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Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence
Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. Carl Kerenyi examines the story of Prometheus and the very process of mythmaking as a reflection of the archetypal function and seeks to discover how this primitive tale was invested with a universal fatality, first in the Greek imagination, and then in the Western tradition of Romantic poetry. Kerenyi traces the evolving myth from Hesiod and Aeschylus, and in its epic treatment by Goethe and Shelly; he moves on to consider the myth from the perspective of Jungian psychology, as the archetype of human daring signifying the transformation of suffering into the mystery of the sacrifice.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Karl Kerényi
92 books123 followersKároly (Carl, Karl) Kerényi, Ph.D., (University of Budapest, 1919), was one of the founders of modern studies in Greek Mythology, and professor of classical studies and history of religion at the Universities of Szeged and Pécs, Hungary.
Karl Kerenyi is also published under the names Carl Kerenyi and Károly Kerényi, in French as Charles Kerényi and in Italian as Carlo Kerényi.
Karl Kerenyi is also published under the names Carl Kerenyi and Károly Kerényi, in French as Charles Kerényi and in Italian as Carlo Kerényi.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 9, 2019
Uma tese sobre o mito de Prometeu. Tem muitas descrições interessantes. A teoria mais interessante foi a comparação de Prometeu a Jesus, tal como eu se sacrificou pelos mortais.
June 4, 2019
Although Kerenyi is always mentioned in same sentence with Jung I think lots of people are wrong with this. Although Kerenyi might have surfed the wave of Jung's mysticism, his goal (first and foremost) was to establish scientific approach to mythology (as he says in the foreword to the book - he used Archetypal in the title because it became everyday word, not because he wanted it linked to Jung's school). Kerenyi wanted to ensure that mythology is never looked at outside of the context (human life) and the role it played in it. Only when looked in the context of everyday life and beliefs mythology plays its role.
Considering that Greeks weren't very fond of their pantheon (at least not in a way monotheistic religions are) - by giving some of them very human nature and habits they tried to ground them into the reality of the world as they saw it. They might have been mighty and immortal, but squabbling bunch with short tempers. They weren't omnipotent but part of the greater scene where primordial forces like time (Kronos) and creation (Gaia) ruled everyone. So nobody was outside the reach so to speak - there was order of things in the universe. New gods led by Zeus and his Olympians were just that - new pantheon ruling in the skies that managed to obtain power after bringing old order - Titans - down. But as any rule achieved by force it is an unsteady one and soon they turn their attention to humanity they see as a potential threat.
And this is how we get to myth of Prometheus. By going through Prometheus myth from ancient times and legends to modern writers like Goethe and Shelley Kerenyi manages to give us clear picture of the Prometheus' life and role he played.
Titan (old god) who defied Zeus (ruler of heaven) in order to make sure humanity survives and prospers - by acts of trickery and outright theft of fire. Titan who accepted his punishment because he wanted to be closer to humanity, who decided to suffer in the same way humanity does (seemingly caught in infinite loop of suffering - in body and in mind - while always striving to be better) aware that it will take millennia to be relived of it.
By taking this suffering on himself Prometheus tries to get closer to man (which is usually opposite from "standard" stories of men trying to get closer to divine) - in some of legends Prometheus created the humanity -and gives him a nudge toward science, prosperity and civilization in general. He becomes the embodiment of humanity - "forethought" that always pushes forward to new achievements but [unfortunately] always with "afterthought" given to possible consequences of their actions.
His punishment is temporary (although for humans this time span is just too huge so it looks like eons) and he knows he will, ultimately, be saved. So you might say there is no tension here but this does not minimize his actions. He decides to take the punishment on himself because he knows he can handle it while humanity might end up wiped out from the face of the world. So it is quite something to have a deity ready to sacrifice itself to ensure survival of human kind against ever changing temper of "righteous" gods.
Very interesting book. Recommended to everyone interested in the mythology.
Considering that Greeks weren't very fond of their pantheon (at least not in a way monotheistic religions are) - by giving some of them very human nature and habits they tried to ground them into the reality of the world as they saw it. They might have been mighty and immortal, but squabbling bunch with short tempers. They weren't omnipotent but part of the greater scene where primordial forces like time (Kronos) and creation (Gaia) ruled everyone. So nobody was outside the reach so to speak - there was order of things in the universe. New gods led by Zeus and his Olympians were just that - new pantheon ruling in the skies that managed to obtain power after bringing old order - Titans - down. But as any rule achieved by force it is an unsteady one and soon they turn their attention to humanity they see as a potential threat.
