Zeus Punished the Champion of Mankind With an Eternity of Having His Guts Torn Out
In Greek legend, Prometheus was a Titan – a race of divine beings who preceded the Olympian gods. His name, which means “foresight”, emphasizes his intellect, for he was known as a cunning trickster. He is credited with creating humans from clay, and for being a champion of mankind in the halls of the heavens. That championing of mankind got him in trouble with the gods, who devised a horrific punishment for him in consequence.
Prometheus had been one of the leaders of the Titans went they waged war for mastery of the heavens against the Olympian gods, when the latter rose up to replace the Titans. However, when his fellow Titans refused to heed his advice and resort to trickery, Prometheus switched sides and joined the Olympians. That ensured the gods’ victory, and doomed the Titans to defeat.
Despite having helped the gods secure victory, Prometheus eroded his store of goodwill with them by siding with humanity against the Olympians. He got on Zeus’ wrong side when he tricked him into accepting the bones and fat of sacrificial animals instead of their meat. That set a precedent that allowed humans henceforth to sacrifice animals to the god by burning their bones and fat, but keeping the meat for themselves.
A peeved Zeus responded by taking fire away from mankind, and wiping its secret from human minds, so they would have to eat meat row, and shiver from the cold in the dark of night. To make his pettiness stick, the chief god prohibited anybody from letting humanity in on the secret of fire. Prometheus however defied Zeus by stealing fire from Mount Olympus and smuggling it down to earth to share with mankind and help them survive life’s struggles.
When Zeus looked down from the heavens and saw the dark of night dispelled by the flicker of fires, he grew livid. To vent his anger at mankind, Zeus sent Pandora down to earth with a box whose lid, when it was eventually removed, unleashed upon the world all the evils that plague humanity, such as diseases, plagues, war, death, and the constant need for backbreaking labor to eke sustenance out of the earth. Only hope was left inside the box, to keep life bearable despite its sufferings.
As to Prometheus, Zeus punished him by having him taken to the Caucasus Mountains, where he was chained to a rock. There, a giant eagle would fly in every day to rip open his guts and feast upon his liver. The liver re-grew each night, and the eagle returned each day to repeat the process, subjecting Prometheus to perpetuity of torment by day, and nights full of dread of what the morrow would bring.