The Tales of Atlas and Prometheus

The Tale of Atlas

Atlas was one of the most famous Titans, the son of Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia (or, possibly, Clymene). He was the leader of the Titan rebellion against Zeus, and he got a fitting punishment after the end of the Titanomachy: he was condemned to eternally hold up the sky. Only once, and for a very brief period, he was bereaved of this burden by Heracles. Perseus, probably using Medusa's head, turned him into the stony Atlas Mountains.

According to Hesiod, Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene. However, some – disagreeing with him – says that his mother was another sea nymph named Asia. Either way, he had three brothers (Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius) and possibly as many wives.

By Pleione, he had eight daughters: the goddess-nymph Calypso and the seven Pleiades (Alcyone, Asterope, Electra, Caleano, Taygete, Merope and Hermes' mother, Maia). Another Oceanid, Aethra, bore him few more daughters, the Hyades, and his only son, Hyas. Finally, according to some, the Hesperides were also Atlas' daughters, out of his marriage with Hesperis.

Iapetus' sons took the opposing sides during the Titanomachy: while Prometheus and Epimetheus decided to help Zeus, Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans. In time, Atlas even managed to become the leader of the rebellion, but that didn't end up too well for him in the long run, since it got him the most severe punishment after the defeat of the Titans.

Namely, Atlas was condemned to hold up the heavens for all eternity, standing at the furthest west edges of the earth near the garden of his daughters, the Hesperides. Some say that the sky was placed directly on his shoulders. Others, however, are more merciful, claiming that Atlas actually holds the two pillars which keep the earth and the sky apart.

Since, obviously, Atlas wasn't allowed to move one bit – and not many people knew where his dwelling place was – the only myths he's in include two of Greek's greatest heroes reaching him at the end of the earth.

The first of them was Heracles, who, after having two of his original ten labors invalidated, was tasked with bringing Eurystheus a few of the Hesperidean golden apples. Heracles smartly offered Atlas to switch roles with him so that the Titan could fetch the apples from his daughters himself, causing no fuss or drawing unnecessary attention from Ladon, the dragon-guardian of the apples.

Atlas did just that but had a plan of his own – to deliver the apples himself to Eurystheus and then, of course, forget all about Heracles and his old job. Heracles, however, outsmarted the gullible Titan, agreeing to the plan but asking him to hold for him the sky first so that he could adjust himself in a more comfortable position. Instead, Heracles just seized the golden apples and never looked back.

The second – and last – hero to visit Atlas was Perseus. Passing by the Titan, Perseus asked him for hospitality, but Atlas, fearing some humiliating trick yet again, turned him down. So, Perseus showed him the head of Medusa and Atlas was turned into stone

The Tale of Prometheus

Prometheus was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene. Even though a Titan himself, together with his brother Epimetheus, he sided with Zeus during the Titanomachy. However, after helping Zeus to achieve victory in the war, he started a quarrel with him over his supposed unfair treatment of humanity. This led to Prometheus stealing the fire from the gods and gifting it to humanity, which resulted in Zeus chaining Prometheus and sending an eagle to prey upon his continually regenerating liver. After some time, Zeus' son Heracles shot the eagle and freed Prometheus, and the Titan subsequently made peace with his savior's father.

Through his smart counseling, Prometheus played an essential part during the war between the Titans and the Olympians. Even though himself a Titan, together with his brother Epimetheus, he sided with Zeus and escaped the brutal punishments that his other two siblings, Atlas and Menoetius, received after the old order of gods was eventually defeated.

Things, however, got sour between Prometheus and Zeus soon after Zeus had established himself as the sovereign ruler of all gods and men. The primary cause for this was Zeus' tyrannical treatment of humankind, which, in the eyes of Prometheus, deserved a far better master.

The rift between the Thunderer and the Forethinker seems to have started at Mecone when Zeus charged Prometheus with the task of dividing the meat of a great ox into two meals, one for the gods and the other one for the humans. Ever the lover of the latter, Prometheus tried tricking Zeus by producing one portion of bones wrapped in fat, and another one consisting of the finest meat covered with the ox's insides. Strangely enough, Zeus chose the fat-covered bones, thus setting a precedent which allowed humans, from that day forward, to keep the meat for themselves and sacrifice only the bones to the gods.

Angered by Prometheus' trick, Zeus tried punishing humankind by hiding from them the gift of fire. Prometheus didn't think this just, so he stole the fire from Olympus and brought it back to earth in a fennel stack. In honor of this act, the Athenians instituted a race, during which runners of the same team passed between them a flaming torch until the last runner of the winning team had the privilege to use it to kindle the sacrificial fire on the altar of Athena on the Acropolis. This, of course, marked the origin of both relay races and the modern Olympic flame ceremony.

It was now Zeus' turn to react and react he did: he tasked Hephaestus with molding a creature as beautiful and as devious as no mortal had ever seen before. Even the gods – all of whom had gifted this being with seductive gifts – were amazed when they saw the "beautiful evil" it embodied, the "sheer guile" of her appearance. This creature was Pandora, the very first woman in history: "of her," writes Hesiod, "is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth."To make matters worse, soon after coming to Earth, Pandora was foolishly accepted by the afterthinking Epimetheus, against the better advice of his much smarter brother. Once this happened, Pandora promptly opened the jar she had brought with herself, and out of it all kinds of diseases and pains gushed forth, plaguing humanity ever since.

As gruesome as this punishment for humanity had been, it didn't seem to alleviate Zeus's anger. So, he decided to punish Prometheus as well. Once again, he was as cruel as one can be: he had the Titan chained to a rock in the Caucasus and sent an eagle to prey on him. Every day the eagle tore a part of Prometheus' liver which grew back again during the night so that the unbearable torment could go on indefinitely.

Neither Zeus nor Prometheus backed down in their hardheadedness for centuries. And who knows how many eons their struggle would have gone on if it hadn't been for Zeus' son, Heracles, who happened upon the chained Prometheus on his way to the Hesperides. Whether Heracles shot the eagle and freed Prometheus as a sign of gratitude for the latter advising him to send Atlas to fetch the golden apples and complete his labor – or it was the other way around, we may never know for sure. However, we do know that Zeus allowed this to happen and that afterward he and Prometheus buried the hatchet and finally made peace with each other.