The Bucket List Book Adventure: Book Six - Prometheus Bound

The Bucket List Book Adventure: Book Six - Prometheus Bound

By a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

Dear Henry,

Book Six of the Bucket List Book Adventure, Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, is complete!

Prometheus has always been my favorite of the ancient Greek deities. He’s also the one who most closely resembles the Judeo-Christian concept of a loving, self-sacrificing creator.

"Don't labor uselessly at what doesn't help at all."
- Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

In Greek mythology, Zeus had little affection for humankind and often tried to destroy them. Prometheus, pitying the fragile mortals, defied Zeus by giving humanity fire,  along with the knowledge of agriculture, technology, and the arts of civilization.

Before this rebellion, Prometheus and Zeus had been allies. Prometheus even helped Zeus overthrow the Titans and claim the throne of Olympus. But Zeus considered the theft of fire unforgivable and sentenced Prometheus to eternal torment: bound to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, where each day an eagle devoured his liver, only for it to regenerate overnight.

In Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus begins the story at the moment of Prometheus’s punishment. Kratos and Bia (Force and Violence) chain him to the rock, while Hephaestus reluctantly performs the act.

“It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.”
— Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

The Oceanids, daughters of Oceanus, form the chorus. They sympathize with Prometheus but, like many, are powerless to challenge Zeus. Oceanus himself offers to plead for mercy, but Prometheus refuses, unwilling to let anyone else risk Zeus’s wrath.

Io then enters the story, a maiden transformed into a heifer by Zeus’s jealous wife, Hera. Tormented by a gadfly, she wanders the earth until she encounters Prometheus. He prophesies that her suffering will end, and that one of her descendants will eventually free him. That descendant is Heracles (Hercules), who later breaks Prometheus’s chains.

The original trilogy included two lost plays, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire Bringer. In the final part, Prometheus warns Zeus that his union with the nymph Thetis would produce a son destined to overthrow him. Heeding the warning, Zeus marries Thetis to a mortal instead, and their child, Achilles, dies at Troy. At last, Prometheus and Zeus reconcile, wisdom tempered by time.

“But time, in its aging course, teaches all things.”
— Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

To me, Prometheus is the most compassionate of the Greek gods,  a figure who defied power to protect creation and who suffered endlessly for that love.

The play also explores friendship and loyalty: the Oceanids who refuse to abandon Prometheus, Oceanus’s willingness to intervene, and Prometheus’s refusal to let others suffer for him.

It remains one of Aeschylus’s finest surviving works,  and one of my favorites. Next, I’ll be leaving the world of Aeschylus and traveling to Sophocles, beginning with Oedipus Rex.

Stay tuned!

xoxo,
a.d. elliott

*Note* The Bucket List Book Adventure continues on Rite of Fancy — my literary corner of the Take the Back Roads journey.  Come read more reflections on philosophy, faith, and the books that shape the road.

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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia. 

In addition to her travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online photography gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

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