Prometheus Europe Literal meaning: ‘forethought’. The Greek fire god and friend of mankind; the son of the Titan lapetus and Clymene, a nymph, and brother of Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus. Hostile to Zeus, the sons of lapetus found their match in the wide-seeing sky god, though Prometheus himself gained a Pyrrhic victory by enduring torture and not revealing his secret knowledge of future events. He was aware that if Zeus had a child by the sea goddes. Thetis, their son would displace Zeus as chief of the gods. Zeus struck down ‘overweening’ Menoetius with lightning, obliged ‘stubborn’ Atlas to prop up the sky, gave disastrous Pandora to ‘foolish’ Epimetheus, and chained ‘subtle-counselled’ Prometheus on a rock, sending in the daytime an eagle to consume his immortal liver, which was restored each succeeding night. The hero Heracles may have released the suffering fire god, without the consent of the Olympian gods.
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