鄭文文

【Abstract】In Greek myths， there were many Gods and heroes who had their own relieves. What makes me most admirable is the first descendant of Titan-Prometheus. He created mankind and tried his best to help them and illustrated what is the responsibility by his practical acts. In this paper， I will narrate some meaningful stories about him and make a deep analysis on his personality so as to give us a direction in our daily life.

【Key words】Prometheus； responsibility； Greek myths

According to a concept of Marxism， “Being determines ones consciousness.”（Chen Xianda， 2010） gods were created by human. We can infer that what value god pursue is exactly what human pursue.

The stories about Gods and legend about heroes made up the myths， （Yang Yongsheng， 2013）of which the story about Gods fully showed what value the ancient Greek pursued.

Every figure in Greek myths had its own characteristics without the influence of asceticism（1986） and each of them had its own pursuit. Prometheus was the first descendant of Titan and was regarded as the forefather. He created human and taught them everything， even some special skills which should be possessed by Gods at that time.

Prometheus tried his best and spared no effort to help human. He taught them to observe the rise and fall of the sun， the moon and stars， and to control animals； he created numbers and characters； he invented boat and sails； he taught them to make drugs to combat various diseases. In addition， he guided them to explore the underground mineral sources and to find iron and gold as well silver from ore； he taught them farming skills so that they could live a comfortable life. In this way， Prometheus contributed his time and energy to human. He showed us the responsibility by his own practical acts. At the same time， human repaid him with their love and loyalty.（Li Nan， 2009）

According to the seniority in family， Prometheus positioned highly above Zeus. While Zeus required human to worship him menially and to contribute their best things to him. Prometheus offended Zeus when he defended human. For his punishment， Zeus refused to offer fire to human which was exactly necessary for them to complete their civilization. As a wisdom god， Prometheus had thought of a way to solve the problem. He used a long fennel branch to get fire from the flaming sun cart when it passed by him， then he gave it to human.

Prometheus had never admitted his “mistakes” and would rather die than surrender before Zeus. Thereupon， on countless dickey and evil days and nights in Caucasus Mountains， he was shackled on a sheer cliff with firm iron chain and could never sleep. He was unable to bend his knees even they were nearly numb. On his chest， a diamond nail was nailed with glitter. It seemed to show his existence. Hence， he had to endure hunger as well as wind and sun.

However， that was not enough， Zeus still dispatched an evil black eagle to peck Prometheus' liver every day. But for Prometheus was god， when his liver was pecked on the day， while it could relive again at night， thus he must sustain endless suffering. Even so， Prometheus still never gave in to Zeus. He was not saved until a famous man with giant strength-Hercules shot down the evil black eagle with arrows and broke the iron chain with huge stones.

It was just because of this， Prometheus was regarded as a just and fair god who always sacrificed himself to help others. As a god， Prometheus was not as well as other gods who spent their time on all beer and skittles， but to create human and to teach them lots of skills for surviving， and he looked upon it as his enjoyment and responsibility.

In his eyes， he thought that “Since I create human， I must take responsibility for them. No matter how many risks in the way I will take， I must insist on it at all costs.” Therefore， the precious pursuit is exactly responsibility-taking responsibility thoroughly and completely.

From the experience of Prometheus， we can see that “responsibility” is simply not a sweet word. What Prometheus possessed was cold rocks， infernal torture and endless sorrow. When a man becomes a real “man”， responsibility as a gift will follow him. It is just like a kid that you must contribute all and try your best to look after. However， what it repays you is only sorrow in spirit and body. There is a question- why do we have to carry the cross which makes us bitter？ Obviously， the answer is simple-it bring us a great personality.

The reason why Prometheus chose persistence instead of death is that he knew the responsibility he must take； the reason why Prometheus didn't choose to give in but to insist is that he knew the mission he should implement； the reason why Prometheus didn't choose to be sad is that he knew that he should execute his promise to human. He illustrated perfectly what is the responsibility by his practical acts.

References：

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