In distant primitive times, according to the legends of the ancient Hellenes, the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, arose from chaos, and the world was ruled at that time by her son, the god of Heaven, Uranus. But he was overthrown by the mighty, wild titans, the children of Gaia and Uranus, and after a long struggle, one of the titans seized power over the world - Kronos, which means "Performer". According to the predictions of his parents, he was also to be overthrown. When Kronos' wife Rhea gave birth to his youngest son Zeus, he decided to swallow him, like the rest of his children - Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera, which he kept in his stomach, but the cunning mother decided to save her son, and she gave it to Kronos instead Zeus wrapped a stone like a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, and Kronos swallowed it.
And little Zeus was secretly taken from his father to the island of Crete, to the Iday cave, and was carefully raised there by kind nymphs who looked after him, fed him honey and milk from the goat Amalfea.
When Zeus grew up and matured, he decided to rebel against the power of his father, and, uniting for this with his sisters and brothers, saved thanks to the magic drink brought by Rhea by the daughter of Ocean, he took away the power over the world from old Kronos, settled with his brothers and sisters in the dwelling of the gods on the top of Mount Olympus and gave his brother Poseidon dominion over the sea, Hades - the power over the underworld, and he himself began to rule over heaven and earth.
The Titans were unhappy with this, they rebelled against Zeus, and a long, brutal ten-year war began against the new ruler - the war of the sons of Uranus with the sons of Kronos, called the war of the titans.
Then one of the titans, Prometheus, began to advise the titans to submit to Zeus, who far surpassed them in wisdom, but the wild titans, relying on their strength, rejected the advice of Prometheus and entered into a fight against Zeus. Prometheus, along with his mother Themis, went over to the side of Zeus, knowing that victory would be on the side where wisdom would be along with strength.
After a long, stubborn struggle, Zeus, thanks to Prometheus and the help of a hundred-handed hecatoncheires, defeated the wild titans and threw them into the depths of the Earth, into the gloomy underground Tartarus.
But their mother Earth - Gaia was unhappy with this, she rebuilt her children - giant giants against Zeus, and they began to pile mountains on mountains, rocks on rocks, threatening to reach the very sky. It was in vain that Zeus struck them with his lightning from the top of Olympus, only with the help of the hero Hercules they were thrown into the abyss and littered with stones. 
Having dealt with the wild titans and giants hostile to him, the new ruler of earth and sky, Zeus the Thunderer, alienated even those titans who helped him in the struggle. And the Ocean was removed to the very edge of the Earth. Zeus also hated Prometheus, as the last of the titan clan, despite the fact that Prometheus helped him. And all the people who lived in the time of Kronos had to perish, and give way to a new generation of people.
Upon learning of this, the titan Prometheus once descended to earth to people. And then they were still weak and pitiful, without thoughts and hope. Having eyes, they did not know how to understand what they saw, while listening, they did not hear anything, and they lived on earth, not understanding what was happening around; they did not know how to build dwellings, cut stone, burn clay and make utensils out of it. Like ants, they lived in deep and dark caves, not knowing when winter and summer would come.
But the noble Prometheus loved people with ardent love, and he decided to help them. Prometheus went to the island of Lemnos, to the fire-breathing mountain Mosichl, where the forge of the lame god of fire, his friend Hephaestus, was located. Prometheus took a spark of divine fire from the forge, and brought it in a smoldering reed, and gave it to people. He showed them how to build dwellings, taught them to count, taught them the rising and setting of the sun and heavenly bodies, taught them to write, gave them a memory; taught how to yoke wild bulls, build boats and swim across seas and rivers in them, explained how to set a sail to make it easier to swim.
On the advice of Prometheus, people learned to find in the bowels of the earth and extract iron ore, silver and gold. He taught them how to prepare medicines, make healing ointments, from which diseases passed. Prometheus taught people to understand the harmony of sounds, to understand the flight of birds; he freed people from the painful fear of death and instilled in them a blind hope that they would forget to think about death.
People learned the arts and moved from a wild state to a more joyful, happy life.
The gods looked at the new inhabitants of the earth with curiosity and sometimes began to help them, but for this they demanded that they worship them and offer sacrifices, killing people and animals, and give them all kinds of honors.
Zeus was angry with Prometheus for giving people fire.
Once, wanting to determine the rights and duties of people, the gods convened a council, which was to be attended by ordinary mortals - people. The titan Prometheus also appeared there, fearing that the gods would impose too much hard work on people, teach them wars and give them too little joy in life. The cautious Prometheus used all his mind and all his cunning in order to protect people from the encroachments of the gods.
