Prometheus

“The Prisoner of Chillon” by Lord Byron (1816)

One of Byron’s most famous long poems, this epic recounts the tale of François Bonivard, who was a Genevois nobleman who was imprisoned twice in the 1500s for his rebellion against the Duke of Savoy during the Protestant Reformation. Byron’s poem recounts Bonivard’s suffering and portrays him as the quintessential Byronic hero—an isolated rebel who finds comfort in nature and suffers because of his commitment to what he believes is right. Byron writes the poem from the perspective of Bonivard narrating his life and imprisonment.

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus (430 BCE)

This play recounts the punishment of Prometheus as he is chained to the rock. However, the play is notable for “Prometheus” because of its characterization of the titan. In the play, Prometheus is defiant against Zeus’s power, he does not regret what he has done, and he vows to endure his punishment and not reveal the name of the man who will one day challenge Zeus’s tyrannical rule. While this is not the only ancient source of the Prometheus myth, it is the one that Byron used for his poem, as this Prometheus matches the spirit of the Prometheus in the poem.