He was a Titan that fought side by side with the Olympian gods but that did not prevent him to suffer one of the worst punishments Zeus has ever given to anyone. His deeds would mark the beginning of human technological evolution which would take us to become a space exploration species.

Prometheus was a Titan, the dominant race of gods before the Titanomachy takes place. He was the son of the Titan Iapetus, son of Uranus and Gaia, with Clymene, a water-nymph daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.

“Forethought” was the meaning of his name, therefore Prometheus was intelligent and very resourceful. When war came over to the world of the gods, he promptly offered himself as counselor of the Titans, but the brute mind of these older gods didn’t give him any credit.

Feeling excluded, he swapped sides and offered the Olympians his abilities. He also brought his brother, Epimetheus – which name means afterthought. Both brothers aided to win the 10 years’ war with the old gods and later on helped them to build the new order of everything, including the creation of the animals and especially the humankind.

But what marks Prometheus the most is his love for his creation. This is the story we would like to briefly tell. There are two versions on how everything happened.

The first one begins

In this version all started after Prometheus and his brother created the humans and the other animals. Here, we need to make a short note about that because there are 2 ways that this might have happened:

On the 1st version, after a huge flood, his son and daughter in law, Deucalion and Pyrrha were the only survivors becoming the first of the humans (look at that);

On the 2nd version, the victorious Zeus rewarded the help they gave and the canny mind of the brothers with the mission to create everything in the world. Prometheus created all the things while his brother gave gifts for every creation, leaving the humans, made from clay, for last. 

To all the living things Epimetheus gave incredible gifts. For some, he presented with claws and teeths, to others, wings and to some, the ability to breath underwater. When he finally got to humankind, he didn’t have any gift left.

Seeing those nude and fragile creatures, made from clay, and understanding they would not have any advantage to thrive over the other species, Prometheus felt sorry and decided to give them the ultimate prize of all. 

It was when he had the idea to sneak into Mount Olympus and pick up a special thing from his fellow gods Athena and Hephaestus’s workshop. That special thing was creative fire. He took it and hid in a hollow fennel-stalk and brought it to the human beings.

He then taught them how to use the gift of fire to cook and do metalwork and would be forever associated with science, technological advance and culture.

The second version: Trick at Mecone

The second version takes place at Mecone where Hesiod puts Zeus in the centre of the story in his Theogony. This time, humankind already had the knowledge of fire and was prospering accordingly.

Humans and gods met at Mecone to decide on how humans should pay tribute to the gods. Both, mortals and immortals decided that a sacrifice should take place to honour those ruling the cosmos.

An ox was slayed as offering. Zeus and the gods should take the best part of the meat and humans would have the bones and less nutritious and flavorless bits. That ritual continued for some time on.

One day, Prometheus, seeing his creation unfairly suffering with the bad food and famine, decided to take action and made a plan for the next sacrifice.

This time, he killed the ox and put fat and bones on one side and the good meat on the other. The trick was that under the bones, destined to humans, he hid the good food and under the part everyone could see the good meat, he hid the bones and fat.

Not noticing anything, Zeus accepted the offering and went back to Olympus to enjoy his feast. When Zeus realised the trick, it was too late. Furious, the king of the gods punished humankind by taking away the gift of fire, leaving the world in total darkness, cold and despair.

Once again, feeling sorrow for his children, Prometheus entered the Olympus and stole back the fire to give to humans. Not noticing the trick, Zeus could not avoid humankind to develop and was long after the thievery that he saw the grown cities and huge populations, thriving over the darkness he left behind.

The part where the legends cruelly convert

Whatever version you would like to follow, we believe that we can only assume that Prometheus truly loved humans and tried many times to help his beloved ones to go further and thrive over the adversities. This was his major crime, preferring mortals much more than the immortals.

Also, whatever version you chose in this article, the end is always the same for the passionate Prometheus. 