Gods and men gathered in the city of Mycenae for a council; and was the representative of the people of the titan Prometheus. He planned to outsmart Zeus, the most powerful and intelligent of the gods. Prometheus killed the big bull, chopped it into pieces and invited Zeus to choose one of its parts that he wanted, and the parts of the killed bull were piled up by him in two equal heaps. In one he placed pieces of meat and greasy entrails and covered them with a bovine hide, and in the other he piled only bones, put his stomach on top, and covered everything with glistening white fat. But Zeus understood the deception and said, laughing, to Prometheus:
- The son of Iapetus and my faithful friend, how you, however, unequally distribute the parts!
- Zeus! - Prometheus answered him. - And you choose the part that you like best.
The angry Zeus deliberately chose the worst part in order to have an opportunity to harm people and at the same time take revenge on Prometheus, whom he did not love. Zeus took off the shiny fat and saw only bones, and, angry, he shouted to Prometheus:
- Son of Iapetus, I see that you have not forgotten how to deceive!
And as punishment for this, Zeus took the fire away from the people, but Prometheus by cunning again kidnapped him from the top of Olympus and brought him to the people in a reed in the form of a smoldering spark. 
Zeus saw a radiant fire among people and was angry more than ever; he left people with fire, but came up with a terrible punishment for people and their protector Prometheus.
At the behest of Zeus, skillful Hephaestus fashioned a beautiful virgin, similar to people, out of clay and water. Aphrodite endowed her with beauty, and Hermes gave her the gift of a cunning word. They called her Pandora, which means "gifted to everyone." Zeus handed her a golden vessel filled with all sorts of misfortunes and diseases, and sent her to earth to people.
Pandora went down to earth and came to the house of young Epimetheus, and he married her. Prometheus often warned his younger brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from the treacherous gods, but he forgot about this advice and accepted the fatal gift. Seeing a golden shining vessel, Epimetheus asked Pandora to let him open it, she allowed, and various diseases and troubles then spread throughout the earth between people.
And only one Hope, warming people's hearts in the hour of sorrow, remained at the bottom of the golden vessel, but Pandora, at the behest of Zeus, quickly closed it, preventing it from flying to the ground. Since then, countless calamities, illnesses, misfortunes have filled the earth. Zeus did not give them a voice, and they silently and quietly approach man at night and day.
With deep sadness Prometheus looked at human misfortunes, and his proud, rebellious heart plotted new plans for revenge on the gods.
Then Zeus ordered to seize the rebellious Prometheus and take him to the very end of the earth. At the behest of Zeus, Hephaestus had to chain him with strong chains to the top of the Caucasian rock. Hephaestus took up this business with great reluctance: after all, he had been friends with Prometheus for a long time. Filled with compassion, Hephaestus was forced to shackle his friend and drive a diamond wedge into his chest. The rude companions of Hephaestus began to mock the brave titan, reproaching the titan for criminal pride, but Prometheus proudly and stubbornly kept silent. Then, alone, he began to moan loudly in pain and grieve that he was suffering torment for a good deed. His mother Themis came to him with the advice to come to terms with the mighty Zeus, but the proud titan rejected her offer. Beautiful oceanids flew to him, persuading him to yield to Zeus. Ocean himself came to exhort Prometheus to submit to Zeus, but Prometheus remained unshakable. 
The unfortunate princess Io finally came to him, the Hero turned into a cow, tormented by a gadfly, finding herself nowhere else to rest. Prometheus showed her the path to liberation. Prometheus knew that one day a courageous hero Hercules would appear, who would free him from torment, and then Zeus would want to reconcile with him himself. He knew that Zeus was facing the same fate that befell his father Kronos, if Zeus entered into the marriage of which he was thinking.
Only Prometheus knows about all this, but no amount of torture will force Prometheus to reveal this secret to Zeus. Only Prometheus knows that Zeus may once have a son who will be stronger than his father, deprive him of his power over the world and overthrow him from Olympus.
Zeus heard the threats of the brave titan and, deciding to take revenge on him, sent a new execution on him. A huge eagle of the Thunderer Zeus slowly descended from the sky to the rock of Prometheus and began to tear his body with its claws, peck at the liver.
For many years, Prometheus, chained in chains, languished at the rocks of the Caucasus, and an eagle pecked at his liver, but his heart was unshakable. Every third day a huge eagle came down to him slowly from the sky and sank its claws into his liver, but it grew back again. And blood flowed from the wounds of Prometheus for many centuries and fell in drops on the stony desert land; and the titan's loud moans echoed over the ground. Titans came to Prometheus, reconciled with Zeus during this time, and advised him to submit. The mother of Prometheus Themis came and revealed to him that soon Zeus would ask him for advice and reconciliation.
And Zeus, knowing about the danger threatening him, decided to finally make peace with Prometheus. Then the great hero Hercules came to the Caucasian rock and killed with an arrow an eagle that was pecking at the titan's liver, broke the chains with which Prometheus was chained to the rock.
And Prometheus was released, and the Olympians rejoiced at the reconciliation with the noble mighty titan. 
Myths and legends of ancient Greece.
