Prometheus and the Fire: a book club kit

Where it comes from. The Greek poet Hesiod wrote about Prometheus about 2,700 years ago, and the playwright Aeschylus put his suffering on the stage.

In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). The Titan Prometheus shapes people from clay, and Zeus decides they may not have fire. Prometheus hides a spark in a hollow fennel stalk, carries it down from the gods and teaches people to use it. Zeus punishes him by chaining him to a mountain, until the hero Heracles sets him free.

The lesson, in one line. Helping others can be worth a great cost, and it takes courage to do it.

Reading plan, by the story's parts. Meeting 1: Part One, “Clay and Breath”, pages 1–3 (about 4 minutes aloud); Meeting 2: Part Two, “The Trick at Mecone” and Part Three, “The Stolen Fire”, pages 4–8 (about 6 minutes aloud); Meeting 3: Part Four, “The Rock in the Caucasus”, pages 9–12 (about 5 minutes aloud). Each stop's own questions, which never give away what comes next: Prometheus and the Fire by chapter.

Questions to talk about

1. What is the moral of Prometheus and the Fire?
   The story's answer: Helping other people can be worth a great cost, and it takes courage to do it. Prometheus knows what Zeus will do and steals the fire anyway, because the people he made are cold and in the dark.
2. Why did Prometheus steal fire from the gods?
   The story's answer: Zeus kept fire from people, so they shivered in caves and ate raw food. Prometheus loved the people he had made and could not watch them suffer, so he took a spark from the gods and gave it to them.
3. How was Prometheus punished for stealing fire?
   The story's answer: Zeus had him chained to a rock high in the Caucasus mountains. Each day an eagle came to torment him, and because he was immortal his wounds healed each night. In the myth he never gives in, and Heracles finally frees him.
4. What does the name Prometheus mean?
   The story's answer: It means forethought, or thinking ahead in Greek. That fits the story: Prometheus sees what will happen to him before he steals the fire. His brother Epimetheus, whose name means afterthought, acts first and thinks later.
5. What does this myth explain, or try to explain?
   Listen for: Many myths explain how something came to be: a season, an animal, a name.
6. Was the main character right or wrong? Was the ending fair?
   Listen for: Myths are often hard on people; let the group disagree.

Did you know?

• The Greek poet Hesiod told of Prometheus about 2,700 years ago, and a play called Prometheus Bound, credited to Aeschylus, put his suffering on stage.
• Prometheus means forethought, thinking ahead. His brother Epimetheus's name means afterthought.
• In Hesiod's telling, Prometheus carries the stolen fire in a hollow fennel stalk.

Activity: Make a new myth

Each reader explains something they see every day (why cats purr, why puddles dry up) with a short made-up myth of their own, told round the circle in three sentences.