Prometheus Enrichment

8/8/2019 Prometheus Enrichment

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ANCIENT BEGINNINGS ENRICHMENT: PROMETHEUS

Copyright 2010 American Classical LeagueMay be reproduced for classroom use

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PROMETHEUSENRICHMENT SECTION


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PROMETHEUS, BRINGER OF FIRE

Another Version of the Story

After Zeus became the ruler on Mount Olympus, he decided it was too lonely on Earth. He askedPrometheus and his brother Epimetheus to make animals and humans. Epimetheus began the job by

forming animals and giving them each a gift so they could protect themselves. To some he gave claws,

wings, feathers, fangs, horns, shells, thick skin or fur. To some he gave speed, size, strength, cunning o

courage. He was just about ready to make humans when he realized he did not think to save a gift for

them.

Prometheus said, I will take over now. He picked up a ball of clay and shaped a creature with two legs so

it could walk upright and a head that could look up and see the stars and the gods. He made fingers that

could do many fine things, and a mind that could think and invent. But that was not quite enough

Prometheus could see that humans would not get along very well with wooden or stone weapons, eating

everything raw and always in danger from wild animals. He decided to give them the gift of fire.

Prometheus begged Zeus to let humans have fire, but Zeus refused. He did not want anyone to defeat

him, as he had defeated his own father. One day Prometheus sneaked up to the ever-burning fire on

Mount Olympus, lit a tiny piece of wood, and hid it in the stalk of a plant called fennel. He sneaked back to

earth, then gave the fire to humans. He showed them many of the wonderful ways they could use it: to

make iron tools and weapons, clay jars, brick and tile houses, and beautiful ornaments; to cook delicious

food; and to protect themselves from wild animals.

Zeus became very angry at this, but then Prometheus showed humans how

to burn animals for sacrifice to the gods. This made Zeus a little happier,until he discovered the trick Prometheus played to make sure that humans

got the best parts of the animals to eat instead of burning them for the

gods. The mighty Zeus was so furious he ordered that Prometheus should

be taken away to a mountain in the east and chained to a rock. Every day a

huge eagle (some say vulture) flew by and pecked out his liver, and every

night it grew back in. This went on for a very, very long time until the great

hero Heracles broke the chains and released him.

SOURCES

dAulaire, Ingri & Edgar P. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Doubleday, 1962.

Gibson, Michael. Gods, Men and Monsters from the Greek Myths. New York: Schocken Books, 1982.

Richardson, I. M. Prometheus and the Story of Fire. Mahwah, NJ: Troll, 1983.

Susan Hengelsberg

Perry, NY


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ACTIVITIES

Prometheus, Bringer of Fire

1. DISCUSS: What if Zeus had caught Prometheus as he was stealing the fire and punished him rightthen? Imagine a world without fire of any kind (including electricity). List some of your

ideas below.

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

DECIDE: Work in a large group, small groups, or individually.

DIRECT: Produce a mural, a series of pictures (storyboard), a skit, or a story that will show what our

lives would be like if there were no fire at all.

2. Thomas Edison has been called the Prometheus of our time. Look up all you can about Edisontell/write what he did, and explain why he might be considered a modern Prometheus.

Rebecca Walker Ingram

Los Angeles, CA


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PROMETHEUS

According to Apollodorus

The following information comes from a book called The Librarywritten by Apollodorus, a Greek man who

lived sometime after the middle of the first century BC.

At the beginning of time, Uranus was the first to rule over the universe. Uranus and Gaea were the

parents of the Titans and one of these Titans, Iapetus, was the father of Prometheus. Prometheus had

three brothers: Atlas who held the sky on his shoulders; Epimetheus who was faulty in judgment; and

Menoetius whom Zeus struck with a thunderbolt in the Titan battle and confined to Tartarus, the

Underworld. This was because ofMenoetius excessive pride. The name Prometheus means forethinker

or one who thinks ahead, and Epimetheus means afterthinker or one who plans too late. Prometheus

could foretell the future.

There are many stories about Prometheus from many sources, and they do not always agree on details

One such story concerns the birth of Athena who was the daughter of Metis and Zeus. Metis told Zeus

that after their daughter was born, she would then bear a son who would be lord of the sky. In fear of this,

Zeus swallowed Metis. When it came time for the birth, Prometheus (or as others say, Hephaestus) struck

the head of Zeus with an ax and from his crown Athena sprang up, clad in her armor and giving a loud war

cry!

