Plot

Prometheus the Fire Bearer

Following the Battle of the Titans, Zeus demands that Prometheus submit to his authority, forgetting that he managed to win thanks to the latter's assistance. Irate that Zeus has broken his promises and annihilated mankind, Prometheus refuses to comply. He fashions a man and a woman out of clay, giving them a soul with a branch he has lit from Zeus' thunderbolt. The clay figures come to life, and for a short while Pandora becomes the apple of discord between Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus. Although the woman prefers the defiant Prometheus, he urges her to marry Epimetheus. The marriage celebrations are overshadowed by apprehension over Zeus' terrible retribution.

Prometheus Bound

Many years later, a grey-haired Prometheus continues to teach men, but feels that time is running out for him. So it is, for Epimetheus betrays him, and Zeus' two executioners, Anger and Violence, nail him to the Caucasus. Prometheus remains defiant, rejecting Pandora's offer to intercede with Zeus on his behalf. As the Oceanids keep him company, a young village girl arrives holding a model of a child, and asks Prometheus to bless it so that she can acquire a son from an unknown, grey-haired man.

He is later visited by Athena, who reveals that she was fathered by him and not by Zeus. Athena proposes that he forget everything and ascend to Mount Olympus with her, assuring him that Zeus has not ceased to love him. In a vision, she shows him the rise and fall of human civilisation, and ends by telling him that she herself, in common with Zeus, is subject to an even greater power, though she does not name it. Prometheus rejects her offer. 

Prometheus Unbound

At an even more advanced age, Prometheus remains bound to the Caucasus, and is waiting for the Oceanids to bring him news of the arrival of his Redeemer son. When they arrive, they are surprised to see that the crown of thorns he wears on his head has blossomed.

Commotion reigns; terrified Titans arrive with a message of conciliation from Zeus, but Prometheus declares that he has been delivered of his own accord, and that it is he who will save Zeus. Silenus then arrives with a new god called Bacchus, followed by a crowd of Elders pursued by a mysterious human-lion shadow, and then Epimetheus.

Soon afterwards Hercules, the "Redeemer son", appears and releases Prometheus. Athena calls on Hercules to ascend to Mount Olympus, but in an effort to forestall him, Prometheus embraces Hercules and disappears within him. The rebel Titan now lives on as a "reflection" in the body of Hercules, who decides to stay on Earth and assist in its struggle.

Writing history

The idea for a work on Prometheus had preoccupied Kazantzakis from as early as 1922, when he wrote to Galatea about a piece with the same name; this is thought to be the lost tragedy Hercules. Work on the trilogy began in 1943; in 1945 it was ready of publication, but Kazantzakis was in no hurry to have it printed. The first chorus in the trilogy appeared in Grammata 6 (August 1944) 41. An extract from Prometheus Bound was published in Nea Estia vol. 37, issue 430 (15.5.1945) 291-293.

Greek editions

  • N. Kazantzakis, Promitheas piroforos, Kallitechniki Ellada magazine, January-March 1945, pp. 6-24; Dedicated to I. T. Kakridis
  • N. Kazantzakis, Tragodies I. Tragodies me archea themata. Promitheas, Kouros, Odisseas, Melissa, edited by E. C. Kasdaglis, Athens: Difros 1955
  • N. Kazantzakis, Tragodies I. Tragodies me archea themata. Promitheas, Kouros, Odisseas, Melissa, Athens: Eleni Kazantzakis 1964 - and subsequent editions; the one published in 1998, edited by Patroklos Stavrou, is a reprint of the 1955 edition
  • Apo to piitiko ergo tou N. Kazantzaki, with a prologue by Manolis Karellis. Introduction, selection and notes by Stylianos Alexiou, illustrations by N. Chatzikyriakos-Gikas, Heraklion, Crete: Municipality of Crete 1977 - an anthology of excerpts.

Foreign editions & tranlsations

  • Nikos Kazantzakis, Prometeo portador del fuego [=Prometheus the Fire Bearer], translated into Spanish by Miguel Castillio Didier, Santiago (Chile) 2000
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, Prometeo encadenado [= Prometheus Bound], translated into Spanish by Miguel Castillio Didier, Santiago (Chile): Boletín del Instituto Nacional de Chile 2000

Performances & adaptations

  • Promitheas desmotis, Pyli "Agrotoleschi" in the Trikala area. Directed by Stefanos Vayenas
  • Promitheas piroforos, 1st Primary School, Arkalochori, at the Children's Dramatic Expression Festival, 1997
  • Α performance of excerpts in a synthesis on the Prometheus myth, "Theatro Dromo", Athens (and on tour) 2002-2004