PART 2
POST-FIRE
The Gift of Fire
Zeus, angry with the deception of the sacrifice, resolved to chastise humanity by depriving it of fire. Humanity was reduced to begging, eating raw meat and enduring cold through black nights and frosts. But Prometheus could not bear their suffering: under cover of the great Olympus festival, he would execute his most audacious scheme.
Prometheus broke into Hephaestus's workshop, where flames crackled. He loaded his arms with glowing cinders and quickly carried it down to the earth, restoring to man the spark of fire and contributing so much more than heat. He had sparked man's imagination, crafting tools, smelting metal, cooking meat and illuminating the darkness. Prometheus had kindled the flame of human civilization as a whole, totally altering mankind's fate. The same decision he would be penalized for shortly.