The Making of Mankind
Prometheus was a Titan, son of Iapetos and Themis. His name meant forethought, and he was the cleverest of the Titans. The titan enjoyed making small clay figurines of the gods, made purely for fun. However, Athene was so enthralled by the little figures, she breathed life into them. Prometheus was amused indeed, and he set out to teaching them all about civilization and the gods, but before he could go very far, Zeus intervened.

Zeus did not approve of the little creatures, but to undo their creation would be impossible, so Zeus commanded Prometheus to teach them nothing to allow them to live like animals.

Back on earth, Prometheus had slaughtered a bull and had the bones wrapped up in leather, while the good meat was put into a bag of guts. He then brought both before Zeus and asked him to choose the one which would be sacrificed to the gods. Zeus chose the leather pack, and when he realized he had been tricked, he was furious and denied mankind the knowledge of fire forever, leaving them to eat their food raw.

Not being easily beaten, Zeus secretly created the first woman, the most beautiful creature ever, and filled her with knowledge of deception and treachery. He sent her to Earth with a small covered jar. Soon enough, curiosity got the better of her, and although told not to open the jar, she lifted the cover a little. Out from the jar flew out all the diseases of Old Age, Passion, Wickedness, Despair and many more. However, a feeble sprite still lay in the jar, which flew out unnoticed. It was Hope, which would be man's salvation.

Zeus also created the seasons, which left humans out in the blistering cold without any heat, and yet the gods did not bother with them, feasting night after night in Mount Olympus whilst humans suffered. Unable to bear it anymore, Prometheus went against Zeus' will and stole fire for humans.

When Zeus saw columns of smoke rising out of the land, he was furious, and chained Prometheus to the top of Mount Caucasus. Day after day, Zeus' vulture would devour Prometheus' liver, which healed every day only to be eaten again the next day. And this was how Prometheus would spend eternity until he would be saved much later.

Soon, humanity grew arrogant and complacent beyond tolerable limits, and Zeus decided to send a flood to cleanse the world. So the rains started, and humans mistook it for just any other rainy day. The rains continued until the world was flooded and every human had drowned, except for Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, Deucalion being Prometheus' son. His father had prepared him for it and told him what to do.

So on their boat, the couple managed to survive until the flood finally ended and they landed their boat near a shrine. There, they begged Zeus to renew the world. Zeus gave in to their request, and the world was suddenly full of life again. A voice from nowhere told them to throw 'Mother's bones'. They were bewildered for a while, but finally realized that it meant to throw rocks, which were Mother Earth's bones.

Each time a rock touched a ground, it turned into a man for Deucalion, or a woman for Pyrrha. So the world was full of people again, this time in Zeus' approval.

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