Probably, most people believe that the Greeks were the authors of the myth of Prometheus. However, many Caucasus nations have similar myths. According to the North Caucasus myths, Prometheus was chained either to Elbrus or to Kazbek - two of the highest mountains in Caucasus. According to the Greek myth, Prometheus was chained to a mountain in the Caucasus. This is quite remarkable. Greeks had their colonies around the Black Sea including the area of the Caucasus Black Sea coast. By now, scientists came to conclusion that Greeks borrowed this myth from Caucasus nations.Many Caucasus nations have myths similar to the myth of Prometheus. Abhazs have a myth of Sasrykva. According to this myth, when Sasrykva's brothers were frozen, he shot into a star and it fell down. Then, he found a camp-fire and brought smoldering log to his brothers. However, before he did that, he had to kill a giant. Adygs have a myth about Sasruko. This myth is very similar to Abhazs' myth about Sasrykva. Karachais and Balkarians have a myth about Sosuruk which is also very similar to the myths about Sasrykva and Sasruko. However, neither of these myths says about sufferings for bringing fire to people.
Abhazs have a myth of Abrskil who rebelled against god and was chained, but he did not bring fire to people. Adygs have myths about Nasren-zhache and Bataraz. They both rebelled against god who stole fire from people. Nasren-zhache tried to bring it back, but was chained. Bataraz released him and brought fire back to people.
Georgian myth about Amirani is quite similar to Abhaz myth of Abrskil. In some versions of this myth, Amirani brought fire to people. However, unlike, the Greek myth, he was chained in a cave, not on the mountain.
Among the Caucasus versions of this myth, the version which is the most similar to the Greek version is the Chechen version. Even Chechen name for Prometheus is similar to the Greek one. In Greek, "Prometheus" means "prophet." The Chechen name for Prometheus is Pqharmat. This word is from Chechen "pqhar" which means "blacksmith" or "master". According to both Chechen and Greek versions, Prometheus was a blacksmith. There is a version that Pqharmat means "master of the land" or "master of the language." "Qh" is a sound missing in Greek and other European languages. Greeks usually dropped the sounds that they could not pronounce. "-eus" is a Greek ending. Greek "th" and Chechen "t" are pronounced in the same way. This means that the consonants in Chechen and Greek words for Prometheus are the same. In most languages, consonants are more stable than vowels. For example, English vowels were changed much more than consonants.
In the Greek version Prometheus eventually was released after he revealed the secret to Zeus as he demanded. In the Chechen version he has never agreed on Sela's conditions, was never released and is still suffering. In the Greek version, Prometheus complained and cursed Zeus. In the Chechen version, he kept silent and never complained. In addition, in the Chechen version, Pqharmat willingly came to Sela (Chechen god of fire, thunder, and lightning - equivalent of Zeus) in order to suffer. Chechens consider him as one of their ancestors.
What is the main idea of this myth? Some consider Prometheus as a symbol of scientific search. I do not think this is the main idea. When I was a child, I watched a performance on the Greek version of this myth. Zeus asked Prometheus, "Why did you do that?" His reply was, "I wanted to help people." The stress was made on this point. I believe this is correct. I think the main idea of this myth is altruism and self-sacrifice for other people.
When I was reading the Greek version, I was puzzled why Prometheus eventually revealed the secret to Zeus as Zeus demanded. I was not satisfied that he fulfilled the will of Zeus. In the Chechen version, Pqharmat did not fulfill Sela's will. He did not complain and did not curse anybody. He was willing to suffer. I definitely prefer the Chechen version of this myth and believe that this is the original version.
Pqharmat portrays some character traits which are highly appreciated in Chechen culture - altruism, independence, dignity, courage, and patience.
6 comments:
There are different Greek versions of the Prometheus myth. The oldest version is thought to be similar to the Chechen one (presumably borrowed). See Hesiod's Theogony. There is not a word about Prometheus giving up. Zeus eventually allowes his son Hercules to rescue him in order to add to Hercules's glory. Many scholars believe that the rescue was added after Hesiod and in the original text the suffering lasted forever.
Later authors, possibly Aeschylus himself, added the twist with the prophecy about Thetis's son destined to be mightier than his father. Unfortunately, parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy are lost, so we have to speculate.
If the prophecy was true, maybe Prometheus decided to reveal it because he feared humanity would not survive another succession war of gods.
I find it also possible that the prophecy was false and Prometheus won his freedom by successfully tricking Zeus for the 3rd time. Maybe he had an agreement with Thetis who was brought up by Hera and therefore wished to avoid marrying Zeus at all costs.
Anyway, I prefer the versions where the hero is finally released.
I tried to collect more information about the Greek versions.
Hesiod's story: Zeus finally allowed Hercules to kill the eagle but not to break the chains. Prometheus never gave up and was never released.
Aeschylus's story and those of later authors based on it: Prometheus demanded release in exchange for a secret important for Zeus. This eventually happened exactly this way. So, Prometheus didn't give up but was released on his terms. The alternative would be replacement of a tyrant with a stronger one - an idea Prometheus did not really like, especially after having taken part in such an enterprise once.
Shelley didn't like this development, accused Prometheus in giving up and wrote an alternative story where Zeus was dethroned by his son who, miraculously, turned out to be full of love to freedom. Ancient Greeks were not so naive.
19th century scholars also claimed that Prometheus gave up, allegedly realizing that Zeus had been right all along. They had trouble finding for what, actually, Prometheus had to repent, so they said that he was wrong to save the lives of the imperfect humans. This was in line with the genocidal ideologies gathering force in 19th century Europe.
I wonder what your source was that Prometheus gave up.
I think it was my understanding of Aeschylus' story. Zeus demanded Prometheus to reveal the secret, but Prometheus refused for a long time. Eventually, Prometheus revealed the secret and was released. This is what I consider as his giving up. Maybe, I did not understand something, but I thought that it was Zeus who demanded, not Prometheus.
Well, I did not know that one of the understanding of this myth was used in genocidal ideologies. Actually, by saying that Prometheus gave up, I meant that he eventually agreed to reveal the secret, not that he repented for helping people, bringing them fire.
Thank you for sharing information about versions of Prometheus myth.
In the initial version of the succession prophesy (by Pindar), it was delivered by Themis. Aeschylus, to incorporate it into his story, made a major genealogical rearrangement, turning Prometheus into Themis's son. This alone proves Aeschylus was not so pious as some people claim.
Here is a translation of Prometheus Bound in readable English:
http://www.theoi.com/Text/AeschylusPrometheus.html
The secret is first mentioned by line 168: "I will never, cowering before his dire threats, divulge this secret, until he releases me from my cruel bonds."
The problem is that Zeus wants to get the secret and at the same time to keep the bonds in place. Only in the lost sequels he agrees to the initially proposed terms, after exhausting all other possibilities.
Thank you for letting me know about this. It seems that actually it was Zeus who finally gave up, not Prometheus.
I re-wrote the ending part of the post.
By the way, in Chechen versions, there is no secret. Prometheus was just demanded to repent for his bringing fire to people, but he never did. There are, at least, three Chechen versions:
1. The version where he is called "Pkharmat": http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/02/pkharmat-chechen-prometheus.html;
2. The version where he is called "Pkhäri": http://borzlemanal.blogspot.com/2010/11/pkhari-another-version-of-myth-about.htm;
3. The version where he is called "Sa" (this word in Chechen means "light" and "soul"). Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to read it.
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