The Titanomachy had concluded, Zeus and his allies emerged victorious, Zeus, the new undisputed ruler of the heavens was feared and respected, Olympus was filled with praises for Zeus. Prometheus was one friend, possibly the only one he could be himself, not a king or overlord, just Zeus, they were what we call ‘homies’, ‘BFFs’. They would hunt together, talk about life, difficulties of being a king, pointless everyday talk, philosophical thoughts and many more. But Zeus over time started to act differently, He was morose. Prometheus wondered what it could be, but the answer he got was not what he expected.
Emptiness
Zeus at times would fly over the world in his eagle form and would feel empty, it was full of life, lush green trees, flowing clear waters, and grasslands as far as the eye can see. He couldn’t point his finger at what was wrong, and one day Zeus had a eureka moment, he immediately rushed to Prometheus to tell what he had in mind. Zeus desired something to rule over something, Prometheus just listened to his friend’s rambling but he too was intrigued. He reasoned that all the other gods had some companion creature, Poseidon had dolphins, and Hades had a dog, though it was the ugliest thing he knew, it was still a dog, so Zeus too desired a creature which would obey him, pray to him, something he could rule over, and he suggested how it should like, Prometheus was surprised at the description, it was exactly how the gods looked like, but smaller and no divine powers.
The Formula to Create a Man
Prometheus asked Zeus if he wanted males and females, but Zeus was like ‘no females’, as his wife would be enraged at more outlets for his libido, and Zeus’s libido was no joke, he couldn’t be easily sated, so it was decided it would be their creation. Prometheus set off to work, and found the most suitable clay at the banks of a river which had the perfect composition, he decided to set off to work and asked Zeus for his saliva, for he required something of Zeus’s composition to be in the creation. Prometheus told him he would be done in the afternoon, the king of gods knew the intricacies of art, and though he would have loved to watch it, he knew to leave him alone so he could work. Prometheus was a master of his craft, his sculpting was truly a work of art, he designed them in various colors, the golden color of the gods, shining black, yellow, amber and many more colors and he left them to rest in the hot sun to harden.
Disaster Strikes
Zeus bought his favorite daughter Athena to see what he and Prometheus were upto, meanwhile, Prometheus, satisfied with his hard day of labour was resting, heard the thunder god calling his name with great enthusiasm and rushing through the thicket of woods and by the time he could told him to come slowly, it was too late, Zeus had charged through the forest and felled the clay figurines. The Titan was furious, he admonished Zeus for his actions, not anyone could get away with admonishing the ruler of the heavens, Athena was surprised to see her father so meek with Prometheus, she saw the remaining undamaged sculpture which were the colored black, ivory, brown and red still were intact, and she in her little girl voice said they were all beautiful, this soothed Prometheus’s wrath and he settled down.
Breath of Life
Everything was set, the clay of Mother Earth Gaia, The spit of Zeus, The heat of the sun, all formed by Prometheus, and Zeus decided they should be given life by the breath of his daughter, so they can be graced by her wisdom and craft, little Athena blew on those sculptures and slowly they came to life, it was a slow process, like the movement of the hour hand of a clock, soon they were moving, trying their feet and walking sloppily, trying out their limbs, using their eyes to see everything around them.
Zeus was elated, he grabbed Prometheus and started dancing frantically, the thundering voice scared them all, and they bowed to the three gods, the titan assured them that there was no reason to bow, but the king intervened and told them they had every reason to bow to them for they were the gods. The trio of immortals shrunk themselves to their size and Prometheus touched the head of the humans who were bowing to him, he felt immense love for his creations, he proclaimed he was not their god, but their friend.
The Foreshadowing
Prometheus had dreams, he wanted to teach man a lot of things, to farm, to harvest, to forage and many more, he saw himself as their guardian figure, his love for man was boundless. He also wanted to gift them fire. No sooner these words were out, Zeus went into a fit of rage and told him not to give them fire, anything but that. The King of heavens did not want man to revolt against him and desired them to be subservient to them, he assumed that fire would make man arrogant and think he was equal to god and would stop respecting them, Prometheus agreed, albeit reluctantly. Little did Zeus know he would be betrayed.
