I just want to know anybody know the real story
2006-12-02 18:07:43 · 0 answers · asked by amber/topaz1214 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
The titan Epimetheus ("hindsight") was responsible for giving a positive trait to each and every animal. However, when it was time to give man a positive trait, there was nothing left. Prometheus ("foresight"), his brother, felt that because man was superior to all other animals, man should have a gift no other animal possessed. So Prometheus set forth to steal fire from Zeus and handed it over to man.
Zeus was enraged and decided to punish Prometheus and his creation: Mankind. To punish Prometheus, Zeus chained him in unbreakable fetters and set an eagle over him to eat his liver each day, as the eagle is Zeus's sacred animal. Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back every day, but he was still tormented daily from the pain, until he was freed by Heracles during The Twelve Labours. Another possible reason for Prometheus' torment was because he knew which of Zeus' lovers would bear a child who would eventually overthrow Zeus. Zeus commanded that Prometheus reveal the name of the mother, but Prometheus refused, instead choosing to suffer the punishment.
To punish mankind, Zeus demanded that the other gods make Pandora as a poisoned gift for man. Pandora was given several traits from the different gods: Hephaestus molded her out of clay and gave her form; Athena clothed her and the Charites adorned her with necklaces made by Hephaestus; Aphrodite gave her beauty; Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing; Demeter taught her to tend a garden; Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and the ability to never drown; Zeus made her idle, mischievous, and foolish; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her cunning, boldness, and charm.[citation needed] Thus the name Pandora—"all gifts"—in Hesiod's version derives from the fact that she received gifts from all deities.
The most significant of these gifts, however, was a pithos or storage jar,[1] given to Pandora either by Hermes or Zeus. Before he was chained to the rock, Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to take any gifts from the gods. However, When Pandora arrived, he fell in love with her. Hermes told Epimetheus that Pandora was a gift to the titan from Zeus, and he warned Epimetheus not to open the jar, which was Pandora's dowry.
Until then, mankind lived life in a paradise without worry. Epimetheus told Pandora never to open the jar she had received from Zeus. However, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind: "For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills [kakoi] and hard toil [ponoi] and heavy sickness [nosoi argaleai] which bring the Keres [baleful spirits] upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly" (Hesiod, Works and Days). Once opened, she shut it in time to keep one thing in the jar: hope 1. The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora "chanced" to revisit the box again, at which point Hope fluttered out. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.
In another, more philosophical version of the myth, hope (Elpis) is considered the worst of the potential evils, because it is equated with terrifying foreknowledge. By preventing hope from escaping the jar, Pandora in a sense saves the world from the worst damage.
The daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion and was one of the two who survived the deluge.
2006-12-02 19:14:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
Well, Prometheus and Pandora were the first two humans on Earth (according to Greek mythology) and Prometheus gave Pandora the box with the warning that she must not open it. But curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, releasing chaos, disease and all the rest of that nasty stuff unto the world. It is very similar to Eve eating from the tree of knowledge.
2006-12-02 18:12:07 · answer #2 · answered by Kreen 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
well im not sure what you consider the real story, Pandora is a greek fantasy, she was a lovely young girl who was given a beautiful box she must guard and never open, her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, and unleashed all the sorrorws of the world out. thats why we have so much sadness in the world, because a pretty little featherhead couldnt do what she was told.
2006-12-02 18:17:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Another version i heard was that Epimetheous so much felt he deserved a "gift" from the gods..they gave him just what he asked for....c he was so impatient/demanding the gods tried to warn him...So he accepted the first woman that they sent to him & all of the troubles that she harbored......that was also the moral of the story...
BE CAREFUL WHAT U ASK FOR ...U JUST MIGHT GET IT!
2006-12-03 13:03:16 · answer #4 · answered by Mee-OW =^..^= 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
^^^ also at the end when all the nasty things were let out and started tormenting the world, the last thing that was stuck in there and they finally let out too was Hope and thats the only thing that we have left to soothe us from all the troubles of the world.
2006-12-02 18:17:07 · answer #5 · answered by Esme 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, me and my college roomate went to amsterdam our junior year. We went to an art museum and one of the tour guides was a slender young brunette named Pandora....
et cetera
2006-12-02 21:31:20 · answer #6 · answered by C.R. Finn 1 · 1⤊ 4⤋