MUSEUM HELVETICUM

Vol. 51 1994 Fasc. 3

Prometheus Orientalized

By Stephanie West, Oxford

"Kein Volk ist gross geworden ohne engste Verbindung

mit dem Treiben seiner Nachbarn, auch das griechische nicht"
(W. Aly)

Greek indebtedness to the older civilizations of the Near East is no longer

regarded with the wariness which long prevailed, and we have seen a growing
appreciation that the Hellenic world was influenced by its eastern neighbours
not just in material culture but also in religion and mythology1. It is now clear
that there were very many conduits for such influence; we no longer need to
regard as crucially important Hesiod's father's decision to relocate from Cyme
to Boeotia. Our understanding of archaic Greek literature has benefited im
mensely from its study within a wider Levantine context. In this article I hope
to show that the transformation of Hesiod's ambivalent petty trickster2 into
the founder of human civilization depicted in the Prometheus Vinctus did not
originate in the fifth century but was already familiar when the play was first
produced, and resulted from the assimilation of Prometheus to a major figure
of the Mesopotamian pantheon, the crafty Enki/Ea3.

* My warmest thanks to Stephanie Dalley and Martin West for much advice and encourage
ment. I have also been helped by Sebastian Brock, Nan Dunbar, Detlev Fehling, Judith
Mossman, Heinz-Giinther Nesselrath, Peter Parsons, Andres Reyes, and Donald Russell, and
profited from discussion of a version of this paper delivered at a meeting of the Oxford
Philological Society in November 1992.
1 On the change from a determined anti-orientalism to a less isolationist approach see W. Bur
kert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early
Archaic Age (Cambridge, Mass. 1992) 1-8; his own work during the last twenty years has gone
far to overcome the scepticism of Hellenists who felt that too much weight had been attached
to unimportant similarities. A series of articles published by Franz Dornseiff in the 1930s
(collected in Antike und alter Orient, Leipzig 21959), emphasising the close connection be
tween archaic Greece and Near Eastern cultural traditions, deserved more influence than they
achieved in his lifetime; the intellectual independence, which gave much of his other work a
maverick quality, here led him to insights of lasting value.
2 The Hesiodic Prometheus exemplifies very clearly the combination of slyness and stupidity
characteristic of the Trickster; see further P. Radin, The Trickster: A Study in American
Indian Mythology (London 1956).
3 Enki in Sumerian, Ea in Akkadian; the god of wisdom and the arts, patron of the various
professions, lord of the potable ground and spring waters, and creator of man. Berossus

9 Museum Helveticum
130 Stephanie West

It is not an absolute novelty to link

ago Jacqueline Duchemin noted int
further in her study on Prometheus
impression of a somewhat random
lels, and has had little impact on ei
G. A. Caduffs very valuable mono
stories6 drew attention to importa
tions of his study for the PV deserve
My argument does not (so far as
assumptions about the authorship of
to the hero as "the Aeschylean Pr
shorthand, and not as allegiance to
question of authenticity at présent d
if I leave the reader to guess what vi
of the play (and of the Prometheus S
another was responsible for realisi
amounted to no more than ideas ad
years after his death. It is an old
should be charged to Aeschylus' gif
and as suspicions about the play's
regarding him as its real author has
to the Suda (s.v. Εύφορίων = TGrF
father's plays9; but many have fou
death left four practically complété t
natural inference that a good deal
humous production to be feasible10

equates him with Kronos (FGrHist 680 F 9).

sumerischen und akkadischen Mythen ein
1938, s.v. Enki).
4 «Le mythe de Prométhée à travers les âge
n. 11); Prométhée: histoire du mythe de se
(Paris 1974) esp. 33-67; see also «Le Zeus d
197 (1980) 27-44 (esp. 31-33, 42-44).
5 It is not included in the bibliography to G
(Cambridge 1983); nor does the recent stud
crafty god (New York/Oxford 1989), wh
Nachleben, mention Prometheus or Duchem
6 Antike Sintflutsagen. Hypomnemata 82 (G
7 An unsatisfactory expédient in Wilamowi
124.
8 See further M. L. West, Studies in Aeschylus (Stuttgart 1990) 51-72.
9 Υιός Αισχύλου τού τραγικού, Αθηναίος, τραγικός και αύτός· δς και τοις Αισχύλου τού
πατρός, οις μήπω ήν έπιδειξάμενος, τετράκις ένίκησεν. έγραψεν δε και οικεία.
10 We should not assume that this common-sense considération escaped contemporary Athé
niens. The rather surprising dearth of ancient references to the PVmight be connected with a
général understanding that it was not Aeschylus' work through and through.
 Prometheus Orientalized 131

