Prometheus took delight in his creation, and he sought to shelter man against the wrath of Zeus.
Prometheus saw that men had to sacrifice food to the gods, sometimes so much that they had none left over for themselves.
Prometheus decided to help man by making Zeus choose between two animal sacrifices.
He took the best meat from the sacrifice and wrapped it in an ugly piece of skin and fur.
Prometheus then wrapped the bones and fur in a piece of juicy fat. Zeus looked over the two piles and selected the one that looked the best, the one wrapped in fat.
He was enraged to discover the bones and fur underneath.
Because of Zeus’s decision, the Greeks sacrificed the worst part of the animal, the skin and bones, to the gods, while keeping the meatiest portions for themselves.
Angry at being deceived, Zeus deprived mankind of fire.
Prometheus saw men shivering in the darkness and had pity. He secretly took a coal from Hephaistos’s forge and gave it to man.
On the interior of a Greek bowl, two titans are shown being punished for defying Zeus. On the left, Atlas strains to hold up the world while he tries to soothe his aching back. On the right, Prometheus is bound to a tree as an eagle tears out his liver.
The bowl was decorated in the popular black figure style, circa 4th century B.C., in which the black color of the glazed clay forms the figures while the background and details are painted.
