1. Describe the relationship between Prometheus and mankind.
2. On page 33, Prometheus tells his brother: “I must give Fire to mankind, the last and greatest of gifts. But if I do so, I shall incur the terrible wrath of Zeus…Yet even that I will endure—for it is so ordained.” What does he mean when he tells his brother that it is ordained? What dilemma is Prometheus faced with?
3. In this chapter, we also learn the story of Athena’s birth. What was Prometheus’ role in this story? Why did Zeus choose to deliver Athena the way he did? What do we learn about the origin of Athena’s characteristics?
4. What does Fire symbolize in this story?
5. How was Prometheus punished? What is the lesson of his story?
6. After they are given Fire, how does Zeus punish mankind?
7. What does the story of Pandora show us regarding gender and gender roles in ancient Greece?
8. What role does trickery play in this story?
9 comments:
Prometheus had a very close relationship with them. The only thing that he wanted was for mankind to succeed in life and the way for them to succeed was for them to have the skills to live. When Prometheus says that it is so ordained he means that it is a huge rule that nobody shall ever go against what Zeus says because he is the leader and the most powerful of the gods. The dilemma that Prometheus is faced with is do I go against what Zeus the leader says and face a horrible punishment but do what I know is right or do I follow the leader not go with what I know is right but not have a physical but a mental punishment. Prometheus’s role in the story was when Zeus came to him about having a child with Métis, Prometheus said that the child will be stronger and wiser the he is. Zeus decided that he would have the child on his own. Zeus did not want anyone to be stronger then him. He wanted to be the ruler. Métis had the power of transforming herself into an animal. Zeus had a plan to trick Métis. “Lady Métis it is surely beyond your power to turn yourself into something as small and worthless as a fly." “Beyond my power is it?" cried Métis “ill show you" then Métis turned herself into a fly. Zeus swallowed the fly. By swallowing Métis, Zeus had gained all of her wisdom to his own, also her power of shape shifting. Later on Zeus’s head was hurting so Prometheus came and split his head open. Out came Athena, fully grown and in shining armor. Athena’s wisdom was gentle and she became teacher in the arts such as spinning and weaving and of good and a wise goverment .She gained some of her mother’s fierceness. She was in battle with her father. Athena like any other god was jealous often as well. In the story fire symbolizes hope. Hope that mankind will succeed and go on without many problems. It also symbolizes resource and help. Fire can cook food for you burn things to make items that you need. Fire is a huge resource. One last thing fire symbolizes is sneakiness. Prometheus sneaked fire to the men of earth behind Zeus’s back because he strongly believed that men should have the opportunity of life. When one of the men saw fire he did not knew it could burn or was destructive so he touched it and his beard burned. Prometheus punishment of giving fire to mankind was to be binded with fetters of brass to the mountain of Caucasus on the eastern edge of the world forever. Everyday an eagle would eat his liver and every night it would grow back for the eagle to devour. The lesson of this story is even if you do something right and it comes with a punishment it still is right, you still did the right thing. After mankind are given fire their punishment assigned by Zeus is that they would be immortal. Zeus knew humankind could see there own future but he did not know that Prometheus had taken this power away from them already. The story of Pandora in terms of gender roles represents taking advantage and abusing power. You should not create someone just to do a task for you. They abused their power and there abilities. Women were there if something needed to be done. For example in more modern days, cleaning, cooking and housework in general. This is similar. In this story trickery plays a mischievous role. It shows a great deal about how family was just a word and not a meaning with the gods. Zeus went from wife to wife. Kingdom to kingdom. None of those women meant anything to him. Zeus ate his own wife just so his own child would not be more successful then him. If there were no such thing as being able to trick people these gods would not know how to live. They get things by tricking people including the people they are supposed to love.
1) Prometheus wanted mankind to progress in life and have the skills to live. Why? Because he pitied them. They toil over fields to make offerings to the gods, and have even more work to support themselves. He wanted them to achieve great things.
2) Prometheus faced grave punishment if he gave mankind the fire, he would be honored through history by mankind. He feels that mankind's respect would be as much as he needs to withstand Zeus's punishment.
3) Prometheus was asked about the child Zeus created with Métis. Prometheus said that the child would be wiser and stronger than Zeus. Zeus, being selfish, fears that he will lose power, obviously a trait that is similar to Cronus. Instead of eating his child he says, "Lady Métis it is surely beyond your power to turn yourself into something as small and worthless as a fly." "Beyond my power is it?" cried Métis "I'll show you" and so, Métis turned herself into a fly. Zeus then ate his wife. A few days later, his head hurt. Prometheus came and split Zeus's head open. Out came Athena, God of Wisdom and Battle Strategy, in shining armor. Zeus did this so he could have his child out of his own traits instead of Métis's wisdom. Because the child was going to be wise. It was fitting for Athena to arrive from the head. Athena gets her characteristics from Zeus because He had Athena alone and also, she came from his brain symbolizing Godly Knowledge.
