Shelf entry · Greek

Hesiod, Works and Days ll. 50-52 / Theogony ll. 561-584 (Evelyn-White)

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traditionGreek

cited by 2 connections

public domain yes

passages digitized: 2

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fire-1 fire-5

But Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him;
therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men.
He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor
in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it.
But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger:
“Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me
and stolen fire—a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be.”

Works and Days, ll. 47–56 · tr. H. G. Evelyn-White, 1914

fire-1 fire-5

So spake Zeus in anger, whose wisdom is everlasting;
and from that time he was always mindful of the trick,
and would not give the power of unwearying fire to the Melian race of mortal men who live on the earth.
But the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk.
And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit,
and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire.

Theogony, ll. 561–569 · tr. H. G. Evelyn-White, 1914

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Connections resting on this work

fire · fire-1

Fire is never taken by force; it crosses the forbidden gap concealed in a tiny carried container · a hollow stalk, a woven thimble-bowl · after strength has failed. The theft is a smuggling, and the container is humble on purpose. Bonus inversion: the Greek thief hides the ember FROM the thunder-god; the Cherokee ember was SENT by the Thunders · the same fire, the same thunder, opposite directions.

Prometheus 'stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk' · the ember smuggled across the god-mortal boundary inside the pith of a plant, 'so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it.'

set against Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee,…

fire · fire-5

Both traditions name a single non-human intermediary who fetches fire DOWN from heaven for mortals, and both hide the fire inside a plant in transit: latent in the araṇi wood until rubbed out; smoldering in the fennel pith until delivered. Comparative philology has linked the pair since Adalbert Kuhn (Die Herabkunft des Feuers, 1859) via Skt. pramantha (fire-drill churning stick) ~ Prometheus · the etymology is contested, but the shared motif structure (heavenly fire + named fetcher + fire concealed in a stalk of wood) is textually solid on both sides.

Prometheus carries the stolen fire down from heaven concealed in the hollow narthex stalk · a plant whose slow-smoldering pith was the actual ember-transport technology of the Greek world · unseen by the god of the thunder.

set against Rigveda 1.93.6, 1.141.3, 1.148.1

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