PART
2 – Ch.XIV.2
(KION OURANOU. The Sky Column on
in
the country of the Hyperboreans)
XIV.
2. Prometheus chained on the Sky Column in
On the principal
column of Atlas mountain, the same mountain and the same column which dominate
the whole SE corner of the Carpathians, was, according to the old legends of
theogony, chained Prometheus, the
most superior mind of the Pelasgian world.
Prometheus’ legend
presents one of the most sublime images of the nascent civilization of the
Pelasgian people.
After Jove defeated
old Saturn and took his place in all the divine and political honors, a grave
misunderstanding took place, according to these legends, between the mortal men
and the new autocrat. The representative of the discontented world was the wise
titan Prometheus.
In one of the best
tragedies of Eschyl, Prometheus, the
father of civilization and the friend of mankind, inculpates Jove like this: that as soon as he
ascended his father’s throne, to rule over gods and men, he gave all good
things to gods only, without being concerned at all with the lot of the poor
mortals, and even more, that Jove had wished to extinguish the whole human genus and create another, and that only
himself, Prometheus, had opposed this plan (Prometheus vinctus, v. 228 seqq).
Jove had become
powerful over gods and men through his reigning position, but Prometheus was
powerful through his wisdom, superior by the force of his thinking, and he was
supported by the humans. Great jealousy and quarrel issued because of this in
the counsel of gods between Prometheus and Jove.
The first cause of
the discord was, according to Hesiod,
the following:
While the gods and the
people had held a common assembly at Mecone,
in order to decide the honors and duties reserved to each party, Prometheus
fetched for sacrifice a big ox and proposed to divide it [1].
[1. Mechone, an obscure
locality. It was considered by some Greek authors as identical with Sycion or
He then slaughtered
the victim and made two heaps. On one side he put all the meat with the good
intestines and fat, which he covered with the skin of the ox. And on the other
side he put only the bones, which he cunningly covered with white, shiny fat.
In this way Prometheus wanted to trick Jove, to choose the leanest part for the
gods. Although Jove had observed immediately the trickery, he intentionally
chose the bad part in order to have a good reason to revenge himself on the
mortals, as he already had no good intentions towards them. Since that time,
says Hesiod, the custom was introduced to humans to burn only the bones on the
altars of gods.
Now Jove, deeply
angry that the gods had been shortchanged in their honors, forbade the use of
fire to the humans. But Prometheus, with his titanic skills, stole from the
eternal fire of Jove a few sparks, which he brought and presented to the
mortals [2].
[2. Hyginus also tells this legend but with some more details (Poeticon
astronomicon. II. 6).
According to what he says, the
ancients used to sacrifice to gods in great ceremonies, in which they burned
whole carcasses, and because of this waste the poor could not make sacrifices. Prometheus obtained from Jove the favor
that the mortals might be allowed to burn but a part of the victims’ meat,
leaving the rest for their personal use. Jove accepting, Prometheus killed two
bulls, put the intestines on the altar, then, gathering together the rest of
the meat from both victims, covered it with one of the skins, after which he
put all the bones together, which he covered with the other skin. He then
suggested to Jove to choose one part or the other for burning. Jove, who,
although a god, could not see everything, chose the bones, believing that each
part represented the remains of one bull. But seeing that he had been deceived,
he took the fire from the mortals,
so that they would have no use for the meat of the victims, being unable to
boil it. But Prometheus, always inventive, thought how to give back to mankind
the fire which it had lost because of him. So he went to the place where Jove’s
fire was, took a few sparks, put them inside the plant called ferula and brought them to the mortals].
So, the great step
towards the civilizing of the human genus had been made. The humans started to
enjoy the benefits of the fire, this divine element. What had happened could
not be undone. And Jove, seeing from afar how the flames of the fire burned on
the hearths of the humans, burned with anger, and because he did not want his
rival Prometheus to earn a higher consideration in the eyes of the mortals than
the gods had, because of this gift, decided to punish him for this daring deed.
He ordered Vulcan to chain him on the high and solitary stony
“Atlas”, writes Hesiod (Theog. v. 517 seqq), “supports the vast sky at the ends of the earth with his head
and tireless arms, being constrained to do this by a double necessity. This
fate was decided for him by wise Jove, who tied and chained astute Prometheus with thick, unbreakable
chains, on the middle column. And he
sent against him a vulture with wide
wings, who continuously picked at his liver, which was never wholly consumed,
because it grew back overnight. Hercules,
the brave son of Alcmene, the goddess with fine feet, killed this bird and
freed Prometheus from his anguish”.
