Prometheus, The Flood Myth

CC 303 Intro to Classical Mythology - Fall 2009 - Prof. Lawrence Kim
Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin

Names to Remember

Prometheus, Atlas, Deucalion and Pyrrha, (A)etiological
Mt. Parnassus, Lycaon, Mary Shelley, Protagoras

Lecture Outline

1. Prometheus in Hesiod
   • Name = Forethought; Trickster Figure
   • Tricked Zeus out of Best Parts of Sacrificial Cow
   • Origin of the practice of sacrifice to the gods
   • Aetiological myth: Explains the origin of a phenomenon or custom
   • Zeus takes away fire and "life" (grain) from men
     
   • P. steals back fire for Men from Gods
   • Zeus Chains him to Rock with Eagle eating his liver
   • Zeus creates Pandora [See Sept. 4 Lecture]
   • Anxieties: Relations between Gods and Men
   • Anxieties: Why do we suffer? Why is life so hard?
2. Prometheus in Plato and Ovid
1. Ovid, Metamorphoses
• The Creator of Humans and Life
2. Plato, Protagoras
• Myth of Prometheus' Gift to Humans
3. Prometheus in Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound and Beyond
   1. The Great Civilizer
   1. Fire-Bringer (Technology and Culture)
   • Rockefeller Center, New York City (also Atlas)
   • "Prometheus brought fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."
   2. Inventor of the Arts and Sciences
   • Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus
   • Cautionary tale about the perils of technology
     
   2. The Sufferer for Freedom and Rebel vs. Tyranny
   1. Aeschylus: A Tyrannical Zeus
   • Fellow Sufferer = Io
   • Eventual reconciliation between Zeus and Prometheus
   2. Romantic Vision: Percy Shelley, Prometheus Unbound
   • Revolution in the face of oppression and evil
   • Prometheus freed when Zeus is overthrown
4. Second Creation of Humans: The Flood and Deucalion and Pyrrha
   1. Ovid: Lycaon and Human Wickedness
   2. Noah, Near Eastern Flood Myths
   3. Deucalion and Pyrrha - Sole Survivors
   • "Throw the Bones of your Great Mother over your Shoulders"
   • Humans born from the Earth

Images

1. Atlas and Prometheus. Laconian Kylix, 6th c. BCE. Vatican Museums.
2. Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan. Dirck van Baburen, 1623. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
   
3. Prometheus. Gustave Moreau, 1868. Gustave Moreau Museums, Paris, France.
4. Prometheus Bound. Pieter Paul Rubens, 1611-12. Philadelphia Museum of Art: The W.P. Wilstach Collection.
5. Prometheus Fountain. Paul Manship, 1934. Rockefeller Center, New York, NY.
6. Atlas. Lee Lowrie & Rene Chambellan, 1937. Rockefeller Center, New York, NY.