The Story of the Greek Mythology: Short

Prometheus Creates a Man

The quarrelsome men of the Silver Age had all been drowned in the great flood. But now that the war between the Titans and the Olympians was over, the time was right for a new race of men to be created. Since the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses were busy ruling, playing, and quarrelling among themselves, the gods assigned this task to Prometheus and Epimetheus, the sons of the Titan, Iapetus.

Prometheus had sided with the Olympians in their battle with the Titans, perhaps because he could see into the future and knew that they would win. His name means "fore-thought." Epimetheus was nothing like his brother. His name meant "after-thought," and he always changing his mind about things.

Epimetheus was scatter-brained and impulsive. He wanted to do well at his share of the task of creating men, but, true to his name, he did not see the mistakes he was making until he had already made them. First he made the birds, then the fish, and then the animals. He fashioned each creature as carefully as if it were the only one. To each he gave the gift of some fine quality which would set it apart from all the rest. He gave cunning to the fox, swiftness to the antelope, wings to the eagle, a hard shell to the turtle, and so on. When he had finished with all the creatures, he turned to the task he had saved till the very end, that of making man. He first thought of giving man a warm, furry hide, but he had already given that to the bear. Then he thought of giving man fierce claws, but they had been given to the tiger. Sharp horns, a leathery skin, eyes that can see in the dark - Epimetheus tried desperately to remember some quality that he could give to man, whom he had thought to make the best of his creations, but there was nothing left to give. He realized his mistake and begged Prometheus to help him.

"Prometheus," he cried, "What can I do?"

"It's too bad you didn't think about this when you began," said Prometheus. "But if man is going to be soft, weak, naked, and slow, the least I can do is see that he is not stupid." So saying, Prometheus took a bit of clay and shaped it into a small likeness of the noble gods. He stood man upright, so that he might always look up to the heavens. Then he breathed life into the clay and gave man a superior mind with which he could reason, plan, remember, and dream. In this way, Prometheus set man above all the other creatures.