From a historical
point of view, Prometheus’ legends present a special interest for the origins of European civilization at the
north of
According to Hesiod, Prometheus was a brother of Atlas and both of them sons of the
titan Iapet, who lived at the
borders of the known world together with Saturn
(Ibid, Theog. v. 507, 509-510; Homer,
Iliad, VIII, v. 479). According to Hesiod, the mother of Atlas and Prometheus had
been a daughter of Oceanos (ancient
Istru) named Clymene.
And the historian Herodorus, who lived before Herodotus,
tells us that Prometheus was a king of
According to
legends, Prometheus, the most genial figure of prehistoric world, gave man not
only the benefit of fire, but a great many other good things, which Eschyl enumerates like this:
“Men”, says
Prometheus, “had in the beginning the mind of a child, and I made them wise and
I gave them the power of thought. In the beginning the things which they saw,
they saw in vain, and what they heard they did not hear. For a very long time
they confused all things, as the phantoms of some dreams are confused. These
men”, continues Prometheus, “did not know how to build brick houses, exposed to
sunlight; they did not know how to work the wood, but dwelt in underground places, as ants, hidden inside the dark womb
of the caves; they had no sure sign, either for the beginning of winter or of
spring, or summer, when the fruit ripens, but lived without any sort of
knowledge, until I taught them to know the rise and setting of the stars, which
is a thing more difficult to remember; I invented the most useful sciences, the
system of numbers, I found the way to combine letters, and how things can be
memorized, this is the mother of all sciences. I first yoked the cattle, to be
used for transport…and still I, and not another, discovered the sails so that
the ships would be able to navigate on the sea…Moreover, when someone fell
sick, had no cure, and no way to live, and men died for lack of remedies, until
I first taught them how to make useful medicines, with which to protect
themselves against all illnesses; I taught them different ways to
prophesy…Finally, who could affirm to have discovered before me the things
useful to mankind which are hidden under the earth, the copper, the iron, the
silver and the gold, and, summarizing all this in a few words: know that all the arts, the mortals have learnt from Prometheus” (Prometheus
vinctus, v. 443 seqq).
In antique legends
Prometheus appears also as the creator
of a new human genus. Prometheus, Apollodorus
tells us, shaped men from water and earth and gave them the fire, which he’d
stolen from Jove and which he’d brought to them hidden in the plant named
ferula (Bibl. I. 7. 1; Ovid, Met. I. 81) [3].
[3. Stephanus Byzanthinus writes that at the time of Deucalion’s flood, after all mankind
had perished and the earth had dried again, Jove ordered Prometheus and Minerva
to form clay idols, then, calling all the winds, gave them souls and life].
We find a more
complete version of this legend with the poet Claudianus (Eutropium, II. v. 470 ):
According to what
legends tell us, he says, two twin brothers, Iapet’s sons, shaped from the same
matter the first ancestors of our human genus, but with different success. Prometheus had put more divine spirit
in the clay of the men created by him with a lot of care, and they, being
created by a better master, knew in advance what was going to happen, so they
were ready to meet the events which could harm them. But the second author of
the human genus, whom the Greek poets name by right Epimetheus (mindless), being a lesser master, had chosen clay of an
inferior quality and had not inspired any divine essence into it. These people,
exactly like animals, could not avoid dangers, could not predict things and
what was going to happen, and after they suffered a misfortune, only moaned and
lamented.
It is impossible to
know today the true historical meaning of this legend about the creation of man
from water and clay. The origin of this belief harks back to very ancient
times.
It is the same
legend which had migrated from north to south, which had passed from the
Carpathians to Hellada and from Hellada to
Finally, we have
another monument of an extreme archaeological importance, which attests that
the chaining of Prometheus on the principal column of Atlas mountain refers to
the gigantic column which dominates the whole SE corner of the Carpathians.
Near this majestic
column on
One of these
mysterious rocks presents a megalithic sculpture which represents the head,
neck, chest, and part of the wings of a gigantic
vulture, facing the principal column.
