Prometheus Unbound

According to Greek Mythology, Prometheus, the Titan god of Fire, the creator and champion of Mankind, defied the authority of the Olympian Gods and decided to steal their secret of Fire and gift it to Mankind. With this action, he gave people the ability to develop Art, Science and Technology, learn, improve the quality of their life and eventually escape the oppressive rule of the Gods. Zeus, the leader of the Gods, punished Prometheus for this action by chaining him to a rock on the Caucasus mountains where his liver was savagely eaten by an eagle on a daily basis, only to be regenerated by night since he was an immortal. This went on for 30 years, until the demigod hero Hercules showed up, killed the eagle, removed the chains that bounded him on the rock and let him escape from this daily torture.

Prometheus served as a symbol of rebellion against the celestial dictatorship, restrictions to knowledge, keeping people obedient and subservient to a supernatural authority bound to ignorance and superstition. He became the symbol of the human quest for scientific knowledge and exploration.

And yet, it was this forced obedience and ignorance which was later celebrated as a sign of a good and decent person during the Middle Ages by religious Europe and the Middle East. Prometheus became evil Lucifer, the Light Bringer, the fallen angel who upset God because he tempted Mankind with the fruit of knowledge and wisdom forcing Adam and Eve away from the eternal bliss of Paradise. Lucifer / Prometheus, as a rebel, became the personification of evil while the Church, as well as other religions, became powerful and corrupted institutions still tormenting people with guilt and punishment for being human and having human desires with promises of a better life after death. And this evil continues to this time and age.

In today’s world, Science is still fighting against religious and politically motivated ignorance, unprovable beliefs, magical thinking and pseudoscience. It is therefore even more important to remember and honour the spirit of Prometheus, the rebel who defied the will of those with authority in order to bring knowledge and wisdom to humanity, the hero who was unbounded from his chains as we must all finally remove the chains of ignorance, fatalism, illusions and superstitions and celebrate humanity and the quest for knowledge as free people.

To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;

To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;

To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;

To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates

From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;

Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;

This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be

Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;

This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.

from Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley