Mythful Meanings

In the English language, many meanings come from myths. This blog considers many of those words.

Myths are stories people tell to explain the great mysteries of life, such as birth and death, why the sun rises and sets, and why the moon changes in a predictable pattern.

I decided to start over from the end of the alphabet and work toward the beginning. I have a stack of index cards with information typed on them, all in alphabetical order. When I started this blog, I started at A, because I didn't realize that all the entries would be pushed down.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Prometheus

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Prometheus was a Titan -- one of the pre-Olympian beings -- who allied himself with Zeus and the later gods in their war against the Titans. At the request of Zeus, he created the first humans from clay. Later, he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans, a divine gift that gave them god-like powers.

To punish him, Zeus decreed that he would be chained to a rock, where every day an eagle would eat out his liver. Each night, the liver would regrow, so that the next day, Prometheus would again be punished by having the eagle eat his liver again.

English word:In English, promethean means "life-giving, daringly original, creative." A reference to Prometheus also occurs in the original title of the novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecroft Shelley.


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