This monumental
figure is the mythological vulture, to which the legends of antiquity had
attributed the role of torturer of Prometheus. To this divine vulture, sent by
powerful Jove against Prometheus, has been consecrated even from the most
obscure antiquity, a constellation in the northern hemisphere, called by Greek
authors aetos and in Roman literature
[4. Near the constellation of the
Vulture, there is also the group of stars called Serpentarius. According to some authors of old, Serpentarius represented
Carnubutas, the king of the Getae,
who had killed Triptolemos (Hyginus,
Poeticon astronomicon, Ed. Basileae, lib. II. p. 68).
The arrow with which Hercules
had killed the vulture who devoured Prometheus’ liver, was also put among
constellations with the name of Sagitta.
According to another tradition (Hyginus, Poet. Astr. lib. II), this was
the arrow with which Apollo had
killed the Cyclops who had
manufactured Jove’s thunderbolts. Apollo had buried this arrow on the mountain of the Hyperboreans, but
the winds had taken it back to him, together with the first fruit produced at
that time. That’s why the arrow had been put among the stars].
The figure of a
gigantic stone vulture near the column on which wise Prometheus had suffered according
to traditions, was known also to the ancient authors.
The grammarian Hyginus, in his Astronomical Poem (lib.
II), communicates some of the legendary history of this famous vulture:
“Jove”, says he,
“sent the vulture against Prometheus, to devour his liver, which grew back each
night. This vulture was born, according to some, from Typhon and Echidna,
according to others, from Earth (Terra) and Tartaros. But most of authors
insist that this vulture was made by
Vulcan, and Polyzeus
demonstrates that it was made by Vulcan
and that Jove gave it life”.
So we have before
us a sculpture from the most obscure times of ante-Hellenic civilization, a
religious emblem which was considered, according to traditions, as the
handicraft of the most genial master of the ancient world, of Vulcan.
Although this
archaic figure from the high peak of the Carpathians has been exposed for
millennia to the harshest of elements, it awakens admiration even today for its
extremely elegant shapes.
This sacred vulture
of prehistoric times is not the only sculpture left to us from this divine
artist. The colossal simulacrum of Zeus euruopa, from the vicinity of
this column, which is a masterpiece deserving eternal admiration, and which
once dominated the religious sentiments of the whole world, attests the
grandiose concept and the style of the same peerless master [5].
[5. Vulcan appears in old traditions
not only as a celestial metalworker,
who crafts the most exquisite metal objects, like Jove’s scepter, Achilles’
weapons, Hercules’ shield, etc, but he is at the same time a divine master
craftsman universal, a worker in clay, a sculptor (Hesiod, Op 60. 70) and an architect.
He builds on ancient
When the poet
Pindar tells us in one of his odes that Vulcan
broke with his hatchet Jove’s head, from which the goddess of wisdom Minerva emerged, he tells us through
these verses only a part of the folk tradition, which was that Vulcan had been
the master craftsman who had made the great sacred head of Zeus, on which were
inscribed the symbolic traces of Athena’s creation.
Both these figures
are monuments of national art of the northern Pelasgians.
Phidias belongs to
the historic times, Vulcan to those prehistoric. Phidias belongs to Hellada,
Vulcan to the region near Oceanos potamos, or Istru. Phidias is a famous
imitator, Vulcan is a divine creator in his art.
The primitive
meaning of this megalithic vulture (aquila), “born from the Earth”, as the ancients said, was without doubt
completely different.
This figure,
hieratically represented near the column consecrated to the Sky (Caelius),
expressed in the beginning only a simple religious idea, it was only a sacred
symbol of the divine majesty and power.
According to
Pausanias, there was on Lycaeu mountain in
Of all the species
of vultures which today dominate the lofty peaks of the Carpathians, the finest
and most remarkable for its violent character is the so-called golden vulture, or cehleu (caelius), meaning the vulture of the sky [6].
[6. This vulture is called in
This is the same
vulture that in the ancient religion had been consecrated to the supreme
divinity of Zeus, it is the aquila of ancient
According to Hesiod’s theogony, chained Prometheus
suffered on the famous column on Atlas mountain.
Apollodorus locates Atlas mountain in the country of
the Hyperboreans.
And Pindar tells us that the Hyperboreans
were the people who dwelt near the sources (cataracts) of Istru (Olymp. III. v.
14. 17).
Finally, the Latin
poet Martialis tells us even clearer
(Epigr. Lib. IX. 46) that Prometheus’
rocks and the fabulous mountain
(of Atlas) were in