Prometheus Myth

In the aspect of Mythology there are four functions which were created by the famed mythologist Joseph Cambell. These four functions, mystical, cosmological, social, and pedagogical, encompass the main ideas and beliefs of myths. The myth of Prometheus follows the guidelines of the social function. The myth follows those functions by showing the social order and explaining mans place in society. The lineage is as follows his father is Iapetus he is widely considered the God of craftsmanship. His mother is an Oceanid named Cylmene. He has three brothers, Atlas who holds up the heavens, Menoetius who is considered the God of anger and often commits hubris, and Epimetheus is considered foolish and the opposite of Prometheus who was considered

Prometheus and his twin Epimetheus were spared and put in charge of creating creatures of the Earth. They created man and were taught how to teach them how to live and survive as a civilization. Now Zeus demanded a sacrifice from man so Prometheus established a meeting to decide what should be offered. Prometheus cleverly decided to trick Zeus and help man remain well structured.He brought forth two choices one being a pile of bones disguised with fat on the outside, and the other consisting of tasty meat sheltered inside an unappealing exterior hide. Zeus obviously chose the fat covered bones so now man only had to sacrifice bones. To get back at Prometheus, Zeus decided to steal fire away from man which he did. With assistance from the goddess Athena Prometheus managed to steal fire from Mount Olympus and gave it back to man. For this betrayal Zeus preceded to punish Prometheus and Man. For Prometheus he was chained to a giant rock and had a giant eagle eat his immortal liver day after day. Eventually Hercules was sent to rescue Prometheus much later. As for man Zeus created a stunning woman and gave her a box but told her not to open it then sent her down to the mortal world, and they named this woman Pandora. Epimetheus was with the men when Pandora arrived, and he foolishly accepted the gift and opened the box unleashing all evils and diseases into the world with only hope remaining