4) Fire symbolizes the treasure of the gods, hope, and life. Fire was the secret Mankind was given from Prometheus who stole it from the heavens. The fire symbolizes the hope to live and also life and death because it can destroy as well as create.
5) Prometheus was punished to hang for all eternity on the mountains of Caucasus on the eastern edge of the world forever. Everyday an eagle would eat his liver and every night it would grow back for the eagle to eat again. The lesson of the story is that you don't do the right thing for anyone but the people who have been wronged and yourself.
6) Zeus decided to make mankind immortal and see the future. Prometheus saved mankind and took that power away. (Then How Are There Oracles?)
7) Pandora shows us that the Greek society was a male dominated society. What I drew from Pandora is that Pandora is irresponsible. The fact that Pandora is female, shows how males felt females were not to be trusted with important items.
8) Trickery. Trickery is present in the story as good and bad. Prometheus sneaked the fire to humans, trickery is shown here as he lies to Zeus about the fire. Zeus tricks Lady Métis into a fly just to eat her. Trickery is common because it is used to become more successful than the last or help others become successful.
1. Prometheus taught mankind about how to survive and how to use their resources. He taught them about agriculture, hunting, literacy, and architecture. Prometheus gave mankind almost everything they needed to survive.
2. When Prometheus says ordained he means that doing what he did is chosen by fate to happen. If he gives the humans fire, then he knows Zeus will punish him, but he knows it is destined to happen.
3. Prometheus was able to use his axe and open Zeus's head in order to retrieve Athena, and it was okay, since Immortals cannot die. Zeus also knew that he couldn't die. Athena has the wisdom and fierceness of Metis, and was powerful like Zeus.
4. Fire symbolizes the greatest gift of all, and a new way of living.
5. Prometheus was punished by being tied to a mountain to lie there for eternity.
6. He punished the men by creating the first woman and having her bring evil to the world.
7. It shows that women are curious, and sometimes stupid, and that men do all the work and are the dominant ones.
8. Trickery is usually used to distract another in order to get their plan to work. Zeus used Pandora to distract Epimetheus so that she could open the box that Prometheus gave to him.
Cara
Hi, It's Kai W
The relationship between Prometheus and mankind is that Prometheus aided and helped create mankind. He taught them many skill and formed their bodies. He was kind to them and took care of them. Mankind learned from Prometheus and benefacted greatly from his gifts.
Prometheus tells his brother that giving fire to mankind is ordained. He means that even though he will suffer greatly, he needs to give the fire. He is at a fork in the road, a difficult decision, help mankind and save himself from the wrath of Zeus.
Prometheus plays a part in the role of Athena's birth because he warns Zeus that Metis' child will defeat him. Instead of letting Metis carry his child, Zeus swallows Metis, thus developing all her powers and wisdom. Athena is born out of Zeus' head, being born only to Zeus but inheriting all of her mother's powers.
In this story, fire symbolizes the final and most precious gift Prometheus could give. It represents something forbidden, something wonderful. But not something mankind is supposed to have access to.
Promethes is punished by being tortured and prisioned and having his liver plucked out dailey by a vicious eagle. The lesson Zeus is trying to teach him is that he is not to lessen the immortal's power by showering mankind with gifts. But Prometheus does not give in to Zeus, he is too proud.
Zeus punishes mankind by creating Pandora, then having her free everything bad into the universe.
In the story of Pandora, it is the woman who messes up. The man who is clever enough to decieve her, but the woman who messes up. This shows sexism in gender roles in ancient greece. The woman is incompetant, the man is clever.
The males do all the trickery in this story, they are the clever ones, the woman are the ones they manipulate to all for the traps.
1) Prometheus loved mankind. He taught them almost everything that they needed to know to live. Prometheus got very attached to the humans while he was with them. In fact, mankind was more Prometheus’ works rather than Zeus’ works.
2) Prometheus had to choose between doing what he knew was right or facing terrible consequences. Whichever route he chose, there would something good and something bad.
3) Prometheus’ role in Athena’s birth was that he prophesized that Athena would be wiser than Zeus. Zeus didn’t like that so he tricked Metis and ate her while she was pregnant. Zeus’ head gradually began to hurt very much so he asked Prometheus to split open his head. Upon doing this, Zeus’ daughter Athena, shot out through his head clad in armor. Because Zeus delivered his daughter himself, she became wise and gentle although inherited a fiery trait from Metis, her mother. She became a warrior and an expert in battle and defense strategy.