Furious, Zeus had to make him an example to everyone. His leadership also depended on showing that he would severely punish whoever challenged his authority and grip his kingship at all costs. The universe was won upon a great cost and effort to be given up easily, the greedy gods would take any chance to usurp his position.

The only way to fix that was to condemn Prometheus to eternal suffering. The sentence was brutal: he should be chained to a mountain and everyday and every morning an eagle should come and devour the Titan’s liver. As Prometheus was immortal, he would be alive during the whole time and his liver would regenerate at night just to be torn apart the next morning until the end of times.

At some point, after a long time of torture, his torment came to an end. The hero Heracles, on the way to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, saw the Titan and decided to help him, killing the eagle using one of his arrows dipped in hydra’s poison before she could reach him and putting to an end the monumental suffering.

Prometheus never expressed any regrets of doing what he had done. Amongst the gods, he is known as “the trickster”. We would rather refer to him as the best friend of humankind, the only god in greek mythology that really loved humanity and has done what was best for his creation.

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Athena is one of the most celebrated deities in all the western world, and it’s easy to understand why: she was strong, intelligent, resourceful and mostly fair. Her conception was unusual and she played a fierce and ruthless role during the Trojan war.

Hesiod wrote in his epic Theogony about her birth, just after Zeus was crowned the king of the Olympian gods. The new monarch married the titaness Metis, an Oceanid daughter of the titan Oceanus.

Athena’s father, Zeus, was the youngest and most prominent of the Olympian gods and had just defeated his father, Cronus, and his uncles during the war against the titans for the control of the universe.

The Titanomachy, as it was called, was an apocalyptic event. Some say that it was based on a real life chain of events caused by the eruption of a volcano located at the centre of the famous island of Santorini, a blast so massive that scholars say that its quake could be felt in California. This volcano is active until this day.

Metis, her mother, was part of the thousands of nymphs, all of them daughters of the titan Oceanus with his sister Tethys, called Oceanids. Metis was known for being much wiser and to have had offered to help the young Zeus, right before the war between Titans and Olympians. 

At that time, Cronus, the father of the first 12 Olympians, had swallowed 11 of his children with Rhea after learning about the prophecy that one day he would be overthrown by one of his sons.

Metis, knowing that Zeus planned to rescue his siblings to fight by his side against his father, offered Cronus a poison that made the Titan vomit his children, culminating later on in the prophecy’s fulfillment. From this alliance, love was born between Zeus and Metis.

But as in all the Greek stories: if it’s all good, something is wrong

Both parents were incredibly gifted and all was well for a while. Metis got pregnant from Zeus and the promise of a long reign was finally settled. Nothing seemed to break the new peace set in the cosmos.

It was then that a disturbing prophecy came to Zeus’ knowledge. He was appalled to learn that he would suffer from the same fate as his father’s and should be overthrown by one of his sons with Metis. Uneasy by the news, the Olympian sketched a plan to keep his kingship, he would not lose what he so effortly conquered.

The plan was to challenge Metis to a shapeshift contest. Metis was a skilled shapeshifter and would not back off on such a great opportunity to show her skills to the Olympus, so she accepted the tournament. 

They’ve changed into a variety of big animals, one bigger or stronger than another. Eagles, bulls, deers, horses, moose and lions. They’ve changed to all sorts of animals and fought with beaks, teeths and claws to exhaustion, none of them could seem to be able to win. At the end, Zeus recognized Metis as equally skilled in turning into big animals, but what about the small ones? How small could they transform into? 

The proud Metis didn’t hesitate

She straight away accepted the new challenge and got ahead of herself turning into a quite small fly. She was now so small that she could be easily swallowed if you should breathe too hard or to be pushed far away with a weak sneeze.

That was precisely what Zeus wanted. Right away she found herself inside her husband’s stomach. Zeus had committed a terrible crime and did to her what he most hated and what made him confront his father: he had swallowed Metis.

Inside the god’s belly, she blended with him in mind, bringing him wisdom. Metis, as an immortal being, would never die and would be trapped inside Zeus for all eternity. Although she was disappointed with her fate, she also felt glad because she truly loved Zeus and that was a way to be with him all the time.

