An Examination of Freedom and Reason in the Context of Prometheus Bound
Today, I'm sharing a piece I wrote about a year ago. It doesn't contain major scientific deductions or a compilation of literature. I simply took a story I read, interpreted it differently with the knowledge I had, and created a text that felt true to me. It's quite pleasant and charming, actually. For this writing to be more meaningful, I suggest you have some familiarity with the works of Aeschylus, Hesiod, and Homer. I especially recommend reading "Prometheus Bound" and "Theogony — Works and Days". I want to note that I haven't made any edits to the original text. Soon, I will share a comprehensive piece examining why philosophy and science emerged in Ancient Greece rather than in the East. Until then, consider this an appetizer. Let's begin.
The war of Prometheus is the freedom of humanity. Whenever Prometheus submits, the gods are victorious. But as many of us know, man, by definition, is rebellious, contrary, and questioning. Today, we will examine the cause of Prometheus, its relation to our present day, and the process of authority's delusion fading in the context of reason and freedom.
First, it is necessary to examine the life and mindset of this tragedy's author, Aeschylus. Since we will learn about his way of thinking while analyzing the play, we should delve into a biographical paragraph to learn about his life. Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.) came from a noble family and had very positive relationships with the poets of his time. He was a contemporary of democratic and freedom-loving statesmen like Pericles.
As the foundations of tragedy began to form, he too began to write plays. Aeschylus would make great contributions to that foundation and continue to be read to this day. According to the geographer Pausanias, one night the god Dionysus appeared in Aeschylus's dream and told him to turn to the newly forming art of tragedy. Upon this, he began to write plays that contained thoughts consistent with his character. It is not difficult to guess that someone who defended democracy and freedom to the hilt would write a play like Prometheus Bound.
In fact, *Prometheus Bound* is the first play in a trilogy, but the other two plays have only reached our time by name (*Prometheus Unbound* and *Prometheus the Fire-Bringer*). As far as is known, the other two plays do not feature a plot based on the concepts of freedom and the supremacy of man and reason to the extent the first one does; they take on a more conciliatory (and quite suitable for democracy) tone. We can only access the other plays of the trilogy through the comments of people who were able to watch or somehow read them, but since we have a limited number of sources, we will continue our investigation with *Prometheus Bound* without delving into the others.
First, we must talk about who the protagonist of the play, Prometheus, is. Although he is not mentioned in Homer's texts, he is frequently mentioned in Hesiod's most famous works, *Theogony* and *Works and Days*. A considerable volume of these works is about Prometheus. However, the characters in the works of the two thinkers are of different archetypes. We will examine Prometheus in the context of Aeschylus.
According to Greek myth, we must start from the very beginning. Hesiod explains the lineage of the gods quite beautifully: In the beginning, there was Khaos (chaos). From Khaos, Gaia (earth) was born. Gaia, on her own, gave birth to Ouranos (sky) and became his mate. By uniting with him, she created the giants, of which there were three kinds (Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatoncheires - hundred-headed, hundred-armed creatures). Ouranos was terrified of these beings created by Gaia and forced them all back into their mother. Upon this, the earth, swelling to the point of bursting, had to find a solution. She made a sickle and asked her sons to use it to take revenge, but none of her children agreed. But at last, Kronos (time) took the sickle, and when his father Ouranos came to cover Gaia (as the sky covers the earth), he cut off Ouranos's testicles.
The thing to note in the paragraph above is the manner in which the revolution was realized. Ouranos was dethroned purely by brute force and violence, and Kronos took his place. The main character of this "revolution" is "brute force." Kronos, behaving like his father and not wanting to be dethroned, began to eat all his children. Like Gaia, Kronos's wife Rheia had to find a solution rather than sit and watch. With the help of Ouranos and Gaia, she too conspired against her husband Kronos. Here, we see that the first generation, Ouranos, knew that to overthrow the second generation, Kronos, help was needed from a third generation. Indeed, while Kronos ate all his children, Rheia hid Zeus on the island of Crete and one day caused Kronos to vomit up all his siblings. With intellect and physical strength, Zeus overthrew Kronos and took the throne. He had now become the king of the gods.
Here we see Prometheus criticizing the sons of Ouranos for not using their intellect:
"In vain then I gave them all my best advice, trying to reconcile the Titans, sons of Ouranos and Earth. They scorned all compromise, and in the pride of their great strength, they thought to win by force. Yet my mother, Gaia, had often foretold to me how the future ages would be won—not by force, she said, but by intelligence."
During his reign, Kronos created the titans, being a titan himself. As the last titan born of Gaia, he created time. When the Titans were in power, Zeus suddenly took over, and power was now divided. Prometheus played a role in this very revolution—the revolution where Reason was used, where Zeus came to power.
Prometheus is of the Titan lineage. According to Hesiod, he is the son of Iapetos and the Oceanid Klymene. Four children were born to this couple, the most famous two being Atlas and Prometheus. Each of these four children was given a severe punishment. Atlas must now forever carry the celestial sphere and prevent it from falling. Prometheus's punishment is well-known: to be bound with chains in a desolate place, to be scorched by the sun forever, and to have his liver perpetually torn out by an eagle sent by Zeus, only for the liver to grow back. The eagle eats the liver and departs. Since Prometheus is immortal, his liver regenerates, and thus we see a paradox of eternal suffering. The punishments of the other two brothers are also great. The reason these four brothers were given particularly painful punishments is that they all stood out for their intellect—the very thing Zeus used to gain power. And thus, the merciless punishments stem from their possession of the one thing that could threaten Zeus's rule: reason.
Prometheus has one thing in common with Zeus, which is that they both possess great intellect. Prometheus (meaning "fore-thinker") is a prophet and can see the future. Just as Gaia informed Kronos he would be overthrown (which is why Kronos began to eat his children), Prometheus tells Zeus that he too will one day be overthrown. With the superiority gained from this knowledge, Prometheus knows he will be freed from his chains.
The "fire" that Prometheus gave to humans is, as all commentators agree, reason itself. It is reason that allows us to create art, science, and philosophy. Is it not our ability to think that shows us we exist (I think, therefore I am - Cogito, ergo sum)? Prometheus essentially claims to have given us the greatest feature that separates us from other animals: our brain, which is superior to that of many animals. Prometheus also gifted us the languages and writings that enabled this brain to build civilizations. In short, Prometheus bestowed upon humans the one quality that separated them from the gods: reason.
The first generation of gods was overthrown by force. The second generation was overthrown by both force and reason. The throne of the third generation of gods, Zeus son of Kronos, was overthrown by pure reason. Neither the strong-muscled, nor the swift, nor those who could fly accomplished this. It is certain that humanity, physically weaker than many animals, destroyed Zeus and his throne with reason alone; the greatest revolution, the revolution of reason, had taken place.
Prometheus is more than a mythological character; he is the unique being who gifted us the reason that forms the basis of the definition of man. In these myths, Zeus represents authority and power, while humanity represents reason. At the same time, remembering that Aeschylus was extremely freedom-loving, one of the indispensable characteristics of man is to be free.
In short, Prometheus emerges as more than a mythological character. It is not surprising that Aeschylus, a lover of democracy, freedom, and art, examined him in such detail. Prometheus is the messenger who announced to the whole world that in the power struggle between humans and gods, humans would win.