Prometheus Bound
This article presents a discussion of "Prometheus Bound", a play by the Greek Tragedian Aeschylus dating back to the fifth century BC.
Introduction
My reading of The Oresteia, a trilogy of plays by Aeschylus, was a challenge. Multiple readings were required to even begin to comprehend the plot even though I was already familiar with the rough outline of events thanks to the summary in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Agamemnon’s story is well known and his character is familiar to anyone who has read The Iliad. My difficulties were not due to any deficiency in the translation of The Oresteia by Robert Fagles. His introduction and end notes were excellent and indispensable resources.
Given my prior experience with Aeschylus, I approached his other four surviving plays with some trepidation and I expected to be similarly challenged. To my surprise, I found Prometheus Bound, The Supplicants, Seven Against Thebes, and The Persians far easier to follow during my first reading.
These plays were translated by Philip Vellacott who also wrote a brief introduction. Although end notes are provided, they are far less extensive, but for the most part I was able to follow the dialogue without any problems, with occasional recourse to Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. Was my easier experience due to growing familiarity with Aeschylus or the pattern and tempo of Ancient Greek tragedy in general? Perhaps so, although I suspect that readers new to Aeschylus would be well served by starting with this volume before reading The Oresteia.
Unfortunately, three of the plays are parts of trilogies where the other plays have not survived. In the case of Prometheus Bound and The Supplicants, we have the opening play of two trilogies and in the case of Seven Against Thebes, we have the conclusion of a trilogy. The Persians, in contrast, survives as a stand-alone celebration of Greek victory in the Persian Wars. It is depressing to learn that Aeschylus wrote between seventy and ninety plays during his lifetime and only seven remain. Fortunately, classicists such as Edith Hamilton have been able to reconstruct the outline of mythological legends by relying on secondary sources. The plays survived for long enough to allow others to mention them in writing that has survived.
This article presents my thoughts on the most famous play in this volume, Prometheus Bound. Taken on a stand-alone basis, this play only tells part of a much larger story and I have tried to describe some of the surrounding events based on insights provided in the introduction as well as by Edith Hamilton.
The Agony of Prometheus
“All human skill and science was Prometheus’ gift.”
Zeus took power by toppling his father, Cronus, who was the leader of the Titans. In this struggle, most of the Titans were on the side of Cronus, but Prometheus, a son of one of the Titans, sided with Zeus. Prometheus had a role in the formation of humans and was sympathetic to the plight of mankind at a time when Zeus preferred to rid the world of humans. Prometheus assisted mankind by providing great gifts of knowledge, most notably how to harness the power of fire. Prometheus also held knowledge of a secret. At some point in the future, a son of Zeus would be born who would topple his father. Prometheus knew the identity of the mother and would not tell Zeus. This was a big problem for Zeus, a notoriously promiscuous God.
Prometheus Bound opens with the god Hephaestus being commanded by Zeus to punish Prometheus. Hephaestus and Prometheus have reached a location in the Scythian wilderness considered to be the most remote place on earth. Although not without reservations about punishing Prometheus, Hephaestus is in no position to challenge Zeus. He fastens Prometheus to a “desolate peak” with chains of bronze. Prometheus is to be exposed on that peak to the punishing rays of the sun by day and freezing temperatures at night.
Each changing hour will bring successive pain to rack
Your body; and no man yet born shall set you free.
Your kindness to the human race has earned you this.
A god who would not bow to the gods' anger - you,
Transgressing right, gave privileges to mortal men.
For that you shall keep watch upon this bitter rock,
Standing upright, unsleeping, never bowed in rest.
And many groans and cries of pain shall come from you,
All useless; for the heart of Zeus is hard to appease.Prometheus, as an immortal, is sentenced to an eternity of suffering. Exposed on that “bitter rock”, he will find no relief. Unlike the humans he assisted, Prometheus cannot escape his punishment through death.
For bestowing gifts upon mankind
I am harnessed in this torturing clamp. For I am he
Who hunted out the source of fire, and stole it, packed
In pith of a dry fennel-stalk. And fire has proved
For men a teacher in every art, their grand resource.
That was the sin for which I now pay the full price,
Bared to the winds of heaven, bound and crucified.Prometheus tells us that he has information that Zeus desperately wants: the identity of the son who is fated to take his power one day. This knowledge gives Prometheus a “card” to play. No amount of torture on the exposed rock will cause him to divulge the secret that Zeus simply must know. Of course, Zeus could solve his problem by abstaining from relations with all women, but anyone who understands the habits of the gods, and particularly Zeus, knows that this is hardly possible. In this play, this drama is left unresolved.
Turn your thoughts elsewhere; now is not the time to speak
Of that; it is a secret which by every means
Must be kept close. By keeping it I shall escape
This ignominious prison and these fearful pains.About halfway into the play, Io enters the scene. Io appeared as a frightful monster. She looked like a cow but spoke like a woman, complaining about being tormented by a gadfly. Prometheus and Io have something in common: Zeus is responsible for both of their miseries.
Zeus never allowed the bonds of his marriage to Hera stop him from keeping an eye out for attractive women. Io attracted his attention and this infatuation did not escape Hera’s notice. When Zeus was about to be caught with Io, he turned her into a cow to fool Hera. But Hera was not fooled and asked to be given the cow as a present. Zeus agreed. Hera assigned Argus, a creature with a hundred eyes, to constantly watch Io. Zeus ordered Hermes to kill Argus to free Io, but the poor cow-girl hybrid found no relief because Hera sent gadflies to constantly sting and torture her.
Io does not understand what she has done to deserve this misery.
Where, where, where
Will my endless, endless journeys bring me?
Son of Cronos [Zeus], what have I done?