ment of responsibility would have produced a

point of view as deliberate pseudepigraphy
More relevant, and more awkward, is the
opens, the audience should be supposed to h
a play dealing with Prometheus' theft of f
preceded by the Prometheus Pyrphorosl That i
the amount of time devoted to the exposit
previous events, going far back in the past
rising against the Titans (199ff.), a period
envisaged for a play portraying the gift of f
on the newness of Zeus' rule", characterized i
Kratos and Bia, would be stränge if Zeus w
ruler in a previous play. There are in any case
the Prometheus Pyrphoros to be simply Ae
472, also known as Prometheus Pyrkaeusn.
Against this some, finding a Prometheus
gued that there must have been a further pla
is hard to imagine what could have follow
anticlimax, the desiderated play must be su
do not know enough to rule out a dilogy a
combine a pair of related tragédies with a
ject, if the Prometheus plays were among t
cessfully put on in his father's name after
tionality would surely have been perfectly na
Nachlass (or alleged Nachlass) was concerne
that a shift in focus in the Prometheus Solut
tion on Prometheus would have allowed the
différent, subject; it is not hard to think of
There is more force, at first sight, in the
times refers so succinctly to earlier event
whom Hesiod's account of Prometheus mig
onical status, would have been perplexed if
fuller treatment of these matters in the cours
outstanding examples in Prometheus' allusi

11 35, 96, 149-151, 310, 389, 439, 942, 955, 960.

12 See further R. P. Winnington-Ingram, Sludies in
Brown, BICS 37 (1990) 52.
13 I am attracted by the theory that Herakles' déifica
play, the reward for his services in the Gigantomac
which Herakles played a rôle as décisive as Promethe
Titans. But 1 suspect that the play intended to show
actually have been written.
14 See further M. Pohlenz, Die griechische Tragödie (G
 132 Stephanie West

enterprise (330f.)15 and to Kronos' cu

to assume that whatever is not in Hesiod was the dramatist's own invention or
that the audience would have dismissed from their minds any other treatment
of this body of legend with which they were familiar17.1 shall argue below that
the dramatist assumed in his audience a général familiarity with the treatment
of Zeus' rise to power offered in the Cyclic Titanomachia.
Certainly the long rhesis in which Prometheus offers his account of earlier
events (199-241) deals very summarily with matters about which we should
like to be told more. We now learn that Prometheus' theft of fire was not the
first occasion on which the Titan had frustrated Zeus' policy for mankind. As
he set his regime in order after the defeat of Kronos Zeus, Prometheus tells us,
planned a final solution to the human problem:

βροχών δέ των ταλανπώρων λόγον

ούκ έσχεν ούδέν', άλλ' άϊστώσας γένος
τό πάν έχρηιζεν άλλο φιτυσαι νέον.
και τοΐσιν ούδείς αντέβαινε πλην έμου.
έγώ δ' έτόλμησ'· έξελυσάμην βροτούς
τό μή διαρραισύέντας είς'Αιδου μολεΐν.
τώι τον τοιαΐσδε πημοναΐσι κάμπτομαι18.

Το us this looks distractingly enigmatic. Why did Zeus form this plan?
How did he intend to execute it? How and why did Prometheus secure our
survival? This very cursory treatment of so important a matter raises questions
which might have been expected to provoke the Chorus' curiosity. But they
receive this information so phlegmatically that we must infer that it caused no
such perplexity to the play's first audience. We, however, must work out the
answers for ourselves.
It has often been suggested that this passage should be connected with
Prometheus' part in ensuring Deukalion's survival from the Flood (and thus
securing the continuance of the human race), as related by Apollodorus19:

