When the great Zeus overthrew his father, Cronus ---as Cronus in turn had overthrown his father, Uranus---he turned against mankind. He intended to destroy the human race and start again. But he was foiled by quick-witted Prometheus.

The name Prometheus means "forethought," and of all the immortal Titans, Prometheus is the most clever. This was why he had sided with deep thinking Zeus against brutal Cronus and the other Titans. But Prometheus also champions mankind.

Prometheus gave human beings the precious gift of thought and taught people many crafts and skills, such as how to study the stars in their orbits, and how to use them to navigate the seas.

This championship of mankind angered Zeus, and his anger came to a head when Prometheus cheated the gods out of their rightful sacrifice, giving it to mankind instead. Prometheus had slaughtered an ox and divided it into two portions, each wrapped in hide. The large portion was just fat and bones; the small portion to the gods, whereupon Zeus complained. Prometheus smiled and said, "Zeus, most glorious of the gods, choose whichever you like." Of course Zeus chose the large portions. When he saw that he had been tricked by Prometheus he decided to withhold fire from mankind.

"Let them eat their meat raw," he cried. But Prometheus outwitted him. He entered Olympus, the home of the gods, stole fire from the chariot of the sun, and carried it back to earth in a fennel plant. Then he showed mankind how to use fire to cook and keep warm. When Zeus saw the glow of fires on earth, he fell into a deadly fury.

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