The Renegade Fire-Wielder
When Zeus had just wrested power from the Titans, he and his cronies were lounging around in Olympus chowing down on nectar and ambrosia. Prometheus was irritated by the gods’ laziness, so he went down into the world of man hoping to find something to fill his time. Instead, he found men huddled in caves and just barely scraping by. Prometheus knew that the simple gift of fire would get men up off the ground and moving toward something approaching civility, but Zeus forbade it. The head god was worried that fire would give mankind too much of an edge and would ultimately lead to the gods’ downfall (which was true). Prometheus didn’t care for this kind of casual tyranny, so he snuck fire down to the people and showed them how to use it. As a result, mankind was able to stay warm, cook their food, stave off disease, and live longer. As punishment, Prometheus was tied to a mountaintop and left to hang there exposed to the elements and being torn apart by birds.