Ancient Greek mythology contains few references to the opponents of the lord of Olympus. The Greeks believed they were invincible. The only one who dared to contradict the Almighty is the titan Prometheus. A decisive strategist and skillful manipulator managed to deceive the Thunderer. True, the retribution for the deception turned out to be cruel and tedious.
History of creation
The description of the titan himself and his exploits gives researchers a reason to assert that Prometheus is a symbiosis of the beliefs of the Balkan peoples and the Minoan civilization. The image of the titan includes the features of the pre-Greek patron saint of the common people, but at the same time he is endowed with kinship with the Olympic gods.
In the biography of Prometheus, the transformation of the deity is clearly traced. The hero alienates himself from relatives and adheres to new deities, while pitying and reassuring the losing (that is, actually his own) side. Prometheus retains positive qualities in the new system: wisdom, cunning and generosity. But Olympic mythology cannot have two leaders at once, therefore, over time, Prometheus is opposed to Zeus.
It would seem that the Greeks should honor the martyr who represents the titan in myths no less than the Thunderer. But the cult of Prometheus was not widely spread. The altar to the great hero was installed in Athens and the grove of the Academy. The statue of a titan in the city of Panopea is no less famous, but there were no holidays and festivals in honor of the immortal.
The explanation for the phenomenon is simple - in addition to fire, Prometheus gave people the ability to cheat and deceive. The ancient Greeks did not consider such abilities to be glorified.
Prometheus in myths
Prometheus is a member of the second generation of titans. The parents of a brave man are Iapet and Klymene (according to other sources - Themis). Prometheus is not the only son of a famous couple, the titan has brothers: Atlas, Menetius, Epimetheus.
From birth, a powerful god is endowed with the gift of foreseeing the future, therefore, during the war of Zeus (his own cousin) and the titans (the man's siblings) he went over to the side of the Thunderer.
Thanks to the tactical skills and knowledge of Prometheus, the new ruler of Olympus won the centuries-old battle. But the long-awaited event only worsened the relationship between the Thunder God and the devoted titan. From that moment on, the main god stopped trusting his own ally.
Having come to power, Zeus decided to restore the scorched lands and populate the planet with living creatures. The Thunderer entrusted the responsible mission with Prometheus and. The Titan created people from water and mud, and the goddess infused life into the resulting creatures. After the completion of the work, a deplorable sight opened before the eyes of the hero. People did not know how to build houses, did not grow cereals and did not use utensils.
Wanting to help the weak and infirm, Prometheus taught the inhabitants of Greece crafts and brought a gift to mankind - fire, which the man borrowed from the forge of Hephaestus. The new patron taught the ancient people to mine gold, collect medicinal herbs and gave them hope for a brighter future.
Such actions angered and interested the gods. If earlier people were not of particular value, then from that moment the inhabitants of Olympus received gifts and gifts from humanity.
In order to coexist peacefully on the planet, the gods have assembled a council - it is necessary to determine the rights and obligations of people. Prometheus also came to the meeting, suspecting that Zeus was planning to destroy the human race.
One of the questions raised by the gods at the council was sacrifice. Wanting to help people, Prometheus personally killed the bull and cut the carcass into two heaps. In one he folded the meat and covered the pieces with a hide, in the other he put bones and shiny, deliciously smelling fat. Having placed the offerings in front of Zeus, the titan invited the ruler to choose what people would give to the gods.
The myth claims that Zeus understood the cunning trick of Prometheus, but, wanting to besiege and punish the naughty titan, chose bones. For deception, the Thunderer deprived the men of fire from the men under his charge and sent Pandora to earth. The immortal's response was a new abduction of the spark of life. For such a daring offense, Prometheus was chained to the Caucasus Mountains so that the titan could watch how humanity suffers, punished because of the intercession of a stubborn man.
The immortal who rebelled against Zeus did not ask Zeus for pardon. Foreseeing the future, Prometheus loudly announced that the reign of the lord of Olympus would soon end. Impudent prophecies angered the Thunderer, and he sent a mighty eagle to the titan. The bird's duty was to torment a man chained to a rock - every day to peck out a man's liver. During the night, the organ grew again, so the torment continued forever.
Saved the titan from incessant torture. The brave hero killed the bird and destroyed the chains, for which Prometheus showed the man the way to the garden of the Hesperides. True, the killing of the eagle was nevertheless agreed with Zeus, who was tired of constant enmity and wanted to know his own future.
The liberated Prometheus, famous for his wisdom and rationality, went to reconciliation with his cousin. Soon the titan married the oceanid Hesione. Since then, there have been no high-profile disputes between relatives, and Zeus treated people more humanely.
Rumor has it that after a while Prometheus left Olympus and descended to Earth, where he lost his own immortality. The generous and implacable hero was buried in the city of Argos (according to other sources - in Opous).
