Prometheus

Prŏmētheus (trisyl.), ĕi and ĕos, m., =Προμηθεύς (the Forethinker),

• a son of Iapetus and Clymene, brother of Epimetheus, and father of Deucalion. He formed men of clay, and animated them by means of fire brought from heaven; for which he was fastened to Caucasus, where a vulture, or, as some say, an eagle, fed upon his entrails, until, at last, it was slain by Hercules, Cic. Tusc. 3, 31, 76; Auct. Her. 4, 6, 9; Hor. C. 1, 16, 13; Ov. M. 1, 82; Hyg. Fab. 54; 144; Verg. E. 6, 42; Prop. 3, 3, 29 (4, 4, 7); Mart. 11, 85, 9; Stat. Th. 11, 478; Lact. 2, 10, 5.—Poet., transf., of a skilful potter, Juv. 4, 133.—Hence,
• • A Prŏmēthēus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Prometheus, Promethean: juga, i.e. the Caucasus, Prop. 1, 12, 10; also called rupes, Mart. 9, 46, 3: fibra, of Prometheus, Val. Fl. 7, 356: creta, Col. poët. 10, 59: lutum, Mart. 10, 39, 4: cruor, Ov. Am. 2, 16, 40: manus, Stat. Th. 8, 305.—
  • B Prŏmēthĭădes, ae, m. patron., the son of Prometheus, Deucalion, Ov. M. 1, 390.

Promēthe͡us, eī u. eos, Akk. ea u. eum, Vok. e͡u, m. (Προμηθεύς, der Vorausdenker), Sohn des Japetus, Bruder des Epimetheus und Vater des Deukalion, bildete der Sage nach die Menschen aus Ton und belebte sie durch Feuer, das er vom Himmel geholt hatte, wofür er zur Strafe an den Kaukasus geschmiedet wurde; ein Geier, den schließlich Herkules tötete, fraß seine Eingeweide, Acc. tr. 534. Varro LL. 5, 31. Cornif. rhet. 4, 9. Cic. Tusc. 5, 8. Hyg. fab. 142 u. 144. Lact. 2, 10, 5: Genet. -ei, Prop. 2, 1, 69. Verg. ecl. 6, 42; -eos, Stat. Theb. 11, 468. – Akk. -ea, Hor. carm. 2, 18, 35. Sen. contr. 10, 5 (34) 1; eum, Hyg. fab. 54: Vok. -e͡u, Cic. poët. Tusc. 3, 76. – alle Kasus, Hyg. astr. 2, 15. – Prometheus ille Aeschyli, in der Tragödie des Äschylus, Cic. Tusc. 3, 76: is liber (Maecenatis), qui ›Prometheus‹ inscribitur, Sen. ep. 19, 9. – appell. wie im Griechischen = Bildner in Ton, Iuven. 4, 133. – Dav.: A) Promēthēus, a, um (Προμήθειος), zu Prometheus gehörig, promethëisch, iuga, v. Kaukasus, Prop.: creta, Colum. poët.: scopuli, Sen. tr.: rupes, Mart. – B) Promēthīdēs, ae, m., der Promethide (Sohn des Prometheus), d.i. Deukalion, Ov. met. 1, 390.

Prŏmētheūs (12) (trissyll.), ĕī ou ĕos, m. (Προμηθεύς), Prométhée [fils de Japet, frère dʼÉpiméthée, père de Deucalion, fit lʼhomme dʼargile et lʼanima avec le feu du ciel quʼil avait dérobé ; en punition il fut attaché sur le Caucase, où un vautour lui rongeait le foie ; il fut délivré par Hercule] : Cic. Tusc. 3, 76 || [poét.] un habile potier : Juv. 4, 133 || -ēus, a, um, de Prométhée : Promethea juga Prop. 1, 12, 10, le Caucase.

prometheus, i. m.
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Prometheus