15 Griffith's note ad loc. gives a good account of the difficulties; see futher below n. 43.
16 A particularly tantalizing passage; it is difficult to imagine how this curse, of which we hear
nowhere eise, could fail of fulfilment, nor is it easy to find an example of a curse revoked.
Since Zeus has not been dethroned, the problem must been solved in the PS.
17 In view of the doubts surrounding the play's authorship we should not set too much weight on
the principle of Aeschylean interprétation enunciated by Fraenkel on Ag. 59: "To présupposé,
in the manner of Hellenistic narrative, that the reader is familiar with some earlier treatment
of the subject is not his way."
18 Aesch. PV 231-237. On the textual problem in 235 see Griffith ad loc. G. O. Hutchinson's cj.
έκ δ' έλυσάμην (CR 34, 1984, 2) is attractive.
19 Apollod. 1.7.2.1-4. - Thus, e.g., Schoemann (1844), Weil (1864), Thomson (1932); similarly
Caduff, op. cit. (n. 6) 24, 101 f., 131, 211. It is disconcerting to find some recent scholars
uncertain about the reference (so R. Unterberger, Der gefesselte Prometheus des Aischylos,
Tübingen 1968, 49; Griffith ad loc.).
 Prometheus Orientalized 133

Προμηύέως δέ παις Δευκαλίων έγένετο.

τόπων γαμεΐ Πύρραν τήν Έπιμηύέως κα
γυναίκα, έπεί δέ άφανίσαι Ζεύς τό χαλ
μηύέως Δευκαλίων τεκτηνάμενος λάρ
ταύτην μετά Πύρρας είσέβη. Ζεύς δέ πολ
μέρη της Ελλάδος κατέκλυσεν, ώστε δια
χωρίς οι συνέφυγον εις τά πλησίον ύψη
όρη διέστη, καί τά έκτος Ίσύμοΰ καί Π
λίων δέ έν τήι λάρνακι δια της θαλάσσ
νύκτας (τάς) ίσας τώι Παρνασώι προσ
βόντων έκβάς ύύει Διί φυξίωι.
Prometheus' intervention was eviden
Epicharmus' audience, as is clear from
Pyrrha20, where we see Pyrrha expressi
confidence trickster bent on absconding
the obstructive rôle of Mrs. Noah in me
Epicharmus and Pindar (Ol. 9.49ff, a. 4
myth of the great flood which Deuk
importation from the east does not f
Central Greece22, and it is uncertain w
there is no justification for supposing t
the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women23. But

20 The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 25 (London 1959) 2

Pickard-Cambridge, Dithyramb, Tragedy and
265-268. Α λάρναξ (the word regularly used f
and its roofing discussed. F 51 would suit rath
Lobel believed it came from a différent roll fr
there is enough différence in the hands to req
noting a more objective criterion: the line-spac
the same". We might wonder whether Promet
(Birds 1494ff.) reflects his portrayal in Epichar
21 This may be more than coïncidence. Late m
Swedish, and Slavonic sources, présent Noah's
building of the ark; it has been argued that thes
re-interpreted in a Gnostic myth related b
Pearson, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egypti
R. Woolf, The English Mystery Plays (Londo
seines Bruders und seiner Frau (Abh. Ak. Wiss
22 Most obviously, the mountainous terrain m
G. S. Kirk, The Nature of Greek Myths (Harm
23 Cf. M. L. West, The Hesiodic Catalogue of
Deukalion and Pyrrha created a new race of m
the sequel to the flood in Pindar and later, bu
stories of men being created from ants for Aiak
présupposé a prior cataclysm. The flood story
heroes. According to the Works and Days, of
 134 Stephanie West

Epicharmus in the early fifth Cent

jPFs flrst audience as a matter o
interpret Prometheus' words as an a
play.
The close relationship of Deukalion's flood to Noah's was early noted24.
But for over a Century it has been clear that we must go further east to gain a
proper view of the Deluge narrative in Genesis (6.1 ff), which we now know to
represent a monotheistic adaptation of Mesopotamian legend25. This is best
preserved in the eleventh tablet of the early seventh-century twelve-tablet text
of the Ε pic of Gilgamesh from Assurbanipal's palace library at Nineveh, and
since its discovery this version has held the limelight, though incorporation in
the narrative of Gilgamesh's exploits entailed some abridgement of the flood
story at beginning and end, in order to focus on the process by which its
survivor, Ut-napishtim, achieved immortality26. As it is the better preserved, it
will be convenient to consider this version before the earlier and fuller treat
ment offered in the text conventionally named after its hero, Atrahasis.
In Gilgamesh the Flood story is given as first-person narrative (Xl.lff.):
Ut-napishtim spoke to him, to Gilgamesh,
'Let me reveal to you a closely guarded matter, Gilgamesh,
And let me tell you the secret of the gods.
Shuruppak is a city that you yourself know,
Situated [on the bank of] the Euphrates.
That city was already old when the gods within it
Decided that the great gods should make a flood.

