I thought I knew the tale of Prometheus...

I thought I would start with Prometheus as his tale will be one of the main focuses of this module. Now the tale of Prometheus is a fairly well known one and one I certainly thought I knew. But I was wrong and now I wonder how many myths we “know well” but actually have the plot all wrong and why that is.

I thought that Prometheus stole fire from the gods and in punishment Zeus chained him to a rock to have his liver picked out by an eagle until Heracles rescued him. It turns out there is a whole other side to the story that I hadn’t heard. I had always thought that  Zeus may have over reacted slightly with this truly horrific punishment but now that I know this wasn’t the first time that Prometheus had wronged Zeus it all seems a little more in perspective. What I know understand is....

·         Prometheus was a titan who, by many Greeks, was credited as the originator of human life. Even if he wasn’t he was certainly seen as a champion of the human cause amongst the immortals.

·         Now Prometheus and Zeus came to blows over the dividing up of a sacrificial bull and the decision of how much should go to the gods and how much to the men. Prometheus was asked to arbitrate and he tricked Zeus making Zeus look like a fool.

·         As a result Zeus withheld the gift of fire from humankind.

·         But Prometheus stole it anyway.

·         When Zeus saw the fires below he, Hephaestus and various goddesses created a women –Pandora- whose name means “gift” as she had a gift to give mankind; all the evils that would torment men. Before her arrival men had lived happily without pain, suffering, hard work or illness but Pandora ruined that with the opening of the box. A story that we all know very well (or do we?!)

·         This was a punishment because all the strength men had received from the gift of fire had been nullified by the weakening caused but the evils Pandora released.

·         Thus Prometheus was punished by watching the people he cared for suffering but Zeus was not finished yet. This is when he set the eagle to pick out Prometheus’ liver as he was chained to the rock until Heracles rescued him.

Now I apologize for the long-winded explanation of the story but as I was trying to give a brief synopsis of the story I got more and more confused until bullet-points and                long-winded-ness seemed the only option. And it reinforces my point that this is a myth that is at the top end of the best known myths and I wonder how many of us know the entire tale. I fully understand that there are different interpretations of a story like this but it does not excuse the fact that I had missed out half the plot and not recognised the reasons behind the decision that the characters made.

I am now thinking of the other myths that I “know” and wondering how many of these plots I have confused as well and why I have them confused. I am thinking about the myths that are portrayed in films and especially in children’s books. Most of my mythological knowledge comes from a book of myths and mythology that I was given as a child. It appears that the accounts of these myths are simplified and made more “child friendly” so that they are more approachable but is this a good practice? Essentially the story I understood is wrong and how many other myths do I not know? Certainly the Disney story of Hercules is nothing really like the actual myth, and I am wondering how accurate the story of Troy is in the film of the same title. When authors and film writers compose their works based on myths don’t they have a duty to give an accurate account of the myth they are depicting especially in an age where more children (and students) will watch a film of a book; as watching a two hour film is a lot easier than reading an entire book. It is all very well making a film to get people interested in a period of history (as well as trying to make money obviously) but most myths are interesting enough to not need to doctor the story to the extent that an unwitting history student will confidently think that she knows a myth whilst actually she knows little at all.

Bibliography

Hesiod

Theogony, Works and Days trans. M.L. West

Oxford, OUP, 1999

Myths and Fairy Tales Collection

Retold by Philip, Neil

Dorling Kindersley, London, 1999