather than cousin (as in Hesiod): born of Gaia (& possibly Ouranos) Here Gaia associated with oracular powers & justice of Themis (elsewhere daughter of Gaia & Ouranos); strengthens Prometheus’ own insight into the future and justice  Prometheus and Zeus Status of Prometheus increased to equality with Zeus: Prometheus alone possesses secret regarding a possible sexual union between Zeus and Thetis (one of the fifty daughters of Nereus, god of the Mediterranean Sea, and Doris) It had been foretold that, should this union go ahead, a son born to them will overthrow Zeus, and the universe will once again be plunged into the turmoil of revolution (eventually, Thetis is married off to Peleus; Achilles is their son … the Trojan War) Trousson: this is ‘the pivotal point for the entire tragedy’ (1964, 27); set-up of this motif in Prometheus Bound (ll.655ff, 907- 14, 920-27, 944ff) clearly marks this motif for a major role in the subsequent play (or plays) in the trilogy Prometheus and Zeus One physically dominates the performance space (Prometheus is chained to a rock in the performance space for the entire length of the play) The other is physically absent (Zeus never appears in Prometheus Bound, nor is his arrival mentioned in any of the fragments) Prometheus Bound. 1995 Emphasizes their Directed by Theodoros Terzopoulos separation (at least for now) Photograph by Johanna Weber Prometheus Bound: Delphi, 1927  Prometheus dominates the performance space Delphi, Greece, 1930 Luca Ronconi’s Prometheus, 2002  Prometheus and Zeus There are clear signs within the extant play that eventual reunification is expected At Prometheus Bound, ll.192, Prometheus tells the chorus that “at last he will calm his merciless anger, And ask for a pact of friendship with me” At 771 Prometheus tells Io that after thirteen generations he will be set free by one of her descendants (i.e. Heracles) But eternal separation and antagonism also seems possible at this stage in the trilogy  Io Sole (suffering) mortal in the play: spurned Zeus’ sexual attentions; object of Hera’s jealous hatred; eternally fleeing Hera’s gadfly Not associated with Prometheus story before Aeschylus? Io scene: central; 325 lines (30% of entire play); contrast between immobility of Prometheus and ceaseless movement of Io Centre of scene consists in Prometheus & Io telling stories of own & each other’s past & future Key revelation 1: from Io’s line will be born Heracles, future savior of Prometheus Key revelation 2: for the 1st time, the secret Prometheus possesses regarding Zeus’ potential marriage to Thetis (ll.755ff); leads him to ever greater and more open defiance of Zeus, culminating in his later taunting of Hermes and the climactic final cataclysm  The Legacy of Prometheus The Titan has been referred to time and time again over the centuries when an author wants to make a statement about humankind’s relation to divinity, human suffering, and the possibility of transcending it. Herington: ‘where the ancient poem abandons [the poet], only one-third of the way through its course, an eternally modern poem begins: his own’ (Herington 1975, 18). Awad: the myth “was adapted alternately by different schools of thought to express their own attitudes to the major issues between God and Man. What the ancients did, the moderns also tried to do. In every case the myth was given a new twist to serve a new ideal.” (Awad 1963, 3)  As a vehicle for self expression, the Prometheus myth exemplifies what Herington calls ‘the history of the mirror’: it has allowed each era to find a means to express itself, at least in relation to its metaphysical outlook. (Herington 1975:11)  The Legacy of Prometheus in Antiquity and Modernity Plato: Prometheus as Demiurge C20 theatre and film Roman period: Prometheus as political rebel C21 experimental theatre Middle Ages/Renaissance: agent of alchemy Hegel: “world-historical individual” German Idealists Goethe: rebel against God C19 Christians: Prometheus as Christ Darwin Marx Romanticism Nietzsche French & Russian Symbolists German Expressionists  The Legacy of Prometheus: Goethe Trousson asserts that the young Goethe saw himself as Prometheus, and that C.M. Wieland was want to call him ‘Prometheus-Goethe’ (Trousson 1064:245).The famous lines from the end of his 1774 poem, “Prometheus”, beautifully captured the spirit the Titan’s resistance to the tyrant Zeus: Here sit I, forming mortals After my image; A race resembling me, To suffer, to weep, To enjoy, to be glad, And thee to scorn, As I! Prometheus Bound: Beziers, France, 1901 Prometheus Landscape II: Jan Fabre with Troubelyn, 2011  Sources Arrowsmith, W. (1959). "The Criticism of Greek Tragedy." The Tulane Drama Review 3(3) (1959), pp.31- 57 Awad, L. The Theme of Prometheus in English and French Literature: a study in literary influences. Imprimerie Misr, 1963 Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space. Trans. Maria Jolas. Beacon Press, 1964 Dowden, Ken & Niall Livingstone, eds. A Companion to Greek Mythology. Blackwell, 2011 Gantz, Timothy. Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Volume 1. John Hopkins University Press, 1993 Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures: A Series of Essays. Basic Books, 1973 Griffith, M. and Aeschylus. Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Cambridge University Press, 1983 Ferry, Luc. The Wisdom of The Myths: How Greek Mythology Can Change Your Life. Harper Perennial, 2014  Sources Grene, David & Richmond Lattimore, eds. Aeschylus II. University of Chicago Press, 1991 Herington, J.C. Poetry into drama: early tragedy and the Greek poetic tradition. U of California P, 1985 Kerényi, Karl. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames & Hudson, 1951/2002 Kirk, G.S. The Nature of Greek Myths. Penguin, 1974 Powell, Barry. The Poems of Hesiod. Trans. by Barry Powell. University of California Press, 2017 Thomson, G. "Prometheia". Oxford readings in Greek tragedy. Oxford University Press, 1983, pp.104-118 Trousson, R. Le Theme de Promethee dans la Litterature Europeenne. Droz, 1964 Vernant, Jean-Pierre. Myth and Society in Ancient Greece. Trans. Janet Lloyd. Methuen, 1980 Vernant, Jean-Pierre. The Universe, The Gods and Men. Trans. Linda Asher. Perennial, 2001  Sources West, M.L. Hesiod: Theogony – Works and Days. Trans. by M.L. West. Oxford University Press, 1988 Woodard, Roger D. “Hesiod and Greek Myth.” In Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology, ed. by Roger Woodard. Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp.83-165 Wooley, A. (1962). “Cosmic and Divine Ananke from its origin through Plato.” Unpublished PhD Department of Classics (Language and Literature), Princeton University.