Prometheus was a Titan. In the war be tween Zeus and the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympian gods. Out of the clay， he made the first man，to whom Athena gave soul and holy breath. Prometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fire， and fire raised man above all animals. Later，there held a joint meeting of gods and men. The meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should be given to gods and what to men. Prometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts： under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bones，for he knew the selfish Zeus love fat. Zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus’ favor towards men. So in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankind. However，Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down to men. Flying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion， Zeus let the other gods chain Prometheus to a rock on mountain Caucasus， where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew again. His period of pain was to be thirty-thousand years. Prometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before Zeus. At last Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to friendship，when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free.

普羅米修斯是泰坦巨人之一。在宙斯與巨人的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，他站在新的奧林波斯山神一邊。他用黏土造出了第一個(gè)男人。雅典娜賦予了這個(gè)男人靈魂和神圣的生命。普羅米修斯還花費(fèi)了很多時(shí)間和精力創(chuàng)造了火，并將之贈(zèng)予人類。火使人成為萬(wàn)物之靈。在這之后，舉行了第一次神與人的聯(lián)席會(huì)議。這個(gè)會(huì)議將決定燒烤過(guò)的動(dòng)物的哪一部分該分給神，哪一部分該分給人類。普羅米修斯切開一頭牛，把它分成兩部分：他把肉放在皮下，將骨頭放在肥肉下。因?yàn)樗雷运降闹嫠箰?ài)吃肥肉。宙斯看穿了他的把戲。普羅米修斯偏袒人類，這使宙斯感到不快。因此，他專橫地把火從人類手中奪走。然而，普羅米修斯設(shè)法竊走了天火，偷偷地把它帶給人類。宙斯對(duì)他這種肆無(wú)忌憚的違抗行為大發(fā)雷霆。他令其他的山神把普羅米修斯用鎖鏈縛在高加索山脈的一塊巖石上。一只饑餓的老鷹天天來(lái)啄食他的肝臟，而他的肝臟又總是重新長(zhǎng)出來(lái)。他的痛苦要持續(xù)三萬(wàn)年。而他堅(jiān)定地面對(duì)苦難，從來(lái)不在宙斯面前喪失勇氣。最后，海格立斯使普羅米修斯與宙斯恢復(fù)了他們的友誼，找到了金蘋果，殺死了老鷹，因而解救了人類的老朋友。