Prometheus's Comparison: The Creation Of Greek Myth

Hesiod’s versions of the Prometheus/Pandora story and the book of Genesis’s story of Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit both introduce a female figure whose actions are connected with the seeming introduction of evil into the world. At first glance, it appears that the Genesis story is more compelling than Hesiod’s account at explaining the origin of evil because its monotheistic structure makes the logic behind the evils far more clear and straightforward than Hesiod’s logic. The act of disobedience by Eve seems fully her own fault while God (Yahweh) is faultless. However, Genesis is too simple because the story of Prometheus/Pandora is far more complex. The Hesiod story of Prometheus/Pandora is more compelling than Genesis because the conflict allowed disputes between the gods in its polytheistic worldview rather than one god making Hesiod more compelling at explaining the evils of the world.

Just as Eve was very important to the Christians, especially women, the planet of Pandora, was of grave importance to the ancient Greek, as the name was an allusion to Greek mythology. Like Eve, Pandora was the first woman, and person primarily responsible for unleashing affliction upon human beings, although in both cases the gods deserve at least some of the blame, since humankind was created by them as being curious and gave them full access to the materials that would bring them to their

everyone knows how insecure Zeus can get, it is just a bad move on his part. After all if god is all powerful he cannot be all good and should he be all good, he is not all powerful. Frankenstein proved to be “all powerful” but in escaping his problems is not all good. Meanwhile, Prometheus proves to be “all good” to man, yet is powerless to the power of Zeus and his love for man.

     In Prometheus' many accomplishments, Prometheus was said to have created man. During the war of the Titans and Olympians, Prometheus and Epimetheus had not fought, so their lives were saved from imprisonment in Tatarus. The duty given to Prometheus by Zeus was to make or create man. With this, he carved and structured man from mud and earth, and the goddess, Athena, breathed life into it. Epimetheus was given the duty by Prometheus to provide the creatures of the Earth certain intelligence, strength, fur, hair, specific body parts, sharpness, swiftness, and other characteristics or traits. Since Epimetheus had already provided all the other creatures of the earth the better characteristics, there were none let for man. Because of this, Prometheus made a decision to give man advantages like the ability to stand upright, similar to the gods, and to provide them fire (Hunt 1).

Both Kojiki and Greek mythologies describe common belief in the creation of the world, in which gods give birth to another to form the world. In Kojiki, two of the seven gods who came into existence, Izanagi and Izanami give birth to many nature deities, creating the world. But because Izanami gives birth to too many deities, she dies while giving birth to the fire deity. In result of her death, enraged Izanagi kills the fire deity. In contrast, Greek myth describes the creation of the world with the four gods who came to existences, Gaea (earth) Chaos, Tartarus (Hell), and then Eros. Gaea asexually gives birth to Uranus (Sky) and marries her son. She then bears three types of gods; the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hecathonchires. However, Uranus repels at the monstrous creatures and sends Cyclopes and Hecatonchires down to Tartarus (Hell). Frustrated by Uranus’s action, Gaea forges the first sickle, gives it to her youngest son Cronos, and have him punish his father, Uranus. Once Uranus returns to make love to Gaea, Cronos emasculates him. Here we see the similarities in the creation of the world by birth and death of God by the hands of another god with fury.

In the beginning there was no time or gods, only land and sea. Where the sea meet the land a white mare burst forth from the sea foam, her name was Eiocha. Eiocha soon found some sea-foam seeds and ate them, soon they grew into a child in her, she gave birth to the god named Cernunnos. While she was giving birth her pain was so great that she ripped off a piece of bark that she catapulted into the sea, as it fell to the watery deeps of the sea it grew to deep-sea giants. As for poor lonely Cernunnos he felt that he was outnumbered for the great number of sea giants, he along with his horse-mother they created more gods, their names were Maponos, the God of Youth, Tauranis, the God of Thunder, Teutates, the Protector, and the fertility goddess, Epona. After Eiocha’s children grew into adults she became sad and depressed, while she longed for the sea she finally returned to her life as a sea-mare, and became known as Tethra, goddess of the deep. Soon the gods and goddesses created a paradise like land, while the deep-sea giants looked upon the gods with hatred they declared war upon the gods. After a great war and successfully making the giants return to the sea, the gods turned to the place they once called paradise. It was in ruin, as well as almost all humans were killed, all except for two that Epona had saved and they were charged with recreating the human

The Titans ripped him to pieces; however, Rhea brought him back to life. After this, Zeus arranged for his protection and gave him to the mountain nymphs to be raised. From then on Dionysus wandered the world actively spreading his cult throughout the mortals. While other gods had temples to be worshipped at, the followers of Dionysus worshipped him in the woods. There, they might go into a state of ecstasy and madness, ripping apart and eating raw any creature they might stumble upon. Dionysus was also one of the very few characters able to bring a dead person back from the underworld. Even though he had never seen or been with his mother Semele, he was concerned for her wellbeing. Eventually, he journeyed into the underworld to find her. He faced down Thanatos and brought her back to Mount

This story is unlike most creation stories where the creator dignifies and loves his/her creation. “Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Prometheus loved man more than the Olympians” (Mythology: Prometheus). Through a famous mythological story, this quote shows how the relationship between creator and creation is typically a relationship of love and

In Greek mythology, Prometheus had a reputation as being a clever trickster and he famously gave the human race the gift of fire and the skill of metalwork, action for which he was punished by Zeus, who ensured every day that an eagle ate the liver of the Titan as he was helplessly chained to a rock. Prometheus, whose name means “Forethought” , was able to see into the future. He warned his brother Epimetheus not to marry Pandora; who’s dowry would eventually unleash evil onto the world. And when Prometheus forewarned Zeus that Thetis son Achilles was destined to be his rival, Zeus released him from bondage in gratitude, ordering Heracles to shoot the eagle and break the god’s binding chains.

Though Prometheus is considered a trickster and stole fire, his real crime is a disobedience to Zeus. However, in that statement it is hard to consider caring for man or humans a crime. It is obvious in both stories that Zeus’ reign is sovereign, and Prometheus went against Zeus’ sovereignty. However, what Prometheus did was good for the human race. In Zeus’ eye, man was considered inferior and he wanted man to be destroyed. If Prometheus had not hidden the flame inside a fennel-stalk and gave it to man, we as a people probably would not have advance according to the

Prometheus completed a similar task when he introduced fire to mankind. Both were punished for providing society with methods of improving life.

Giving wings to birds, strong teeth and claws to cats and bears, and fast legs to horses. By the time it was Man’s turn for the gifts, there were none left. Prometheus, on the other hand, had focused all of his powers on humankind to make sure it grew into such a great species. His biggest gift, which is what rose Man above every other creature, is the gift of intelligence. Man could cook their hunt, gather, cook their own food, create tools to hunt with, and develop their own ways of thinking. Zeus hated this because with the supreme intelligence that humans had, it made them less dependent on the gods, and more god-like themselves. Zeus wanted the power to control Man, but Prometheus wanted them to be able to function on their

Zeus then asked Prometheus to give him the part of a sacrificial ox that he deemed worthy for the Gods, which would leave the rest for man. Prometheus tricked Zeus into picking the most undesirable part of the ox, and in anger, Zeus reclaimed the fire that man once possessed. Prometheus then stole the fire back, by lighting a torch from the sun. As punishment,

Prometheus one of the most powerful Gods in his time he was a Titan God who demonstarted the values of thought and knowledge in a God. You might be thinking who is Prometheus?. Unlike the other ancient greek God stories you hear about, Prometheus doesn't get enough credit the way the other legendary Gods do.

Who was responsible for creating fire to mankind, who was on top of a mountain and had his liver ravaged by an eagle every night? Prometheus. This God was part of a powerful group of Gods called the Titans. Some people who knew what his personality was like might have described him as a trickster, and a troublemaker. However, Aeschylus described Prometheus as a tragic hero. There have been a variety of plays that has been written about his life. Prometheus is a very complex character in Greek Mythology, whose highest accomplishment was creating humans, but how he creates them raises the question; does the end justify the means?