4) Fire in this story represents more than just hot flames or whatever fire is made out of. Fire represents courage, endurance, tenacity, and intelligence. By giving mankind fire, Prometheus rid much of mankind’s natural ignorance.
5) Prometheus punishment was harsh. He was bound to Mount Caucasus and left there to freeze and burn. When Hephaestus (who had brought Prometheus to Caucasus as an order of his father) was departing Caucasus to go back to Olympus, Prometheus told him “Zeus, that cruel tyrant, will fall as Cronos fell, unless he can find a out how to avert his doom. And how to do that, I alone know!’” Perhaps Prometheus should have kept his last words to himself, for it brought him much pain. Zeus demanded to know this information, but Prometheus kept his mouth shut and for that, his liver was devoured by an eagle every night (it grew back every night). The lesson of his story is do what you know is right, no matter how severe the consequences may be.
6) Zeus punished mankind by creating woman (a group effort in Olympus).
7) The story of Pandora and the box shows how women were viewed in that era of history. First, the gods make Pandora beautiful so that men will fall in love with her. It’s saying that the only quality in women that are attractive is their beauty as apposed to including their intelligence and their overall personality. Secondly, they make it so that Pandora is curios and so naïve that she can’t follow the rules; she can’t control her self.
8) It depends on what the definition of trickery is, but trickery is a big part of the story. Zeus tricks Metis, and mankind. All of the gods in a way trick mankind, by creating Pandora. The snake tricks the donkey. In the end there is a whole lot of trickery.
-Kai Marcel
Prometheus has a very close relationship with mankind. He really wanted humans to have the skills in order to be able to progress and succeed in life and he wanted them to have great achievements. When Prometheus means when he says "Ordained" I think he means that even though he will be breaking the important rule, to never disobey Zeus, giving mankind fire would make him honored and respected by all of the greeks and so he had to choose between the two.
Zeus came to Prometheus about having a child with Métis. Zeus feared that the child would be more powerful than him, but Zeus, being the selfish and greedy god that he is, he wouldn't have that. He easily tricked Métis, in to turning her self into a fly, and then he ate her. By eating her, Zeus gained her power of shape shifting, and her wisdom. Prometheus later split Zeus's head open after his head was hurting. After his head was split, Athena popped out, fully grown and wearing armor! Athena's fierceness and wisdom came from her mother Métis.
Fire, in the story, symbolizes life and hope. hope for the success of mankind's life and not only that, but its gives them a new resource to help them live. Prometheus was punished to be chained on the Mountains of Caucasus for ever. Every day his liver would be eaten by an eagle, and every night it would grow back, only to grow back the next day.
The lesson of the story is that if you disobey someone, you better be ready to accept the consequences. The punishment of mankind was making them immortal.
The story of Pandora shows that it was very male dominated and there were some what sexist views against women.Zeus uses women and doesn't seem to value them.
Trickery plays a large role in the world of the greek gods. They all trick each other and it is how they get their power. Zeus tricks Métis in to turning herself into a fly just so that he will still be the supreme ruler.
1. Prometheus takes on the role of being the selfless benefactor of mankind .Prometheus treats mankind as if they were his children. Thus, he becomes overcome with emotion and sacrifices himself to ensure the success of the race he believes will become more courageous than the gods themselves.
2. When Prometheus states that it is ordained to provide man with the gift of fire, he means that it is the will of fate and he is destined to do so. Even though Prometheus must endow man with fire, doing so would forever doom him to a fate worse than that of any of the other Titan. Also, Prometheus knew that Zeus would exact some sort of vengeance on mankind (Zeus could not destroy mankind) if he gave man fire he might inadvertently plague mankind for eternity.
3. Prometheus helped deliver Athena from Zeus’s head. Because Zeus lacked female reproductory organs one can assume that the only space that could support a child inside Zeus was his head. Athena retained many of the characteristics of her mother such as her wisdom, fierceness and a smaller amount of her power.
4. Fire primarly symbolizes the differentiation of man from beast. With fire, man can build cities, cook food, smelt metal, etc. All of which animals lack the capacity to achieve and thus was a birthright of humanity.
