Talk about a sacrifice. When Prometheus defies his former ally, Zeus, by giving fire to man, he knowingly submits himself to years and years of awful torture. And come on, would you put up with being tied to a rock and having your insides pecked out by birds on a daily basis if it meant the betterment of all humanity? We, for one, would have to think about it. Really hard.

The Catalyst

What role does Prometheus really play in this story, though? It's Pandora who screws everything up by opening the jar, right? But the thing about Greek mythology is that everything has an origin story. And while the myth of Prometheus and Pandora is the origin of all suffering ever (thanks!), Prometheus's fire scheme is the origin of that origin.

Those Greeks loved them some beginnings.

The Titan

We think Prometheus deserves his shot in the spotlight, so we're here to give you all the deets on this dude. Humans are kind of indebted to him, so the least we could do was Shmoop him up a little. Check out everything (and then some) in our guide to all things Prometheus.