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Jesus and Prometheus


Sajkoman

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Probably not deliberately, but there is significant symbolic overlap between the two, both mythologically and iconagraphically. Certain Neo Platonists of the Middle Ages might be inclined to make Prometheus a prisca theologica, but do I think there's a serious connection between the J-man and Prometheus? Not really.

--Jaylemurph

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Probably not deliberately, but there is significant symbolic overlap between the two, both mythologically and iconagraphically. Certain Neo Platonists of the Middle Ages might be inclined to make Prometheus a prisca theologica, but do I think there's a serious connection between the J-man and Prometheus? Not really.

--Jaylemurph

What about the liver? The seat of human emotions. It can regenerate itself. There must be some significance about that. I am not religious but I like similarities in images. Thanks for the reply.
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The parallels are interesting but not surprising. As jayle said, a cultural overlap. You could also say that Icarus, like Lucifer, flew too close to heaven and was brought down because of it.

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What about the liver? The seat of human emotions. It can regenerate itself. There must be some significance about that. I am not religious but I like similarities in images. Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure the Christian tradition explicitly links Jesus' spear-wound with his liver, but you do point out another interesting similarity.

Just keep in mind, there were already centuries of tradition about Prometheus that the christian church could borrow from, and they were /happy/ to borrow from just about every other culture to build up iconography and tradition within their church. It would be extremely difficult to tease out what was accidental thematic overlap, what was out-and-out, deliberate theft, and what -- if anything -- was significant messaging about the relationship of the two.

You might want to look at Shelley's Prometheus Unbound to look at a work that specifically blended Classical and Christian imagery.

--Jaylemurph

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Oh :o that's kind of neat, but I think it's just coincidence.

I'm just speaking from memory here, but Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and brought it down to the world and to man, and then Zeus got mad at him for helping out the humans, and sentenced him to be chained to a rock and have his (liver?) pecked out everyday by a bird, (can't remember which one, guessing maybe vulture). And since he's one of the immortals, he gets to regrow his liver just to be eaten over and over again, because he can't die.

Not really similar to Jesus though, but still a really interesting thing to point out. Like the spot on Jesus where he was stabbed is near his liver.. And he sort of was chained up to the cross to die.

Not terribly similar, but still, a very interesting thing to point out :)

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Oh :o that's kind of neat, but I think it's just coincidence.

I'm just speaking from memory here, but Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and brought it down to the world and to man, and then Zeus got mad at him for helping out the humans, and sentenced him to be chained to a rock and have his (liver?) pecked out everyday by a bird, (can't remember which one, guessing maybe vulture). And since he's one of the immortals, he gets to regrow his liver just to be eaten over and over again, because he can't die.

Not really similar to Jesus though, but still a really interesting thing to point out. Like the spot on Jesus where he was stabbed is near his liver.. And he sort of was chained up to the cross to die.

Not terribly similar, but still, a very interesting thing to point out :)

It was an caucasian eagle :) Interesting yes. Maybe the regeneration of the liver refers to the resurrection of christ or something in that way. Well I certainly don't posses enough knowledge of these topics but It's quite neat, being bold with facts and not knowing the whole picture :) But as you can see both wounds are below the nipple or in some cases, the rib cage, so yes, we know that there is where the liver positioned.

Legend says that the blind Roman Saint Longinus speared Jesus and when he did, blood and water poured out of the wound and some of that went onto his eyes, curing him of his blindness and thus, he started to believe in Jesus.

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In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Greek: Προμηθεύς, pronounced [promɛːtʰeús]) is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who is credited with the creation of man from clay, and who defies the gods and gives fire to humanity (theft of fire), an act that enabled progress and civilization.

Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced the Titan to eternal torment for his transgression. The immortal Prometheus was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, which would then grow back to be eaten again the next day. (In ancient Greece, the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotions.)[2] In some stories, Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Heracles (Hercules).

In the Theogony, Hesiod introduces Prometheus as a lowly challenger to Zeus's omniscience and omnipotence.[6] In the trick at Mecone, a sacrificial meal marking the "settling of accounts" between mortals and immortals, Prometheus played a trick against Zeus (545–557). He placed two sacrificial offerings before the Olympian: a selection of beef hidden inside an ox's stomach (nourishment hidden inside a displeasing exterior), and the bull's bones wrapped completely in "glistening fat" (something inedible hidden inside a pleasing exterior). Zeus chose the latter, setting a precedent for future sacrifices.[6] Henceforth, humans would keep that meat for themselves and burn the bones wrapped in fat as an offering to the gods. This angered Zeus, who hid fire from humans in retribution.

According to the Bibliotheca, the most prominent Hesione was a Trojan princess, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy, sister of Priam and second wife of King Telamon of Salamis. Apollo and Poseidon were angry at King Laomedon because he refused to pay the wage he promised them for building Troy's walls. Apollo sent a plague and Poseidon a sea monster to destroy Troy.[1] Oracles promised deliverance if Laomedon would expose his daughter Hesione to be devoured by the sea monster (in other versions, the lot happened to fall on her) and he exposed her by fastening her naked to the rocks near the sea.[2]

Heracles (along with Telamon and Oicles) happened to arrive on their return from the expedition against the Amazons. Seeing her exposed, Heracles promised to save her on condition that Laomedon would give him the wonderful horses he had received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus' kidnapping of Ganymedes.[3] Laomedon agreed and Heracles slew the monster, in some accounts after being swallowed by it and hacking at its innards for three days before it died and he emerged having lost all his hair. However, Laomedon refused the promised award. In a later expedition Heracles attacked Troy, slew Laomedon and all Laomedon's sons except the youngest named Podarces.[4] Heracles gave Laomedon's daughter Hesione as a prize to Telamon instead of keeping her for himself

Others named Hesione

Hesione was an Oceanid who became wife of Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Deucalion[pronunciation?] (Ancient Greek: Δευκαλίων) was a son of Prometheus; ancient sources name his mother as Clymene, Hesione, or Pronoia.[1] The anger of Zeus was ignited by the hubris of the Pelasgians, so he decided to put an end to the Bronze Age. Lycaon, the king of Arcadia, had sacrificed a boy to Zeus, who was appalled by this savage offering. Zeus unleashed a deluge,

In Greek mythology, Lycaon[pronunciation?] was a king of Arcadia, son of Pelasgus and Meliboea, who in the most popular version of the myth tested Zeus by serving him a dish of his slaughtered and dismembered son in order to see whether Zeus was truly omniscient. In return for these gruesome deeds Zeus transformed Lycaon into the form of a wolf, and killed Lycaon's fifty sons by lightning bolts, except possibly Nyctimus, who was the slaughtered child, and instead became restored to life.[1]

Despite being notorious for his horrific deeds, Lycaon was also remembered as a culture hero: he was believed to have founded the city Lycosura, to have established a cult of Zeus Lycaeus and to have started the tradition of the Lycaean Games

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