They bound themselves with an oath of secrecy, but Ea warned his protégé
Ut-napishtim indirectly, through the susurration of the reeds from which his
hut was made.

Catalogue knows no such scheme. In Fl the heroes' world is described in terms similar to
Hesiod's Golden Race, as if they were the first men. The poet seems either not to have known
the flood story, or to have excluded it." Similarly Kirk (JHS 92, 1972, 79) sees an indication of
fairly late importation in the story's poor intégration in the total mythological context. Caduff
(op. cit. [n. 6] 100, 131) traces to the Hesiodic Catalogue an epicism in Apollodorus' account
("in dessen Darstellung der Sage geht eine Formulierung eindeutig auf eine hexametrische
Vorlage zurück, die nur die Kataloge sein kann") διά xfjç θαλάσσης φερόμενος ( έφ' ) ημέρας
έννέα και νύκτας (τάς) ΐσας, cf. Od. 7.253, 9.82f., 10.28f., 12.447, 14.314; Horn. Hy. Apoll.
91 ff., Hy. Cer. 47ff. The inference seems rather precarious.
24 Cf. Philo, De praemiis et poenis 23: τούτον Έλληνες μεν Δευκαλίωνα, Χαλδαΐοι δέ Νώε
έπονομάζουσιν, έφ' ού τόν μέγαν κατακλυσμόν συνέβη γενέσθαι. See further Caduff, op. cit.
(n. 6) 31-35.
25 The divergences between the two narratives combined in Gen. 6-9 well illustrate the variety
of mythic traditions circulating in the ancient Near East.
26 See further S. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (Oxford 1989) 39-47; the geographical spread
of tablets preserving parts of this text is wide, and versions in Hittite and Hurrian are attested.
For the passages from Gilgamesh and Atrahasis quoted in this article I have used Dr. Dalley's
translation.
 Prometheus Orientalized 135

"Dismantle your house, build a boat

Leave possessions, search out living
Reject chatteis and save lives!
Put aboard the seed of all living thing
The boat that you are to build
Shall have her dimensions in propor
Her width and length shall be in harm
Roof her like the Apsu."27

Ea's communication is confined to wh

explanation is ο fie red. Ut-napishtim an
zens; he is told to say that Ellil, the chief
he must go down to the Apsu and sta
assisted by his fellow-citizens he builds a
with silver, gold, "the seed of all living
open country, wild beasts from open c
storm lasts for seven days, and terrifies
can no longer bring them offerings, hun
pitiable condition (XI iii):
The gods cowered, like dogs crouch
Ishtar screamed like a woman giving
The gods, humbled, sat there weepin
Their lips were closed and covered w

Seven days after the rain ceased Ut-nap

waters had receded, sending out, succe
the first two birds returned, but the rav
did not turn round"29. He then disembar
(XI iii-iv)30:
The gods smelt the pleasant fragrance
The gods like flies gathered over the s

27 Apsu: the domain of fresh water below the ea

28 Ut-napishtim may be thought improbably we
obviously been some carelessness in Converting
29 In Genesis (8.6-12) Noah sends out a raven,
second time with "an olive leaf pluckt off; so N
earth"; the third time it "returned not again u
looks as if it belongs to a différent version from
the Sibylline Oracles (1.242-256) Noah sends o
öpvtv (presumably a raven). According to Plu
formed a similar test, with a dove.
30 Again, like Noah (Gen. 8.20) and Deukalion (A
re-establishes normal relations.
 136 Stephanie West

When Ellil arrived and saw the bo

must have betrayed the plan, and

said to the warrior Ellil,

"Who other than Ea would hav
For Ea can do everything!"

