How long does zeus imprison prometheus

Following the instructions of Zeus, Deucalion and Pyrrha hurled stones over their heads, thus creating beings of their own gender. According to exegetes and climatologists, this myth preserves the memory of exceptional floods in Mesopotamia in the third millennium, or more improbably climatic anomalies which marked the entry into the Neolithic 11, years ago and caused massive inundations in Egypt of more than eight or nine meters above sea level.

Midant-Reynes, Beatrix Prehistory of Egypt. Ian Shaw. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, Deucalion and Pyrrha had several children, amongst whom Hellen and Protogenia who were at the origin of the two great lineages of this branch. On the spiritual plane, the flood or deluge symbolises a deep cleansing of beliefs and formations inherited from the past, of which only some essential elements must be kept. When man realises that the latter cannot answer his most essential queries he is faced with an important calling into question.

But the Absolute does not leave the seeker stranded in a desert: it offers him new bases for the nascent spiritual path in accordance with his nature and through his highest capacities Hermes. It will be the ancient memories of humankind stones which will serve as ferment for this emergence. The nine days and nine nights of wandering are symbolic of the gestation which leads the seeker to the beginning of the path on the coasts of Thessaly, province of the first spiritual realisations.

The children of Deukalion and Pyrrha, Hellen and Protogenia, open the two main lineages of development in the superior planes of consciousness. The lineage of Hellen includes the ascension through the planes of consciousness outlined by the list of Pleiades, daughters of Atlas. Before proceeding with what could seem to be moral considerations, Hesiod concludes his description of human evolution by defining five stages of mental growth and development. But while describing the progressive fall by which humankind is gradually distanced from Truth, he highlights by contrast the ascension of a human elite striving for spiritual heights.

While reading his description one must therefore keep in mind the image of the play of the ying and yang polarities as in the symbol of Tao , in which the seed of light grows while at the same time darkness continues expanding unceasingly as well. As humankind submits increasingly to the forces of individuation and experiences the loss of true direction brought about in the majority of cases by a still all-powerful ego, a dwindling minority keeps feeding their inner fire and strives to pierce towards the summits present beyond the mind.

Although Hesiod perceives signs of this in the first stages he seems to have given up all hope in the Iron Age in which he lived. For now truly is a race of iron, and men never rest from labour and sorrow by day, and from perishing by night; and the gods shall lay sore trouble upon them.

But, notwithstanding, even these shall have some good mingled with their evils. And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men also when they come to have grey hair on the temples at their birth. The father will not agree with his children, nor the children with their father, nor guest with his host, nor comrade with comrade; nor will brother be dear to brother as aforetime.

Men will dishonour their parents as they grow quickly old, and will carp at them, chiding them with bitter words, hard-hearted they, not knowing the fear of the gods. There will be no favour for the man who keeps his oath or for the just or for the good; but rather men will praise the evil-doer and his violent dealing. Strength will be right and reverence will cease to be; and the wicked will hurt the worthy man, speaking false words against him, and will swear an oath upon them.

Envy, foul-mouthed, delighting in evil, with scowling face, will go along with wretched men one and all. And then Aidos and Nemesis [shame of wrongdoing and indignation against the wrongdoer], with their sweet forms wrapped in white robes, will go from the wide-pathed earth and forsake mankind to join the company of the deathless gods: and bitter sorrows will be left for mortal men, and there will be no help against evil.

For this reasoning mind originating from the movement of separation, the only ultimate expression possible is a frozen desert in which each being is fixed in his solitude, cut out from the warmth of life. Since this myth was recorded, more than three thousand years have passed. This was approximately six thousand five hundred years ago, at the beginning of the era of Taurus and a thousand years before the first pictographs.

That would place the present day at the very end of the period of separation, at the time of the reversal of energies. In homothety with the secondary cycles of two thousand one hundred and sixty years, we would be on the point of embarking upon a period similar to that of the slow disintegration of the Roman Empire, a new period of six thousand five hundred years which would lead us into the fusionary part of the cycle.

When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep. After their deaths, Zeus made of them divine forces, guardians of mortal men. There men lived in complete harmony with the forces of nature, without any mental intervention. They were not conscious of time, and death was not associated with any mental panic.

