Tuesday, February 21, 2012

"Prometheus Bound": Passages for Textual Analysis

On next Monday night, we'll take a close look at these passages from "Prometheus Bound," by Aeschylus in Great Conversations I:

page 67, from "Bright light, swift-winged winds, springs of the rivers ..." to "I pay nailed in my chains under the open sky."

page 78, from "Do not think that out of pride or stubbornness I hold my peace ..." to "all arts that mortals have come from Prometheus."

page 92: "Yet shall this Zeus, for all his pride of heart be humble yet..." to "So, in his crashing fall shall Zeus discover how different are rule and slavery."

page 96: "I have said too much already ..." to the end of the play.

Friday, February 17, 2012

What You Need to Know about "Prometheus Bound"

The subject of discussion at our meeting on Monday, February 27th will be the drama "Prometheus Bound."  Prometheus is chained to a crag in the Caucasus. In a twist on the idea of "crimes against humanity, Prometheus is being punished for "crimes for humanity"!  He gave humankind fire and other useful arts.

"Prometheus Bound" consists of a sequence of dialogues between Prometheus and the other characters: Oceanos, Io, Hermes, and perhaps most significantly, the daughters of Oceanos who form the Chorus. 

The Greek divine order, or "pantheon" forms an important backdrop to the work. There had been a dynastic struggle among races of gods. Prometheus's kin, the titans, were overthrown by the Olympian gods. In essence, "Prometheus Bound" is about the aftermath of this struggle.

Below is a glossary of some of the names of the play. I hope it helps you to follow the story line.


Amazons: A race of warrior women.
Armipasians: A one-eyed people who live near a gold-bearing river
Atlas: A titan, best known as the giant who held the earth separate from the sky.
Hades: the underworld
Haephaestus: God of metallurgy
Hera: wife of Zeus
Hermes: Messenger of the gods
Io: A daughter of the river god Inachus; changed in to a cow by Zeus
Kronos: Father of Zeus
Loxias: a title of Apollo meaning  “interpreter,” relating to Zeus’s prophetic power.
Might: a demon and servant of Zeus
Oceanos: A river and its god
Phorcys: A sea-god
Prometheus: A titan
Rhea: a titaness
Tartarus: A dark region below the earth, far below Hades
Themis: mother of Prometheus
Thetys: a sea goddess
Typho: a monster
Uranos: God of the sky
Violence: like Might, a demon and servant of Zeus; “muta persona”, or “silent character”
Zeus: The top Olympian god.