5. After betraying Zeus, Prometheus was forever imprisoned in Caucasus. Bound to a boulder Prometheus would be ravaged by the elements and have his liver eaten by the eagle of Zeus only to have it grow back, for he was an Immortal. Also, Zeus apparently commanded two Griffins to guard the area so no one would be tempted to free Prometheus. The moral of the story is in order to ensure that ones aspirations will be fulfilled sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
6. Zeus wished to make man immortal by giving them ambrosia as humanity would be driven to the brink of ruin once they foresaw all the misery of the future after Zeus brought discord into the world. However, Zeus did not know that humanity no longer possessed the ability to see into the future, as Prometheus had taken it from them. Though man intended to drink the ambrosia but before they could, a snake tricked the donkey which carried the ambrosia to give it to him. Therefore, humanity and donkeys alike would be forever plagued by snakes, a punishment which satisfied Zeus though it was not what he intended to happen.
7. The story of Pandora stereotypes woman as being beautiful and bold however they also are impulsive and lack good judgement. Woman also cloud judgement. This is because Epimetheus was so distracted by Pandora’s beauty that he failed to heed his brother’s admonishments and guard the box which contained the sins of the world. This portrayal is contradictory to the story of Prometheus because Epimetheus was slow witted to begin with. So it is likely that Epimetheus would have opened the box anyway. Even if he had not fallen in love with Pandora.
8. Trickery is both a blessing and a curse for humanity. Through it humanity gained fire and was not cursed by immortality. However it is trickery that invoked the wrath of Zeus and brought strife to the world.
1.) The relationship between Prometheus and mankind is very unique, normally the immortals had no relationship with mankind, because the gods saw themselves as superior to mankind. Yet Prometheus has a relationship with mankind so strong, that Prometheus has helped mankind survive and develop. I think the relationship between Prometheus and mankind is also built a little on pity from Prometheus’s side. Prometheus saw how hopeless the humans were and were going to be, so he went a little further than just creating mankind, he also taught them the ways to be.
2.) The story of Prometheus tells the story of how Prometheus steals the fire of the gods to give to mankind. Even though Prometheus is forbidden by Zeus to give fire to mankind, Prometheus disobeys Zeus and brings Fire to Mankind. Prometheus has the gift of seeing in the future, so when Prometheus states that “it is so ordained” Prometheus most likely has seen that in order for the world to go in it’s course, mankind must have fire to guide them along.
3.) Athena’s birth is a very interesting story. Prometheus for-told that when Zeus and his former wife Metis gave birth to a child, the child would be stronger and wiser than Zeus. Zeus fearing that his future child would defeat him and take over Zeus’s position as head of the gods, decided to swallow Metis which would take care of the problem of the future god. After Zeus swallowed Metis, he gained Metis’s Knowledge and her power of shape shifting. Zeus started to have headaches and after a while the headaches were to unbearable so Zeus called Prometheus to split open his head to see what was the source of the headaches. When Zeus’s head was split open, a fully-grown goddess, Athena, came out of Zeus’s head. Though she had the wisdom of both her mother and father, she had a gentler knowledge, yet she also had her mother’s fierceness occasionally.
4.) In this story, fire symbolizes holiness, because only the gods were allowed to have fire before Prometheus stole it from Olympus. Fire also symbolizes survival, because fire was the only way mankind could efficiently survive.
5.) When Zeus found out that Prometheus had stolen the fire of the gods he was furious that his command had been disobeyed. Zeus commanded Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to the Mountain of Caucasus. On the Mountain of Caucasus, Prometheus would burn and freeze. Prometheus’s punishment was a waning to all others who would disobey Zeus. While Prometheus was being chained, he stated that he alone knew how Zeus would avert his fate of doom. Since Prometheus would not say how Zeus could avoid his fate, Zeus sent an eagle to eat Prometheus’s liver every day. The lesson of his story is that you have do what is right for others no matter the consequence for yourself.
6.) As a punishment for mankind, Zeus made the first woman of the world. Her name was Pandora. Pandora was an extremely beautiful woman so Epimetheus fell in love with her, and brought her to live with mankind. In Epimetheus’s house there was a box with many negative characteristics, Pandora opened the box and all of the ills came out and spread throughout the world plaguing mankind. Thus Zeus’s punishment for mankind was set.
7.) In Ancient Greece, gender roles were very set. If you were beautiful you were not trustworthy. For instance, Pandora, she was a very beautiful woman, yet she was the person who doomed mankind with all the plagues of the world.
8.) The entire story of Prometheus and the stealing of fire is set on trickery. Prometheus tricks Zeus to steal fire. The snake tricks the donkey to give him the nectar of immortality. And in the end Zeus tricks mankind to expose themselves to the plagues of the world. The notion of trickery demonstrates how self involved the Greek gods were. Zeus was so furious that his orders weren’t followed; he ruined the lives of the future generations of mankind.
Post a Comment