Some say that Athena was still a very young girl at this time, which is to say that the inner quest had just barely begun. The Fall came to disturb this harmony, for being called to wider horizons humanity had only attained a provisory summit. As barbarous as our era may seem however, it must not cause a sense of nostalgia for this golden race, for at that time sensitivity and individuality were but beginning to develop.

The second race is that of silver. While the golden race is associated with the physical mind, the silver race can be associated with the development of the vital mind. According to Hesiod, the silver race was markedly inferior to the first. For a hundred years, the child grew without intelligence and in complete submission to his mother.

But having attained adolescence, he did not have much longer to live, being a victim of his foolishness. Abandoning themselves to violence amongst themselves, men refused to honour the gods. These were men governed by their senses, lacking individualisation and still not able to regulate their desires and impulses. As long as he is dependent on his mother, he remains within the innocence of harmony. From the moment that the first steps of individuation occur, he succumbs to the conflicts of the ego.

The third race is the brazen race. Their only interest was in fighting, and they ate no bread. They destroyed each other and went into the vast domain of Hades deprived of glory. As fearsome as they were, death carried them away and they deserted the shining light of the sun. Led by an ego-controlled intellect which always wanted to be right, they were very querulous.

They stopped accepting death as a simple passage and became conscious of duality, losing the inner contact the light of Helius.

The fourth race also seemed to be a brazen one, although Hesiod dos not specify this. But to the others father Zeus, the son of Cronos, gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed.

This fourth race describes a period of high spiritual realisation, some of which disappeared in time while some aspects remained definitively, the harmony of the first golden race of the time of Cronos having been regained but this time sustained by consciousness. This was a period of closeness with the sacred, the decline of which Hesiod may have observed. He may have thus confused the rhythm of the great cycle with the before-last period of the lesser cycle.

Then came the iron race, to which, like Hesiod, we belong. This race submerges itself in the night of matter so as to bring consciousness to it, manipulating it in every possible way, sometimes savagely.

This succession of races facilitates a condensed illustration of the double movement already discussed: as humankind evolves, sensitivity is refined as well as the ability to investigate the inconscient. But for the past thirteen thousand years and till the present day, humankind has at the same time sunk more and more into darkness under the combined effect of the cycles of the mind and of the ego.

Turning his attention to the bountiful crops and meaty animals the humans were raising, Zeus decided that the gods should have their share of the harvest. The gods and men could not agree, however, on how the bounty was to be distributed.

Each wanted the best, fattest cuts of meat for themselves. Zeus called on Prometheus, who had always given him good advice, to settle the dispute. For the first of many times, the Titan would side with humanity over his king. Prometheus butchered an ox and divided it into two piles. One was covered in thick, appetizing cuts of meat while the other was piled with bones.

Zeus, of course, chose the more attractive of the two piles as his own. The few pieces of choice meat, however, disguised a larger pile of bones and gristle. Humans were allowed to keep the other pile, which was topped with bones and hide but contained mostly fatty meat.

Prometheus had ensured that humanity would eat well, but had earned the anger of Zeus for his actions. Zeus did not immediately vent his anger on Prometheus, however. He first punished the humans who had benefitted from the trick. Fire had been a gift from the gods, so Zeus took it away from the people of Earth.

Without fire, they could not make use of the meat they had won. Prometheus, however, had the foresight to see that humans would suffer much worse than hunger if they did not have the gift of fire. Without it, they had no defense against cold, no way of warding off animals, and could not forge metal for tools and weapons.

The Titan decided to return fire to the people who needed it to survive. To do so, however, he would have to steal it from Mount Olympus. He raced back to Earth to give the burning stalk to humans before the fire could go out. Humans survived because the Titan stole the fire of the gods for them. Prometheus was seized and brought to a desolate mountain. Hephaestus was with them, a reluctant participant according to Aeschylus.

But the skill of the smith of the gods was required to chain a divine being like Prometheus. Hephaestus was the only god who could craft unbreakable chains that were strong enough to hold a Titan.

Prometheus was bound with such chains and secured to the mountainside. This was not the end of his punishment, though. What murmur, what scent wings to me, its source invisible, heavenly or human, or both?

Has someone come to this crag at the edge of the world to stare at my sufferings—or with what motive? Behold me, an ill-fated god, chained, the foe of Zeus, hated of all who enter the court of Zeus, because of my very great love for mankind.