And this is how we get to myth of Prometheus. By going through Prometheus myth from ancient times and legends to modern writers like Goethe and Shelley Kerenyi manages to give us clear picture of the Prometheus' life and role he played.
Titan (old god) who defied Zeus (ruler of heaven) in order to make sure humanity survives and prospers - by acts of trickery and outright theft of fire. Titan who accepted his punishment because he wanted to be closer to humanity, who decided to suffer in the same way humanity does (seemingly caught in infinite loop of suffering - in body and in mind - while always striving to be better) aware that it will take millennia to be relived of it.
By taking this suffering on himself Prometheus tries to get closer to man (which is usually opposite from "standard" stories of men trying to get closer to divine) - in some of legends Prometheus created the humanity -and gives him a nudge toward science, prosperity and civilization in general. He becomes the embodiment of humanity - "forethought" that always pushes forward to new achievements but [unfortunately] always with "afterthought" given to possible consequences of their actions.
His punishment is temporary (although for humans this time span is just too huge so it looks like eons) and he knows he will, ultimately, be saved. So you might say there is no tension here but this does not minimize his actions. He decides to take the punishment on himself because he knows he can handle it while humanity might end up wiped out from the face of the world. So it is quite something to have a deity ready to sacrifice itself to ensure survival of human kind against ever changing temper of "righteous" gods.
Very interesting book. Recommended to everyone interested in the mythology.
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November 18, 2021Es maravilloso seguir encontrando hallazgos. Esta vez Kerényi examina a Prometeo (previsión) en principio junto a su hermano Epimeteo (reflexión) para compararlos con el divino Hermes que es capaz de comunicar tanto cielo, tierra e inframundo sin necesidad de robar o almacenar. De esta clara distinción entre lo titánico y lo divino, expone la gran falta del titán al robar el fuego divino de Zeus y regalarlo a lo hombres, propagando un sufrimiento imprudente, apócrifo.
Kerényi no sólo examina el mito primordial de Prometeo sino la tragedia de Esquilo, donde explica el por qué de su castigo, también con gran precisión el sufrimiento de su imprudencia más allá de su castigo, la nubes que nublan constantemente su juicio al regalar lo sagrado, evitando el trabajo y la compresión del entorno. Así como su liberación por Heracles y redención a tal sufrimiento, reconociendo su humanidad dejando de ser titán. Maravilloso.
Kerényi no sólo examina el mito primordial de Prometeo sino la tragedia de Esquilo, donde explica el por qué de su castigo, también con gran precisión el sufrimiento de su imprudencia más allá de su castigo, la nubes que nublan constantemente su juicio al regalar lo sagrado, evitando el trabajo y la compresión del entorno. Así como su liberación por Heracles y redención a tal sufrimiento, reconociendo su humanidad dejando de ser titán. Maravilloso.
January 22, 2022
It is a really good work that tries to uncover the way Greek existence was strongly connected to Greek myths. Kerényi tries to add to our literary understanding of myths a deeper connection to life. He tried to achieve that by connecting it with Goethe's Prometheus, that was this authors way of dealing with existential suffering in his youth. Kerényi tries to ground this very strongly in the Ajsychlos' Prometheus Bound, but I did not see a sufficient ground for that on quite a few occasions. Although Prometheus takes upon himself suffering for helping humans, that doesn't mean he identifies with them and go through existential suffering because he feels bodily pain. Prometheus is still a god and although he goes through emotions that resemble emotions of human beings, does not mean he nearly becomes one.
Other than that it is a very well versed analysis.
Other than that it is a very well versed analysis.
October 3, 2014
Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence is one in a series of essays Karl Kerenyi, - scholar of myth, "neo-pagan", and protege of Carl Jung - had written on his beloved Greek pantheon. Like the others in this series, Kerenyi scrutinizes all extant sources of pertinence to his subject. Sources here include Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, and many others.
The book is interesting as it identifies Prometheus as the personification of mankind's particular mode of existence, namely one of misery, as a polarity of the blissful existence enjoyed by the Olympians. It pays particular attention to the prophetic disclosures of Prometheus so as to possibly illumine a potential remedy to man's terrestrial suffering - And its intriguing what Kerenyi exposes.
