Prometheus Bound Summary
List of Characters (In order):
Kratos: Divine personification of strength
Bia: Divine personification of force
Prometheus: Titan god of forethought
Hephaestus: Olympian deity of fire, blacksmiths, metalworking, artisans …
The Chorus: the Daughters of Oceanus
Oceanus: Primordial deity of the ocean
Io: Argive princess
Prometheus gets chained to the rock
The stage shows mountainous terrain. In the middle of a deep gorge centre stage is a rock. Enter Kratos and Bia carrying the form of Prometheus towards the rock. Hephaestus follows behind them with a hammer and nails.
Kratos speaks first, saying that he, Bia and Hephaestus have come to this far off place to carry out the orders of Zeus. They have been instructed to clamp Prometheus to the rock because he gave fire to the mortals and so, to learn his lesson, he must be punished.
Hephaestus then chimes in with a rather interesting perspective. He admits that he doesn’t actually want to chain Prometheus to this rock. Despite this, he says that he has to come to terms with his task because he knows that it’s detrimental to go against Zeus’ wishes (… which is pretty clear, given that Prometheus is living proof of that). He then addresses Prometheus to say he’s going to attach him to the rock so that during the day he is stuck to bake in the sunlight and the nighttime will be lonely and dark.
Kratos and Hephaestus have a back and forth where Kratos tells Hephaestus to do his job, and Hephaestus says he just doesn’t have the desire to be a part of this punishment. Eventually, Kratos basically says every job kind of sucks unless you’re the king of the gods and therefore, he encourages the god of Fire to pin Prometheus down and make is snappy .
Once Hephaestus has completed his job, he leaves the stage.
Kratos says one final line before leaving the stage. He tells the Titan that the gods “falsely” call him Prometheus (which means “foresight” in Ancient Greek thus implying that he has this gift) when really he needs foresight. Both Kratos and Bia exit.
Now we have the strange scenario where our title character is bound to a rock … and left alone on stage. Interesting, Aeschylus, very interesting indeed.
Regardless, Prometheus takes this time to give us a little speech. First he calls on the elements (like the sky, river, the breeze etc.) to witness what the gods have done to him. He says he must bear his allotted doom and says he knows he is being punished because the whole gifting-mortals-fire thing. He continues, explaining that in order to get the fire down to the mortals, he had to hide it in a fennel stalk and smuggle it out of Olympus.
However, a noise interrupts his speech. He asks who is nearby – invisible, heavenly, human, or both? – and notifies them that they are witnessing the sufferings inflicted by Zeus. In response to this, he hears a fluttering of wings. Prometheus announces that the sound causes him much alarm.
The source of the sound now makes an appearance and onstage rush the Chorus, the Daughters of Oceanus. They arrive on stage via a glorious winged chariot.
When the Chorus have made themselves familiar with the staging, the Daughters of Oceanus erupt into song and tell Prometheus not to worry since they have come to hang out with him as friends. They say that their father — Oceanus — has given them permission to be there.
Prometheus says he wishes that Zeus had just hurled him down to Hades and into Tartarus so that other people wouldn’t be able to come and gloat over his agony.
The Chorus rebuttal, asking who of the gods would possibly want to exult in his punishment – who, aside from Zeus, does not sympathise with Prometheus? They remind him that Zeus is always angry and he won’t stop being that way until someone hurls him from the throne.
In response, Prometheus says that although he is now bound up, Zeus needs him and will eventually give in to letting him go. He tells us that Zeus wants to know of the conspiracies being plotted against him and Prometheus has the power to reveal such plans. The reason why Prometheus is so confident that Zeus will let him go from his chains is because Prometheus will not reveal the conspiracies unless compensation is provided … so basically, Prometheus has information Zeus wants and he won’t divulge such information until he is free again.
The Chorus are not as confident as Prometheus, though. They shush him in response and tell him to hold his tongue, expressing their worry that Zeus is listening and Prometheus’ words will harden the King of the Gods’ heart.