Ea protests against the arbitrary

dentally revealing that the décisio
wickedness:

"You are the sage of the gods, warrior,

So how, Ο how, could you fail to consult, and impose the flood?
Punish the sinner for his sin, punish the criminal for his crime,
But ease off, let work not cease; be patient...
I did not disclose the secret of the great gods,
I just showed Atrahasis32 a dream, and thus he heard the secret
of the gods."
Now the advice (that prevailed) was his advice.

The Störy ends happily, with Ellil's gift of immortality to Ut-napishtim

and his wife, who are taken to "dwell far off, at the mouth of the rivers".
On internal evidence it was obvious that adaptation to its context in
Gilgamesh had entailed some abridgement of the flood story; the antécédents
and conséquences of the Deluge are related more fully in Atrahasis, from which
we learn that this was in fact the third (and last) divine attempt to extirpate the
human race33. The principal text of this Strange early history of mankind was
written (i.e. presumably compiled and arranged) by the scribe Nur-Aya under
Ammi-saduqa, king of Babylon from 1702 to 168234; but several exemplars
were available in Assurbanipal's library, and one tablet was found at Ras
Shamra in Ugarit.

31 Cf. the divine reassurances of Genesis (8.2lf., 9.11-17) that there will be no répétition of the
Deluge, implying an acknowledgment that it was too drastic a measure.
32 Atrahasis, "extra wise", here simply an epithet of Ut-napishtim. (It has been suggested that
Prometheus is a Greek translation of Atrahasis, see Dalley, op. cit. [n. 26] 12f., Duchemin,
Prométhée 38f., but this guess does not seem to me very helpful.) We did not hear anything
about a dream when Ut-napishtim related Ea's warning, but presumably we are meant to infer
that Ea alerted him in a dream to attend to the message to be conveyed via the wall of his hut.
33 For Atrahasis see Dalley, op. cit. (n. 26) lff; Burkert's discussion (op. cit. [η. 1] 88-91,
100-106) is very valuable.
34 The careful colophon giving this information offers a striking and instructive contrast to the
haphazard practices characteristic of Greek book production. But some elements of the
Babylonian colophon passed to the Greek world via Aramaic practice; see further C. Wendel,
Die griechisch-römische Buchbeschreibung verglichen mit der des vorderen Orients (Halle
1949) 1-12, H. Hunger, Babylonische und assyrische Kolophone, Kevelaer 1968.
 Prometheus Orientalized 137

The opening taies us back before man'

primordial situation"35:

When the gods instead of man

Did the work, bore the loads,
The gods' load was too great,
The work too hard, the trouble too muc
The great Anunnaki made the Igigi
Carry the workload sevenfold ...
The gods had to dig out canals,
Had to clear Channels, the lifelines of th
They were counting the years of loads.
For 3,600 years they bore the excess,
Hard work, night and day.

Eventually they down tools, and in an

tural unrest Ellil hears their protest (I iii):

"Every single one of us gods declared w

We have put [a stop] to the digging.
The load is excessive, it is killing us!
Our work is too hard, the trouble too m
So every single one of us gods
Has agreed to complain to Ellil."

Ea is sympathetic (I iv); he proposes th

should create a man:

"Let man bear the load of the gods!'

The womb-goddess is prepared to undertake this task in collaboration

with Ea, and the first human-beings (seven males and seven females) are cre
ated from clay mingled with the flesh and blood of a slain god36. Men must be
made sufficiently like the rebellious gods to perform the latters' duties, but
sufficiently différent to be discouraged from claiming equal privilèges37. It is
absolutely clear that man's place in the kosmos is characterized by work, and it
is his task to provide for the gods (who come to dépend on human offerings).
The new labour-force (I vii)

35 Burkert, op. cit. (η. 1) 88.

36 Similarly Enuma Elish (The Epie of Création) VI (Dalley, op. cit. [n. 26] 260f.). Mesopotamian
gods, unlike Greek, can be killed by violence, though not subject to natural death.
37 Cf. J. Bottéro/S. N. Kramer, Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme: mythologie mésopota
mienne (Paris 1989) 580f.
 138 Stephanie West

Made new picks and spades,

Made big canals
To feed people and sustain the g

(gap of about 13 lines)

600 years, less than 600, passed,

And the country became too wid
The country was as noisy as a be
The God grew restless at their rac
Ellil had to listen to their noise.
He addressed the great gods,
"The noise of mankind has become too much,
I am losing sleep over their racket."38

