Also called Forethought.
Their story
Prometheus was a Titan, son of Iapetus, who tricked Zeus at Mekone into choosing the bones and fat of the sacrifice, leaving the meat for mortals. When Zeus withheld fire, Prometheus stole it in a fennel stalk. As punishment he was chained to a rock where an eagle ate his liver each day, until Heracles freed him. In Aeschylus he is the giver of all human arts.
Best times to give to them
- The Prometheia, with a torch race from his altar in the Academy at Athens
- When lighting the first fire of winter
- When starting to learn a new skill
What they like being given
- A lit candle or lamp
- A fennel stalk
- Something you learned, taught to someone else
How to honour them
- Light a candle and give thanks for fire and the crafts it made possible.
- Think ahead: plan before you act, as his name means.
- Share knowledge freely with those who need it.
How they can help you
- Learning and invention
- Courage to challenge unfair power
- Planning ahead
Symbols
- fennel stalk
- torch
- chains
- eagle
The story that he shaped humans from clay is later, found in Apollodorus and Ovid.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 507-616
- Hesiod, Works and Days 42-105
- Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.30.2