terrible irony, for no contrivance can release him.

Greek cosmology describes three generations of gods, (1) Heaven (Earth and Sky) and the Titans, (2) Kronos, and (3) Zeus and his Olympian hierarchy. Prometheus was the son of Iapetus, a Titan, and Clymene, an ocean nymph.

Prometheus helped Zeus defeat the Titans and helped eliminate conflicts among the gods by assigning each specific jurisdictions.

During this time, humanity, created, according to some versions of the myth, by Prometheus, lived a primitive existence without hope. Zeus decided to let humanity perish, so he could create a new race himself, but Prometheus pitied people and gave them fire stolen from heaven. Fire, as Prometheus explains in his monologue, brought with it technology and astronomy, mathematics and language, agriculture and medicine, but most of all, hope. Zeus, angered by Prometheus's interference in his plans, punishes the Titan by impaling him on a mountain peak, where he is partially devoured by an eagle each day. Prometheus knows but refuses to tell how Zeus will fall. In time, Zeus gains sympathy and Prometheus humility. They reconcile. Zeus forgives the Titans and Prometheus. Acknowledging Zeus's power, the rebel exchanges a chain of flowers for the metal chain he wore.

Chorus of Oceanids Earth and Sky are the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, who are the parents of the Oceanids. Aeschylus's mythology, which names Prometheus's mother as Earth, makes the Titan uncle to the Oceanids. Like their father Oceanus, they sympathize with Prometheus, but more bravely. Partially out of fear of Zeus, however, they disapprove of Prometheus's behavior, urging him to attempt a reconciliation. Fear of Zeus strikes the Oceanids when they learn of Io's suffering, but still they remain with Prometheus at the end of the play, when he is cast into Tartarus.

Force and Violence As the play opens, Force and Violence accompany Hephestus as he impales Prometheus to a peak in the Caucasus mountains. Force remains blindly obedient to Zeus, showing no pity for the Titan and respecting only Zeus's pure power. Force's attitude is realistic. When Hephestus laments that it was his skill at metallurgy that led Zeus to select him for the Hermes Child of Zeus and Maia, Hermes is the messenger of the gods. He enters at the play's end, trying to convince Prometheus to reveal the secret that will lead to Zeus's downfall, but the Titan refuses. Hermes taunts Prometheus and threatens him with further punishment, but the Titan ridicules him. Young and inexperienced, Hermes proves a poor mediator between Zeus and Prometheus, ultimately appearing juvenile and intemperate

Io Niece of the Chorus, Io is the half-human daughter of a river god. Through no fault of her own, she finds herself desired by Zeus and therefore persecuted by his jealous wife Hera. She has been pursued and watched, first by Argos, whose thousand eyes never close, and then by a gadfly which seems Argos's spirit. Like Prometheus, she too suffers the injustice of Zeus's tyranny, though she is completely innocent of any transgression. Prometheus predicts that one of Io's decedents, Hercules, will revenge her by overcoming Zeus and killing the eagle that daily feeds on Prometheus's liver. This prediction becomes partially true: Hercules does kill the eagle, but Prometheus and Zeus reconcile, leaving Zeus ruler. Thematically, Io's movement contrasts with Prometheus's stasis. Physically, Io appears to be half woman-half cow.

Ocean A titan who rules the watery elements, he is brother to Earth, Prometheus's mother, and so the rebel's uncle and father to the Oceanid chorus. Pretentious and foppish, Ocean offers to intervene with Zeus on Prometheus's behalf, showing off an influence with Zeus which he does not have. He advises reconciliation, but he cowers before Zeus's authority. Some critics see him as comic relief. In his role as the foolish advisor, he is reminiscent of Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet.