Prometheus

Prometheus was the Titan god of forethought and crafty counsel who was given the task of moulding mankind out of clay.

Residence: Mount Caucasus
Parents: Iapetus and Clymene
Siblings: Anchiale, Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetheus

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Prometheus bound. Laconian black-figure amphoriskos, 6th c. BC. Vatican Museum. (c) theoi.com

His attempts to better the lives of his creation brought him into conflict with Zeus. Firstly he tricked the gods out of the best portion of the sacrificial feast, acquiring the meat for the feasting of man. Then, when Zeus withheld fire, he stole it from heaven and delivered it to mortal kind hidden inside a fennel-stalk. As punishment for these rebellious acts, Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora (the first woman) as a means to deliver misfortune into the house of man, or as a way to cheat mankind of the company of the good spirits. Prometheus meanwhile, was arrested and bound to a stake on Mount Caucasus, where an eagle was set to feed upon his ever-regenerating liver.

Heracles freeing Prometheus from his torment by the eagle (Attic black-figure cup, c. 500 BC).

Generations later the great hero Heracles came along and released the old Titan from his torture.

Relief of Heracles freeing Prometheus, from the Temple of Aphrodite at Aphrodisias. (c) Hans Weingartz
Roman relief of the creation of Humanity by Prometheus, 3rd c. AD. The Louvre.

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