The Crime of Stealing Fire Required Burning Children as Divine Retribution
Gods and their Fires II
In the mist of mythology a great crime was committed, followed by a terrible lifelong sentence. Gods can be demanding. Not only are they entitled to adoration but they also expect sacrifices to be burnt as proof of human’s devotion and as a renewal of a covenant. It is a bit of a protection racket – the gods will protect, provide good fortune and good crops and victory in wars, but in exchange they expect burnt offerings and sacrifices. Propitiation is the act of appeasing a god, thus incurring divine favour or avoiding divine retribution.
In ancient Greece, the city Mecone was identified as the Seat of the Gods (today recognized as Sicyon) and it is here where the contract between humans and gods, regarding these burnt sacrifices were to be settled. Seated at the table was Zeus, king of the Olympian gods and representing the humans was Prometheus, a Titan, who according to mythology was the creator of humans – he had made them from clay.
Prometheus slaughtered an ox and hid the tasty meat under the ox’s revolting stomach and he wrapped the bones, glistening with fat, inside the ox’s hide. Zeus chose the hide with the bones and was thus tricked. A vengeful Zeus decided to keep fire from humankind, so they would be cold and would have no means to cook their food.
Prometheus, the creator of humans took pity on them and stole the fire from Zeus with a fennel stick and restored it to humans. An enraged Zeus sentenced Prometheus to be tied a rock somewhere on the Caucasus Mountains, a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe, and an eagle – the animal totem of Zeus – was to eat his liver every day. By night Prometheus’ liver – the seat of emotions - would grow again, only to be devoured the next day. Prometheus was sentenced for life, until Heracles, the semi-divine son of Zeus, shot the eagle and released Prometheus, with full permission from Zeus.
According to Hesiod’s scriptures, Prometheus represents the “descent of mankind from the communion with the gods into the present troublesome life”. Could the sacrifice of Prometheus’ liver – the seat of emotion – be symbolic of the propitiation of humankind? Zeus allowed his semi-divine son, Hercules to release the suffering of Prometheus – all was forgiven. Or was it? For human history tells terrible tales of children being burnt and sacrificed burnt to appease the gods.
The Prometheus myth states Zeus kept the fire from humans, implying they already had fire. The worship of the Greek Olympian gods, specifically Zeus and Poseidon, dates back to the Bronze Age (3000 – 1050 BC) with the specific Twelve Olympians cult developing later, around the sixth century BC. Archaeology has traced mankind’s use of fire to millions of years before that. So, who stole fire from whom? And why did humans relinquish their fire to the gods? Why did they burn their own children to curry favour of the gods? Did the gods demand the burnt offerings of children as retribution for humans stealing their fire back? Were the gods a figment of early human imagination conjured up around their campfires?
The Age of Fire and the Birth of Gods
The taming of fire by humans is considered an epic step in the advancement of human civilization. Archaeologists found evidence that during the Palaeolithic Age, about one million years ago, food was already being cooked on fire and anthropologists reckon that fire was in regularly use 400,000 years ago.
