What is "prometheus"

Prometheus \Pro*me"the*us\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, from ? to have forethought for.] (Class. Myth.) The son of Iapetus (one of the Titans) and Clymene, fabled by the poets to have surpassed all mankind in knowledge, and to have formed men of clay to whom he gave life by means of fire stolen from heaven. Jupiter, being angry at this, sent Mercury to bind Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, where a vulture preyed upon his liver.

demigod (son of the Titan Iapetus) who made man from clay and stole fire from heaven and taught mankind its use, for which he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where a vulture came every day and preyed on his liver. The name is Greek, and anciently was interpreted as literally "forethinker, foreseer," from promethes "thinking before," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + *methos, related to mathein "to learn," from enlargement of PIE root *men- "to think" (see mind (n.)). However Watkins suggests the second element is possibly from a base meaning "to steal," also found in Sanskrit mathnati "he steals."

Prometheus ( ; , meaning "forethought") is a Titan in Greek mythology, best known as the deity in Greek mythology who was the creator of mankind and its greatest benefactor, who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to mankind.

Ancient myths and legends relate at least four versions of the narratives describing Prometheus, his exploits with Zeus, and his eternal punishment as also inflicted by Zeus. There is a single somewhat comprehensive version of the birth of Prometheus and several variant versions of his subjection to eternal suffering at the will of Zeus. The most significant narratives of his origin appear in the Theogony of Hesiod which relates Prometheus as being the son of the Titan Iapetus by Clymene, one of the Oceanids. Hesiod then presents Prometheus as subsequently being a lowly challenger to Zeus's omnipotence. In the trick at Mecone, Prometheus tricks Zeus into eternally claiming the inedible parts of cows and bulls for the sacrificial ceremonies of the gods, while conceding the nourishing parts to humans for the eternal benefit of humankind. The two remaining central episodes regarding Prometheus as written by Hesiod include his theft of fire from Olympus for the benefit of humanity against the will of Zeus, and the eternal punishment which Prometheus would endure for these acts as inflicted upon him by the judgment of Zeus. For the greater part, the pre-Athenian ancient sources are selective in which of these narrative elements they chose by their own preferences to honor and support, and which ones they chose to exclude. The specific combinations of these relatively independent narrative elements by individual ancient authors (Hesiod, Homer, Pindar, Pythagoras), and specific exclusions among them, are often influenced by the particular needs and purposes of the larger myths and legends which they are depicting. Each individual ancient author selectively preferred certain crucial stories depicting Prometheus over others.

The intensive growth and expansion of Greek literature and philosophy in the classical fourth and fifth century Athenian period would greatly affect both the interpretation and influence which the myth of Prometheus would exert upon Athenian culture. This influence would extend beyond its dramatic and tragic form in the Athenian period, and influence large portions of the greater Western literary tradition which would follow it for over two millennia. All three of the major Athenian tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, were affected by the myth of Prometheus. The surviving plays and fragments of Aeschylus regarding Prometheus retain a special place of prominence within modern scholarship for their having survived the ravages of time. The majority of plays written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have been lost to literary antiquity, including many of their writings on Prometheus.

Both during and after the Renaissance, Prometheus would again emerge as a major inspiration for his literary and poetic significance as a symbol and archetype to inspire new generations of artists, sculptors, poets, musicians, novelists, playwrights, inventors, technologists, engineers, and film-makers. His literary and mythological personage remains prominently portrayed in contemporary sculpture, art and literary expression including Mary Shelley's portrayal of Frankenstein as The Modern Prometheus. The influence of the myth of Prometheus extends well into the 20th and 21st century as well.

Prometheus is a figure in Greek mythology.

Prometheus may also refer to:

"Prometheus" ( D. 674) is an intensely dramatic art song composed by Franz Schubert in October 1819 to a poem of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Prometheus is the name of two fictional characters in Marvel Comics. The first one is based on the Greek Titan of the same name while the second one is a member of the Pantheon.

Franz Liszt composed his Prometheus in 1850, numbering it No. 5 in his cycle of symphonic poems when he revised it in 1855. The work is based on the Greek myth detailing the Titan Prometheus' theft of fire from the gods and is numbered S.99 in the Searle catalogue.

