"Prometheus Bound," by Aeschylus

 Sculpture of Prometheus by Paul Manship at the Rockefeller Center Skating Rink in Manhattan

 (photo by Troy David Johnson)

On Monday night we discuss the play "Prometheus Bound," by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus, about Zeus's punishment of the Titan Prometheus for giving humankind the useful arts. Classicist John  Hetherington writes in his book on Aeschylus (Aeschylus, Yale University Press, 1986) that we who have been brought up in Jewish or Christian traditions, in which truth is based on scripture, may find it difficult to comprehend ancient Greek religion, based as it is on "a bewildering multitude of traditional beliefs and local cult-practices".  We may tend to conflate Zeus, the first among the gods, with the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Aeschylus's view of  Zeus, however, was quite different, as we'll talk about tomorrow night.

As a "study aid," I offer this outline of the play.  As you can see, a considerable portion of the play is devoted to Io.  Io is the only human character in the play, though as punishment for Zeus's attraction to her, she is turned into a cow.  I think the common bond she and Prometheus share as victims of Zeus puts them at the center of the drama. 

Pages 63-66: Dialogue of Might (Kratos) and Hephaestus

Pages 67-73: Prometheus and Chorus

Pages 73-76: Oceanos and Chrous

Pages 76-77: Chorus

Pages 78-80: Chorus and Prometheus

Pages 80-81: Chorus

Pages 81-91: Io, Prometheus, and Chorus

Pages 92-96: Chorus and Prometheus

Pages 94-96: Prometheus and Hermes

Pages 97-99: Chorus, Prometheus, and Hermes

Great Books in the Pandemic Year of 2020

If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called to give an account of myself. All this however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell.

--Frederick Douglass, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave"

To recap our doings in this covid-19 pandemic year of 2020, I offer the following list of our readings:

In January we celebrated our fifteenth anniversary with "The Devil Baby of Hull House," by Jane Addams, in which she recounts the rumors that swirled around the immigrant communities of the south side of Chicago.

February our selection "The Man Who Could Perform Miracles" by H.G. Wells was a "thought experiment" of what would happen if a man had the power to make the world stop turning.

In March, alas, we had to cancel our meeting because of the covid-19 shutdown.  We took up the selection, Thomas Mann's eerie story of a family's sojourn at an Italian seaside resort, "Mario and the Magician" in May.

We held a special meeting in April in which we looked at Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a masterpiece of plague literature.  Fittingly, as a twenty-first-century response to a pandemic, it was our very first Zoom meeting.

April's regular selection was "Daughters of the Late Colonel," by Katherine Mansfield, on two sisters living in their father's shadow.

June's reading was the amazing play "R.U.R." by Karel Čapek, in which robots revolt against their human makers.

In July we looked at Mary McCarthy's memoir "My Confession" in which she recounts her involvement with the Communist Party in the 1930s.

August's selection was the impressionistic "Holy Week," by Deborah Eisenberg.

In September we took up "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," a book which strongly influenced the anti-slavery movement in the United States. In October  the selection was "The Epic of Gilgamesh," with our Head of Adult Services Thérèse Nielsen filling in for me.  Thank you Thérèse!

In 2021 we continue our reading and discussion of great literature and philosophy, a fulfilling and lifelong pursuit.