Prometheus Counterculture Analysis

Janine Frani
Dr. Sugars
Greek Mythology
TR 2pm
30 November 2014
Prometheus, Counterculture and Rise of the Individual self In Hesiod’s Theogony, Prometheus is bound to a rock for tricking the God Zeus into believing that animal bones dressed up in fat was owed to the gods and reserved the best of the meat to humankind for the rest of time. As punishment, Zeus chains him to a rock on Mount Caucasus where an eagle is sent every day to eat his liver and/or heart out (Hyginus, Trzaskoma 232). The liver is destroyed through overconsumption of food, alcohol and intoxicants, whereas the heart is destroyed by passion restrained by the banal necessities of modern life. Could this reveal the significance of the suffering of Prometheus, the father of
modern civilization? Prometheus is punished for his egotism and rebuttal of Zeus, an all-powerful force. In the end, Zeus himself releases Prometheus for his insight into the future. This tale offers similarly minded countercultural individuals today an escape from the tyrants of the modern era. Prometheus is cited as the founder of civilization because he brought “ashwood mortals” the gift of fire, the first human discovery that catalyzed civilization as we know it.
In Ken Goffman’s Counterculture Through The Ages, Goffman cites Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, in which Prometheus boasts that he
“… brought humanity: architecture—‘they knew not how to build brick houses… they lived like swarming ants in sunless caves’; calenders—‘they had no certain mark of [the seasons]… until I showed them’; mathematics and writing—‘numbering… and letter combinations that hold all in memory’; transportation—‘I harnessed…carriages that wander on the sea, the ships sail winged; and medicine—‘I showed them blendings of mild simples… to drive away all kinds of sickness.’ (Goffman
6)
Prometheus is held responsible for all of man’s technological achievements—as such he embodies man’s most ambitious capacity. The result of this inventiveness is the egotism that befalls mankind, separating them from the favor of the Gods, which was deemed the Greeks “greatest sin.” Nevertheless “don’t shoot the messenger” rings true here, as one who dares to disturb the waters necessarily cannot be compliant within a social order. The daring to break away from a previous reality is a disturbance and abandonment of well-worn ideals that provides cohesion for Greek society. This presumptuous attitude of one’s own rightness apart from the reign of an elite group was seen by the ancient Greeks as the folly of man, even making them fear developing their technical sciences to deter men from attaining hubris (Goffman 6). This rigid conformity is a foreign concept to Prometheus, whose persona is too clever to contain. Instead his unaffected mind roams free, enabling him to seek out new possibilities to their complete ends.
“Prometheus, who deemed humanity worthy of endless gifts and powers as well as a previously unthinkable degree of independence from the gods, is an ancient embodiment of what today has come to be called humanism”(Goffman 11) These irrational and brutish role of Zeus is the face of any powerful system that relegates the individual into a comply or die mentality. His role is not unlike the image of Capitalist and Judeo-Christian dogma and its battle with counter-cultural ideals of freedom from an external power. This constant repulsion away from oppression of the self, necessarily drives away one from the past traditions and preconceived notions and in its place new concepts emerge to rectify past injury. As a result, friction with the status quo is bound to ensue, with counterculture and the creation of the individual self being defined by its opposition to and “relationship with authority” (Goffman 11).
Zeus chains him to the rock indefinitely, churning out thirty thousand years of torturous days for Prometheus.
In Hyginus’s Stories, the god, ever the enterpriser reaches out to Zeus who is about to sleep with the Nereid Thetis. Prometheus, who is gifted with visions of the future, “promises to advise him on the matter if he would free him from his bonds” (Trzaskoma et al. 232). The god reveals to Zeus that Thetis would give birth to a son that is greater than his father, and with Jupiter’s pursuit averted, he sends Heracles to kill the eagle that tortures him and unchain the god. The brute force of Heracles can be seen as the dynamo behind human civilization that releases Prometheus from any sense of guilt about his hubris. Instead of feeling shame, Prometheus is there given free reign over humanity by Zeus, even walking away with the immortality of Cheiron (Apollodorus, Trzaskoma et al. 36). The brute force of Heracles may be seen as the unrelenting persistence to destroy and ultimately banish any societal or divine (i.e. traditional) restrictions on Prometheus’s innovations. Foresight, not hindsight or regret, saved him after all from the oppressive might of Zeus, proving that past traditions cannot reign in change and the
future.
So what becomes of Prometheus and mankind? The tales of Prometheus are a cautionary tale, up until the Romantic era induces the brilliant mind of Percy Shelly to produce Prometheus Unbound. The god, still chained to his rock, laments to humanity,
“The falsehood and the force of him who reigns
Supreme, and with the groans of pining slaves
Fills your dim glens and liquid wildernesses:
Why answer ye not, still? Brethren!” (Shelley 125-130)
The “dim glens” remind one of unchartered territory begging to be explored, and the “liquid wildernesses” represent the potential of mutability and adaptation that is so essential to a Promethean, counter-cultural lifestyle. This cry resembles a political call to action against an oppressive regime. Opposition is only necessary when it deeply affects the personal lives of individuals whose desires do not adhere to its doctrine. As a result of this Promethean worship, Shelley and others of the Romantic Era such as Lord Byron and Goethe, espouse the constant refutation of a static old world in favor of a dynamic future in which all human potential is released from social control. Although Prometheus is seen as the father of mankind, he is really the father of the individual whose capabilities extend beyond the group he or she is apart of. The individual now can advance the whole, if not chained to a rock getting viciously eaten by the birds of prey that are authority and castigation incarnate. The true implications of Prometheus may be seen in the worldly ambition of others, even now perhaps in the incessant technological competition and subjugation of people below these inventions, all to serve others at the end of the manufacturing line. Yet this same individualistic impetus drives medical discoveries, high art, and the search for inner and societal peace. Prometheus embodies a human desire to set forth upon a wilderness ruled by the Gods of nature, technology, and all forms of authority and march on after 30,000 years in the oppressive darkness out into the light of the true self, unscathed.

Works Cited
Trzaskoma, Stephen, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, and Thomas G. Palaima. Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2004. Print.

Sirius, R. U., and Dan Joy. Counterculture through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House. New York: Villard, 2004. Print.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Prometheus Unbound." P. B. Shelley, Prometheus Unbound. Rutgers Edu, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.