- There is a theory that the fault of Prometheus' imprisonment was not stubbornness, but Athena. Allegedly, the titan fell in love with the daughter of Zeus, which the latter did not like. The poet Euphorion argued that the anger of Zeus was caused by the genealogy of the man, since the titan is the illegitimate son of Hera and Eurymedon. For the misdemeanor of the Thunderer's wife, Prometheus's father was killed, and his son was tortured.
- During the struggle for the human race, Prometheus managed to become a father twice. The man had a son, Deucalion, and a daughter, Io.
- The meaning of the name Prometheus is forward thinking, predicting.
- The history of the titan is detailed in the cartoon "Prometheus" (1974). The voice of the decisive man was presented by a Soviet actor.
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For hundreds of years this story was told to Greek youths by old men - shepherds and farmers. And at magnificent feasts and festivals, itinerant singers and storytellers sang this legend. There was a time, they said, when people lived like wild animals: they did not know fire, did not know how to build houses, plow the earth, suffered and died from diseases, not being able to heal them. They spent their entire lives in fear. But most of all they feared their gods.
And the immortal gods, led by their king Zeus, feasted on Mount Olympus.
So people would have lived forever in darkness, poverty and grief, if not for a mighty titan named Prometheus. He was not only strong, but clever and cunning, once he helped Zeus himself become the king of the gods. Prometheus felt sorry for people, and he thought about how to help them.
In Mount Mosch, on Lemnos, Prometheus stole fire for people from the forge of his friend Hephaestus.
He taught people the arts, gave them knowledge, taught them counting, reading and writing. He introduced them to metals, taught them how to extract and process them in the bowels of the earth.
Prometheus humbled a wild bull for mortals and put a yoke on it so that people could use the power of bulls to cultivate their fields. Prometheus harnessed his horse to a chariot and made him obedient to man.
The wise titan built the first ship, equipped it and spread a linen sail on it, so that the ship would quickly carry a man across the boundless sea.
Previously, people did not know medicines, they did not know how to cure diseases, people were defenseless against them, but Prometheus discovered the power of medicines for them, and they humbled diseases with them, He taught them everything that eases the sorrows of life and makes it happier and more joyful.
With this he angered Zeus, for this he was punished by the thunderer. But Prometheus will not suffer forever. He knows that an evil fate will befall the mighty thunderer. He will not escape his fate! Prometheus knows that the kingdom of Zeus is not eternal: he will be overthrown from the high royal Olympus.
And Zeus decided to severely punish Prometheus. He called to him two mighty gods - Power and Strength. "Capture Prometheus," he ordered them, "take him to the Caucasus, and nail him there to the rock for eternity. Let him learn how to rebel against me!"
"And you, Hephaestus," he said to the blacksmith god, "will also be punished for not saving the fire. You will go with them and help to chain your friend Prometheus. Do not try to disobey, otherwise you will suffer the same fate."
Deserted, wilderness at the very end of the earth, in the land of the Scythians. Harsh rocks leave behind clouds with their pointed peaks. All around - no vegetation, not a single grass is visible, everything is bare and gloomy. Dark masses of stones that have come off the rocks rise everywhere. The sea rustles and rumbles, hitting its shafts against the foot of the rocks, and salty spray soars high. Coastal stones are covered with sea foam. Far behind the rocks you can see the snowy peaks of the Caucasian mountains, covered with a light haze. Gradually formidable clouds cover the distance, hiding mountain peaks. Higher and higher clouds rise across the sky and block the sun. Everything around is getting gloomier. A bleak, harsh area. Never before has a human foot set foot here.
Here, to the end of the earth, the servants of Zeus brought the chained titan Prometheus to chain him to the top of the cliff with indestructible chains. The irresistible servants of the Thunderer, Strength and Power, lead Prometheus. Their huge bodies seem to have been carved out of granite. The hearts of their pity do not know, compassion never shines in their eyes, their faces are harsh, like the rocks that stand around. Sad, bowing his head low, comes the god Hephaestus with his heavy hammer. A terrible business lies ahead for him. He must chain his friend Prometheus with his own hands. Deep sorrow for the fate of his friend oppresses Hephaestus, but he does not dare to disobey his father, the thunderer Zeus. He knows how Zeus relentlessly punishes disobedience. Strength and Power raised Prometheus to the top of the cliff and rush Hephaestus to get to work. Their cruel speech makes Hephaestus suffer even more for his friend. He reluctantly takes up his huge hammer, only necessity makes him obey. But the Force urges him:
- Hurry, hurry, take the shackles! Drive the mighty hammer blows of Prometheus to the rock. Your grief for him is in vain, because you grieve for the enemy of Zeus.
The force threatens Hephaestus with Zeus' wrath if he does not chain Prometheus so that nothing can free him.
