Prometheus Bound Background

Please use the time in the lab this morning to work on Module 1 on eLearning. Any homework or late materials should be turned in. Our marking period ends in two weeks. By this time you should be completely finished with modules 0 & 1.

You may use your time in the lab this morning to begin reading Prometheus Bound. I encourage you to read the background material posted and linked here before you begin. The Prometheus Bound analysis questions are NOT due yet, but will be by the time we finish the play. You may work on them at your own pace. 

Background on Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus. From: "The Cummings Study Guide":

Prometheus Bound is a tragedy centering primarily on the reaction of a proud god to a terrible punishment imposed on him by Zeus. The date of its writing and staging is uncertain, but the play probably debuted about 450 B.C., six years before the death of Aeschylus. It was the first part of a trilogy. The other two plays–Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire-Bringer–do not survive except for fragments of the latter play. 
[this means you are starting a story in the middle...most of our dislike of the play comes from this fact, as it's sometimes hard to understand why certain actions are happening.]

Setting: The action takes place on a single day at a time just after human beings begin to use fire as a tool of advancement. The place is a gorge in the Caucasus on the shore of the Black Sea, a mountain range running southeast from the Black Sea (called the Euxine Sea in ancient times) to the Caspian Sea. To the north of the Caucasus is present-day Russia; to the south is present-day Georgia. The highest peak in the system, Mount Elbrus, rises to a height of more than 18,000 feet. The lands adjacent to the mountain range are known as Caucasia. 

Onstage Characters

Prometheus: Titan whose name means forethought. After he defied the will of Zeus by becoming the benefactor of mankind, Zeus turned against him, ordering him bound to a rock in a desolate gorge of the Causasus Mountains. There, Prometheus remains proudly defiant, exhibiting no remorse or regret for his actions. Instead, he taunts Zeus, predicting his downfall at the hands of a child he shall beget. 
Hephaestus: The master blacksmith of Mount Olympus and one of the major Olympian gods. Although he sympathizes with Prometheus, he carries out the will of Zeus by making the unbreakable chains that bind Prometheus to the rock in the Caucasus gorge. In Roman mythology, Hephaestus is known as Vulcan. 
Kratos and Bia: Henchmen of Zeus who convey Prometheus to the Caucasus. Kratos symbolizes strength and Bia symbolizes force. 
Oceanids: Daughters of the Titan Oceanus. They act as the chorus in the play. Although they sympathize with Prometheus, they do not sanction his taunting of Zeus. 
Oceanus: Father of the Oceanids. He is a Titan who remained in Zeus's favor after other Titans had been cast out of heaven. 
Io: Young woman with whom Zeus fell in love but turned into a heifer to disguise her from his jealous wife, Hera. Her presence in the play helps to illuminate ancient attitudes toward fate and the humanlike pettiness and jealousies of the Olympian gods. In addition, her dialogue with Prometheus helps to reveal his intellectual gifts, his defiance, and his other character traits. 
Hermes: Messenger of Zeus and one of the major Olympian gods. His dialogue with Prometheus helps to reveal the latter's fierce defiance of Zeus, defiance so passionate that it becomes a kind of madness. In Roman mythology, Hermes is known as Mercury.

Main Offstage Characters   

Zeus: King of the universe, who rules from Mount Olympus. He exhibits human traits such as pride, lust, deceit, and vengefulness. Although he has no speaking part in the play, his presence as an antagonist of Prometheus is felt throughout the drama. In Roman mythology, Zeus is known as Jupiter. 
Hera: Queen of the universe and wife of Zeus. Her jealousy of Io causes Zeus to turn the young woman into a heifer. But Hera apparently sees through the scheme to hide Io and sends a gadfly to bedevil her. In Roman mythology, Hera is known as Juno. 
Argus Panoptes: A one-hundred-eyed giant assigned by Hera to observe Io.
Inachus: Father of Io.

Author's Approach: Looking back from the mid-Fifth Century B.C., the author retells a mythological tale transmitted over the centuries to him and other ancient Greeks. He presents the story from the perspective of an enlightened Greek attempting to underscore the importance of intelligence, creativity, and resistance to tyranny. Depicting Zeus as a strongarm bully was daring and controversial. 

Introduction: Mythological Background

.......Aeschylus based the plot of Prometheus Bound on parts of mythological tales well known to Greeks of his time. Modern readers and theatergoers need to become familiar with these tales to understand the play. 

Following is a summation of the tales:
.......After the birth of the universe and the first gods, Uranus rules the heavens and fathers children with Earth, a planet as well as a goddess, called Gaea. These children include three one-eyed giants, three fifty-headed monsters, and twelve gods known as Titans. Fearing that his offspring might try to overthrow him, Uranus thrusts them back into Gaea, causing her severe pain. After fashioning a sickle, Gaea asks her sons to castrate Uranus. Only the youngest one, Cronus, is willing to take up the challenge. After he castrates and overthrows Uranus, he becomes king of the universe, with most of his brothers and sisters assuming positions of power. 
.......The Titans then beget another generation of children, one of whom is Prometheus, the son of Cronus’s brother, Iapetus. Cronus himself fathers children after taking his sister, Rhea, as his mate and queen. Told that one of his children will overthrow him, he attempts to thwart fate by swallowing the children after they are born. His first five children all meet this fate. After Rhea bears a sixth child, Zeus, she acts to protect him. Instead of giving the child to Cronus, she hides him in Crete and gives Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling. Believing it is Zeus, he swallows it. 
.......After Zeus comes of age, he gives Cronus an emetic that causes him to spew out his brothers and sisters. Zeus and his siblings then wage war against Cronus and his Titan allies. However, two of the Titans, Prometheus and Oceanus, decide to fight on the side of Zeus. With their assistance, Zeus and his siblings overthrow Cronus and his forces and cast them into the underworld, known as Tartarus. Zeus then enthrones himself as king of the gods, apportioning various powers to his brothers and sisters. After Zeus takes up residence with them on Mount Olympus, they become known collectively as the Olympians (as opposed to the defeated Titans). Zeus marries his sister, Hera, who becomes queen of the gods. 
.......Meanwhile, men come into existence on earth. (One ancient writer says Prometheus created them from clay; another source says they were born out of the earth). Although Zeus despises these lowly creatures, Prometheus pities them and acts to sustain them, saving ox meat from sacrifices for men and serving the bones to Zeus after wrapping it with savory fat. Upon discovering the deception, Zeus retaliates by withholding fire from man. Prometheus then steals fire from the heavens and gives it to his earthling friends as a valuable tool for their advancement. 
.......The ancient Greek writer Hesiod presented two versions of what Zeus did next. In one version, Zeus concocts a scheme to plague man. First, he orders his brother, Hephaestus, the forger god, to create a woman. Named Pandora, she is the first of her kind. Zeus sends her to earth with various gifts from the gods, including great beauty and winsomeness, as well as curiosity. She carries with her a jar that she is never to open. In time, her curiosity gets the better of her and she opens the lid, releasing disease, sorrow, evil, and hard labor upon the world. In the other version, Zeus vents his anger on Prometheus, ordering him chained to a rock in a gorge of the Caucasus Mountains. Each day, an eagle comes to feed on his liver. But because Prometheus is immortal, his liver restores itself by the following morning. Then the eagle returns to feed again. Such is the torture that Prometheus endures. Aeschylus recounts this version of the story in Prometheus Bound, beginning on the day when Zeus’s henchmen bind Prometheus to the rock. 

For information about the history and significance of this play, please read the following article: Prometheus Bound.

After reading the play, check your understanding by answering this flash card quiz: Prometheus Bound (characters).