Prometheus

= Prometheus =



Relatives of Prometheus
Prometheus was the son of Iapetos, a Titan, and Clymene. He has two siblings, Atlas and Epimetheus. His name means forethought, while his sibling's name, Epimetheus, means afterthought. He has 3 children, Deukalion, the husband of Pandora, Hellen and Aedos, the personification of modesty.

**Biography**
Prometheus and Epimetheus (his brother) were given the task to create man by Zeus. Epimetheus gave all the animals something to use to protect themselves from harm, like claws for bears. He gave out all the special gifts to all the animals, except for man because there was none left.

Prometheus created man in the likeness of the gods. In the process of it, he became fonder of man more than Zeus had expected.

Prometheus wanted to deceive Zeus because the gods and men were disputing with one another. Prometheus cut up a bull and divided it into two parts: he wrapped up the best parts in skin and placed the stomach on top. (The stomach is the worst part.) The second heap, however, consisted of the bones covered up the fat. Prometheus then gave the first heap to man.

Prometheus took pity on the primitive mortals, so he gave them a wide variety of abilities: woodworking, telling the seasons by the stars, numbers, the alphabet, ships and many more. He also gave them other gifts like healing drugs, animal sacrifice and art.

Because Zeus wanted to avenge himself, he did not allow man to use fire. Prometheus, however, wanted man to have fire so badly that he stole fire and put it in a hollow stalk of fennel and brought it to man. Zeus was furious at what Prometheus had done, giving all these things to man. He had Hephaestus tie Prometheus to somewhere high in the Caucasus mountains, and there he would stay until the fury of Zeus subsided. Each day, Zeus' eagle would swoop down and tried to devour Prometheus' liver. Every night, the liver would heal itself and every morning, the eagle would come down and torture him once again. Eventually, Heracles rescued Prometheus.

Zeus intended to give th e mortals one more gift to undo all Prometheus haddone. Zeus had created thefirst woman, Pandora. She had all kinds of attributes given to her by the deities. She was given not only beauty, grace and charm, but also the art of lies, seduction and guile. Epimetheus and Pandora =Sources=

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/gallery/mythology/europe/greek/prometheus.gif http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html http://historylink102.com/greece2/creation_man.htm http://messagenetcommresearch.com/myths/bios/promethe.html http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/RM/EpimetheusPandoraElGreco.jpg http://epistole.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/prometheus.jpeg = =