(Προμηθεύς), is sometimes called a Titan, though in reality he did not belong to the Titans, but was only a son of the Titan lapetus (whence he is designated by the patronymic Ἰαπετιονίδης, Hes. Th. 528; Apollon Rhod. 3.1087), by Clymene, so that he was a brother of Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus (Hes. Th. 507). His name signifies "forethought," as that of his brother Epimetheus denotes "afterthought." Others call Prometheus a son of Themis (Aeschyl. Prom. 18), or of Uranus and Clymene, or of the Titan Eurymedon and HIera (Potter, Comment. ad Lyc. Cass. 1283; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 987). By Pandora, Hesione, or Axiothea, he is said to have been the father of Deucalion (Aesch. Prom. 560 ; Tzetz. ad Lyc. 1283; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.1086), by Pyrrha or Clymene he begot Hellen (and according to some also Deucalion; Schol. ad Apollon. l.c.; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. 9.68), and by Celaeno he was the father of Lvcus and Chimareus (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 132, 219), while Herodotus (4.45) calls his wife Asia. The following is an outline of the legends related of him by the ancients. Once in the reign of Zeus, when gods and men were disputing with one another at Mecone (afterwards Sicyon, Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 9.123), Prometheus, with a view to deceive Zeus and rival him in prudence, cut up a bull and divided it into two parts : he wrapped up the best parts and the intestines in the skin, and at the top he placed the stomach, which is one of the worst parts, while the second heap consisted of the bones covered with fat. When Zeus pointed out to him how badly he had made the division, Prometheus desired him to choose, but Zeus, in his anger, and seeing through the stratagem of Prometheus, chose the heap of bones covered with the fat. The father of the gods avenged himself by withholding fire from mortals, but Prometheus stole it in a hollow tube (ferula, νάρθηξ, Aeschyl. Prom. 110). Zeus now, in order to punish men, caused Hephaestus to mould a virgin, Pandora, of earth, whom Athena adorned with all the charms calculated to entice mortals; Prometheus himself was put in chains, and fastened to a pillar, where an eagle sent by Zeus consumed in the daytime his liver, which, in every succeeding night, was restored again. Prometheus was thus exposed to perpetual torture, but Heracles killed the eagle and delivered the sufferer, with the consent of Zeus, who thus had an opportunity of allowing his son to gain immortal fame (Hes. Th. 521, &c., Op. et Dies, 47, &c. ; Ilygin. Poet. Astr. 2.15; Apollod. 2.5.11). Prometheus had cautioned his brother Epimetheus against accepting any present from Zeus, but Epimetheus, disregarding the advice, accepted Pandora, who was sent to him by Zeus, through the mediation of Hermes. Pandora then lifted the lid of the vessel in which the foresight of Prometheus had concealed all the evils which might torment mortals in life. Diseases and sufferings of every kind now issued forth, but deceitful hope alone remained behind (Hes. Op. et Dies, 83, &c.; comp. Hor. Carm. 1.3.25, &c.). This is an outline of the legend about Prometheus, as contained in the poems of Hesiod. Aeschylus, in his trilogy Prometheus, added various new features to it, for, according to him, Prometheus himself is an immortal god, the friend of the human race, the giver of fire, the inventor of the useful arts, an omniscient seer, an heroic sufferer, who is overcome by the superior power of Zeus, but will not bend his inflexible mind. Although he himself belonged to the Titans, he is nevertheless represented as having assisted Zeus against the Titans (Prom. 218), and he is further said to have opened the head of Zeus when the latter gave birth to Athena (Apollod. 1.3.6). But when Zeus succeeded to the kingdom of heaven, and wanted to extirpate the whole race of man, the place of which he proposed to give to quite a new race of beings, Prometheus prevented the execution of the scheme, and saved the human race from destruction (Prom. 228, 233). He deprived them of their knowledge of the future, and gave them hope instead (248, &c.). He further taught them the use of fire, made them acquainted with architecture, astronomy, mathematics, the art of writing, the treatment of domestic animals, navigation, medicine, the art of prophecy, working in metal, and all the other arts (252, 445, &c., 480, &c.). But, as in all these things he had acted contrary to the will of Zeus, the latter ordered Hephaestus to chain him to a rock in Scythia, which was done in the presence of Cratos and Bia, two ministers of Zeus. In Scythia he was visited by the Oceanides; Io also came to him, and he foretold her the wanderings and sufferings which were yet in store for her, as well as her final relief (703, &c.). Hermes then likewise appears, and desires him to make known a prophecy which was of great importance to Zeus, for Prometheus knew that by a certain woman Zeus would beget a son, who was to dethrone his father, and Zeus wanted to have a more accurate knowledge of this decree of fate. But Prometheus steadfastly refused to reveal the decree of fate, whereupon Zeus, by a thunderbolt, sent Prometheus, together with the rock to which he was chained, into Tartarus (Hor. Carm. 2.18, 35). After the lapse of a long time, Prometheus returned to the upper world, to endure a fresh course of suffering, for he was now fastened to mount Caucasus, and tormented by an eagle, which every day, or every third day, devoured his liver, which was restored again in the night (Apollon. 2.1247, &100.3.853; Strab. xv. p.688 ; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 2.3; Hygin. Poet. Astr. 2.15; Aeschyl. Prom. 1015, &c.). This state of suffering was to last until some other god, of his own accord, should take his place, and descend into Tartarus for him (Prom. 1025). This came to pass when Cheiron, who had been incurably wounded by an arrow of Heracles, desired to go into Hades; and Zeus allowed him to supply the place of Prometheus (Apollod. 2.5.4; comp. Cheiron). According to others, however, Zeus himself delivered Prometheus, when at length the Titan was prevailed upon to reveal to Zeus the decree of fate, that, if he should become by Thetis the either of a son, that son should deprive him of the sovereignty. (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. 6.42 ; Apollod. 3.13.5; Hyg. Fab. 54; comp. Aeschyl. Pronm. 167, &100.376.)

