Once upon a time, there was a giant, a Titan, who made a decision that would forever change the destiny of humanity. He dared to steal a tiny bit of the sacred fire from the Olympian gods. The gods, by their very nature, possessed everything in large quantities, but Prometheus took that fire—that knowledge, that spark—and gifted it to humans, who, in their initial state, lacked even the most essential things for survival.
However, this profound show of empathy and solidarity toward the less fortunate was not rewarded; it was brutally punished. Zeus and the other gods of Olympus, jealous of their power, condemned Prometheus to suffer a terrible and eternal torture for his audacity.
Prometheus, the protagonist of this story, bears a name that is defining: in Greek, it means "the one who sees in advance," or the Forethinker. He was a true visionary.
He was the brother of other famous Titans, including Atlas, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. Prometheus possessed the gift of prophecy, a quality that, combined with his lack of fear toward the gods, led him to ridicule Zeus on several occasions. A daring act that, as we have seen, he would pay for dearly.
An Uneven Distribution and the Origin of Humankind
His brother, Epimetheus, was his exact opposite, as his name means "the one who sees afterward," someone incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his actions. This difference in character is central to the myth.
According to Plato, in a time long past, only the gods existed. Mortal species—animals and humans—had not yet emerged. When the time for genesis arrived, the gods modeled these species in the bowels of the earth, mixing elements like earth, fire, and other essential materials.
Once the creatures were ready to see the light, the gods sent Prometheus and Epimetheus with the task of assigning them their faculties, defenses, and weapons, distributing them conveniently and justly among all.
Epimetheus, eager to participate, asked his brother: "Once I have made the distribution, you can supervise it." With Prometheus's permission, Epimetheus began the allocation of attributes.
To some, he provided great strength, but not speed. To others, who were weaker, he granted swiftness. Some species he endowed with claws and fangs, while for the unarmed ones, he devised another type of defense so they could be safe from their predators. In this equitable manner, and taking the precaution that no species would be annihilated, Epimetheus distributed the faculties.
But Epimetheus, not being entirely wise or forethinking, made a grave mistake: he spent, unknowingly, all the available faculties on the animals.
The Defenseless Human and the Spark of Knowledge
The human species remained, ready to emerge from the earth into the light, just as the gods had sent them. Epimetheus found himself in a terrible dilemma, not knowing what to do.
In that precise moment, Prometheus arrived to supervise the distribution. What he saw were all the animals harmoniously equipped, and man, on the other hand, naked, without shoes, without clothing, and completely defenseless.
The designated day for man's emergence from the earth was imminent, and the lack of faculties was total. Prometheus, acting with his inherent foresight, decided to take immediate and radical action.
He decided to steal from Athena and Hephaestus the wisdom of the arts along with fire, as without fire, it was impossible for that wisdom to be acquired by anyone or to be useful. He stole a complete "package" of resources essential for human life.
Thus, bypassing all prohibitions and guards, Prometheus entered furtively into the shared workshop of Athena and Hephaestus, stealing the fire from Hephaestus and the arts from Athena, and delivered them as a gift to man.
Man, in this way, acquired the necessary resources for life and the wisdom to preserve it. However, he did not receive political wisdom, as this remained under the power of Zeus, in the Acropolis, whose entrance was guarded by two terrible guardians that Prometheus could not evade.
Despite humanity's gains, the Titan received a brutal punishment for his theft.
Prometheus in Art: From Villain to Romantic Hero
The myth of Prometheus, the rebel who defies his natural lords, has seen fluctuations in the world of art and philosophy throughout the centuries.
During the Renaissance and the Baroque period, the theme of Titans rebelling against the gods and suffering a terrible punishment gained great popularity. This theme was masterfully used by the absolute monarchs of the time. For them, cruel punishment was the certain destiny of those who dared to revolt against their divine or royal authority.
In this context, Prometheus and the other giants who opposed their natural rulers became villains, an example of what should not be done.
Monarchs like Charles I, Philip II, and Philip IV perfectly identified with this doctrine of punishment and commissioned works on the subject from great masters like Titian, Rubens, and others. Several of these, we have already published in La Vida es Arte, such as the striking "Prometheus Bound" by Rubens, a dark and gruesome vision bearing the Flemish artist's distinctive mark.
However, with the arrival of the Enlightenment in the 18th century and Romanticism in the 19th century, the figure of Prometheus experienced a great revival. The Titan regained his place as the sacrificial hero. He was a model and an ideal of life, a symbol of personal sacrifice for the benefit of humanity, highly inspiring for the revolutionary movements of that era.
Fire as a Symbol of Consciousness
Today, although mythology has ceased to be a central ethical reference in society, the myth of Prometheus has not been forgotten and continues to be the subject of artistic representations and deep reflections.
We now observe Prometheus and mythology with more critical eyes, but we continue to find in them elements inherent to the human being, traits common to all eras and civilizations. Reflecting on them is reflecting on the intimate nature of the human being, our thirst for knowledge, and our capacity for rebellion.
But the divine fire that Prometheus stole is much more than a simple tool: it is a symbol of intelligence, consciousness, and understanding. Prometheus, by endowing men with reason, made them latent gods instead of animals.
The gods, understandably, opposed men becoming "like one of them" and knowing "good and evil," an idea that resonates even in passages like the biblical Genesis. For this reason, it is common in the histories of many religions for the gods to "punish" man for his quest for knowledge.
The myth of the Titan has its origins in India, and in antiquity, it was the greatest and most mysterious in its significance. Some scholars see in the allegory of Prometheus's fire another version of the rebellion of Lucifer, the "light-bearer," who was cast into the "bottomless abyss" (Earth) to live as a man. In this sense, Prometheus becomes a symbol and a personification of all humanity in its struggle for light and spiritual evolution.
Prometheus steals the Divine Fire to allow men to proceed consciously on the path of spiritual evolution, thus transforming the most perfect of Earth's animals into a potential god and making him free to even "take the kingdom of heaven by violence." Hence the curse that Zeus (Jupiter) launched against the rebellious Titan.
The Eternal Punishment and the Louvre Sculpture
The punishment imposed by Zeus was terribly cruel: Prometheus was chained to a rock in the Caucasus, and every day a vulture (or, in other versions, an eagle) devoured his entrails. These, by divine decree, would grow back only to be devoured again the next day.
This torture is a powerful allegory, seen as the representation of appetites and desires for material or earthly goods that consume man, or exacerbated desires that chain him to the earth.
The relentless punishment continued day after day, century after century, until Hercules, finally, freed him forever from his pain and his eternal ordeal.
In art, there are dozens of works from all eras that represent the theme of Prometheus and his punishment. One of the most notable is preserved in the Louvre Museum:
The "Prometheus Bound" is a marble sculpture from the year 1762, carved by the French artist Nicolas Sébastien Adam.
The work stands out for the drama emanating from the face and body, with muscles in intense tension, reflecting the pain of the torture. A great dynamism is perceived in the piece, which comes from the numerous oblique lines of the body and clothing, as well as the smoke from the torch. All these elements are shown strongly agitated by the wind produced by the eagle beating its wings over the Titan, creating a vivid image of the eternal ordeal.
The myth of Prometheus, beyond mythology, is a mirror in which we can see our own struggle between the aspiration to knowledge (the fire) and the limitations imposed by destiny or power.
THE ARTWORK
Prometheus Bound
Nicolas Sébastien Adam
1762
Museum: Louvre Museum