What sin did you find in me,
To put me on such a yoke of torment,
Plague me to misery and madness
With this driving, stinging terror?
Burn me with fire, let the earth swallow me,
Throw me as food for sea-serpents --
Lord God, will you grudge me this prayer?
I have wandered so far,
I have been punished enough with wandering;
I cannot tell how to escape from pain.
Do you hear my voice? It is Io, the girl with horns!Prometheus recognizes Io and they have a long discussion. Prometheus has knowledge of Io’s fate but is reluctant to tell her since he does not want to “shatter her heart” but ultimately he relents and describes the journey Io will take. The length of the journey and its difficulties leads Io to wish for death and contemplate suicide by throwing herself off the cliffs. Prometheus begins to tell a story about the possibility of Zeus being stripped of power. Although he won’t show his “cards” to Io, she has an important role to play in the story.
A descendant of Io, in the thirteenth generation after her, will free Prometheus from his chains. At the end of her long journey, Io will settle along the Nile River where Zeus will restore her as a woman and impregnate her with a son named Epaphos. Hercules will be one of the descendants and will eventually free Prometheus from his punishment. Unfortunately, this story does not bring immediate relief to Io who, stung by the gadfly again, cries out in pain and resumes her seemingly endless journey.
Hermes arrives at the scene, sent by Zeus to demand that Prometheus reveal his secret. But Prometheus will have none of it. He is immune to threats of further torture and would rather continue suffering than cave in.
You still expect to get an answer out of me?
There is no torture, no ingenuity, by which
Zeus can persuade me to reveal my secret, till
The injury of these bonds is loosed from me. Therefore
Let scorching flames be flung from heaven; let the whole earth
With white-winged snowstorms, subterranean thunderings,
Heave and convulse: nothing will force me to reveal
By whose hand Fate shall hurl Zeus from his tyranny.Hermes, angered by such intransigence, gives Prometheus a preview of what is in store for him.
First, Zeus will split this rugged chasm with the shock
And flame of lightning, and entomb you underground
Still clamped on this embracing rock. When a long age
Has passed, you will return into the light; and then
The dark-winged hound of Zeus will come, the savage eagle,
An uninvited banqueter, and all day long
Will rip your flesh in rags and feast upon your liver,
Gnawing it black. And you may hope for no release
From such a torment, till some god be found to take
Your pains upon him, and of his own will descend
To sunless Hades and the black depths of Tartarus.So, be it, says Prometheus. He will not yield. Hermes calls him a lunatic for willingly accepting this type of torture. At wits end, Hermes gives a final warning and exits the scene. The play ends with Prometheus seeing the threats playing out as the rock he is chained to suddenly collapses.
Aeschylus continues the story in Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire-Bringer, but both of these plays are lost. Philip Vellacott writes that there is little doubt about the general course of events of the trilogy. Zeus eventually abandons his use of force against Prometheus and opens negotiations instead. Prometheus reveals that the sea nymph Thetis would give birth to the son who was fated to topple Zeus. Armed with this knowledge, Zeus abstains from relations with Thetis who eventually marries Peleus. Their son was named Achilles, of Trojan War fame. With approval from Zeus, Hercules finally sets Prometheus free.
Conclusion
Although this article does not discuss the remaining plays, The Supplicants, Seven Against Thebes, and The Persians, I very much enjoyed reading each of them.
The story of Io’s descendants continues in The Supplicants which is the first play in what is known as the Danaid Trilogy. Fifty young women have been given as brides to fifty young men who happen to be their cousins. The woman flee from Egypt to Greece to seek asylum, but this sparks a war that results in mass murder of forty-nine of the grooms, an event that takes place in the lost second play of the trilogy. Seven Against Thebes is a fragment of a story told much more fully by Sophocles, about the cursed family of Oedipus. I plan to write about Oedipus when I read Sophocles. The Persians is unique in the sense that it told a story of a recent war, one in which Aeschylus participated in. This patriotic play was clearly intended to reinforce the pride of Athenians basking in the glory of victories at Salamis and Plataea.
Although the plays presented in this book are not as satisfying as The Oresteia in the sense of providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the plot, they are well worth the time to read. Each play can be read in a single sitting of around one hour, although two readings will greatly enhance the experience. I would suggest reading Philip Vellacott’s introduction and consulting Edith Hamilton’s Mythology while reading these plays.
I have completed my reading of all of the surviving plays of Aeschylus. I am eager to read Sophocles and Euripides in the near future but I have decided to first read the Histories of Herodotus. Like the great tragedians, Herodotus lived during the fifth century BC and his writing covers the Persian War. After reading The Persians, I realized that I lack any real knowledge of that momentous event in Greek history. It seems wise to learn more about that war as well as other aspects of Greek history as told by a man living at the time. I hope that my appreciation of Sophocles and Euripides will be enhanced by first studying Herodotus.
I now have a better understanding of how Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin came up with the name their Oppenheimer biography. The title of the book, which I reviewed last year, is American Prometheus.
Mankind’s knowledge, and perhaps our fate, was forever changed when the physics of nuclear science was discovered and formulated into weapons. I am among those who believe that nuclear weapons represent the only true existential threat to the survival of humanity on earth, and that eventual use of nuclear weapons is nearly inevitable given the fallen nature of mankind. Our only hopes are to become multi-planetary or to develop technology that neutralizes the utility of nuclear weapons and neither development is on the horizon. The Greek tragedians would no doubt create some epic dramas with this dilemma.
Copyright, Disclosures, and Privacy Information
Nothing in this article constitutes investment advice and all content is subject to the copyright and disclaimer policy of The Rational Walk LLC. The Rational Walk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.