Prometheus bound (Aeschylus)
Prometheus bound ( Greek Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης Promētheús desmṓtēs ) is the title of a Greek tragedy that wasascribed to Aeschylus in ancient times.
Authorship
Conventionally, the work was viewed as part of a Prometheia , a trilogy with satyr play , and attributed to the tragedy poet Aeschylus. They followed the ancient tradition, which was already represented by scholars from the library of Alexandria . However, this authorship has been questioned again and again since the 19th century. The problem is not solved. The authenticity is disputed primarily for linguistic (word usage and style), stage technology and intellectual (the figure of Zeus as a tyrant ) reasons.
content
Titan Prometheus , who is forever in Scythian iron chains because of the alleged fire-robbery, does not want to reveal secret knowledge that he claims to have to the Olympic ruler Zeus . After Hermes has finally asked Prometheus one last time to finally name the hetaera who would cost Zeus and his followers the eternal rule, and Prometheus refuses, he is sent to the shadowy realm of Hades by an earthquake with lightning and thunderbolts .
Acting persons
Kratos & Bia , Hephaestus , Prometheus , Oceanids , Oceanus , Io , Hermes .
Kratos & Bia
Kratos (Greek "power") and Bia (Greek "violence"), the servants of Zeus , drag Prometheus to the Caucasus , where, at Zeus' command, they attack the reluctant Hephaestus ( but I am full of apprehension about forcibly chaining the related god to him Winterfels ) force Prometheus to be chained to a rock near the Caucasus. Hephaestus feels sorry for Prometheus, but is also afraid of Zeus and complies. "Bia (violence) is silent, only Kratos (power) speaks."
Choir
After Hephaestus, Kratos and Bia have left, the choir made up of the daughters of Oceanus appears, who assures him of friendship and asks about the reason for this punishment, with the choir leader mostly conducting the dialogue. Prometheus tells of the fight against Kronos , where he helped Zeus overthrow his father through cunning and cleverness. Zeus then distributed the offices, but did not think of the people, so that only Prometheus stands by them, gives them fire, hope and the art of prophecy. The choir warns him of his boldness, whereupon Prometheus declares that he did it for the sake of man, knowing that he was bound.
Oceanus
The choir flies away, whereupon Okeanos comes ridden on his griffin. He describes himself as Prometheus' greatest friend and claims that he rushed here as quickly as possible. But Prometheus asks him if he would like to delight in his suffering and is outraged again at Zeus. Okeanos also warns him about the lack of submission to the new ruler. Prometheus should submit and ask for grace so that he might be redeemed. But he reacts with irony to this advice from Oceanus, who did not support the people with him ( I notice with envy that you are free from reproach, who boldly participated in everything with me ). Okeanos offers to appeal to Zeus in good terms, but Prometheus advises against it, pointing to his brother Atlas and Typhon , as they had fared, and that Okeanos should not end up in the same way. Okeanos can be persuaded and flies away.
Choir leader
The choir returns and laments Prometheus' sad fate. Then Prometheus tells what knowledge he brought people, including medicine, seafaring, meteorology, prophecy. He also prophesies that Zeus will abdicate and Prometheus will be redeemed. ( So is Zeus the weaker before them? - He will by no means escape what is determined. ) Only, he says, he must not report the future to Zeus so that his prophecy will come true. The choir sings about the suffering of Prometheus and the non-coming help of the supported people.
Io
The horned Io is added. Prometheus announces the end of Zeus to her through a son of Hera. When Io learns that Prometheus has mastered the art of divination, she wants to know her own fate. But first she tells how she dreamed of the love of Zeus. Therefore, Inachus, the father of Io, received the oracle to expel his daughter from the land. To cover up her love for Io, he turned her into a cow. But Hera was not so hidden, sent Argos as a guard and let the cow from a brake hunt. Now Prometheus announces the further path of Io, that she will cross the Bosphorus (which will be named after her) and finally reach Canopus via Ethiopia and into the Nile Delta to give birth to Epaphos . And that a descendant of Io in the 13th generation, a hero of the bow ( Heracles is meant ) will save Prometheus. Since Io can no longer bear the stings of the brake, she leaves.
Hermes
Prometheus reveals to the Oceanids that Zeus will find his end through the curse of Kronos. Hermes arrives and demands that Prometheus reveal to Zeus who will overthrow him. He threatens lightning and storms, which will hurt him badly and that an eagle will come to eat his liver. Since Prometheus refuses to reveal this knowledge, this punishment overtakes him.
reception
Johann Gottfried Herder wrote the dramatic poem The Unleashed Prometheus around 1800 , which was intended as a continuation of the Greek tragedy and served as a template for Franz Liszt's symphonic poem Prometheus .
Carl Orff set the original text of Aeschylus to music: This opera , sung in ancient Greek , was premiered on March 24, 1968 in the Stuttgart State Theater under the direction of Ferdinand Leitner in a production by Gustav Rudolf Sellner .
Gide wrote the satire The Badly Shackled Prometheus in 1899 .
Translations
- Karl Philipp Conz . Laupp, Tübingen 1819.
- Johannes Minckwitz . Metzler, Stuttgart 1839.
- A. Zeising. Krais & Hoffmann, Stuttgart 1864.
- Karl Wilhelm Osterwald . Hall 1873.
- A. Oldenberg. Publishing house of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig around 1880.
- Robert Joachim. J. Ewich, Duisburg 1907.
- Carlo Philips . Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1913.
- Werner Meyer : Prometheus bound . Waldkauzdruckerei of the Odenwaldschule, Heppenheim 1931
- Hans Bogner . FH Kerle Verlag, Heidelberg 1949.
- Walter Kraus. Reclam, Stuttgart 1965.
- Oskar Werner : Aeschylus. Tragedies and fragments . Tusculum Munich 2005 series. Greek-German.
- Peter Handke . Prometheus, bound. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1986.
- Dieter Bremer . Prometheus in fetters. Bilingual edition. Edited with the Greek text and translated by DB (manuscript completed before the publication of Prometheus by Peter Handke, see p. 175) Insel, Frankfurt 1988.
literature
- Rose Unterberger: The bound Prometheus of Aeschylus . Tübingen Contributions to Classical Studies , issue 45. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1968.
- Mark Griffith: The Authenticity of the Prometheus Bound . Cambridge 1977.
- Bettina Vaupel: Equal to God - Forsaken by God. Prometheus in the fine arts of the 19th and 20th centuries . Weimar 2005.
- AJ Podlecki: Echoes of the Prometheia in Euripides' Andromeda? . In: Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association . Montreal 2006.
- Fabio Turato: Prometeo in Germania. Storia della fortuna e dell'interpretazione del Prometeo di Eschilo nella cultura tedesca (1771–1871). Olschki, Firenze 1988, ISBN 88-222-3560-6
Web links
- Johann Gustav Droysen, Berlin 1832 Aischylos Werke (archive.org), from p. 409
Individual evidence
- ↑ AJ Podlecki: Echoes of the Prometheia in Euripides' Andromeda? . In: Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association . Montreal 2006.
- ↑ Bremer 1988, pp. 114–117
The Persians | Prometheus bound | The seven against Thebes | The supplicants | Agamemnon | The grave donors (Choephoren) | The Eumenids