Prometheus steals the fire from the Gods.

Illustration 3 from the series ‘Prometheus’. Collectors’ cards from Liebig Fleisch Extrakt (ca.1930)

 

FIRE

In the beginning there was no cooking. The primordial soup was solid and the croquette had to wait for another 4 billion years. When and where it all began remains a mystery. And then, of course, it all depends on what we mean by cooking. Let us keep it simple and state that cooking is preparing food with the aid of fire. Our earliest ancestors did not cook, their diet was raw. It consisted of game, fresh water fish, shellfish collected on the beach, wild plants, small animals and insects. From the moment Homo Erectus (called that way because of its upright posture) discovers how to make fire, he gains a big advantage over his fellow animals. Using fire, he scares predators and captures larger game. He burns forests for crops or life stock and thanks to fire he survives in colder climates. Fire helps him to control his environment and enhance his chances of survival.

 

Thus fire became a necessity of life. He who used it more aptly had the best chances. Adaptivity and inventiveness started to dominate pure physical powers. Human beings got larger brains and started to cook.

 

MYTHS

In virtually every culture across the world there are myths concerning the discovery of fire. They all have the same theme: the hero cleverly steals a piece of fire from the gods or other supernatural creatures and brings it to the human world. In Western culture it is the titan Prometheus who succeeds in tricking the Olympian gods and takes fire to humankind down below. Prometheus believed humankind to be badly supplied with useful properties when these were distributed to the creatures of the world. They could not fly, they were physically weak, had no fur to protect them and were not able to survive underground or in water. Because of that, human beings were vulnerable. If they possessed the knowledge of fire, their chances of survival would be greatly enhanced. By stealing fire and offering it to humankind, Prometheus simply corrected an ancient mistake.

God-in-chief Zeus was livid about the theft and punished Prometheus by chaining him to a mountain in the Caucasus. Every day an eagle would come and pick a piece of his liver, which would heal again every night. The ordeal was meant to be eternal, but the demigod Heracles finally succeeded to set him free.

 

Now that fire was in the grasp of man, it was vital to keep it burning. There had to be a place where a permanent fire was kept and protected. Temples were built for the gods of fire who were supposed to guards the fire for humankind. Fire cults developed everywhere in the world, for example with the ancient Celts, Slaves and Germans. Elsewhere Agni was the old Hindu god of fire, Hestia held that position in Greece, Vesta in Rome, and Xiuheuctli in Mexico, to name a few.

 

Some of these ancient traditions still exist, like with the Hindu in India and with their 140.000 co-patriots, the Parsi. These are the surviving followers of Zoroaster (Zarathustra), the oldest known religious teacher. In Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan and other regions of the Caucasus one may still find ruins (or renovations) of these original temples of fire.