Prometheus and Io
Prometheus was a titan, but a friend of the gods. He not only created mortals, but loved them unconditionally, and eventually went against the wishes of Zeus (the king of the gods) and introduced fire to man kind. In doing so, he greatly angered Zeus and his punishment was to be chained him to a huge boulder on the top of a mountain, facing an eternity of not only being chained to the mountain, but having his liver torn out and eaten every day by an eagle (because Prometheus was a titan, he was immortal, so his liver would grow back just to be torn out again the next day). Io on the other hand was a mortal maiden, a very pure and loveable one. Zeus, who was not very faithful to his godly wife Hera, spent a lot of time with this girl. Hera was the goddess of matrimony and did not take to kindly to Zeus's activities involving Io, so in order to save her from the wrath of Hera, Zeus turned Io into a white cow. However, when Hera saw the cow, she knew that it was Io, no matter how much Zeus tried to convince her otherwise. Hera told Zeus that if the cow actually was in fact a cow and not the fair maiden, that Zeus had to give it to her. Hera assigned Argus (who had many eyes) to watch over the cow day and night so there would be no escape. Zeus eventually sent Hermes, the messenger god, to distract Argus and put him to sleep and close all of his eyes, and he cut off his head. Hera was devastated and sent a huge gadfly after Io to constantly bite and sting her for as long as she lived. In her never ending flee of the gadfly, she eventually stumbled upon the mountain where Prometheus was chained. He spoke to her, and told her that he knew who she was and to go to the Nile river to meet Zeus and she would be turned back into a maiden. He promised her that once she returned to human form, she would become the mother of a race of heroes, and that one day one of those heroes would free him of his imprisonment. Eventually one did; Heracles.
Themes:
1) Perversion and potential destructiveness of knowledge; Fire was meant to be a peaceful offering to the humans for warmth and constructive purposes, but really it turned to benefit chaos.
2) Attempts from authority to stifle knowledge; Zeus and the gods want to keep their secrets such as fire to themselves and keep it from the new human race.
Allusions to Prometheus and Io:
Works Cited:
"Prometheus and Io."MythNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
"Prometheus."Myth Encyclopedia. Advameg, Inc, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Themes:
1) Perversion and potential destructiveness of knowledge; Fire was meant to be a peaceful offering to the humans for warmth and constructive purposes, but really it turned to benefit chaos.
2) Attempts from authority to stifle knowledge; Zeus and the gods want to keep their secrets such as fire to themselves and keep it from the new human race.
Allusions to Prometheus and Io:
- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly. When Prometheus gave the humans fire, he not only opened new opportunities to improve society, but also introduced a destructive force. This concept parallels the one of Victor, who created Frankenstein. It begins when his mother dies and he initially thinks that by creating the monster, he can create life and overcome deaths like the one of his mothers. Like Prometheus, Victor began with honorable intentions, but his actions eventually lead to harmful consequences. Like the monster, at first fire was something wonderful that the humans received. However, over time, the actions of the humans turned it into an evil force.
- Anthem, by Ayn Rand. Equality 7-2521 discovers electricity and wants to share his discovery with the rest of the world. However, the government quickly covers up his findings and exiles him. Equality takes refuge in the woods and stumbles upon an abandoned cabin. There, he finds a book of Greek Myths and notices the parallel between himself in Prometheus, and actually takes his name upon himself.
Works Cited:
"Prometheus and Io."MythNET. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
"Prometheus."Myth Encyclopedia. Advameg, Inc, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.