What may be this rustling stir of birds I hear again nearby? The air whirs with the light rush of wings. Whatever approaches causes me alarm. Unfortunately for Prometheus, the sound of wings did not signal an end to his suffering. It was only the beginning. Zeus sent the Caucasian Eagle, an enormous bird with a monstrous appetite, to torture the chained Titan. The massive bird attacked Prometheus, clawing at his stomach until it tore out his liver. As an immortal god, however, even being torn apart by the eagle did not kill the Titan.

His body healed itself every day and his liver grew back. Every day when he was healed, the eagle would return. When modern criminals are convicted of a crime, their sentence includes a period of time for their punishment. For Prometheus, however, the time was interminable. The Cyclopes also crafted a helmet for Hades and a trident for Poseidon. Later on, Zeus gained the Titans Themis and Prometheus as allies to join his side. The battle between the gods and the Titans.

The Olympians and their allies eventually overpowered the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartaros. Zeus then appointed the Hecatonchires to be their jailers. Zeus took reign over all creation. His brother Poseidon took reign over the sea, and Hades took reign of the underworld. It was then that Zeus married Metis and made her his first wife.

However, Prometheus took pity on them. Titans had an affinity for humans, for they were the balance of tragedy and perfection, which Ouranos originally wanted. Because of this fact, Zeus and the Olympians saw them as symbols of the past harkening to the former glories of the Age of Cronos.

Prometheus secretly created humanity once again from the earth and water. Prometheus desired to preserve the human legacy that Cronos had started. Prometheus created humans from earth and water. Prometheus taught his silver humans every skill from medicine to arithmetic, to navigation, and prophecy.

Prometheus then gave the secret of fire to which he had hidden in a fennel stalk to keep it secret from Zeus. The silver humans were grateful for the gift of fire, and in honor of Prometheus, they sacrificed a large animal. As punishment, Zeus ordered Hephaistos to nail Prometheus to Mount Caucasos where each day an eagle would feed on his liver until it was gone, only for it to grow back in the evening for the eagle to return and eat it once more.

This punishment continued until the arrival of Heracles during the Age of Heroes. The torture of Prometheus as told by Hesiod. Zeus proceeded to torment the silver humans. He divided the year into four seasons, which caused humanity to farm grain and seek shelter. When they died, Zeus sent their souls to Hades rather than let them become demon spirits on earth.

However, their suffering would not end there. Zeus ordered Hephaistos to make one more human being that was altered to contain deceptiveness and unpleasantness from within. This human would be known as Pandora. Before Prometheus was nailed to Mount Caucos, he had feared Zeus would find out about his human creations and advised his brother Epimetheus to care for the silver humans in his absence and to be wary of any gifts given by the Olympian gods.

However, Hermes tricked Epimetheus and brought him Pandora, who, piecing together the versions of Babrios of the 2nd century AD and Hesiod of the 4th century BC, Pandora held a large storage jar filled with both good and evil things.

Once the jar was opened, all the evils escaped into the world while all the good became lost. All that remained was hope, left to aid the silver humans in avoiding the unseen evil all around.

After witnessing the fate of Prometheus and the evils released by Pandora , the silver humans refused to honor Zeus in an act of defiance. Zeus then destroyed them all. During the Age of Olympus, Zeus decided to recreate humanity in his image.

He felt it was more fitting than those of the Titans. He created humanity from the hardwood of ash trees. They were strong and warlike. They knew of metallurgy and fire and made their houses and armor from bronze. They hungered only for meat and war. Unlike the previous humans, they honored Zeus as their creator and hated the Titans. However, the bronze humans could not stop consuming all the animals, metals, and lands.

They overpopulated the earth and kept the Olympians up with constant chatter. Before Prometheus's judgment, he had a son named Deucalion. Deucalion married Pyrrhea, the daughter of Pandora, and together they ruled the kingdom of Phthia. When the rains began, Deucalion and Phyrrhea climbed in and sealed the box from within. Deucalion and Pyrrhea were carried across the sea for nine full days until they landed on the shores of Parnassos. It was then that the rains stopped and Deucalion and Pyrrhea came out of their chest.

Grateful to be alive, Deucalion prayed to Zeus and sacrificed an animal. Zeus was moved by their sacrifice and gifted both Deucalion and Pyrrhea with one wish to be granted. Both Deucalion and Pyrrhea took pity on the bronze humans after nine whole days of hearing their screams as they drowned during the flood.