Hephaestus chains the hands and feet of Prometheus to the rock with indestructible chains. How he now hates his art - thanks to him, he must chain his friend for long torments. Zeus' implacable servants keep an eye on his work all the time.
- Hit with the hammer harder! Pull the shackles tight! Don't you dare weaken them! Heather Prometheus, he skillfully knows how to find a way out of insurmountable obstacles, says Strength. - Tightly chase him, let him know here what it is like to deceive Zeus.
- Oh, how cruel words fit all your stern appearance! - exclaims Hephaestus, getting to work.
The rock trembles from the heavy blows of the hammer, and the thunder of mighty blows echoes from end to end of the earth. Finally, Prometheus is chained. But that's not all, you still need to nail him to the rock, piercing his chest with a steel, indestructible point. Hephaestus hesitates.
Oh, Prometheus! he exclaims. - How I grieve seeing your torment!
- Again you hesitate! - Sila says angrily to Hephaestus. - You are still grieving for the enemy of Zeus! See how you don't have to grieve for yourself!
Finally it’s over. Everything is done as Zeus commanded. The titanium is chained, and a blade of steel pierced his chest. Mocking Prometheus, Force says to him:
- Well, here you can be as arrogant as you want; be proud as before! Give now to mortals the gifts of the gods, stolen by you! Let's see if your mortals can help you. You will have to think about how to free yourself from these shackles.
But Prometheus keeps a proud silence. For all the time, while Hephaestus chained him to the rock, he did not utter a single word, even a quiet moan did not escape from him - he did not betray his suffering in any way.
The servants of Zeus, Strength and Power, left, and with them the sad Hephaestus left. Prometheus was the only one left; only the sea and gloomy clouds could listen to him now. Only now a heavy moan escaped from the pierced chest of the mighty titan, only now he began to complain about his evil fate. Prometheus exclaimed loudly. Inexpressible suffering and grief sounded his lamentation:
- Oh, the divine ether and you, fast-moving winds, oh, the sources of rivers and the incessant roar of the sea waves, oh, the earth, the universal mother, oh, the all-seeing sun, circling the whole circle of the earth - I call all of you to witness! Look what I put up with! You see what a shame I must bear for countless years! Oh woe, woe! I will moan from agony now, and for many, many centuries! How can I find an end to my suffering? But what am I saying! After all, I knew everything that would happen. These torments did not overtake me unexpectedly. I knew that the dictates of a formidable fate were inevitable. I must bear this torment! What for? For the fact that I gave great gifts to mortals, for this I must suffer so unbearably, and I cannot escape these torments. Oh woe, woe!
According to antiquity, when it was not Zeus that reigned over the whole world, but his father Kronos, people who had just settled on the earth were weak, powerless, fearful. They did not know how to think or understand what they saw around. They looked with fear at the storm clouds and the scorching sun, at the endless sea and at the high mountains. And it seemed to people that mighty divine beings.
Subsequently, Zeus received power over the whole world, overthrew his father to Tartarus - into the deep bottom of the earth and the sea, lies far under the kingdom of the dead, gloomy Hades1. From his heavenly radiant height, Zeus did not even look at people in need, and they barely vegetated among the incomprehensible, hostile nature. How many of them died from disease and hunger, in the fight against the cruel elements! So the race of mortal people withered and perished forever, if the noblest among the immortals, the titan Prometheus, had not come to their protection and help.
His mother was the great Themis, the goddess of justice and justice. And his father, Iapetus, belonged to the family of powerful titans, which Zeus defeated and threw forever into Tartarus. Iapetus suffered such a fate, but his sons remained - Atlas, Menetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Zeus also punished the first two for a bold attempt to compete with him: he was hit by a fiery lightning in Menetius, and he fell directly into Tartarus, and the huge Atlanta thought up another execution - to keep the whole heavenly vault on him.
And the smart and courageous Prometheus himself took the side of Zeus. He, like no one, understood that wild, headstrong titans could not just rule the world - for this, in addition to strength, a bright mind was needed.
Prometheus had a noble, big heart, he was the first to take pity on people, taught them to build light housing, sail boats, put on sails, hunt forest animals to tame animals. He was the first to harness the wild bull to the yoke, the first to tame the free horse, and they became man's faithful helpers. Prometheus taught mortals to heal with a healing potion, find their way through the stars and the flight of birds, taught how to extract copper, gold, silver from the earth and use the generous gifts of nature.
And the thunderous Zeus did not pay attention to people any further. But his sons and daughters - young gods who lived carefree on Olympus - became interested in those small creatures, scurrying somewhere far below, on earth. There is nothing to do, immortals even undertook to help people, teach crafts and agriculture, but for that they demanded great respect and rich gifts from them.
To draw up such an agreement, both sides got together. Zeus spoke from the gods, the titan Prometheus from people, although he himself was immortal. He feared that people would not be able to resist the gods and rushed to their aid.
