Prometheus Bound

Prometheus Bound is an ancient Greek tragedy, written in Ancient Greek under the title Promethes Desmotes and traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, though that attribution has been disputed by scholars since the nineteenth century on stylistic and linguistic grounds, without any consensus replacement author having been established. The play is thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC, after a reference to the eruption of Mount Etna that year, and 424 BC. It dramatizes the punishment of the Titan Prometheus, who is chained to a rock in the Scythian mountains by order of Zeus as retribution for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humanity along with the arts and skills of civilization. The play is one of the earliest and most influential dramatic treatments of the Prometheus myth, and its portrayal of a rebellious figure defying a tyrannical authority for the sake of humankind has made it a recurring touchstone for later literature on resistance to arbitrary power.