Who is prometheus and what did he do
Zeus was deceived and selected these instead of the meat of the bull. The Olympian had no choice but to continue with the practice of humans sacrificing bones and hides and as a result man could eat meat. Zeus was naturally angered by this, and he took away the gift of fire from humans. This was a disaster for mankind for without fires, they went cold and were at the mercy of wild animals.
Moreover, Zeus also took away the means of living and people now had to work hard to obtain food. Prometheus was moved and devised a daring plan.
Prometheus stole fire from the workshop and hid it in a giant fennel stock. Prometheus then gave the fire to humans. He not only gave men the fire but also showed them what they could do with it. According to Hesiod, he showed them how fire could be used to make metals and other vital technologies. This was a crucial development in culture and civilization.
Zeus was enraged, when he learned about the theft and there are two versions of how he punished Prometheus. He ordered Hephaestus to create a human woman. The other Olympians were ordered to give her a gift so that she would be alluring. For example, Aphrodite endowed grace on her head and desires to weaken her limbs and body. Pandora was the first woman, and she can be compared to Eve.
A jar or box was given to her and in this was filled with every source of misfortune, including sickness and death. Zeus presented Pandora, whose name can be translated as 'one who brings gifts' to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Now the Titan was a trickster, and he was suspicious of Pandora. However, Pandora opened her jar and from it flew out all the world's misfortunes.
This ended a Golden Age for men, and they had to struggle to live and they also became mortal, according to Hesiod. Pandora's Box doomed men and women to suffer for all time. There is another version of the tale concerning Zeus and Prometheus.
The greatest of the Olympians seized the Titan and nailed him to a mountain in the Caucasus for stealing fire and giving it to humans. He then sends a vulture to eat the immortal liver of the God of Fire. Every day the vulture would eat the intestine and it would grow back and this cycle was expected to persist for all eternity. This cruel torture of the Titan continued for many centuries.
According to one account, the great hero Hercules freed Prometheus from his savage torment [5]. There was a solid cult to the God of Fire in Athens. It appears that the cult of the Titan was prevalent in Athens.
Prometheus was the creator or at least the preserver of the human race. In many ways, he is shown to be the true father of people and not Zeus. In many ways, Prometheus is the most important cultural hero in Greek mythology. Comparative mythology has shown that in many cultures there are figures who give people the gifts of civilization. This is embodied in Prometheus's theft of fire from Mount Olympus.
Greeks had little or no knowledge about their early history and the development of civilization. The story of Prometheus allowed them to explain the dawn and the development of culture and civilized life. For example, the story explained why humans evolved very differently from animals.
Because they had no natural advantages such as fur or claws' they had to rely on technology. For the Greeks, technology, as a result of fire, such as metalworking was crucial in the survival of the human race and its flourishing. The Promethean cycle of myths Prometheus was also a trickster but he also embodied so much more to the Greeks. He was the personification of forethought and this was important in the rational life, which was essential for civilized living.
The Greeks believed that reasons and civilization were inextricably linked, and this is embodied in the figure of Prometheus.
In the story of Pandora, we are offered an understanding of the Greek concept of theodicy, that is the reason for evil in the world. While Prometheus may have saved humanity, he was also responsible for its many misfortunes. His theft of fire at once allowed people to become civilized it also doomed them to suffering. The Promethean myths are also cautionary tales. For the Greeks, it showed that excessive knowledge, was dangerous because it could offend hubris the Olympian Gods, who were notoriously vengeful.
The danger of too much knowledge was a common theme in Greek mythology. The story of Icarus and Daedalus is a perfect example.
The story of the Titan was to inspire many Athenian dramatists. The great tragedian Aeschylus wrote at least four plays based on the Promethean Cycle. The only surviving drama is Prometheus Unbound, one of the masterpieces of Classical drama. Many Greek poets, such as Sapho, referred to the Titan, as did many Roman authors. The tales of the Titan also inspired the works of many sculptors and potters. In the Renaissance, and later many painters depicted scenes from the life of the Titan.
In the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason, there was a renewed interest in the myth of Prometheus. Her husband Percy Shelley even began composing his own tale of Prometheus in the form of a poem entitled, Prometheus Unbound. He began composing this work right around the same time that Mary was publishing Frankenstein.
Aside from the title, Shelley borrows from the tale of Prometheus a sense of consequence resulting from seeking enlightenment and power. Victor is her modern incarnation of Prometheus. He as Prometheus was, is fascinated by the power of electricity lightning.
We can recall from the narrative the moment when he becomes captivated by its fantastical power. It is from this power, that he has equipped himself with, that the inner torture he will suffer from the use of it stems. Immediately following the creation if the creature, Victor is ill with disgust for what he has done. His torture mirrors that of Prometheus'; undying and eternal. From the beginning of the novel, when Victor warns Walton of the consequences of his quest, to the conclusion when Victor again reiterates the misfortunes he has suffered as a result of his curiosity, Mary Shelley mimics the Prometheus tale.
Perhaps, this is why she saw it as a fitting subtitle. The Modern Prometheus.