Problem
i. Describe the four metallic ages and the Age of Heroes. Why does Hesiod regard human history as characterized by a downward spiral toward ultimate calamity?
ii. How does Aeschylus portray the Titan Prometheus as both lawbreaker and savior who suffers for humanity? How does the Athenian playwright Aeschylus, writing more than two centuries after Hesiod, change the character of Prometheus? At what ethical stage of his development do we find Zeus in this dramatic retelling of the myth? Why does Zeus operate primarily through the agencies of Might and Violence, allegorical figures who bind Prometheus to his rock?
iii. What was going on during Percy Shelley's time that made him attracted to the Prometheus myth? How was his version of Prometheus Bound relevant to the Eighteenth century?