She would counsel him whenever he needed and they would almost become one powerful wise universal being, quite fit to rule the gods.

After some time, weird things started to happen

A long time has passed since Zeus had swallowed his first wife, he even had other affairs (so many) and marriages including the one with his present wife, his sister, the goddess Hera. 

Since the event with Metis, he had nothing else but more and more wisdom, until someday he started to feel a huge headache he couldn’t bear, nothing seemed to ease the massive pain. He asked many gods to help, but it was in vain. Just when Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire, came up to rescue that everything changed.

The skilled Hephaestus analysed the situation and concluded that the only way they could get rid of the pain was to open Zeus’ head and let whatever was in there come out.

As crazy as that may sound, that was exactly what they did. Hephaestus took a labrys – a sort of Minoan small axe – and, with a single swing, opened the god’s head. 

An even more odd thing happened after that. As soon as Hephaestus opened the wound, a grown up, dressed with armor, shield and spear, woman came out of Zeus’s forehead. She was fabulous and looked like she was up to any task. Athena was born, ready for battle.

Athena, the strong

Her strong presentation to the world displays her on point personality. Athena was a product of strength, strategy, intelligence and action, all at the same time. She reflected very much both of her parents and their symbiotic relationship.

Many are the stories of Athena, sometimes almost an angel to the rescue, sometimes like a non stop hammer, crushing her enemies with the most violence possible. During the Trojan war, where she sided with King Aggamenomn, she used all her power to bring victory to the Greeks and even helped the Greek hero Diomedes, hurting physically Aphrodite and Ares in battle.

In another occasion, after the Trojan war, she showed her bellic nature to king Odyssious when he felt pity for his rival Ajax, the great, by saying:

To laugh at your enemies: what sweeter laughter can there be?

She became the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic and defensive warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy and the arts.

Athena could be kind or unforgiven, and that was what made her one of the most beloved and feared goddesses of all ancient world.

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]]> https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/the-birth-of-athena/feed/ 0 https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/mythology-the-greek-word-and-history-explained/ https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/mythology-the-greek-word-and-history-explained/#respond Mon, 19 Apr 2021 09:06:10 +0000 https://findyourquest.co.uk/?p=17364 We are always curious and looking for more, this is what makes us different. Wandering over the internet trying to find more inspiration, we bumped into Alpha Omega, a Greek Youtube channel concerning ancient Greek history, mythology and archeology. The videos are upload in Greek – what a beautiful language! – with English subtitles. You […]

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]]> We are always curious and looking for more, this is what makes us different.

Wandering over the internet trying to find more inspiration, we bumped into Alpha Omega, a Greek Youtube channel concerning ancient Greek history, mythology and archeology.

The videos are upload in Greek – what a beautiful language! – with English subtitles. You can either find narratives about the 300 of Sparta or the abduction of Persephone by Hades.

We enjoyed the videos and decided to share this joy with you. We would like to specifically highlight this one below where Alpha Omega explains the etymology of the word “mythology”, where it came from and why it is not the same as fantasy.

Everything is very well explained and easy to follow. Alpha Omega is one to watch! Relax and learn from those who invented the word and some of the most incredible and complex pantheons the world has ever seen.

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]]> https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/mythology-the-greek-word-and-history-explained/feed/ 0 https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/in-love-with-a-princess-the-tale-of-europa/ https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/in-love-with-a-princess-the-tale-of-europa/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2021 16:44:17 +0000 https://findyourquest.co.uk/?p=17289 She was a princess so beautiful that even the king of Olympus couldn’t resist. This is the tale and the love story of Europa.

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She was a princess so beautiful that even the king of Olympus couldn’t resist. This is the tale of Europa.

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Before naming a whole continent, she was known as the daughter of the Phoenician King Agenor. The legend began when, on a beautiful day, Europa was gathering flowers with her noble friends near the shores of Phoenicia.

