Thus, by the conclusion of Prometheus the Fire-Bringer, Aeschylus' Zeus would be more like the just Zeus found in the works of Hesiod. These doubts initially took the form of the so-called "Zeus Problem." That is, how could the playwright who demonstrated such piety toward Zeus in (for example) The Suppliants and Agamemnon be the same playwright who, in Prometheus Bound, inveighs against Zeus for being a violent tyrant? This objection prompted the theory of a Zeus who (like the Furies in the Oresteia) "evolves" in the course of the trilogy. Since the 19th century, however, several scholars have doubted Aeschylus' authorship of the drama. Scholars at the Great Library of Alexandria unanimously deemed Aeschylus to be the author of Prometheus Bound. Prometheus refuses, and Zeus strikes him with a thunderbolt that plunges Prometheus into the abyss. He says one of her descendants (an unnamed Heracles), thirteen generations hence, will release him from his own torment.įinally, Hermes the messenger-god is sent down by the angered Zeus to demand that Prometheus tell him who threatens to overthrow him. Prometheus forecasts Io's future travels, telling her that Zeus will eventually end her torment in Egypt, where she will bear a son named Epaphus. Prometheus is then visited by Io, a human maiden pursued by a lustful Zeus the Olympian transformed Io into a cow, and a gadfly sent by Zeus's wife Hera has chased Io all the way from Argos. Prometheus tells the chorus that the gift of fire to mankind was not his only benefaction in the so-called Catalogue of the Arts (447-506), he reveals that he taught men all the civilizing arts, such as writing, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, architecture, and agriculture. A Titan named Oceanus commiserates with Prometheus and urges him to make peace with Zeus. Prometheus cryptically tells them that he knows of a potential marriage that would lead to Zeus's downfall. The Oceanids appear and attempt to comfort Prometheus by conversing with him. This punishment is especially galling since Prometheus was instrumental in Zeus's victory in the Titanomachy. According to the author, Prometheus is being punished not only for stealing fire, but also for thwarting Zeus's plan to obliterate the human race. At the beginning, Kratos (strength), Bia (force), and the smith-god Hephaestus chain the Titan Prometheus to a mountain in the Caucasus and then depart. The play is composed almost entirely of speeches and contains little action since its protagonist is chained and immobile throughout.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |