Deriving Judeo-Christian Morals from the Greek Mythological Story of Prometheus
Where do our innate moral principles come from? What makes us, hopefully, regret chastising someone too harshly? Why do we sympathize? Well, there is the Darwinian answer from an evolutionary perspective. By being kind to one another we were able to increase our ability to survive with the advantage of identifying with a group. Cooperation insured that our genes would be passed down. And I want to explore this from how humans in their religious stories attempt to capture these things. Greek mythology predates the New Testament and I think it’s very interesting observe the story of Prometheus. Now the qualities exhibited in this story, sacrifice, empathy, and humility, appear again in the actions of Jesus. I just think that I can attempt to derive christian values from the story of Prometheus, and argue perhaps the validity of these values in a religious context.
But first let me define the values and qualities at play in these stories. I will introduce a poem by Robert Frost that sort merges the three together. First there is empathy which involves understanding the perspective of someone’s experience that you yourself did not endure. It requires active listening. This is different from sympathizing. With sympathy, you have shared their experience and understand tangibly the (whatever emotion it may be) that they are experiencing. Proper empathy compels one to help and alleviate their burdens. It’s why even the most casual christian understands Jesus’s parable the “good samaritan” because it addresses assisting the stranger in need of help.
Speaking of stranger let me introduce the subjectivity of what “assistance” looks like. To what length will you go to assist a stranger? You walk by someone experiencing homelessness, do you help them by giving them a few dollars or by inviting them into your home? Where do you draw the line in helping them? Do you let them stay for a week? A month? A year? What if they are harboring violent intentions, consequently endangering you and your family? Robert Frost’s poem Love and a Question wrestles with this dilemma. In the poem the bridegroom is conflicted between helping the distressed stranger and ensuring the safety of his bride. The final two stanzas read: “The bridegroom thought it little to give / A dole of bread, a purse, / A heartfelt prayer for the poor of God, / Or for the rich a curse; // But whether or not a man was asked / To mar the love of two /By harboring woe in the bridal house, / The bridegroom wished he knew”. Ultimately he does not know and chooses his bride over the stranger. The story of Prometheus is born from man’s question into why we sacrifice ourselves in effort to help someone, someone who may not be in position to help us. Now remember they were operating in completely different worldview then we are, with the cultural influence of judaeo-christian values imposed on us.
Let me provide context into the story of Prometheus. It fascinates me, as a christian to connect its similarities. Prometheus was the titan God of forethought and crafty counsel (tricks). His sole task was to sculpt mankind out of clay, but Prometheus took things another step crossing some boundaries. Firstly, he tricked the Gods out of the best portion of the sacrificial feast, acquiring the meat for the feasting of man. On another fateful day, he cunningly stole fire from the Gods and gave it to man. As punishment for these traitorous acts, Zeus had Pandora created, the first women to essentially rob men of their joy. As for Prometheus, the titan was stripped of his powers and chained to a rock where a raven would peck his every regenerating liver (or heart) for eternity. Thankfully, generations down the road Hercules would come along and free Prometheus from his torture.
I stole flame to share it, to my beings that could bear it; And should their nature be the shade, Darker flames for them I made. They whose light be their hope, Do know I’m tied to this here rope. What gift is yours, please do gain,As it makes me subject to eternal pain. — a poem called Prometheus by me
Why did Prometheus test the wrath of the Gods? Why did he want to help mankind at the risk of his own life? Was it just that Prometheus loved to deceive the Gods and deviate from their wishes? I interpret that Prometheus empathized with the struggles humanity endured and sincerely hoped to assist them. I would like to think that trickery alone can’t compel someone to risk everything. So, perhaps there was a seed of empathy that took sprout in Prometheus’s heart. He had empathy for the plight of his creation. While he enjoyed defying authority, the greater joy I hope lied in his aid to mankind. Perhaps our discomfort with fully acknowledge our empathic inclination is why the Greeks kind of masked it his intentions with his devilish nature.
Why do we go halfway around the world to help others who are in need? Empathy is a powerful, yet strange capacity. It crosses languages and cultures. It helps explain why we stick our necks out for others we barely even know. These are the underlying questions being wrestled with the story of Prometheus. The Greeks were trying to make sense of why someone would risk themselves for an undeserving and inferior person or group. They had this story of a titan God who sacrifices himself for his mere mortals. It makes no sense; a total departure from logic. And that’s also the strangely beautiful life of Jesus too. It’s like the worst possible story. Prometheus and Jesus were Gods. They had relatively good aims. They wanted to help those who were helpless. They sacrificed themselves in order to do so. We do this also ourselves to smaller extents of course, but the essence is the same.
How did the Greeks even begin to understand empathy, in its strangeness? I think a parcel to it is in their exploration of its relational aspect. What made Prometheus different from other titan Gods was that he created mankind. Prometheus was in that sense what we call a father. His numerous attempts to better the lives of man are fatherly. He empathizes and goes to any necessary measure to see their well being. Even if it is to his cost. He was not indifferent or apathetic to the suffering of those he loved. Empathy requires love.
These stories, though riddled, are actually more Christian than we care to admit. Christianity draws similar details of man’s origin story. In Genesis it says that God sculpted man out of clay. This is exactly how man was created by Prometheus. The story of Prometheus, his godliness, punishment, and sacrifice resembles the life of Jesus. Jesus, the son of God, took on flesh to sacrifice himself for the sin of humanity. And when Christianity spread to Greece, the parallels in these stories must have readily resonated with the Greeks. The consequence was that Jesus rendered Zeus a myth. The mythological stories were orally told and ingrained in Greek culture. The message of Jesus and Christian teachings became firmly entrenched and changed thousands of years of Greek polytheism in a matter of a few centuries. That’s powerful but we must understand this religious phenomenon of rapid conversion in context. The seed has been already laid so to speak. The values of Jesus and his story were accepted earlier in the stories of Prometheus as true. Perhaps this anthropological assessment gives the movement credibility and context.
I argue that the story of Prometheus is largely misinterpreted. It is due to the misunderstanding of Prometheus’s power. Prometheus is not only the titan God of deception, but also of forethought. Forethought is something akin to consciousness. Prometheus knew well the trouble he faced in carrying through his plots. Knowing then the awful torture he would be subjected to, he still carried out and assisted mankind. Angering or challenging the Gods then was unavoidable in his goal to save mankind from misery. Jesus also understood his mission as the Gospel of Mark succinctly shows. He knew that the cross lied at the end of the road and yet he bravely forged on. He also was challenging the authorities indirectly by claiming he was God. The romans were the Gods, and to challenge them was to deny their divinity.
Again the parallels between Prometheus to Jesus are fascinating. Jesus’s presence alone was an inherent conflict to the authorities, because he was the son of God and his word was supreme. Jesus was man and God. He came to save us. He did this knowing that they would reject and crucify him. However remarkably, Jesus told his disciples not to defy their authority. While near the tax booths, Jesus says to Matthew, “Give to Caesar, what is Caesar’s”, implying people should obey their authorities. However they should be weary of false prophets, as Christ said at Matthew 7:16, “By their fruits you will know them”. Jesus triumphantly rose from the dead proving to mankind he was their saviour. Prometheus may have stolen meat and given it to mankind, but Jesus was “the bread of life”.
The Romans though, up until Emperor Constantine four centuries later, would oppress Christians. Even in persecution, the rebellious sub sect of Judaism would spread through its empire and the world. Maybe at times not in the most peaceful way, as I think of the Crusades. Maybe at times in a deceiving and tortuous manner, I think of the Conquistadors. Prometheus enjoyed defying the Gods, but it was also a means to an end. A concerning end. Yet nobody is perfect. And I understand how callous I appear in stating that. I don’t excuse the immorality of European imperialist. I also don’t presume an environmentally determinist acceptance of their horrible atrocities they committed in colonizing. In other words, they had free will and they deliberately chose to subjugate even though they may been provided environmentally with superior resources (argument against Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel). It’s not far fetched to realize that Prometheus’s action were condemned by his governing force. Empathy involves sacrifice, and love is to sacrifice. The greater the love the greater the sacrifice. Those like Prometheus, their actions are misinterpreted, because it defies our sensibility. And yet we know its true. Just like the crowd knew Jesus was innocent. We crucified the very person who saved us, our Messiah. It’s tragic.
