Prometeus and the gift of fire

If we were to go back in the evolutionary clock we could probably find a decisive moment in which our ancestors clearly distanced themselves from the other animals, this moment probably coincides with the discovery of fire. There are several objective and scientific ways to track down and describe this moment, but it would not be as entertaining as the Greek mythology, I will forego of science and critical thinking for once and rely on ancient tales for describing this moment:

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Prometeus was a young titan with a curious mind. Despite the fact that Zeus did not like to answer questions, Prometeus never seemed to hesitate to bug him. One morning Prometeus asked him: "Good morning Thunderer, I have a question regarding your design, you created these humans yet you keep them in ignorance and darkness, why?"

"Perhaps you better leave matters that you don't understand to me, what you call ignorance is innocence and what you call darkness is the shadow of my decree. Humans are happy now, and they will remain happy until someone else may persuade them otherwise. Don't you have anything better to do? I do not wish to speak about this again."

But Prometheus said "Just look at the them, how miserable they look, they crouch in caves and are at the mercy of beasts. They even eat their meat raw. Is this that you meant for them? Please enlighten me with your wisdom, let me understand why you deny them of the use of fire."

"How naive of you, so you don't know that every gift brings a penalty? There are things at which even the gods must abide, like destiny. This is the path that faith weaved for men. It's true that men doesn't have fire or the crafts that that fire teaches. On the other hand, men does not know disease, warfare, old age or that inner pest called worry. That's why I say that he is happy without fire and so without fire he shall remain. "

To this Prometheus replied: "So what's the point to create men and endow him with little fur and some wit! If he must live like this why separate him from beasts at all?".

Laughing Zeus said: "Men have other qualities, like for example a great attitude for worship, great admiration for our power and they are easily amazed by our caprices. Can you see now why men were made?"

Prometheus: "So why not teach them how to use fire? That could make them more interesting!"

Zeus: "Perhaps, but fire would make them also more dangerous because man is equipped with pride that needs little sustenance to swell the size of a giant. Improve his lot and he will forget which makes him pleasing. He would be poisoned by pride and lose his humility and sense of worship. In little time he will start fancy himself a God. His pride will swell so much that he may even consider storming Olympus.Enough of speculations, I've been too patient with you Prometheus, go away and stop annoying me with your stupid questions".

Prometheus was restless, he could not stand idle, let alone manage to sleep that night. At dawn, he stretched his arm to the eastern horizon where he catched the first flickering flames of the sun and came down from Olympus to gift the men with fire. 

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Being distracted with the affairs of the Gods, Zeus did not realize at first that something had changed on earth. But one day he saw that men abandoned their caves for farmhouses, villages and towns. Not only men were not scared of fire anymore but they were mastering it, cooking food and even lighting torches to brighten their way at night. Fire had enabled men to make forges and craft tools, swords and spears. They were even making ships harnessing the fury of the winds for their journeys. As Zeus feared, the pride of men was swollen and now, equipped with weapons and armor the men, like the Gods, could even wage war. 

Zeus was furious, at first he was tempted to unleash a terrible thunderbolt capable of incinerating all men. But then he decided to direct his rage at Prometheus that dared defy him. Ironically, Zeus asked the God of Fire to forge some special chains that cannot be broken and used them to bind Prometheus to a mountain peak. Each day Zeus would send an eagle to feed on his liver. Since Prometheus was immortal, each day his liver would grow back, just to be eaten again by the eagle. Prometheus's screams could be heard from far away, the men could tell something terrible was happening on the peak of the mountain, but for centuries they were too scared to dare going there. Until one day another hero was born, his name was Hercules. He managed to kill the eagle, emblem of Zeus, and to break the chains that bound Prometheus for centuries. So at last, the man was able to repay Prometheus for the gift of fire. 

However, this is not the end of tale, Zeus still had a revenge in mind to punish the men for accepting the gift of fire from Prometheus. If you liked this post please vote it, so I can continue the story and write part 2 (now available here).

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