prometheanenglish

[prometheanenglish]

❝ i gave them hope

and so turned away

their eyes from death. ❞

- aeschylus, prometheus bound

[prometheanenglish]

AS THE STORY GOES, we as the human race were visited by immortal beings almost incessantly about several thousand years ago. Most were gods come to trick, marry, or curse mortals as their playthings. There is only one who was entirely benevolent to us: the Greek firebringer Prometheus. His story has always fascinated Western culture even long after the fall of the ancient Greeks. Try as they might, no other culture ever managed a story like Prometheus’s. It’s unique to Greek culture and and provides a paramount link between people and the gods. Prometheus also received an position as a being excluded from worship, though greatly respected, in Greek worshiping culture, and he was a defining factor of Greek culture.

Myths are full of war and bloodshed. The nature of our hero is per se devoid of both. In fact, Prometheus bursts with life, for better or worse. In the great war of the young Gods against the ruling Titans, he did not choose sides. After the gods won, this neutrality was not overlooked: Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were spared punishment by the new lord of the Olympians, Zeus. Thinkers that the brothers were, they all too often retreated from the eyes of the Gods into their secluded world of own inventions - though it would not stay a separate world for long. Forming living beings out of earth and water, the brothers populated the earth with new creatures. Epimetheus gave them gifts at the request of his brother: strength, speed, agility, and disguises. But Prometheus’ own and by far his favorite creation - man - remained without a gift, for Epimetheus had given away all advantages to other beings. Prometheus, not willing to see his frail creation wither, descended to earth and gave mankind the light of knowledge. He became mankind’s teacher of survival in their environment, but also of abilities no other creature grasped: reading, writing, calculating, mining, invention and worship. But from worship resulted sacrifices and demands that the greatest sacrifices go to the ruling gods for allowing mankind to live. Prometheus was haunted by the thought that in a frenzy to appease the gods, humans would endanger their own survival by sacrificing the fruits of their labor. He devised a trick that permitted humanity to offer sacrifices to the gods while still living life in abundance. Zeus, livid for having fallen for the trick, took all fire from Earth in his anger. Prometheus saw himself forced to fulfill the utmost of desperate measures to ensure man’s survival. He stole fire - in some versions from Athena’s or Hephaestus’ workshops, in others from Zeus’ own thunderbolt, adding to the offense - and gave it back to man. When Zeus glimpsed the flickering flames on Earth, his rage fueled his growing desire to punish Prometheus, the Titan he had now falsely spared. He chained the firebringer to a cliff in the frigid mountains and let an eagle feed on the Titan’s liver day by day. As Prometheus was still immortal, this caused him insufferable agonies. By nighttime, his liver grew back, renewing his torture for the next day. He remained in the isolated mountains for thousands of years, lonely and suffering. Yet what always remained most intact of all was his spirit.

Though countless cultures have myths that explain the origins of humans, the Greeks’ myth is unlike any other. Prometheus is rebellious in creating man. Characters like Loki from Norse mythology and, to some extent, the snake in the Garden of Eden, are trickster figures involved in playing with man, but none of them are truly good-willing and beneficial to mankind. We are usually created by God, as in the monotheistic religions, or by several gods in agreement with one another, as in Norse mythology. We are never an act of rebellion. Our creation does not carry immediate consequences for the creator - except in Greek mythology. ‘Prometheus’ means means ‘foresight’, but the absence of this trait is possibly his fatal flaw.

Despite his banishment, he was not forgotten in our mortal world. The ancient Greeks relied on countless skills supposedly given to them by Prometheus. Innovation and debate were crucial to the Greek democracy - the first of its kind. Their culture, highly developed by promethean teachings such as writing, reading, and calculating, did its best to break the boundaries of knowledge. How else could discoveries of complex mathematical concepts such as the Pythagorean theorem or the Thales theorem and whole literary theories and structures like the Greek tragedy be explained if humankind only had the simplest tools? How complex systems of state and justice develop? We, like Prometheus, broke unspoken laws from the start. Our quest for progress and knowledge has led us to incredible insight and innovation and at the same time to discover our darkest sides. We have found out we are able to heal and kill in the same moment with the poisons we brew; we protect and murder with our weapons. Most of our inventions were made for our own good and came with unintended consequences, just like Prometheus’ actions. The building of machines in the Industrial Revolution was meant to facilitate and quicken labor. It did, and then it drove wages into the ground and let workers choke on ashes in factories. We, just like Prometheus, may have the most noble intentions, but we will always be haunted by unforeseen consequences. This is our link, persistent since our first steps and still there for our last.

How strange it is, then, that Prometheus always took a back seat to the worship of the gods of Olympus. It is no secret that there are no temples dedicated to his memory, nor are there other sacred sites or holidays. He was worshipped marginally by potters in Athens, a group of workers who relied on fire in a city named after another goddess of innovation, creation, and wisdom, but there are no other instances that openly demonstrate his value in Greek culture. There are only subtle hints: wiliness, for example, is an admired trait found in other mythological heroes like Odysseus. And, of course, and affinity for breaking rules. But complete absence of worship of Prometheus shows perhaps not a disregard for his role, but a wish not to anger the gods of Olympus by honoring one of their scorned, even if the Titan in question selflessly allowed humans to worship other gods than himself. In the end, we did not want to be like Prometheus entirely. We did not rebel against the will of the gods - at least not in any myths. We were created in the image of the Olympians and thus strove to the like them. Prometheus was sidelined to being quietly and clandestinely valued. Worship of such an innovator of course does not come without a shadow. His story ultimately also serves as a warning. There is our link with the Greek gods. They kept us in check, so that we didn’t try to become gods ourselves. Overstep a certain line, and forces greater than you will come after you. Except … where that line is - that, obviously, won’t be mentioned. It will not end happily - you will not end happily.  

Considering our odds, man was never meant to survive. Yet we don’t ever stop looking for trouble. The shadow of Prometheus’ end looms - a flood of repercussions we didn’t think of when we discovered. And still, we seem incapable of stopping. Gene editing, sentient technology, endless youth, frozen life - has our will to create become a means of escape? Forward seems to be the only way we know. Is this the way we shield ourselves against mortality? Is this why we break barriers as a defense mechanism to being vulnerable? Maybe a question worth examining if we truly want to live forever.