Prometheus is an operatic 'Szenisches Oratorium' ('scenic oratorio') in five scenes by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, with a German libretto by the composer after Aeschylus.

Prometheus was a proposed manned vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) spaceplane concept put forward by Orbital Sciences Corporation in late 2010 as part of the second phase of NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.

Prometheus is a genus of moths within the family Castniidae containing only one species, Prometheus cochrus, which is found in Brazil and Paraguay.

Prometheus is an inner satellite of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 (some time before October 25) from photos taken by the Voyager 1 probe, and was provisionally designated .

In late 1985 it was officially named after Prometheus, a Titan in Greek mythology. It is also designated (16). Pronunciation for Prometheus is , ; Greek: Προμηθεύς.

Prometheus is extremely elongated, measuring approximately . It has several ridges and valleys and a number of impact craters of about diameter are visible, but it is less cratered than nearby Pandora, Epimetheus, and Janus. From its very low density and relatively high albedo, it is likely that Prometheus is a very porous icy body. There is a lot of uncertainty in these values, however, and so this remains to be confirmed.

Prometheus is the name of three fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.

The first Prometheus debuted in Blue Beetle #3 (Oct. 1986) and was created by Len Wein (writer) and Paris Cullins (pencils). The second version debuted in New Year's Evil: Prometheus (Feb. 1998), and was created by Grant Morrison (writer) and Arnie Jorgensen (pencils). The third and final version first appears in Batman: Gotham Knights #52 (June 2004), and was created by A.J. Lieberman (writer) and Al Barrionuevo (pencils).

In 2009, the second Prometheus was ranked as IGN's 80th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

Prometheus (recorded as WPN-114) was the oldest known non-clonal organism, a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree growing near the tree line on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, United States. The tree, which was at least 4862 years old and possibly more than 5000, was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and United States Forest Service personnel for research purposes. The people involved did not know of its world-record age before the cutting (see below), but the circumstances and decision-making process remain controversial; not all the facts are agreed upon by all involved.

The tree's name refers to the mythological figure Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The designation WPN-114 was given by the original researcher, Donald Rusk Currey, and means it was the 114th tree he sampled in his research in Nevada's White Pine County.

"Prometheus" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God (as Zeus) in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. It is an important work of the Sturm und Drang movement.

In early editions of the Collected Works it appeared in Volume II of Goethe's poems in a section of (assorted poems), shortly following the , and the . It is immediately followed by "Ganymed", and the two poems together should be understood as a pair. Both belong to the period 1770–1775. Prometheus (1774) was planned as a drama but not completed, but this poem draws upon it. Prometheus is the creative and rebellious spirit which, rejected by God, angrily defies him and asserts itself; Ganymede is the boyish self which is adored and seduced by God. One is the lone defiant, the other the yielding acolyte. As the humanist poet, Goethe presents both identities as aspects or forms of the human condition.

Although the setting is classical, the address to the Judaeo-Christian god is suggested by the section beginning "" ("When I was a child"): the use of is distinctive, and by it Goethe evokes the Lutheran translation of Saint Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, 13:11: "" ("When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things"). Unlike St Paul, Goethe's Prometheus grew up to disbelieve in the divine heart moved to pity for the afflicted.

The poem was set to music by J. F. Reichardt, Schubert (see " Prometheus", 1819), Hugo Wolf (1889) and F.M. Einheit (1993).

Prometheus is a science fiction short film written and directed by Zoltan Deme and released in 2012.

Prometheus is an original motion picture soundtrack to the 2012 science fiction film of the same name. Written by German composer Marc Streitenfeld, the soundtrack also features two supplemental pieces by English composer Harry Gregson-Williams, and it was conducted by Ben Foster.

Prometheus is a 1934 gilded cast bronze sculpture by Paul Manship, located above Lower Plaza at the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City. It is tall and weighs 8 tons. Four Prometheus maquettes exist: one at the Smithsonian Institution, one at the Minnesota Museum of Art, and two in private collections.

Rear view, May 2016.

Prometheus is an outdoor 1958 cast iron sculpture depicting the mythological figure Prometheus by Jan Zach, installed north of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States.

"Prometheus" (German: "Prometheus") is a short story by Franz Kafka written between 1917 and 1923, likely in 1918. The story presents four versions of the myth of Prometheus, concerning his fate after he was chained to a cliff for betraying the secrets of the gods to men. It was not published in Kafka's lifetime, first appearing in Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer (1931). The first English translation by Willa and Edwin Muir was published by Martin Secker in London in 1933. It appeared in The Great Wall of China. Stories and Reflections ( New York: Schocken Books, 1946).

Prometheus is an active volcano on Jupiter's moon Io. It is located on Io's hemisphere facing away from Jupiter at . Prometheus consists of a -wide volcanic pit named Prometheus Patera and a -long compound lava flow, all surrounded by reddish sulfur and circular, bright sulfur dioxide volcanic plume deposits. The volcano was first observed in images acquired by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in March 1979. Later that year, the International Astronomical Union named this feature after a Greek fire god, Prometheus.

Prometheus is the site of a volcanic eruption that has been ongoing since at least the Voyager 1 encounter in 1979. Between the Voyager encounters and the first observations by Galileo, a flow field was emplaced. Later Galileo observations of this flow field revealed numerous small breakouts, particularly on the western end of the flow field.

Prometheus is the site of two volcanic eruption plumes: a small, sulfur-rich plume erupting from the magma-source vent at the eastern end of the flow field and a -tall, -rich dust plume erupting from the active flow front at the other end. The former forms a diffuse, red deposit to the east of the Prometheus flow field. The latter forms a bright, circular deposit surrounding the entire volcano and lava flow. The -rich plume is generated as lava at the western end of the flow field covers sulfur dioxide frost, heating and vaporizing it. This is accomplished at multiple breakouts, generating gas and dust for the visible dust plume. Prometheus' plume has been observed by both Voyager spacecraft, Galileo, and New Horizons, at every appropriate imaging opportunity.

Prometheus is a 2012 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. It is set in the late 21st century and centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as it follows a star map discovered among the artifacts of several ancient Earth cultures. Seeking the origins of humanity, the crew arrives on a distant world and discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

Development of the film began in the early 2000s as a fifth installment in the Alien franchise. Scott and director James Cameron developed ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien. By 2003, the development of Alien vs. Predator took precedence, and the project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Spaihts wrote a script for a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts's script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Aliens DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas.

Prometheus entered production in April 2010, with extensive design phases during which the technology and creatures that the film required were developed. Principal photography began in March 2011, with an estimated US$120–130 million budget. The project was shot using 3D cameras throughout, almost entirely on practical sets, and on location in England, Iceland, Spain, and Scotland. It was promoted with a marketing campaign that included viral activities on the web. Three videos featuring the film's leading actors in character, which expanded on elements of the fictional universe, were released and met with a generally positive reception and awards.

Prometheus was released on June 1, 2012, in the United Kingdom and on June 8, 2012, in North America. It grossed over $403 million worldwide. Reviews praised both the film's visual aesthetic design and the acting, most notably Fassbender's performance as the android David. However, the plot drew a mixed response from critics, who criticized plot elements that remained unresolved or were predictable. A sequel, Alien: Covenant, is scheduled to be released on August 4, 2017.

Prometheus is a 1998 film-poem created by English poet and playwright Tony Harrison, starring Walter Sparrow in the role of Prometheus. The film-poem examines the political and social issues connected to the fall of the working class in England, amidst the more general phenomenon of the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe, using the myth of Prometheus as a metaphor for the struggles of the working class and the devastation brought on by political conflict and unfettered industrialisation. It was broadcast on Channel 4 and was also shown at the Locarno Film Festival. It was used by Harrison to highlight the plight of the workers both in Europe and in Britain. His film-poem begins at a post-industrialist wasteland in Yorkshire brought upon by the politics of confrontation between the miners and the government of Margaret Thatcher. It has been described as "the most important artistic reaction to the fall of the British working class" at the end of the twentieth century.