Antique art with its unrivaled masters of literature, painting, sculpture and architecture survived the century. The images and plots of ancient mythology were widely used by subsequent generations, they are not forgotten even today.
One of the most beautiful for me is the ancient Greek world of Prometheus, who stole fire from the sky and taught people to use it. This myth became known to us due to the preserved heritage of Aeschylus – the founder of the ancient tragedy.
From the cycle of tragedies about Prometheus we learn that this titan helped the supreme god Zeus to seize power, to defeat other titans, but opposed him when Zeus decided to destroy the human race. According to ancient Greek mythology, people used to be unreasonable, they did not have a divine spark:
Previously, people
watched and did not see, and, hearing,
Did not hear; in some dream of sleep
Wet life…
Still, those who “thought without doing everything”
attracted the attention of Prometheus, and he decided to help them: titanium brought people heavenly fire, awakening their consciousness, because no animal has today such power over fire as a man. However, this is far from the only gift Prometheus gave to the human race: he taught them the account and the letter, gave the mind and speech, so that people were able to store their knowledge and transmit them from generation to generation. Prometheus taught people to build dwellings and hide in them from the cold and heat, discovered the secrets of the movement of heavenly bodies and the secrets of medicinal plants, taught crafts, arts, explained how to cultivate the soil. A lot of good brought Prometheus to the human race, wishing to make people reasonable and happy, but brought upon it the wrath of Zeus. I think, the supreme god was angry with the titan not only for disobedience – perhaps he felt the strength of people who gained knowledge and skills through the divine spark, the universe in them Prometheus. And any force is a threat to power. Therefore, Zeus is so merciless to the disobedient. He ordered
Hephaestus, the blacksmith-god, to bind Prometheus to the rock in a wild and desolate area. Power and Violence sent by Zeus accompany Hephaestus, and their hearts do not know pity. However, experiencing terrible agony, Prometheus is silent. Proud and brave, he is not going to repent and ask for forgiveness, therefore he directly answers the Oceanians, asking why Zeus condemned him for suffering: “For mercy to people, for he himself is merciless.” For his disobedience Zeus dooms Prometheus to even greater trials, but the strength of the titan is that he knows the future: there will come a day when the ungrateful, cruel and vindictive Zeus will be plunged into a nonentity and learns the difference between power and slavery. Prometheus is confident in his right and does not submit to violence or power:
Know well that I would not exchange
My sorrows for slavish service…
The feat of Prometheus today inspires people to great achievements, because the divine fire, received by them as a gift from the titan, is the power of knowledge and reason.