Prometheus says that he knows Zeus is harsh but this does not frighten him. He knows that Zeus’ heart will soften and on that day, the pair will be friends. When that happens, Prometheus says that he will welcome Zeus with open arms.
This confidence … a little lost on the Chorus. To help them understand, the Daughters of Oceanus ask the Titan what exactly happened that led to him being caught up in this … little predicament.
And so, Prometheus gives us all the details. He begins by explaining that back in the day there was a divide among the gods: those who wanted Kronos gone and Zeus to take over, and those who wanted their divine order to remain the same (Kronos as king and Zeus just … hanging out). Prometheus’ mother —Klymene — had told him how fate would cause Zeus to take over as ruler from his father, explaining that it would not be brute strength or force that would overthrow their current godly order, but guile. Because no one would listen to him, Prometheus assumed that the best place for him would be at the side of Zeus. This means that Prometheus is one of the main reasons why Kronos ended up bring overthrown and cast down to Tartarus, along with all of his allies. The Titan sighs, saying that although this is all that he did for Zeus in aiding his rise to power, he has been repaid by this torturous punishment.
But how did the fire incident come about, you may be asking? Well, dear reader, Prometheus tells us that when Zeus stepped into his new role as king, the first thing he did was start delegating new roles and privileges to all the gods. However, Prometheus noticed that their new king was neglecting the mortals. As it turns out, Zeus was intending to bring the entire current human race to an end and create a new one in its place. Prometheus says that he was the only god who took a stand against this and he is the one who saved the mortals with the fire episode. THIS is why he’s being tortured on the rock.
The Chorus express that they understand why Zeus punished Prometheus considering his giving the mortals fire. However, they ask him if there is an end date to his suffering.
Prometheus sadly says that the only end to his suffering will come when Zeus decides it is over.
Considering the depressing circumstances, the Chorus ask Prometheus if he can see how he was wronged. Even though it may not be pleasant to talk of such things, the Chorus encourage Prometheus to offload some of these thoughts and feelings to them.
Although you may assume, reader, that Prometheus would do a classics tragic monologue, our protagonist decides against such a thing. He says that he didn’t assume his punishment would be so bad, BUT(!!!) he doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead, Prometheus tells the Chorus to pay attention to his oncoming fortunes so that they can hear them from end to end. The Chorus agree and take a seat.
Oceanus comes to see Prometheus
As the Chorus sit, Oceanus enters the stage.
Oceanus tells Prometheus that he feels compassion for his situation and asks if he can offer him any help. The god clarifies that the pair are friends, and so he wants to do whatever he can to offer assistance.
However, Prometheus is weary of Oceanus. He asks why the god has really come to see him and questions if it’s just to witness his outrageous suffering.
Oceanus replies with (something line) “Look mate, I’m really here to give you some advice”. He advises Prometheus to take this time to get to know himself and figure out ways to adapt to the new age. He says that Zeus is a new ruler and therefore brings new order. Therefore, it’s the rest of the gods job to find their footing among this. Lastly, Oceanus tells Prometheus to relax because even if Zeus hears his anger, it may just come across to him as childish. After all — Prometheus has shown himself as being too boastful, and such a lack of humility will only add to his current sorrows. And so, the best thing Prometheus can do is to find an emotional release in some other way. So he should try and find release in some other way. In saying all of this, Oceanus announces that he will leave to see if he can release Prometheus from his sufferings.
Prometheus replies and says he envies Oceanus for having escaped blame in coming to share in his troubles. So he tells the god to leave and to not hope to persuade Zeus since the king is hard to persuade, and suggests that he should watch himself since this mission could potentially harm Oceanus.
Oceanus says that he is confident that Zeus will grant him this favour.
Prometheus expresses his gratitude to Oceanus but tells him not to trouble himself with such a task. He says that being elevated from his suffering won’t actually help him because he is not only mad about his predicament, but also that of his family’s: Atlas (his brother) is now holding up the weight of the world on his shoulders, Typhon was hit by one of Zeus’ lightning bolts which burnt him to ashes, and so on and so forth. But he says to Oceanus that the god is experienced and doesn’t need Prometheus’s teachings, however advises him to save himself. In the meantime, Prometheus will remain bound to the rock and continue to wait for Zeus’ wrath to tire. Basically, our man Prometheus is playing the looooonnnnggggg game.
Despite there being a bit of back and forth between the pair, Prometheus convinces Oceanus to leave. The god exits the stage, leaving Prometheus alone with the Chorus once more.
The Chorus hop back into the conversation and mourn for Prometheus’ unfortunate fate. They lament for him and sing that they have only seen one other person in distress as bad as this. That god was Atlas, who still moans today as he supports the world on his shoulders.
Prometheus says that they must know of the miseries that mankind experience because this knowledge is what made him act in the way that he did. Although humans have eyes they saw no avail, though they have ears they did not understand, but just as shapes in dreams they dealt with things in confusion day in and day out. He says that humans didn’t understand the concept of houses or building and instead lived beneath the earth like ants. Humans didn’t even understand the seasons until Prometheus taught them how to differentiate between the stars. He also claims that he brought them numbers and the letters of the alphabet, helped them to learn ploughing and also showed them how to attach horses to chariots … so according to Prometheus, he did EVERYTHING for the mortals.
Unhelpful as ever, the Chorus tells Prometheus that he has suffered sorrow and humiliation from his actions, causing him to go astray and fall ill … So there’s that.
Anyways, Prometheus remains undeterred. Not really noticing the Chorus at all, the Titan replies with EVEN MORE THINGS he gave to mankind. He claims that people used to just get sick and die, and so Prometheus showed them how to mix remedies to ward off illness. He then taught them how to interpret dreams and read the future through the elements and bird signs. He says that taught them how to read their sacrifices and how to please the gods, as well as educated them about all the metallic elements that lay beneath the earth. In conclusion: every art possessed by man was brought to them by Prometheus.
There’s then a back and forth between Prometheus and the Chorus, where the Daughters of Oceanus have faith that he will be freed from his bonds.
However, the Titan knows more than the Chorus do about such a topic. He says that it is not destined for him to freed so soon — in fact, he knows that only when he has been bent by his tortures will they be lifted. Prometheus ends by saying that the Fates and Furies are in charge of necessity and that Zeus has less power than these gods since he is still bound to their desires.
The Chorus ask Prometheus what is fated for Zeus, and Prometheus says (something like) “Stop asking me questions because you can’t know these details!!!” He stresses that he can’t tell the chorus this information because by holding this, he will get out of his bounds. Right? THIS is the piece of information he’s going to use to barter his way off of the rock.
The Daughters of Oceanus then have a little paragraph in response where they say (something similar to) “You have no fear of Zeus, Prometheus, but in self-will you reverence mortals too much.” They can’t seem to understand why Prometheus gave so much to the mortals when they have given him nothing in return. Not even a temple was has been built in his honour! The Chorus determine that this is the hardest of all the hits thrown his way.
Io joins the party!
Then, out of seemingly no where, Io enters the stage. She appears to be very confused and has absolutely no idea where she’s ended up.
Seeing Prometheus, Io asks what he’s done to receive such a punishment. Before she can get her reply, the poor woman is bitten by a gad-fly (which is a phantom of Argus) and just kind of … spirals, to be honest.
Prometheus says to Io (something like) “Hi, I can hear you and I know who you are! You’re the daughter of Inachus, became the subject of Zeus’ affection and now you’re being tormented by his wife … right? I’m right aren’t I??”
Io’s a little spooked that Prometheus knows her father’s name and her backstory, so asks who he is and what remedy he may know for her unfortunate circumstance.
The Titan then says (something along the lines of) “Well I’m Prometheus and I’m stuck to this rock because I gave fire to mankind.” Io asks why he’s suffering in this way and who has bound him to this rock, so Prometheus tells her that Zeus did this with the help of Hephaestus.
Given Prometheus’ godly powers, Io asks for him to tell her the end of her wanderings. She has found her journey so hard up until this point that she begs to know the rest so she can be prepared.
Prometheus is all “I don’t think that this is the best idea because it’ll only crush your spirits so I’m not going to tell you.” However, Io won’t take no for an answer. When she pushes him, Prometheus begrudgingly gives in.
Before Prometheus can give us (and Io, obviously) the gory details, the Chorus tells Prometheus to hold off for a moment. They decide that Io should explain how she got to this point first, and only after this should Prometheus tell her what is to come. Prometheus agrees, and hey all turn to Io.
Io explains her ENTIRE backstory but asks that they do not feel pity for her. Her story is so long that I’m not going to summarise it here, so you can find it in the play.
The Chorus are completely gobsmacked hearing of the awful time Io has had. They interrupt her story to let her know how they feel, which — hilariously — annoys Prometheus. He tells them that they’re interjecting too soon as what Io has explained is ONLY HALF!!! And so now Prometheus takes over the conversation.
The Titan tells Io where she is going to go and what her exact route will be in the coming weeks. He explains how she will leave Europe and go into Asia to continue her long walk. He wraps this up by stressing how violent Zeus is for doing this to an innocent maiden like her.
Hilariously, Io continues to be all like “Woe is me!” and Prometheus is like “You’re still crying??? Holy crap imagine if I told you ALL the suffering that you’re in for!!”
There’s a bit of a back and forth after this, but eventually Prometheus says that the end of his suffering has no limit until Zeus is thrown out of his position. Io jumps at this, wanting to know ALL THE DETAILS of Zeus’ downfall.
This time, Prometheus gives us a little more information. The Titan explains that a marriage that will one day cause Zeus distress as this son will be stronger than him. But not all is doom and gloom because Prometheus knows who this guy is and is therefore the only one who can help Zeus prevent this from happening. When Io says that his prophecy is hard to understand, Prometheus agrees and says that that’s the reason she shouldn’t try to understand him.
Io reminds him that he said he would help her, and so demands more information about her journey and her future.
Prometheus sighs and offers Io the choice of two tales: either her future sufferings, or the details of how her descendants will help him escape his current predicament.
The chorus butt their noses in and they want to know both things, so they suggest that he tell Io of her future sufferings and then he should just tell them which one of Io’s descendants will free him. And Prometheus just says yes. Prometheus tells Io that when she crosses into Asia, things won’t get easier for her. She’ll go down into Africa and will found a colony down past Ethiopia – so a real long walk – and Prometheus says that if any of that detail sounds confusing, then she can question him further.
After the Chorus and Io butt in to figure out what they want (because yes, this is now a group decision), Prometheus launches into telling us the hardships Io had to endure before getting to Prometheus’s rock instead. Why, you may ask, considering that was NOT an option? Well, the is because Io apparently left that part out. Prometheus says that everything she told originally was what caused her to be in the position that she’s in, but she didn’t details how she wandered all the way to the spot that they’re now all in. And so, he tells us. He then follows this up by telling us the future line of Io, literally every person down the generations until we finally hear of the man who will help Prometheus out. This will be a man born to a royal line in Argos (again, not going through the whole family because this is a summary so you can find that in the play itself).
Hearing all of this, Io then has another fit because she gets bit by the gad-fly AGAIN and so she leaves the stage.
The Chorus then launch into a song about how marriage must be equal and that those who are poor should not desire to marry those who have riches (welcome to the ancient world). If a marriage is unequal in this way (so out of the allotted class) then it will cause dread. This is why Zeus will fall because he will be humbled the bejesus out of, and Prometheus then chimes in to say that he agrees.
Prometheus says that this is why he’ll let Zeus sit comfortably for now because his lightning bolts won’t protect him later on. When Zeus is overcome, he will learn the difference between sovereign and slave, as the curse his father (Kronos) said as he fell will come true for Zeus, too.
The Daughters of Oceanus reply (with something like) “Surely it’s your own desire that has you saying that?” Prometheus says “Well, I speak of both my desire and of things that really will come to pass … this time they just so happen to overlap” (obviously not an exact quote*). The Chorus ask if they should trust that one person can overpower Zeus and Prometheus retorts “Uh yes???” So the Chorus ask why he is not scared of speaking his taunts, to which Prometheus says (something along the lines of) “Why would I be scared if I am not fated to die?” and the Chorus is all “… Because you may be punished worse than this??”
Prometheus’ response is so funny that it needs its own bullet point. He looks to the Chorus and (basically) says “TRY ME!” He clarifies that he doesn’t give a crap about Zeus and he encourages Zeus to do whatever he wants.
As Prometheus is giving us this TOTAL badman speech, he suddenly looks off stage and says “ Uhh … it’s that Zeus’ messenger coming this way???” (oh and obviously, none of these have been direct quotes. Please do not attempt to find my sass in the Ancient Greek — I’m just giving you the vibes*).
Hermes now comes for a chat …
ENTER HERMES!
Hermes says that Zeus commands Prometheus to tell him which marriage Prometheus has been talking about. The messenger god advises that Prometheus not talk in riddles because Zeus wants to know who it is that will overthrow him.
Prometheus replies and basically says he’s a big talker for someone so young. He also stresses that he has seen TWO sovereigns cast out of their positions during his lifetime and will be around to see a third (Zeus) – so does Hermes think that he will cower in front of a god? Absolutely not. Prometheus says that he will not give up this information until he is free from the rock.
There’s a bit of a back and forth between the pair following this: Hermes says that Prometheus is revelling in his pain and Prometheus does a little switcharoo on him. He says that he is NOT enjoying his pain but he WILL enjoy Hermes’ pain when the institution comes crumbling down. They go on bickering like literal children until — finally! — Prometheus says that nothing will sway him into telling Zeus this information.
On that note, Hermes gets serious. He tells Prometheus that since he has decided this, Zeus has no choice but to reap up his torture. First, Hermes explains how Zeus will shatter the cliff Prometheus is currently below so that it will entomb Prometheus’ body. Once Prometheus has served for a long a$$ time in the dark (and yes, he will still be bound to the rock), he will be allowed back into daylight ONLY for an eagle to then come to peck out Prometheus’ liver every single day. So, to reiterate: Prometheus is now on the rock. Zeus will shatter the cliff face above so that more rocks will entomb Prometheus in the dark. When Prometheus can’t take it anymore, Zeus will clear the rocks so Prometheus can see daylight again and then send an eagle to peck out his liver daily. Got it? Got it.
Obviously, the Chorus HATE the sound of this. They turn to Prometheus and tell him to lay aside his stubbornness.
Do you, dear reader, think Prometheus will be deterred? NO! He will not!
Prometheus replies (something like) “Hermes, you’re telling me this like it’s new information for me but I already knew this!!!” (you know, being the god of forethought and all). And so, Prometheus tells Hermes to do it.
Hermes pauses, completely shocked at Prometheus’ apparent insanity. He calls the Titan deranged and orders the Chorus to leave or else Zeus will punish them, too.
The Chorus panic. Hermes tells them to stop and to take his threat seriously. Then he exits the stage.
Prometheus then ends the play by calling out to the Earth that it can now witness his extreme suffering. He says Zeus still doesn’t scare him and therefore … bring it on.
Amid thunder and lightning, Prometheus vanishes from the stage. With him disappear the daughters of Oceanus.
The End.
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Thumbnail Image: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247074
Bronze mirror
Etruscan early 3rd century BCEOn view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 170
Prometheus Unbound
”All the figures are identified by inscriptions engraved on the rim. They read, from left to right, Esplace (Latin: Asclepius), Prumathe (Latin: Prometheus), Menrva (Latin: Minerva), and Hercle (Latin: Hercules). This is one of only three preserved depictions of the story of Prometheus Unbound in Etruscan art. In addition, it is the only certain depiction of Asclepius, the god of healing, in Etruscan art.” (Copied from the Met Museum website).