Prometheus

Prometheus, in Greek mythology

Prometheus (prōmē`thēəs), in Greek mythology, great benefactor of mankind. He was the son of the Titan Iapetus and of Clymene or Themis. Because he foresaw the defeat of the Titans by the Olympians he sided with Zeus and thus was spared the punishment of the other Titans. According to one legend Prometheus created mankind out of clay and water. When Zeus mistreated man, Prometheus stole fire from the gods, gave it to man, and taught him many useful arts and sciences. In another legend he saved the human race from extinction by warning his son, Deucalion, of a great flood. This sympathy with mankind roused the anger of Zeus, who then plagued man with Pandora and her box of evils and chained Prometheus to a mountain peak in the Caucasus. In some myths he was released by Hercules; in others Zeus restored his freedom when Prometheus revealed the danger of Zeus' marrying Thetis, fated to bear a son who would be more powerful than his father. Prometheus is the subject of many literary works, of which the most famous are Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Shelley's Prometheus Unbound.

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Prometheus, in astronomy

Prometheus (prōmē`thēəs), in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn XVI (or S16), Prometheus is an irregularly shaped (nonspherical) body measuring about 90 mi (145 km) by 53 mi (85 km) by 38 mi (62 km); it orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 86,588 mi (139,350 km) and has an orbital period of 0.613 earth days—the rotational period is unknown but is assumed to be the same as the orbital period. It was discovered by a team led by S. Collins in 1980 from an examination of photographs taken by Voyager 1 during its flyby of Saturn. Prometheus has several craters about 12.5 mi (20 km) in diameter and a number of linear ridges and valleys but appears to be less cratered than the neighboring moons Epimetheus, Janus, and Pandora. It is the inner shepherd satellite (a moon that limits the extent of a planetary ring through gravitational forces) of Saturn's F ring.

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Prometheus

In Greek religion, one of the Titans and a god of fire. He was a master craftsman and a supreme trickster, and he was sometimes associated with the creation of humans. According to legend, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. In vengeance, Zeus created Pandora, who married Prometheus's brother and set loose all the evils of the world. Another tale held that Zeus had Prometheus chained to a mountain and sent an eagle to devour his liver, which regenerated every night so that he could suffer the same torment the next day.

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Prometheus [prə′mē·thē·əs]

(astronomy)

A satellite of Saturn which orbits at a mean distance of 139,000 kilometers (86,000 miles), just inside the F ring; together with Pandora, it holds this ring in place.

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Prometheus

a Titan condemned by Zeus for giving fire to mortals. [Gk. Lit.: Prometheus Bound, Magill I, 786–788]

See : Condemnation

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Prometheus

molded man of clay, animated him with fire. [Gk. Myth.: Wheeler, 304]

See : Creation

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Prometheus

epitome of stoic endurance. [Gk. Myth.: Gayley, 10–15]

See : Endurance

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Prometheus

Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to man. [Gk. Myth.: Payton, 546]

See : Fire

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Prometheus

stole divine fire for man’s sake. [Gk. Myth.: Espy, 33]

See : Heroism

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Prometheus

for rebelliousness, chained to rock; vulture fed on his liver which grew back daily. [Rom. Myth.: Zimmerman, 221–222]

See : Punishment

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Prometheus

chained to rock while vulture fed on his liver. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 221]

See : Suffering

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(language)

Prometheus - A programmaing language geared for logic, mathematics, AI, and string, list and database processing. Prometheus runs on a variety of platforms from Macintosh to MS-DOS http://aard.tracor.com/Jason/Prometheus/.

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Prometheus

in Greek mythology, the Titan who defended mankind from the tyranny of the gods. In the oldest versions of the myth, Prometheus stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to man. For this, Zeus had him bound to a cliff and condemned to incessant torture: an eagle flew to Prometheus every day or every other day and pecked out his liver, which continually grew back. Depending on the classical source, these torments continued for several centuries or for as long as 30,000 years, until Heracles slew the eagle with an arrow and freed Prometheus.

In Aeschylus’ tragedy Prometheus Bound, the theme of the theft of fire is supplemented by the depiction of Prometheus as the first discoverer of all the cultural benefits that have made the achievements of human civilization possible: Prometheus taught man to build dwellings, dig for metals, cultivate the land, sail, read, write, do arithmetic, and observe the stars. Punished for his love of mankind, Aeschylus’ Prometheus hurls a bold challenge at Zeus and, despite his terrible torments, is ready to defend his own Tightness. K. Marx called Aeschylus’ Prometheus “the most eminent saint and martyr in the philosophical calendar” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Iz rannikh proizv., 1956, p. 25).

The humanistic aspects of Prometheus as the rebel and martyr were developed in poetry by Byron, P. B. Shelley, N. P. Ogarev, T. Shevchenko, and other writers; in music by F. Liszt, A. N. Scriabin, and other composers; and in the visual arts by Titian, F. G. Gordeev, and other artists. Works by Calderón, Goethe, and Beethoven reflect the late classical version of the myth, which depicts Prometheus as the creator of the first human beings, molded by him from earth and endowed with consciousness.

REFERENCES

Nusinov, I. M. “Istoriia obraza Prometeia.” Istoriia literaturnogo geroia. Moscow, 1958.
Séchan, L. Le Mythe de Prométhée. Paris, 1951.
Trousson, R. Le Thème de Prométhée dans la littérature européenne, vols. 1–2. Geneva, 1964.

V. N. IARKHO