Prometheus Bound

Prompted by the Chorus, Prometheus describes the events leading to his punishment. When Zeus began his war against the Titans, Prometheus initially tried to make his fellow Titans understand that they would need to fight against him with guile, not just force. Failing this, he followed his mother Themis’s advice to abandon the Titans and side with Zeus. Zeus defeated the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartarus, but when Zeus began planning to destroy humanity, Prometheus stood against him and rescued humanity by giving them fire. The Chorus expresses pity for Prometheus, though they also suggest that he went too far in his support of humanity. Prometheus acknowledges his mistakes but claims that everything that happened has been foreordained. He urges the Chorus to travel to Earth to learn more about what is to come next.

As the Chorus exits, the Titan Ocean—father of the Oceanid Chorus—arrives to visit Prometheus. Ocean offers to do what he can to help Prometheus, but Prometheus is hostile from the onset. He accuses Ocean of coming to mock his suffering. Ocean reproaches Prometheus, telling him that he must be more careful: Zeus can still make Prometheus’s punishment even more severe.