Challenges to the Power of Zeus in Early Greek Poetry by Noriko Yasumura

Author:Noriko Yasumura
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Pr. I made mortals no longer foresee their fate.

Ch. What kind of remedy did you find for this anguish?

Pr. I put blind hopes into their minds. (P.V. 248-50)

Aeschylus communicates the idea that one of the important messages of the myth of Prometheus is that foresight is forever concealed from men. In the tragedy, Aeschylus made Prometheus, instead of Zeus, play the major role in this concealment, and Prometheus did this as a benefit for men. From these verses, it is clear that Aeschylus does not take as ‘good hope’ in our sense. Moreover, he offers a clear distinction in meaning to the Hesiodic usage of the word: ‘foresight’ (, P.V. 248), and ‘anticipation’ (, P. V. 250). So, according to Aeschylus, man is, on the one hand, unable to see his future fate but, on the other hand, allowed blind hope (anticipation).

The phrase makes clear how uncertain and arbitrary is the ‘anticipation’ of mankind. As Griffith comments, hopes are blind because they make mankind ‘act without constantly being aware of the exact limits on their aspiration’.63 In Hesiod is also seen in a similar context. Hesiod mentions this word only three times, all of which are found in the Works and Days. Apart from the instance under discussion, the word appears at 498 and 500 – (unreliable anticipation, W.D. 498); is not any good at caring for a needy man, W.D. 500). We see, therefore, that Hesiod is aware of the two connotations attached to the word . As Aeschylus rightly suggests, anticipation is something that certainly exists among men, whereas, as is explained by Pandora’s story, foresight, clear knowledge of the future, does not. It is, thus, not beyond the bounds of possibility that lines 248-50 of this tragedy offer a relic of the original mythic message and suggest that the loss of foresight is paradigmatic to the Prometheus story.

According to the Works and Days, Hesiod emphasises that it is by the plan of Zeus that men are prohibited from possessing foresight (99).64 Thus, when the god of ‘Forethought’ is defeated by Zeus, men are also forbidden to have , ‘foresight’. It is evidently not a coincidence that a cognate type of punishment was given to Prometheus and men by Zeus; it is the punishment concerning the power to see the future for both of them. Through his binding of Prometheus, Zeus interrupted the relation between men and their patron god. It is now Zeus himself who steps forth to assume the mantle of world supremacy.

The victory over Prometheus has been variously elaborated by scholars: for example, Zeus establishes his rule not only through might and violence but also through intelligence and justice; ‘Prometheus’ forethought and cleverness are ‘short-sighted’, no match for Zeus’ wisdom’;65 or, ‘the sovereign power of Zeus combines all the forms of power which existed in the preceding generation’.66 As was discussed earlier in this chapter, the most striking feature of the myth concerning the struggle for sovereignty is that Zeus defeated Prometheus by depriving him of his power of forethought and, perhaps, even of his real name.

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