Prometheus, after forming men from water and earth, gave them fire which he had hidden in a stalk of

giant fennel to escape the notice of Zeus. When Zeus found out, he ordered Hephaestus to rivet the bodyof Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, a Scythian mountain, where he was kept fastened and bound for many

years. Each day an eagle would fly to him and munch on the lobes of his liver which would then grow back

at night.

As Heracles was working on his labors, he passed through Libya to the sea beyond. When he reached

the mainland on the other side, he killed with an arrow the eagle, the offspring of Echidna and Typhon

who had been eating the liver of Prometheus. Then he selected for himself a restraining bond of olive and

released Prometheus.


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ACTIVITIES

Prometheus According to Apollodorus

1. Make a map of the Mediterranean area showing specifically Libya and the Caucasus. Include at leas

five other countries labeled with the names used today.

2. Find out about the restraining bond of olive that Heracles took for himself. How is this bond of olive

possibly related to the Olympic Games? How did the wearing of crowns on the head and rings on

the fingers become a memorial of Prometheus? (See The Library, Book II, v.11)

3. Who were the other children of Echidna and Typhon? With which myths are they associated? How didEchidna and Typhon die?

4. Find the words in the reading that have the following meanings

a. to fasten firmly as with a nail or pin

b. held or kept inside of

c. too much, more than what is proper

d. a plant that grows tall and has a hollow stem

e. the stem of a plant

f. dressed or covered as with clothing

g. holding back

h. set free

i. the highest part of the head

j. chose

Bernice Jefferis

Cleveland Heights, OH


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PROMETHEUS BOUND

Prometheus as the benefactor of mankind has been the subject of art, music and literature from ancient

times to the present day. Aeschylus was an ancient Greek dramatist who wrote plays about Prometheus

but only one survives. In his play, Prometheus Bound, he describes how Hephaestus fastened Prometheus

to the side of a mountain with the help of two servants of Zeus, Kratos whose name means strength and

Bia whose name means force. When the three have finished their work, Prometheus calls out:

Oh divine air and sky and swift-winged breezes,

springs of rivers and countless laughter of sea waves,

earth, mother of everything, and all-seeing circle of the

sun, I call on you. See what I, a god, suffer at the hands of the gods.

Prometheus is bitter because he fought with Zeus against the Titans and so Aeschylus has him say the

following words.

PROMETHEUS: Listen to the troubles that there were amongmortals and how I gave them sense and mind, which they did not

have before. I shall tell you this not out of any censure of mankind

but to explain the good intention of my gifts. In the beginning they

had eyes to look, but looked in vain, and ears to hear, but did not

hear, but like the shapes of dreams they wandered in confusion the

whole of their long life. They did not know of brick-built houses

that face the sun or carpentry, but dwelt beneath the ground like

tiny ants in the depths of sunless caves. They did not have any

secure way of distinguishing winter or blossoming spring or fruitful

summer, but they did everything without judgment, until I showed

them the rising and setting of the stars, difficult to discern.

And indeed I discovered for them numbers, a lofty kind of wisdom,

and letters and their combination, an art that fosters memory

of all things, the mother of the Muses arts. I first harnessed

animals enslaving them to the yoke to become reliefs for mortals in

their greatest toils, and I led horses docile under the reins and

chariot, the delight of the highest wealth and luxury. No one before

me discovered the seamens vessels which with wings of sail are

beaten by the waves. Such are the contrivances I, poor wretch, have

found for mortals, but I myself have no device by which I mayescape my present pain.

CHORUS: You suffer an ill-deserved torment, and confused in mind

and heart are all astray; like some bad doctor who has fallen ill,

you yourself cannot devise a remedy to effect a cure.


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PROMETHEUS BOUND (continued)

PROMETHEUS: Listen to the rest, and you will be even more amazed

at the kinds of skills and means that I devised; the greatest this:

if anyone fell sick, there existed no defense, neither food nor drink

nor salve, but through lack of medicines they wasted away until Ishowed them the mixing of soothing remedies by which they free

themselves from all diseases. I set forth the many ways of the

prophetic art. I was the first to determine which dreams would of

necessity turn out to be true and I established for them the difficult

interpretation of sounds and omens of the road and distinguished the

precise meaning of the flight of birds with crooked talons, which

ones are by nature lucky and propitious, and what mode of life each

had, their mutual likes, dislikes, and association; the smoothness of

the innards and the color of the bile that would meet the pleasure of

the gods, and the dappled beauty of the livers lobe. I burned the

limbs enwrapped in fat and the long shank and set mortals on thepath to this difficult art of sacrifice, and made clear the fiery

signs, obscure before. Such were these gifts of mine. And the

benefits hidden deep within the earth, copper, iron, silver, and gold

-- who could claim that he had found them before me? No one, I

know full well, unless he wished to babble on in vain. In a brief

utterance learn the whole story: all arts come to mortals from

Prometheus.

