ABSTRACT
Prometheus wasn’t human. Yet his story is as benefactor to mankind. The hero was a Titan – one of the twelve pre-Olympic gods that were the direct offspring of the primordial deities Gaia, mother earth, and Uranus, god of the sky. When the Olympic gods decided to create mankind, they asked Prometheus – ‘He who looks ahead’ (προ / pro – before, μανθάνω / mantháno – thinking, understanding) – and his brother, Epimetheus – ‘The thinker of the afterthought’ (επι / epi – after) – to provide humans and animals with the correct characteristics. Epimetheus asked if he could divide these properties overthe living creatures and his brother agreed. As Prometheus watched his brother work, he noticed that he had saved humans for last and there were barely any properties left: no claws, no fur, no fangs, and no tools. Panicked by the disadvantage this division would place upon humans, Prometheus decided to give them the fire of the Olympic god Hephaistos and simultaneously, the craftiness of Athena—a trait relayed through the theft.
