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History
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Written by Karen McCarthy (TDC)
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Thursday, 27 August 2009 16:21 |
1. Prometheus' role in humanities primal history could be viewed as the bringer of unending punishment to man. Although Prometheus stole fire to give to man because of his compassion toward mans sufferings, his actions bought about "sorrow and mischief" because Zeus hid from man “the means of life.” The means of life Zeus hid from man appears to be the secret to immortality. (Hesiod, 1983) Prometheus did not steal fire to defy Zeus; He stole it to save humanity.
2. Due to Prometheus' trickery, Zeus, in his anger, devised a plan to punish man further by creating woman, Pandora. Being the first mortal woman, Pandora was endowed with many great and deceptive attributes. Pandora was created for the sole purpose of punishing man and ultimately brought about humanities downfall. Due to Pandora’s gift of curiosity she opened the jar and released all the evils of mankind, closing it just in time to keep hope inside. The forbidden fruit (knowledge) is the biblical counterpart to Promethean fire, the source of (knowledge) that makes civilisation possible. The first women, in both Greek and biblical traditions, are responsible for the downfall of man due to the loss of their original paradises.
3. Yahweh, according to Hesiod, believed that man existed in paradise before the creation of woman. Woman was created as an evil gift. Eve desired to become like God due to the serpents effective encouragement to partake of the forbidden fruit (knowledge). Zeus had already decided the fate of humans and that fate was extinction. When Prometheus stole fire contained in a hollow fennel stalk and gave it too man, he destroyed Zeus' planned extinction. Pandora was created from earth and clay and endowed with many gifts. The correlation between Eve and Pandora is that both desired the forbidden fruit *(knowledge), Pandora the Jar and Eve the apple. In both cases: Zeus and the Serpent (possibly male also), bough about the demise of man through the use of women as their deliverers.
4. Prometheus in Hesiod's "Works and Days" is described as a "crafty and deceitful." Hesiod's view is portrayed through a poem. Poetry, as with myth, contains certain qualities of truth, according to the writer, and quite a lot of narratives to fill in the blanks. Plato's Prometheus was a Sophist Philosopher named Protagoras who asserted that "man is the measure of all things." (Platzner,2008,pp.647) During the time of Protagoras, many doubts were already growing along with mistrust towards the gods. The difference to the myth is that Plato's Prometheus was a man and a philosopher, he philosophised. Hesiod's Prometheus was a Titan God, who loved mankind so much that he was willing to suffer for man advancement, he acted.
Hesiod. (1983). Works and Days. In A. N. Athanassakis, Hesiod: Theogony (pp. TH 22, ll. 42-53). The John Hopkins University Press: David M. Robinson Publication Fund.
Harris & Platzner 2008 Classical Mythology (pp.647). New York. Mcgraw-Hill
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Last Updated on Thursday, 27 August 2009 16:23 |