Prometheus was a deity among the titans and a son of the great goddess Themis (according to Aeschylus), a variation of Gaia. Yet, during the great cataclysm known as the Titanomachy, he fought with the Olympians, the younger gods. Subsequent to this war and the creation of mankind (Either a creation of Prometheus, or, actually, associates of the titans, or the titans themselves), man and the gods occupied one pole. Prometheus, because of his relation to mankind (either as titans or a creation of his own) embarks on his first dissension against the will of Zeus: In the portioning of the first sacrifice, he allots to man the greater cuts, while leaving for the gods bones adorned presentably in the glistening fat of the slaughter. This leads to the establishment of the dual existential poles between gods and men; one of light and bliss, the other of darkness and suffering. In a second and final act of recalcitrance, Prometheus brings to primitive man (who dwell in "darkness") the element of fire, carried within the stem of the narthex, so that they may forge for themselves luxuries and various technologies. At this, Zeus becomes enraged and condemns Prometheus to an eternity of suffering. His punishment is to be chained to the summit of a Caucasian mountain where an eagle (the animal of Zeus and a glyph for the sun) will tear daily at his liver (Which for the Greeks was the seat of the passions). Prometheus laments at his great misfortune, about how he has been "wronged", and exclaims that his only crime was that he "loved man too well."
Kerenyi is interested in a juxtaposition between the kind of cruel justice (Dike) represented in Zeus and the kind of order associated with Themis, who seems to personify the original cosmic order prior to its usurpation by the "will of Zeus." Themis, no doubt, represents an ideal of worldly (not "otherworldly") bliss. However, it's very interesting as the dichotomy of Zeus - Themis could actually reflect a possible conflict of paradigms; the old, that of the matriarchal, and the new patriarchal rule. Regardless, its in many ways a cultural shock to witness a view vastly distinct from contemporary religion; that the earthly is actually just, but victim to a heavenly oppressor. (In Judea-Christian tradition, this is precisely the inverse.) The understanding was perhaps that man is a victim of obstinate laws and institutions which the ancient Greeks just couldn't identify as being inherent to "the Mother," and that man's Existential Misery (aka Prometheus) is the cosmic archetype for such justice (being a divine consequence of deliberate acts with otherwise good intentions).
Prometheus (whose name means "Prescience", and who has acquired this precise ability matrilineally) experiences a kind of sardonic reprieve from his knowledge of a particular secret, one unknown even to Zeus, that his world, the "Zeus-World" will, in fact, come to an end. But upon hearing of such things, with the violent crash of a thunderbolt, Zeus damns Prometheus to Tartarus for greater torments. It then all concludes with the revelation of a savior; a deity who will willingly take upon himself the sufferings of Prometheus and descend into the darkness of death (and who is not, yet, Jesus Christ). It is interesting to discover who this was, and who this eventually became for the entire Greek and Roman world.
Like Kerenyi's other expositions, Prometheus is valuable as a catalog of sources. It's therefore a practical necessity for anyone interested in its particular subject, Greek religion, or for those looking to draw parallels. While not familiar with its native language, the translation never felt clunky or odd, as is sometimes the case. It's a fairly quick read.
Kerenyi was the right kind of scholar. Motivated by sincere convictions, rather than a desire for approbation among peers, he breathed new life into the Powers that he felt circuiting throughout his being. One gets the impression from reading Kerenyi, that he was obviously a man with a very sane approach to religion; that it should affirm life rather than contradict it; breath with the individual, rather than smother him. Kerenyi found this in the living religion of the ancient Greeks and their representation of Forms that expressed his own Intrigue, his own Lust, even his own Misery. Because of the ubiquity of the latter, "Prometheus", it is truly an Image of solidarity; one that elevates the suffering of man to cosmic stature and significance.
The book is interesting as it identifies Prometheus as the personification of mankind's particular mode of existence, namely one of misery, as a polarity of the blissful existence enjoyed by the Olympians. It pays particular attention to the prophetic disclosures of Prometheus so as to possibly illumine a potential remedy to man's terrestrial suffering - And its intriguing what Kerenyi exposes.