The Titan was so sick of the fate of mortals, even succeeded in cunning. When the sacrificial bull was brought, he himself killed it and divided the carcass into two parts. To the larger heap he folded the bones themselves, but covered them with beautiful, shiny fat, and the smaller one, where there was tasty meat, Prometheus wrapped in a dirty ox hide, and also put the nasty offal on top.
- Our father Zeus, choose which part you want, - Prometheus slyly invited. - What you choose, people in the future give to the immortal gods.
As Prometheus had hoped, Zeus took a pile for himself, bigger and better looking. Since then, mortals began to eat meat, and bones to burn honor to immortals.
Zeus became angry, realizing how Prometheus deceived him for the sake of those mortal nonentities. The lead from the dark cloudy thundered terribly. Olympus and threw fire bolts of lightning to the ground. And then he thought of an execution to annoy Prometheus: he refused mortals what they absolutely needed, in life-giving fire.
- Let them eat meat, but raw! - Zeus thundered furiously.
The titan Prometheus took pity on the people with his big heart and bravely violated Zeus's ban. One day he met Pallas Athena, any daughter of Zeus. The goddess of wisdom was always committed to the titan, so he asked her to secretly open the door of the back door leading to Zeus's palace.
And Prometheus, finding himself in Zeus at home, rather took a small spark from the divine hearth, hid it in an empty reed and brought it to people on earth.
But a black, thunderous hurricane was approaching the brave titan with the terrible wrath of the omnipotent Zeus. No one in the world has ever raised his prohibition so boldly, no one dared to rebel against him, the father of all immortals and mortals.
In the mad outside Zeus ordered the titan Prometheus to be shackled and abutted at the very edge of the sheer cliff so that the apostate would hang there for many centuries.
Zeus instructed his lame son Hephaestus, an unsurpassed artist and blacksmith, to carry out this execution. And he gave him two of his faithful servants as helpers - Strength and Power, harsh, ruthless, cruel. It was a shame for Hephaestus to obey Zeus' will, for he sincerely respected Prometheus, but could not disobey his own father.
Again and again the hammer knocks, a hundred-voiced echo leaves it, and it seems that the gloomy Caucasus mountains are groaning. Finally the titan is chained.
- That's good! - Vlada responds. - People will not get to this rock, no matter how much they want to help their benefactor.
- Nobody will help him now, - Hephaestus says contritely, the implacable heart of the son of Kronos. What a cruel punishment he invented! It is unbearable for the eyes to look at Prometheus.
“Beware lest Zeus punish you for such words,” Vlad says gloomily and urges Hephaestus. - Stop cheering for that daring one, let's go from here. And you, Prometheus, can now complain against Zeus and take care of miserable mortals.
The proud fighter of God does not answer Ani with a word. He does not even look at how Power and Power leave, strong, as if carved from stone, and behind them Hephaestus is limping even more. Only when they disappeared behind the mountains and dead silence reigned around, Prometheus groaned and shouted loudly:
- O divine ether! Oh mother earth and the clear, all-seeing sun! O bistrokryl winds, waves of the tireless sea! See how Zeus punished me for being committed to mortals and bringing them fire. I knew that Zeus would punish me. My terrible torment, but I do not renounce my deed!
Gentle compassionate oceanids flew in on a large winged chariot, who in their distant underwater caves heard the clang of Prometheus' shackles.
The old man Ocean2 himself was in a hurry on a winged horse across the Oceanida. Gray-haired, majestic, he approached Prometheus and said:
- Iapetiv son! I don't respect anyone in the world as much as you. And I flew from the end of the earth here, to her foreign country, so that you listen to my advice: die your proud heart, yield to stronger. After all, you yourself know well: the world is ruled by a strict, autocratic god. DO NOT compete with him! And I will try to beg him to release you soon.
- Do not worry about me, Ocean, - answered Prometheus, - and do not work yourself in vain: inexorable Zeus. Remember how he severely punished my brother Atlas, putting the entire firmament on his shoulders. Remember how Zeus tamed the hundred-headed Typhon, who rebelled against all the gods, and now lies, crushed by a mountain and is so heavy for him that he is already breathing fire. Beware of Zeus, he is dashing, cruel, so do not try to ask for me. I will bear my punishment myself.
then unfortunate Io, a white heifer, got lost to the Caucasus Mountains. Once she was a mortal girl, an Argos princess, so beautiful that Zeus himself fell in love with her. And after a while, she, too, became a victim of the all-powerful god. Turned to the snow-white heifer, she ran wherever she looked from the gadfly, which the envious Hera sent at her.
- Oh, how you, poor, groan! - Sympathetically said Prometheus. There is nothing I can do to help you, because I myself am not free. But know: immortal glory awaits you, mortal, even the sea in memory of you will be called Ionian. And Epaph, your son of Zeus, begins a large family, will give powerful heroes. The most glorious among them, your distant descendant Hercules3, will come here and finally deliver me. Know also that the almighty god through whom we both suffer may soon lose his power.
From Moir, Prometheus learned that Zeus was awaiting death, for he would want to marry the goddess Themis, the beautiful daughter of the sea god Nereus. And the son of Themis is destined to become stronger than his father, whoever he was - or a mortal hero, but an immortal god. Therefore, Zeus will face the same fate that through him suffered when his own father Kronos, and then his father's ominous curse will come true.
Hearing the words of Prometheus, Zeus sent the resourceful Hermes to the titan to find out the secret that the impudent hinted at, but Prometheus did not submit, did not undergo any torture, even when the Thunderer threw the rock with the titan into the black abyss, when the eagle with sharp claws tore the titanium chest and pecked at his liver ...
Only when Zeus sent the goddess Themis, the mother of the unconquered titan, did Prometheus feel deeply and revealed the secret of Moir.
Hearing the prophetic words, Zeus caught himself, for I intended to take the sea goddess Thetis as my wife.
Soon Thetis was given for Peleus, the glorious Argonaut; together with other heroes, he went to Colchis for the golden fleece. All the gods met at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and did not even remember such a magnificent holiday. And the son of Peleus and Thetis - the glorious Achilles - really surpassed his father in courage and strength and became the greatest hero of the Trojan War.
In gratitude for the warning, Zeus sent a glorious Greek hero, a distant descendant of Io - Hercules - to free the titan.
On the hand of Prometheus there was one ring of bonds, in which a pebble from a rock was stuck.
In memory of the feat of the titan, people wear metal rings and rings with precious stones, and about courageous, freedom-loving people who give their lives for the good of the people, they say: they have a spark of the inextinguishable Prometheus fire.
Hades - God of the underworld of the dead.
The ocean is a titan, the eldest son of Uranus and Gaia, the ancient Greeks imagined it as a huge river from everywhere around the Earth.
Hercules is the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alkena.
Nereus is a sea god, subject to Poseidon, a kind and fair grandfather, the embodiment of a calm sea. He lived in an underwater palace, had many Nereid daughters.
There was a time when man did not exist on earth and only animals inhabited it. The mope was full of fish, the joyful chirping of birds filled the air every time before the morning dawn, the growls and roars of various animals only at night ceased to be heard in the thickets. And there was only one person missing.
And so the titan Prometheus, a descendant of an ancient family of gods, once overthrown by Zeus from Olympus, once descended to the wild, lush green land. He knew that the seeds of heaven were buried in the earth's soil, and he wanted to revive them. Taking a piece of raw clay, he created from it a shape similar to the images of the beautiful gods. To revive this, still lifeless, piece of clay, he took from animals their evil and good feelings and put them in the chest of his creation. Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, breathed his soul into him.
This is how the first people happened. For a long time they were pitiful and weak, like little children; they did not know how to move their members, the divine spark embedded in them went out, not illuminating anything in the darkness that surrounded them. They opened their eyes, but could not see anything, sounds reached their ear, but did not say anything to them, and so they lived, wandering aimlessly on the ground, as if immersed in a deep sleep. Crafts and arts were unknown to them: they did not know how to hew a stick or a stone, did not know how to build even the most inferior hut, did not know how to burn tiles or mold a pot. For them, there was neither spring nor winter, for they did not know how to distinguish one from the other, and there was no order or meaning in what they did. Like ants, they ran, weak and pitiful, on the ground, constantly colliding with each other.
But Prometheus loved them with the ardent love of the creator for his creation and did not leave without help for a minute. He gradually taught them to build dwellings, yoke animals, sail across seas and rivers in boats. He also taught them the art of counting and observing the movement of heavenly bodies. None of the people knew what kind of food is good and what is bad; he taught them to distinguish useful from harmful, and at the same time showed them several medicinal herbs from which they could make medicine. He revealed to them the properties of gold, iron and silver, and taught them to find them. In a word, he looked after them as if they were children, and gradually taught them everything.
Zeus reigned in heaven at that time with his children, shortly before that overthrew his father Kronos and the old family of gods, to which Prometheus belonged. The young gods looked with surprise and curiosity at the newly appeared inhabitants of the earth. Interested, they began to patronize them, but for this they demanded that they honor and worship them. Wanting to precisely define the rights and responsibilities of people, the gods gathered in a council, which should have been attended by mortals.
Prometheus also came there, afraid that the gods would put too much hard work on the weak human race and give it too little joy. And all his mind, all his cunning, the titan used to outwit the gods and protect people from excessive encroachments on their part.
The bull was brought to the council so that the gods would choose those parts of it that the person was to sacrifice to them. Promethenes stabbed the bull, and, dividing it into pieces, put them in two heaps. One pile, the smaller one, contained meat and tasty edible entrails; from above it was covered with skin and useless parts of a bull. In another pile, larger in size, Prometheus folded the bones, but on the outside he beautifully covered them with a layer of fat. The all-seeing Zeus penetrated the deception and said to the titan with a laugh:
However, you split the bull very unevenly!
- Almighty Zeus! - Prometheus objected with a sly smile, - choose the part that is most pleasing to your heart!
Zeus was enraged at his cunning, but deliberately chose a large pile. Pulling off the layer of fat that covered her. and finding bones under him, he looked menacingly at the titan and said with anger, addressing him:
“However, son of Iapetus, now I can clearly see that you are a great adept at deceiving and cunning!
And the revenge of the Thunderer was not slow to fall on the heads of the people for whom the titan was trying. He refused them the gift that they now needed most of all. He gave them no fire. Then Prometheus came to the rescue again. Zeus' anger did not frighten him, and he, full of love for people, decided to once again stand up to protect them against the gods. He secretly stole a spark of sacred fire from heaven and brought it to people in a reed. And here on the ground the first piece of wood blazed, and a bright warming flame soared up to the sky.
Fierce anger gripped Zeus when he saw a column of smoke rising from the ground, and he invented a terrible punishment for the people and their protector, the titan.
Skilled Hephaestus, at his command, forged a statue of a beautiful girl for him. Athena covered her with a shiny veil and breathed the breath of life into her chest. Aphrodite endowed her with divine beauty, and Hermes gave her the gift of speech. She was given the name Pandora, which means "gifted to all," and Zeus sent her to earth. At the same time, he handed her a golden box, which contained all the misfortunes and diseases that had ever tormented people.
Pandora descended to earth and, wandering aimlessly around it, soon reached the dwelling of the young Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. The Titan, fearing the revenge of the gods, forbade him to accept any gifts from them; but when the beautiful young Pandora appeared with her golden box on the threshold of his hut, he forgot all the instructions of his brother and joyfully greeted her.
At the request of Epimetheus, Pandora opened the brought box, and the host of misfortunes imprisoned there instantly spread throughout the earth. At the very bottom of the vessel was a hope that warms the hearts of people in moments of sorrow, but Pandora, at the sign of the Thunderer, slammed the lid, preventing it from flying out.
And all sorts of disasters quickly filled the earth. Diseases began to rush day and night among people, striking and tormenting them. And no one heard their approach, for Zeus did not give them a voice, and they silently glided along the ground. Violent, debilitating fevers appeared everywhere, and the cold breath of death slowly flying around the earth began to claim thousands of victims ...
With deep bitterness and pain, the son of the titan looked at these calamities, and his proud, rebellious heart invented new plans for revenge on the gods.
But Zeus did not forget him, and soon the wrath of the Thunderer fell upon Prometheus. He gave the stubborn fire god Hephaestus; by order of Zeus, Hephaestus chained the titan to the Caucasian rock with strong chains, and, in addition, nailed it to it with a diamond wedge, driving it into the chest of Prometheus. With reluctance and against his will, Hephaestus carried out the order of Zeus, but he did not dare to disobey the almighty God.
In proud silence, Prometheus endured a terrible excruciating pain, and only when Hephaestus left, loud groans announced the air ... His mother, Themis, came to the sufferer and, comforting him, advised him to reconcile himself to the almighty Zeus. She predicted new executions that the thunderer was preparing, but the titan proudly rejected her proposal.
- The will of Fate must be fulfilled, - he said, - and the husband, who has cognized the power of necessity, will not run away from it!
And Zeus had already sent him a new execution. The mighty eagle of the Thunderer descended to the sufferer and, tearing his body with its claws, began to peck at his liver.
The titan's loud moans echoed over the ground, making everyone who heard them shudder. Having done its bloody deed, the bird flew away, but only in order to return again. The torn liver quickly grew again and on the third day the eagle again descended from heaven and again tormented the healed body.
And so thousands of years passed ... Every third day a gigantic shadow of a bird of prey appeared over the gloomy rock of the Caucasus. Like a stone, she threw herself down on her victim, and loud groans announced to the world about the terrible torments of the fighter for human happiness. By evening, the bird flew away.
Storms and thunderstorms swept over the rock, and powerful thunderclaps, reflected in the mountain gorges, sang a hymn in honor of the proud invincible power of the great sufferer and in honor of his great love for humanity ...
But the stream of passing times brought with it liberation. The greatest hero of antiquity, Hercules, came to the titan rock. With his arrow, not knowing a mistake, he killed the terrible bird at the moment when it descended to the rock: with the blows of the club, he broke the chains, and they fell with a clang at the feet of the sufferer. One link of the chain with a piece of rock remained on Prometheus's hand, and he can never free himself from it. For the unyielding will of Zeus, who decided that Prometheus will be forever linked by an indissoluble chain with the rock of the Caucasus, must come true. And people in memory of this to this day wear rings with stones on their hands.