From Classical Mythologyby Morford and Lenardon, Longman Inc., 1985


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ACTIVITIES

Prometheus Bound

1. As you reread Prometheus speech, make a list of his gifts to mortals. Choose an art form to portray

these gifts. It might be a diorama, a collage, a painting, a drawing, an original poem or a piece of

music. There are at least fifteen gifts.

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

___________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________

2. The word PRIDE represents an idea that one dictionary defines in the following ways:

A sense of ones own proper value or dignity; self respect

An overly high opinion of oneself; conceit

These definitions obviously conflict, one being positive and the other negative. After thinking about the

idea of pride, write an essay about Prometheus, applying one definition or the other to his situation and

using specific examples to explain why you believe as you do. The why part of the essay is the most

important part.

Bernice Jefferis

Cleveland Heights, OH


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TEACHERS KEY

ACTIVITIES

Prometheus According to Apollodorus

Question #4

a. rivet

b. confined

c. excessive

d. fennel

e. stalk

f. clad

g. restraining

h. releasedi. crown

j. selected

TEACHERS KEY

ACTIVITIES

Prometheus Bound

Question #1

consciousness

houses

carpentry

time and seasons

star patterns

mining and smelting of metals

mathematics

writing

harnessing of draft animalsbreaking of horses

medicine and healing

prophecy

reading of sacrificial signs

making proper sacrifices

sailing ships


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TITAN MOBILES

An Art Project

Prometheus and Epimetheus were Titan brothers. The Greeks believed that these brothers created the

living creatures of the earth, endowing them with gifts to help in their survival. The students can make

mobiles featuring one of these Titans.

SUPPLIES

1. Wire coat hangers

2. Bulletin board paper, 16 x 10 inches

3. Yarn and string

4. Hole punches

5. Scissors, markers, crayons, glue

PREPARATION

Precut the bulletin board paper

PROCEDURE

1. Give each child a hanger, bulletin board paper and a 36-inch piece of yarn.

2. Fold the paper in half to 16 x 5 inches. Place the bottom flat part of the hanger on the fold of

the paper.

3. Punch 12 holes on each side of the top of the paper hanger shape. Do not punch holes in the

bottom along the fold. The children will sew the paper to the hanger.

4. Open the paper shape and insert the hanger with its bottom part against the fold. The students

can sew the paper to the hanger, cutting the yarn in half, and threading it through the

holes. Tie the yarn off at both sides. It is helpful if the children work in pairs, one holding

and one sewing.

5. Decorate the paper pediments formed by the covered hanger with the name of the Titan.

6. Make illustrations that represent Prometheus or Epimetheus on 3 x 6-inch pieces of paper.

Punch holes in these and string to mobile.

Janeene Blank

Birmingham, MI


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PROMETHEUS and EPIMETHEUS

An Art Project

Prometheus and Epimetheus are Titans and brothers. Prometheus, whose name means forethought,

stole fire from the gods for man. Epimetheus, whose name means afterthought, was the husband of

Pandora. This paper-craft project was developed from the idea of the opposites that can be seen in the

names, such as before and afteror firstand last. It can also be used with the Roman myth of the two-

faced god Janus.

To construct the project, you will need two six-inch paper plates and a paper towel tube for each child

Other supplies are assorted colors of construction paper, glue, scissors, yarn, and a stapler.

Directions

1. Cover the tube with construction paper. Apply glue to one edge of the paper, rolling the tube

up in it. Apply glue to other edge and fasten down. Trim off extra paper at the ends.

2. Use the backs of the plates, construction paper, and yarn to make two faces.

3. Pinch one end of the tube together and staple.

4. Fasten the plate faces to the tube with glue and staples by joining them with another staple to

the pinched part of the tube. Staple down the sides of the plates to keep them together.

Janeene Blank

Birmingham, MI

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Prometheus Enrichment