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Historical person

Prometheus

Prometheus was a Titan in Greek myth who gives fire to humanity and suffers punishment from Zeus. Ancient poets use his conflict with divine authority to examine technology, foresight and the price of helping humankind.

Later philosophical and literary traditions turned Prometheus into a symbol of technological creativity, rebellion and the cost of knowledge. His myth remained influential from Renaissance humanism through Romanticism and modern debates about science and human ambition.

Hesiod’s Complete Works of Hesiod presents Prometheus through the myths of stolen fire, Zeus’s retaliation and Pandora, making his conflict with divine authority part of an explanation for the hardships of human life. Prometheus Bound and Other Plays gives the Titan his most sustained dramatic form, chained for defying Zeus and for giving humanity fire and knowledge. Ovid’s Metamorphoses preserves another influential strand of the tradition, linking Prometheus with the making and shaping of humankind within the poem’s vast sequence of transformations.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Prometheus (1 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

All books in this series

Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Prometheus (1 book)