Page:Prometheus Bound (Bevan 1902).djvu/30

 In Aeschylus also a wisdom of an altogether different kind is added, the power of prophecy. But this Prometheus has less of himself, than as informed by his mother, the oracular goddess, Earth. And it is to be noticed that here is a point where Aeschylus and the Hesiodic tradition diverge. In Hesiod, Prometheus is the son of Iapetos, one of the twelve Titans, and of Klymene, a daughter of Okeanos. Aeschylus drops all mention of any father and makes Prometheus simply a son of Earth, of Gaia, who is also Themis. In identifying Gaia and Themis (who in Hesiod are distinct) Aeschylus was drawing from the other mythological source, local tradition: Athens worshipped Ge-Themis as one deity. (Pausanias, i. 22: Corp. Inscr. Attic. iii. Nos. 318, 350.) Perhaps he was also following the Athenian tradition in making Prometheus her son. At any rate, his poetical purpose was advanced by removing the colourless Iapetos and Klymene, and allowing no parent to appear for the person who embodies the idea of Wisdom, but the ancient, wise, universal Mother herself.