Most Roman and Greek gods held mankind in great disdain. They considered humans nothing more than playthings with which to play, torture, and eventually discard. According to mythology, the gods often raped mortal women for their own sexual gratification. However, they didn’t consider their actions a crime, but merely their divine right.
One god, however, took pity upon the plight of mankind, fully preferring human company to that of his fellow gods and goddesses. His name Prometheus.
When Zeus overthrew the Titans to take control of Mount Olympus, he banished most of them to Tartaros. However, since Prometheus had not sided with his fellow Titans, Zeus decided to spare him. It was a mistake that he would learn to regret and from which mankind would greatly benefit.
Zeus had great plans for creation but didn’t care what happened to the mortals of earth. In fact, his plan was simply to allow primitive man to do away with each another, thereby allowing the gods to keep their hands clean as mankind faded away.
Prometheus, however, saw great possibilities in humans and decided to become their protector. He shared many gifts with his newfound family, teaching them crafts like masonry, woodworking, and mining. He imparted knowledge about numbers, the alphabet, literature, and art so that mankind could be better educated. He also taught man how to navigate by the stars and how to raise livestock both for work and how to plant crops for food.
Zeus became furious with Prometheus’s actions and demanded that he deliver no further knowledge or gifts to mankind. At first Prometheus tried to follow the laws set down by the king of the gods. But he simply couldn’t ignore the cries of his human friends calling for his divine direction and protection.
Fearing that mankind would not survive without his help, Prometheus transformed himself into a human and went to earth to live among them, teaching them the art of healing and the importance of compassion for their fellow beings. The more he lived among humans, the more convinced he became that these creatures could be of greater importance than even the Olympian gods.
In the ultimate act of betrayal, Prometheus stole fire from the forge of Hephaestus and delivered it to mankind, teaching them how to use it both for light and warmth and, eventually, for cooking as well. With those final gifts, mortal man began to develop rapidly and soon turned away from the gods they had once worshipped so blindly.
Zeus quickly realized that something was amiss and it didn’t take him long to find out the role that Prometheus had played in mankind’s development. As punishment, he had the titan chained to a rock high in the mountains, where each day an eagle tore at his flesh in an effort to devour his liver.
Each evening the torn flesh would automatically mend so that the torture could begin anew the following day. But Prometheus refused to express regret over his actions, partly because he knew that it wouldn’t begin to placate the angry god and partly because he felt his actions were justified. There Prometheus remained for years until Hercules eventually rescued him and he faded away with the other Olympian gods.
However, punishing Prometheus wasn’t enough to curb Zeus’s anger. He calculated a plan that would undo all of the gifts that the titan had given to mankind. His plan was inspired since it was to be delivered in the guise of a beautiful young girl whom he named Pandora.
As if to emphasize his hatred of humankind, Zeus had Hephaestus shape an uncommonly beautiful maiden. He ordered Athena to give her the gift of curiosity and Aphrodite to infuse her with a enchanting spell that no man could resist. Then he had Hermes instill her with pettiness and greed to ensure that she would consider herself above all us.
To seal his revenge, Zeus gave the maiden to Prometheus’s brother, Ephemetheus. It took only one look at the stunning Pandora for Ephemetheus to forget that Zeus was not to be trusted. He fell hopelessly in love with the girl and vowed to do anything to make her happy.
Pandora’s needs were many and her greed and selfishness knew no boundaries. She demanded that her husband shower her with flowers and gifts. He, of course, willingly did so until he had nothing left to please his young bride.
Fearing she would leave him, Ephemetheus prayed to Zeus to help him by bestowing a gift that would bind Pandora to him forever. This played directly into Zeus’s grand plan. He sent a jeweled box for the husband to give to his beloved.
Prometheus warned his brother not to let Pandora open the box for, although he didn’t know what it contained, he feared that it would let loose the wrath of Zeus. Ephemetheus issued the warning to Pandora when he gifted his young wife with the box. However, Pandora’s curiosity and selfishness were too strong to overcome. The minute her husband’s back was turned, she opened the box to see what was inside.
Immediately, the ills of the world began rapidly spreading. Evil, mistrust, despair, and disease poured out, quickly infesting all of mankind. Realizing what she had done, Pandora closed the box, trapping only one thing inside.
Ashamed of what she had done, Pandora cried for forgiveness and promised to change her ways if the gods would help her undue what she had done. The goddess Hera heard the young girl’s cry and, after finding out how Zeus had orchestrated the whole ordeal, decided to intervene. Although she declined to gather up all that Pandora had unleashed, she made Pandora a promise. If she held fast to her promise to change her ways, Hera promised that her box would always contain the only thing that mankind would ever need to both survive and prosper – – Hope.
Pandora kept her promises and became a benefactoress for many of her fellow humans. And, as promised, even ong after mankind had abandoned the Olympian gods altogether, Hope remained; forever offering light in even the darkest parts of the world and showing that acts of kindness, like those bestowed by Prometheus, could make all of the difference in the world.
