The theft of fire for the benefit of humanity is a theme that recurs in many world mythologies, symbolizing the acquisition of knowledge, or technology, and its transformative impact on civilization. [1] Its recurrent themes include trickster figures as the thief, and supernatural heroic guardians who hoard fire from humanity, often out of mistrust for humans. [2] These myths reflect the profound significance of fire in human history, seen as a pivotal step in the development of human society.
In African mythology, the San peoples tell of ǀKaggen, stealing fire from the ostrich and bringing it to people. In the Americas, Native American and First Nations tribes attribute the gift of fire to animals. In Eurasian cultures, fire theft takes on various forms. The Vedic Rigveda narrates hero Mātariśvan recovering hidden fire. Greek mythology recounts Prometheus stealing heavenly fire for humanity, a deed for which he suffered greatly. In Oceania, Polynesian myths often feature Māui as the fire thief, with diverse variations across regions.
The metaphor of fire theft extends into modern times, particularly in the context of nuclear weapons. The destructive power of atomic bombs is likened to Prometheus's act, symbolizing the dangerous knowledge humanity has gained. This comparison has been drawn in publications and discussions, emphasizing the ethical and moral implications of nuclear technology. Figures like Robert Oppenheimer, and statesmen Henry Kissinger have invoked the metaphor to highlight the responsibility that comes with such power. The narrative highlights the dual nature of technological advancement, capable of advancing society and posing significant threats.
The San peoples, the indigenous Southern African hunter-gatherers, tell how ǀKaggen, in the form of a mantis, brought the first fire to the people by stealing it from the ostrich, who kept the fire beneath its wings. [3] [4] In another version of the myth, Piisi|koagu steals fire from the ostrich. [5]
Among various Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest and First Nations, fire was stolen and given to humans by Coyote, Beaver or Dog. [6]
In Algonquin myth, Rabbit stole fire from an old man and his two daughters. [7]
In Cherokee myth, after Possum and Buzzard had failed to steal fire, Grandmother Spider used her web to sneak into the land of light. She stole fire, hiding it in a clay pot or a silk net. [8]
According to a Mazatec legend, the opossum spread fire to humanity. Fire fell from a star and an old woman kept it for herself. The opossum took fire from the old woman and carried the flame on its tail, resulting in its hairlessness. [9]
According to the Muscogees/Creeks, Rabbit stole fire from the Weasels. [10]
In Ojibwa myth, Nanabozho the hare stole fire and gave it to humans.[ citation needed ]
According to some Yukon First Nations people, Crow stole fire from a volcano in the middle of the water. [11]
In a story from the Lengua/Enxet people of the Gran Chaco in Paraguay, a man steals fire from a bird after he notices the bird cooking snails on burning sticks. The bird enacts revenge by creating a thunderstorm that damages the man's village. [12]
In Chinese mythology, Suiren is an ancient mythological figure regarded as one of the pioneers of civilization. He is most famous for inventing the method of making fire, teaching people how to use fire for warmth, cooking food, and driving away wild animals. As a result, Suiren is revered as one of the "Three Sovereigns" of the ''Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors'' period in Chinese history. [13] [14]
In Hindu mythology, according to the vedic Rigveda (3:9.5), the hero Mātariśvan recovered fire, which had been hidden from humanity. [15] [16]
While Omoikane in Japanese mythology is not directly associated with the theft of fire, he fits into the broader motif of bringing light and knowledge to humanity, which parallels the Promethean myth. Omoikane is revered for his wisdom and strategic thinking, particularly in the myth where he helps orchestrate the plan to lure the sun goddess Amaterasu out of her cave, restoring light to the world. [17] [18]
In Mesopotamian mythology, Enki, the god of wisdom and water, is known for his role in bestowing knowledge and gifts upon humanity, including the creation of humans and the granting of essential skills and arts. [19] [20]
In Greek mythology, according to Hesiod (Theogony, 565-566 and Works & Days, 50) and Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca, 1.7.1), the Titan-god Prometheus steals the heavenly fire for humanity, enabling the progress of civilization, for which he was punished by being chained to a mountain and having his liver eaten by an eagle every day until being eventually being freed by the hero Heracles. [21] [22]
In one of the versions of Georgian myth, Amirani stole fire from metalsmiths, who refused to share it – and knowledge of creating it – with other humans.[ citation needed ]
The story of Faust in German folklore and legends aligns with the Promethean motif of the theft of fire, as it also features a protagonist who seeks forbidden knowledge and power through a pact with the devil, Mephistopheles. Both Faust and Prometheus challenge divine boundaries, ultimately facing severe consequences for their transgressions. [23] [24]
The Vainakh hero Pkharmat brought fire to mankind and was chained to Mount Kazbek as punishment.[ citation needed ]
In Polynesian myth, Māui is the thief of fire. There are many variations of the myth. In the version told in New Zealand, an ancestress of Maui is the keeper of fire, and she stores it in her fingernails and toenails. Maui nearly tricks her into giving him all of her nails, but she catches onto him and throws her last toenail down, engulfing the ground in flame and nearly killing Maui. [25]
In the mythology of the Wurundjeri people of Australia, it was the Crow who stole the secret of fire from the Karatgurk women. [26]
Since shortly after the detonation of the first atomic bombs, the destructive power of atomic weapons has been compared to the story of Prometheus and the theft of fire. [27] [28]
F. L. Campbell wrote in "Science on the March: Atomic Thunderbolts", in the September 1945 issue of The Scientific Monthly :
Modern Prometheans have raided Mount Olympus again and have brought back for man the very thunderbolts of Zeus. [29]
The biography of Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin is entitled American Prometheus in reference to the myth. Further comparisons to Prometheus have been made in publications by the United Nations, [30] MIT's Technology Review [31] and Harvard's Nuclear Study Group. [32]
The "theft of fire" metaphor has also been used to argue against the proliferation of nuclear weapons by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute [33] [34] and repeatedly by statesman Henry Kissinger as early as 1957, [35] at the Munich Security Conference [36] and as part of the Nuclear Threat Initiative with former Senator Sam Nunn, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former Secretary of State George Shultz. [37] [38] [39] Supporters of nuclear power have interpreted the anecdote more favorably. [40]
Enki is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge (gestú), crafts (gašam), and creation (nudimmud), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea or Ae in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and is identified by some scholars with Ia in Canaanite religion. The name was rendered Aos in Greek sources.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is one of the Titans and a god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge and, more generally, civilization.
Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity (Demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main exploits remain relatively similar.
Tangaroa is the great atua of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish, in Māori mythology. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai he exercises control over the tides. He is sometimes depicted as a whale.
A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group who changes the world through invention or discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are important because of their effect on the world after creation. A typical culture hero might be credited as the discoverer of fire, agriculture, songs, tradition, law, or religion, and is usually the most important legendary figure of a people, sometimes as the founder of its ruling dynasty.
Age of Mythology: The Titans is an expansion pack to the real-time strategy video game of Age of Mythology. It was developed by Ensemble Studios and released on 30 September 2003. It was followed in 2016 by a second expansion pack to the original game called Tale of the Dragon.
Project Prometheus was established in 2003 by NASA to develop nuclear-powered systems for long-duration space missions. This was NASA's first serious foray into nuclear spacecraft propulsion since the cancellation of the SNTP project in 1995. The project was planned to design, develop, and fly multiple deep space missions to the outer planets.
Atra-Hasis is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic, recorded in various versions on clay tablets, named for its protagonist, Atrahasis. The Atra-Hasis tablets include both a cosmological creation myth and one of three surviving Babylonian flood myths. The name "Atra-Hasis" also appears, as a king of Shuruppak on the Euphrates in the times before a flood, on one of the Sumerian King Lists.
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used the relationships between different myths to trace the development of religions and cultures, to propose common origins for myths from different cultures, and to support various psychoanalytical theories.
Promethean: The Created is a role-playing game published by White Wolf, set in the Chronicles of Darkness setting.
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in whakapapa to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in.
The trick at Mecone or Mekone (Mi-kon) was an event in Greek mythology first attested by Hesiod in which Prometheus tricked Zeus for humanity’s benefit, and thus incurred his wrath. It is unusual among Greek myths for being etiological, i.e. explaining the origins of an object or custom. 'Mecone' or 'Mekone' was identified in Classical times with Sicyon, though it is unknown if Hesiod recognized this identification.
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior.
Pkharmat is a legendary hero of the Vainakh people who stole fire for mankind, thus allowing them to forge metal, cook food, and light their homes, and uniting the people into a nation. For this Pkharmat was punished by being chained to Mount Kazbek. Pkharmat is the Vainakh equivalent of the Greek hero Prometheus and the Georgian hero Amirani, among others.
Greek mythology describes various great floods throughout ancient history. Differing sources refer to the flood of Ogyges, the flood of Deucalion, and the flood of Dardanus, though often with similar or even contradictory details. Like most flood myths, these stories often involve themes of divine retribution, the savior of a culture hero, and the birth of a nation or nations. In addition to these floods, Greek mythology also says the world was periodically destroyed by fire, such as in the myth of Phaëton.
The origin of death is a theme in the myths of many cultures. Death is a universal feature of human life, so stories about its origin appear to be universal in human cultures. As such it is a type of origin myth, a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. No one type of these myths is universal, but each region has its own characteristic types. Such myths have therefore been a frequent topic of study in the field of comparative mythology.
The creation of life from clay can be seen as a miraculous birth theme that appears throughout world religions and mythologies. It can also be seen as one of gods who craft humans out of earthly materials. As such, this class of story falls within a larger set of divine or cosmogonic origin stories about creation, whether through divine emergence or divine craft.
The mythology of Oceania and the Gods of the Pacific region are both complex and diverse. They have been developed over many centuries on each of the islands and atolls that make up Oceania. While some gods are shared between many groups of islands while others are specific to one set of islands or even to a single island. Their exact roles are often overlapping as one god can appear in different places under different names. A god can also appear in many different forms.
In traditionalist philosophy, pontifical man is a divine representative who serves as a bridge between heaven and earth. Promethean man, on the other hand, sees himself as an earthly being who has rebelled against God and has no knowledge of his origins or purposes. This concept was notably developed in contemporary language by the Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
The Promethean gap is a concept concerning the relations of humans and technology and a growing "asynchronization" between them. In popular formulations, the gap refers to an inability or incapacity of human faculties to imagine the effects of the technologies that humans produce, specifically the negative effects. The concept originated with philosopher Günther Anders in the 1950s and for him, an extreme test case was the atomic bomb and its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, a symbol of the larger technology revolution that the 20th century was witnessing. The gap has been extended to and understood within multiple variations – a gap between production and ideology; production and imagination; production and need; production and use; technology and the body; doing and imagining; and doing and feeling. The gap can also be seen in areas such as law and in the actions of legislatures and policymakers.