Have you ever heard the legend about Prometheus and his gift of fire? Well if you haven’t, you’re in for an interesting tale.
Our story begins several millennia ago when the colossal Titans and Greek Olympians Gods waged a brutal war against each other in a battle for dominance over the world. The war was savage and each side fought ferociously against the other, but the Titans received a deathly blow when two Titan brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus, turned their backs against their kind and allied themselves with Zeus and his Godly siblings.
It was with the help of Prometheus’ tactical thinking and crafty counsel that the Olympian Gods emerged victoriously. You see, according to the Ancient Greeks, the name Prometheus meant Forethinker and Epimetheus meant Afterthinker. And hence the two brothers were extremely wise, unlike the other Titans.
After the war, the world settled down for a while and each God claimed their domain. Zeus ruled over the Heavens, his brother Poseidon lorded over the untamed oceans and seas, and the oldest brother Hades reigned over the Underworld and the dead.
Unlike the other titans who were painfully punished, Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were in good books with the Gods. They were each tasked with bestowing the creatures that lived on Earth with certain gifts so that they would survive and prosper. They offered wonderful gifts such as feathers for flight and fur for warmth to the animals and birds but ran out once they reach humans.
Prometheus, unlike the Gods and Titans, had a soft spot of mankind, because he himself moulded the first man from clay. He observed how unfairly they were treated by Zeus and was angered by it. And so, upon seeing mankind’s sad and weak state he decided to bestow them with the most special gift of all— Fire.
The Titan made his way up to Mount Olympus, home of the God, and stole the blazing flames. Once he gifted Fire to man, Prometheus taught them how to manipulate the flames and use it in order to survive, and so the skill of metalwork was born.
Outraged that Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gifted it to man, Zeus decided to punish him for eternity. Prometheus was taken far east and chained to a pillar, where every day Zeus sent an eagle to feast on his liver. As an immortal being, Prometheus’ liver regenerated every night and so the torture would continue over and over again until years later the hero Hercules would save him. So you see, if it wasn’t for Prometheus’ love for mankind, we would never have received the ability to create fire at will— or so legend says.
Whether you believe the story to be true or not, one can not deny that fire has been such an integral part of our lives since the beginning of time. We use it every day in different forms and manners. We use it to cook the food we eat, to boil the water we drink and to keep ourselves warm during winter. This crafty tool helped us humans understand the process of combustion and heat which pushed science forward— bringing steam engines, machines, cars and even rocket ships to life.
The beauty of Fire is that it has the ability to both nurture and kill. In a way, it embodies everything about us humans. Each of us is an unpredictable force that society tries to control. But I say life is too sort to tame yourself, so unleash your inner fire and burn bright!
Written By Jessica Albuquerque,
Week 33, August 2021