Prometheus was a deity among the titans and a son of the great goddess Themis (according to Aeschylus), a variation of Gaia. Yet, during the great cataclysm known as the Titanomachy, he fought with the Olympians, the younger gods. Subsequent to this war and the creation of mankind (Either a creation of Prometheus, or, actually, associates of the titans, or the titans themselves), man and the gods occupied one pole. Prometheus, because of his relation to mankind (either as titans or a creation of his own) embarks on his first dissension against the will of Zeus: In the portioning of the first sacrifice, he allots to man the greater cuts, while leaving for the gods bones adorned presentably in the glistening fat of the slaughter. This leads to the establishment of the dual existential poles between gods and men; one of light and bliss, the other of darkness and suffering. In a second and final act of recalcitrance, Prometheus brings to primitive man (who dwell in "darkness") the element of fire, carried within the stem of the narthex, so that they may forge for themselves luxuries and various technologies. At this, Zeus becomes enraged and condemns Prometheus to an eternity of suffering. His punishment is to be chained to the summit of a Caucasian mountain where an eagle (the animal of Zeus and a glyph for the sun) will tear daily at his liver (Which for the Greeks was the seat of the passions). Prometheus laments at his great misfortune, about how he has been "wronged", and exclaims that his only crime was that he "loved man too well."
Kerenyi is interested in a juxtaposition between the kind of cruel justice (Dike) represented in Zeus and the kind of order associated with Themis, who seems to personify the original cosmic order prior to its usurpation by the "will of Zeus." Themis, no doubt, represents an ideal of worldly (not "otherworldly") bliss. However, it's very interesting as the dichotomy of Zeus - Themis could actually reflect a possible conflict of paradigms; the old, that of the matriarchal, and the new patriarchal rule. Regardless, its in many ways a cultural shock to witness a view vastly distinct from contemporary religion; that the earthly is actually just, but victim to a heavenly oppressor. (In Judea-Christian tradition, this is precisely the inverse.) The understanding was perhaps that man is a victim of obstinate laws and institutions which the ancient Greeks just couldn't identify as being inherent to "the Mother," and that man's Existential Misery (aka Prometheus) is the cosmic archetype for such justice (being a divine consequence of deliberate acts with otherwise good intentions).
Prometheus (whose name means "Prescience", and who has acquired this precise ability matrilineally) experiences a kind of sardonic reprieve from his knowledge of a particular secret, one unknown even to Zeus, that his world, the "Zeus-World" will, in fact, come to an end. But upon hearing of such things, with the violent crash of a thunderbolt, Zeus damns Prometheus to Tartarus for greater torments. It then all concludes with the revelation of a savior; a deity who will willingly take upon himself the sufferings of Prometheus and descend into the darkness of death (and who is not, yet, Jesus Christ). It is interesting to discover who this was, and who this eventually became for the entire Greek and Roman world.
Like Kerenyi's other expositions, Prometheus is valuable as a catalog of sources. It's therefore a practical necessity for anyone interested in its particular subject, Greek religion, or for those looking to draw parallels. While not familiar with its native language, the translation never felt clunky or odd, as is sometimes the case. It's a fairly quick read.
Kerenyi was the right kind of scholar. Motivated by sincere convictions, rather than a desire for approbation among peers, he breathed new life into the Powers that he felt circuiting throughout his being. One gets the impression from reading Kerenyi, that he was obviously a man with a very sane approach to religion; that it should affirm life rather than contradict it; breath with the individual, rather than smother him. Kerenyi found this in the living religion of the ancient Greeks and their representation of Forms that expressed his own Intrigue, his own Lust, even his own Misery. Because of the ubiquity of the latter, "Prometheus", it is truly an Image of solidarity; one that elevates the suffering of man to cosmic stature and significance.
November 12, 2022
This was a re-read of a book I read I’m college. It was an enjoyable read.
January 31, 2016
Kerenyi presents a thorough academic reconstruction of the Prometheus that covers the assorted accounts and closes with the Aeschylus plays. He features Goethe's inspired poetry of Prometheus' narrative too.
What I found fascinating however is his closing; Kerenyi connects the god's intervention with humans and suggests that the Christ story, albeit a different direction, could have been inspired by the Prometheus story.
What I found fascinating however is his closing; Kerenyi connects the god's intervention with humans and suggests that the Christ story, albeit a different direction, could have been inspired by the Prometheus story.
July 6, 2015
Rating : 3 stars
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews