Crimes of Prometheus

Zeus had many plans for the reshaping of creation. After the fall of Kronos and his confinement in Tartaros, Zeus took no interest in the mortal race of men on the bountiful earth, he intended for them to live as primitives until they died off. Zeus said that knowledge and divine gifts would only bring misery to the mortals and he insisted that Prometheus not interfere with his plans. Despite Zeus' warning, Prometheus took pity on the primitive mortals and again, he deceived Zeus. Prometheus gave the mortals all sorts of gifts: brickwork, woodworking, telling the seasons by the stars, numbers, the alphabet (for remembering things), yoked oxen, carriages, saddles, ships and sails. He also gave other gifts: healing drugs, seercraft, signs in the sky, the mining of precious metals, animal sacrifice and all art. To compound his crime, Prometheus had stolen fire from Zeus and given it to the mortals in their dark caves. The gift of divine fire unleashed a flood of inventiveness, productivity and, most of all, respect for the immortal gods in the rapidly developing mortals. Within no time (by Immortal standards), culture, art, and literacy permeated the land around Mount Olympus (Olympus). When Zeus realized the deception that Prometheus had fostered, he was furious. He had Hephaestus (Hephaestus) shackle Prometheus to the side of a crag, high in the Caucasus Mountains. There Prometheus would hang until the fury of Zeus subsided. Also, for all of the gifts Prometheus gave humans, Zeus would have a women created, Pandora. She was given a box and told never to open it, but eventually she did and out of it flew the miseries that afflict humanity, such as war, famine, and sin.

The Crimes of Prometheus