Zeus saw all the beautiful ladies but, one in particular, felt very special to him. Instantly the god was so struck by her that some references say that the god of love and desire, Eros, induced him with one of his arrows.

Completely astonished, Zeus caught himself observing her from the coast and, possessed by lust, he took the form of a white bull with shining horns in order to approach her. All the ladies spotted the pristine animal and came closer to have a look and pet him. There was never a bull so incredible as that one.

Europa was impressed and instantly felt the need to touch him. Zeus’ plan was on its course. The princess, feeling confident, climbed on his back. The bull rushed to the sea at such an impossible speed that it was clear to her that this was no ordinary animal, but some sort of a god or another powerful entity.

With that in mind, Europa felt scared and plead to the animal not to hurt her. It was when he revealed himself.

“I am Zeus, king of Olympus”

They ended the trip in the island of Crete, when Zeus took back his human form and explained to her that he was absolutely in love. Europa felt her heart accelerating and understood that this was her destiny: to fall in love with the king of Olympus. They mated on the white sand beach on that day. Later on she gave birth to his sons Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. They were then adopted by king Asterius when he married her making her the first queen of Crete.

Zeus loved her so much that he gave her 3 incredible gifts. The dog that could hunt anything, Laelaps; a javelin that could hit any target; and a bronze man named Talos to protect her – the same one that the Argonauts met on their way to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

It’s not certain though how it was decided that the continent would be named after Europa, only that it should refer to “all the land on the western shore of the Aegean Sea” by the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian peoples around the 7th century BC.

The first appearance of Europa as an early idea of a continent was found on documents known as Homeric Hymns – a collection of 33 anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods, employing the same epic meter as the Iliad and Odyssey. By then, it was referred to as the geographical area of central Greece but only much later was extended to all the western lands.

We might not know why people decided to use her name and perpetuate this particular story, so we can only assume that it must have been the will – and love – of the gods.

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]]> https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/in-love-with-a-princess-the-tale-of-europa/feed/ 2 https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/the-pillars-of-heracles/ https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/the-pillars-of-heracles/#respond Sun, 21 Mar 2021 22:13:43 +0000 https://findyourquest.co.uk/?p=16912 Perhaps Hercules greatest act – and our favorite – is when King Eurystheus sent the hero to the unknown to retrieve the Cattle of Geryon, far beyond the west. By that time, that was a scary thought, but somehow defined the Greeks as great the explorers they came to be.

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]]> One of the most fascinating stories of the Greek Mythology is the battle of the hero Heracles (the original Greek name of the Roman Hercules) against nature and his own guilt, to redeem himself and achieve the ultimate glory as the most celebrated man in the ancient world.

The Labours of Hercules – as it is most known – represent the impossible made possible, mostly the overcoming of humankind over nature and itself in the broadest sense of it.

Perhaps his greatest act – and our favourite – is when King Eurystheus sent the hero to the unknown with the mission to retrieve the Cattle of Geryon, far beyond the west. By that time, going so far from everything was a terrifying thought, but somehow his deed defined the Greeks as a nation of great explorers.

Besides the mythical tales, there is one physical place that is forever related to Hercules tale and his tenth labour: the mighty Pillars of Hercules.

There are many versions of its mythical origin. In our favourite amongst them, the Pillars originated when, in search for the Cattle of Geryon, Hercules found himself in front of a huge mountain and, instead of going around wasting his time, he decided to use his strength to smash the rock, forming what we know today as Strait of Gibraltar. On another version, the – later – god narrowed the Strait to prevent monsters of the Atlantic from haunting Greek waters.

For many centuries, the pillars were used as reference to describe something far beyond, almost out of reach. Plato, the philosopher, wrote that the legendary city of Atlantis was located beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which could be described as today’s Southern Spain. A very mystical place, with caves and offerings to the demigod, forever connected to one of the most stunning tales ever told.

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]]> https://findyourquest.co.uk/greek/the-pillars-of-heracles/feed/ 0