MYTHOLOGY

The ancient legends explained earthly and celestial phenomena and conditions, and thus provided help in orientation and existence. Accordingly, explanatory models also existed for fire and for ritualistic dealings with sacrificial fire. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was considered the bearer of fire. He came from the old family of gods, the Titans, who harked back to Uranus (the sky) and Gaia (the earth), which had then succumbed in the battle with the Olympian gods under Zeus. Prometheus was a symbol of uprising and rebellion, a champion of humankind against the hostility of the gods. The ‘forward-thinking one’, as his name can be translated, became the creator of the human race, and its saviour in the form of the bearing of fire. He was also seen as the god of craftsmen and inventor of all arts.

After Prometheus had created the human race from clay, Zeus wanted to destroy the fragile humans and create new ones. Zeus tried to starve the people by demanding the best parts of their food as sacrifice. Prometheus then cut an ox into pieces, separating the edible and the non-edible parts, the meat from the bones. He disguised the two parts and tried to fool Zeus into choosing the bones. Zeus saw through the trick and planned revenge. He left the meat to the people, while the gods settled for the smoke of the burned bones as a sacrifice. Thus, people need meat, they get hungry and are therefore dependent, transitory – ultimately, mortal, while the gods are independent, undemanding and immortal. The legend explains and justifies the sacrifice as the separation of the people from the gods, a separation which is, however, overcome by that very sacrifice.