Thanks to my brother for the photo -and for being in the photo.
Original
title: Προμηθεὺς
Δεσμώτης, Promētheus Desmōtēs
Author: Aeschylus
Year of Publication: Circa 400 B.C.
Number of pages: 129 (just the story)
Available in: Practically every language
known to man.
I read it in: Spanish
Time in its aging course teaches all things.
Prometheus has insulted Zeus by rebelliously giving fire to humans and therefore has to be tied to a rock with bronze chains on the Caucasus, however, he that has seen the destiny is willing to put up with his sentence as he knows who will end with the reign of his tyrant.
Prometheus Bound is the least dynamic Greek play I've read so far, fitting to the development of the story as the titan is tied to a rock that won't allow him anything other than talk, complain and mock his destiny and Zeus'.
The play, which as of now is not known if it was really written by Aeschylus, describes the scene in which Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, ties Prometheus to the rock with the help of Kratus and Bia, the gods of Strength and Violence, and leaves him to suffer. Prometheus has the good fortune of having someone to rant to, the Oceanids in this case, then to Io, an unfortunate woman with cow horns, and to Hermes, the messenger God of the Olympus.
Greek mythology is rich in stories and depth, so one play alone could not cover it all, however the real importance of this one is not the representation of the myth but its position in history: Aeschylus is known nowadays as the father of tragedy.
The story is understandable if you don't know much of the characters that appear in it, however part of the magic of the classics is the context in which they were written, so I'd recommend that before reading this play you read a little on the Gods and Titans, to situate yourself on the time period and so you only focus on enjoying the writing. The advantage that we have with this re-prints, translations and new editions of plays so old is that they tend to have a preface or essay from an academic that can help us understand, as the real value of these stories is in the way they were written, in the reason why they gave Aeschylus the title he now has.
My edition is the bilingual one from Penguin Classics, with the original play in Greek on one page and its translation to Spanish on the other side, and my first impulse to buy it wasn't to add it to my list of Classic Plays To-Read, but the fact that the story of Prometheus destiny as eagle food is well known and quoted often by my teachers to point out that the regenerative capacity of the liver was well know a long time ago, even if it was just attributed to the fact that Prometheus was an immortal titan.
Prometheus Bound is a short play that describes to us a small part of the Greek mythology and why the fascination with it is still strong: these Gods and Titans, despite being seated on the Olympus very high above us, weren't benevolent and perfect as the current deity, but vicious, vengeful, tyrant and complex, just as we are.
- Where to buy: The Book Depository, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local book shop.
- Have you ever wondered what are those tiny numbers at the end of a line in some classic books/plays? They explain some of it here
- Some history in case you forgot.
