What does the mythical Prometheus mean?

The name "Prometheus" comes from the words "Pro" and "mytheus" (or according to the spelling of matheus in Greek Dorian dialect), which means "foresight" or "someone has observed and made arrangements in advance". Another explanation is that the name "Prometheus" comes from the Greek misuse of Sanskrit words "pramantha" or "Firedrill", just as Turiac worships Zeus-Prometheus with Firedrill, and Prometheus is imagined as the inventor of Firedrill. Therefore, Prometheus was fixed as a symbol of a powerful man, who touched the sacredness by making sacrifices for the fate of mortals, thus opening a way for mankind to succeed in an unfavorable natural environment. As a disseminator of fire, he became the embodiment of knowledge and the founder of civilization. His misfortune also makes him a prototype of a man with tragic elements and public moral consciousness, an ideal citizen who discovers human wisdom and will power, and a man who can bravely resist and overcome fate with reason. According to the most popular myth, Prometheus is the son of Partos, the Titan, and Clymene, the goddess of the sea. His brothers are Atlas, Menotius and Epimetheus. Aeschylus, an ancient Greek tragic writer, once described Prometheus as the son of themis, the goddess of justice and law. As a symbol of reason, wisdom and cleverness, Prometheus was an independent hero who fearlessly resisted the unreasonable tyranny of the powerful. Prometheus aroused Zeus' anger and hatred, and Zeus punished him cruelly because he became a helper of mankind. According to some myths, Prometheus helped mankind alone.

Pausanias, a Greek geographer and historian, once wrote that the residents of Fokis in central ancient Greece would point to the rocks that smelled like human beings and claim that they were clods left by Prometheus when he created man. In fact, Aesop said that human beings are made of soil and Prometheus' tears. But Plato declared in protagoras that the gods created animals and humans, and instructed Prometheus and Epimetheus to add features and marks to these animals and humans in order to distinguish each creation. Epimetheus, a symbol of "hindsight", asked Prometheus to allow him to spread these characteristics alone. In this way, Epimetheus gave some animals "speed", some animals "strength", and some animals had feathers or claws. When Epimetheus came to the human side, he had used up all his "talents", so he could only make human beings naked, without any protective parts such as teeth and claws, making them look very weak. Prometheus sympathized with mankind. In order to provide them with strength and the ability to protect themselves, he stole "skills" from Athena and "fire" from hephaestus, the god of fire and forging (because "skills" are useless without fire). Prometheus stole the political technology of governing the country from Zeus and handed it over to mankind, which aroused the anger of the gods and was punished.

The Greek poet hesiod wrote that Prometheus first angered the king of gods by deceiving Zeus. It was at a meeting that the gods and humans discussed how to distribute animals for sacrifice after slaughter. Prometheus was in charge of distributing meat. He provided a slaughtered bull and divided it into two piles. One pile covers beef and internal organs with cowhide, and the other pile covers beef bones with shiny tallow.

Zeus was attracted by the fat luster of beef, so he chose this pile of beef bones. Knowing that Titan deceived himself to please mankind, Zeus became furious and vowed revenge. Therefore, he took back the gift of "fire" as the foundation of human existence and punished human beings for living in hardship and torture. "They have eyes, but they can't see. They have ears, but they can't hear. Their lives seem to be a hazy dream. They don't know how to build houses, so they can only live in dark caves. They don't know whether the season is winter, spring or summer, "Aeschylus wrote in his play Prometheus Bound.

As Aeschylus told us, Prometheus sympathized with these mortals and taught them "the direction of the stars, the way and position of the horizon, numbers and the greatest words of wisdom". Therefore, Prometheus helped people put yokes on animals, invented cars, built boats that could float and sink on waves, improved divination and sacrificial ceremonies, and mined minerals. He taught mankind to treat diseases with drugs and eliminated the fear of death, so he became a benefactor of mankind. As hesiod added, Prometheus even hid the fire in the stem of a plant, thus stealing it from the gods and returning it to mortals. According to the most popular story, Prometheus stole a fire from the forging workshop in hephaestus, Lemnos Island. According to another story, Prometheus stole a fire from Mount Olympia or lit a torch from the wheel of Helius, the sun god.

Other ancient writers believed that Zeus punished Prometheus because he knew a secret related to Zeus' authority: Zeus seduced thetis, a sea fairy, but if Zeus got his wish, the son born of this doomed love would dethrone Zeus in the future.

Whatever the reason, Prometheus was severely punished. He was locked at the highest peak of Caucasus Mountain with unbreakable chains, which was made by hephaestus, the god of forging. There, an eagle came to peck at his liver, and his liver would recover at night. Thirty years later, with the consent of Zeus, Hercules freed Prometheus from the bondage. Prometheus reconciled with Zeus and was invited back to Olympia, where he got the status of Kai Long Xing, a centaur monster. Kay Long Xing gave up his immortality for Prometheus.