There was also an account, stating that Prometheus had created men out of earth and water, at the very beginning of the human race, or after the flood of Deucalion, when Zeus is said to have ordered him and Athena to make nmen out of the mud, and the winds to breathe life into them (Apollod. 1.7.1; Ov. Met. 1.81; Etym. Mag. s. v. Προμηθεύς). Prometheus is said to have given to men something of all the qualities possessed by the other animals (Horat Carm. 1.16. 13). The kind of earth out of which Prometheus formed men was shown in later times near Panopeus in Phocis (Paus. 10.4.3), and it was at his suggestion that Deucalion, when the flood approached, built a ship, and carried into it provisions, that he and Pyrrha might be able to support themselves during the calamity (Apollod. 1.7.2). Prometheus, in the legend, often appears in connection with Athena, e. g., he is said to have been punished on mount Caucasus for the criminal love he entertained for her (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 2.1249) and he is further said, with her assistance, to have ascended into heaven, and there secretly to have lighted his torch at the chariot of Helios, in order to bring down the fire to man (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. 6.42). At Athens Prometheus had a sanctuary in the Academy, from whence a torch-race took place in honour of him (Paus. 1.30.2; Schol. ad Soph. Oed. Col. 55; Harpocrat. s. v. λαμπάς). The mythus of Prometheus is most minutely discussed by Welcker, in his Aeschylische Trilogie Prometheus, Darmstadt, 1824; by Völcker, Mythologie des Iapet. Geschlechtes, 1824; and with especial reference to the Prometheus of Aeschylus, by Schoemann, Des Aeschylus Gefesselter Prometheus. Greifswald, 1844, and by Blackie, in the Class. Mus. vol. v. p. 1, &c., which contain a very sound explanation of the mythus, as developed by Aeschylus. [L.S]

Promētheus

• (trisyl.), eī (ei, V.), acc.ea, voc.eu, Προμηθεύς(Forethinker), a son of Iapetus, who stole fire from heaven for men, C., H., V., Pr., O., Iu.

Promētheus

(Προμηθεύς, “forethought”). A son of the Titan Iapetus and the Ocean-nymph Clymené, brother of Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus, father of Deucalion (q.v.). The most ancient account of him, as given by Hesiod (Theog. 521-616) is as follows: When the gods, after their conquest of the Titans, were negotiating with mankind about the honour to be paid them, Prometheus was charged with the duty of dividing a victim offered in sacrifice to the gods. He endeavoured to impose upon Zeus by dividing it in such a way as cleverly to conceal the half which consisted of flesh and the edible vitals under the skin of the animal, and to lay thereon the worst part, the stomach, while he heaped the bones together and covered them with fat.

Zeus divined the stratagem, but, out of enmity towards man, purposely chose the worst portion, and avenged himself by refusing mortals the use of fire. Thereupon Prometheus stole it from Olympus and brought it to men in a hollow reed (νάρθηξ). As a set-off to this great blessing, Zeus resolved to send them an equally great evil. He caused Hephaestus to make of clay a beautiful woman named Pandora—that is, the all-gifted; for the gods presented her with all manner of charms and adornments, coupled however with lies, flattering words, and a crafty mind. Hermes brought her, with a jar as her dowry, in which every evil was shut up, to the brother of Prometheus, named Epimetheus (i. e. the man of afterthought, for he never thought of what he did until it had brought him into trouble). In spite of his brother's warning not to receive any present from Zeus, he was ensnared by her charms and took her to wife. Pandora opened the jar, and out flew all manner of evils, troubles, and diseases, before unknown to man, and spread over all the earth. Only delusive Hope remained in the jar, since, before she could escape, Pandora put the lid on the jar again (Hes. Op. et D. 54-105). But Prometheus met with his punishment. Zeus had him bound in adamantine fetters to a pillar with an eagle to consume in the day-time his liver, which grew again in the night. At last Heracles, with the consent of Zeus, who desired to increase his son's renown, killed the eagle, and set the son of Iapetus free. According to this account, the guile of Prometheus, and his opposition to the will of Zeus, brought on man far more evil than good.

Aeschylus, on the other hand, taking the view suggested by the Attic cult of Prometheus, in which the fire-bringing god was honoured as the founder of human civilization, gave the myth an entirely different form in his trilogy of Prometheus the Fire-bearer, Prometheus Bound, and Prometheus Released. In these Prometheus is still, of course, the opponent of Zeus; but, at the same time, he is represented as full of the most devoted love for the human race. See Aeschylus.

Aeschylus makes him son of Themis, by whom he is put in possession of all the secrets of the future. In the war with the Titans, his advice assisted Zeus to victory. But when the god, after the partition of the world, resolved on destroying the rude human race, and to create other beings in their stead, Prometheus alone concerned himself with the fate of wretched mortals, and saved them from destruction. He brought them the fire he had stolen from Hephaestus at Lemnos, the fire that was to become the source of all discoveries and of mastery over nature; and raised them to a higher civilization by his inventive skill and by the arts which he taught mankind. For this he was punished by being chained on a rock beside the sea in the wilds of Scythia. Oceanus advised him to bend beneath the might of Zeus; but he consoled himself with the knowledge that, if the god begat a son by a certain goddess known to himself alone (Thetis), the son would dethrone his father. When no menaces could tear from him the secret, Zeus hurled him with a thunderbolt into Tartarus together with the rock to which he was chained. From this abode he first emerged into the light of day a long time after, to be fastened on Mount Caucasus and torn by the eagle until another immortal voluntarily entered Hades for him. At last Heracles, on his journey to the Hesperides, shot the eagle; the centaur Chiron (q.v.), suffering from his incurable wound, gladly renounced his immortality; and, after Prometheus had revealed the name of the goddess, he was set free. But, as a sign of his punishment, he ever after bore on his finger an iron ring and on his head a willow crown. He returned to Olympus, and once more became adviser and prophet of the gods. Legends related that he moulded men and animals of clay, and either animated these himself with the heavenly fire or induced Zeus or Athené to do so (Ovid, Met. i. 81; Hor. Carm. i. 16, 13). In Athens Prometheus shared with Hephaestus a common altar in the Academy, in the sacred precinct of Athené, and was honoured with a torch-race in a yearly festival called the Prometheia. There are monographs on the myth of Prometheus, by Weiske (1842); Lasaulx (1843); Holle (1879); and Milchhöfer (1882); see also Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers (1886); and E. B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind (1865). The story of Prometheus has been made the subject of two fine poems by Shelley and Mrs. Browning.

Prometheus Prometheus, one of the Cabiri

• father of Aetnaeus: Paus. 9.25.6

Prometheus(2), son of Iapetus and Asia

• Apollod. 1.2.2
• son of Iapetus, contemporary of Aras: Paus. 2.14.4
• the legendary fire-stealer, the continent of Asia called after his wife: Hdt. 4.45
• smites the head of Zeus with an axe and lets out Athena: Apollod. 1.3.6
• moulded mankind out of clay: Paus. 10.4.4
• makes men and gives them fire: Apollod. 1.6.3
• gave fire to men: Paus. 2.19.5
• nailed to Mount Caucasus, but released by Herakles: Paus. 5.11.6, Apollod. 1.7.1
• father of Deucalion: Apollod. 1.7.1
• advises Deucalion to construct a chest in the great flood: Apollod. 1.7.2
• offers to live immortal that the wounded Chiron may die: Apollod. 2.5.4, Apollod. 2.5.11, Apollod. 1.3.51
• released by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.11
• advises him as to the apples of the Hesperides: Apollod. 1.3.51
• his prediction as to the son of Zeus by Thetis: Apollod. 3.13.4
• his tomb: Paus. 2.19.8
• his altar at the Academy: Paus. 1.30.2
• image of Prometheus or of Aesculapius: Paus. 10.4.4