Ihis introduces the first of three attempts ol increasing senousness to

annihilate men, flrst by fever, then by famine, and lastly (and almost success
fully) by flood. But Ea gives clever advice to his protégé Atrahasis39 (evidently
a figure of some authority), so that by playing the gods off against one another
the human species is able to survive. It is simplest the first time. A new temple
is built for Namtara the plague god, and special offerings are brought to him
alone; the god, naturally influenced by such flattery, ends the plague. Next time
it is harder. At first, when Ellil bans rain, Adad the storm god can be played off
similarly; he sends abundant dew, so that the crops grow plentifully. But when
Ellil calls the gods to order and a closer watch is kept, there is desperate
starvation (II v):

When the sixth year arrived

They served up a daughter for a meal,
Served up a son for food ...
Only one or two households were left.

Again, Ea managed to suggest to Atrahasis a counter-measure without

technically violating his oath, though it meant trouble with his fellow-gods.
Having twice been frustrated in his genocidal scheme Ellil resolved to send the
flood, and the story proceeds on the lines familiar from Gilgamesh. We are not
told what happened to Ea's protégé once his sacrifice had satisfled the gods'
hunger. Instead, we hear about the divine Council, at which Ea, after defending
his défiance of the gods' décision, proposes measures for population control,

38 Similarly, near the beginning of Enuma Elish (Dalley, op. cit. [η. 26] 233f.) the rowdiness of
the younger gods leads Apsu to plan their destruction; but his scheme is frustrated by Ea, who
in due course is responsible for the triumph of Marduk.
39 The special relationship between clever god and clever man may remind us of that between
Athena and Odysseus (or between Hermes and Autolycus, Od. 19.395-398).
 Prometheus Orientalized 139

including perinatal mortality and the est

attached to temples and debarred from c
The parallel between Ea's role and th
man race from extinction by surrepti
undeniable41. If Prometheus' own refe
suggests a bolder move than stealthy adv
oning human interests in a divine Counci
his plan has been frustrated and has to b
the vulnerable survivors43. Zeus' ag
62,944), a comment perhaps on the ski
persuaded the Olympians that moderat
of divine interests and that the extirp
tages.
Plato's Aristophanes {Symp. 190c) indicates that for Greek gods as for
Mesopotamian the cessation of sacrifice would be seen as the most serious of
such disadvantages, though its honorific aspect is clearly regarded as far more
important than its nutritional value; Ovid's Olympians (Met. 1.246-249) take a

40 W. G. Lambert, «The Theology of Death. Death in Mesopotamia», in: B. Alster (ed.), Papers
from the Twenty-sixth Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Mesopotamia, 8 (Copenhagen
1980) 53-66, argues that Ea's proposais also included the introduction of natural death by
aging. (A réduction of the human lifespan to 120 years immediately précédés the flood in
Genesis 6.3, perhaps implying a similar association of ideas.)
41 Cf. Caduff, op. cit. (η. 6) 13 lf., 215f., 280.
42 If the flood-hero made no provision for preserving more than his immédiate family, it would be
difficult to prove that he had not acted on his own initiative (as in Ovid, Met. 1.313ÎT.); if
Prometheus' instructions to Deukalion did not go beyond what is implied in Apollodorus (see
above, p. 132f.), his intervention would not have entailed too much risk to himself. The Meso
potamian narratives involve the construction of immense vessels designed to accommodate "all
the seed of living things" (cf. Lucian's account of the flood, Syr. D. 12), in themselves incontro
vertible evidence that their builders had reliable advance warning of the Coming cataclysm.
43 Cf. Α. Kleingünther, ΠΡΩΤΟΣ ΕΥΡΕΤΗΣ (Leipzig 1933) 77 η. 20. The apparent inconsis
tency between Prometheus' claim to have stood alone in opposing Zeus' plan (234) and his
tribute to Oceanus' support (330f.) may be explained by reference to différent stages in the
process which insured mankind's continuance. Düring the actual flood the addition of the
ground-water controlled by Oceanus to abnormally heavy précipitation would have stacked
the odds even more severely against the survival of Deukalion (his grandson). (In the Mesopo
tamian flood stories all the water comes from above, the ground-water being Ea's province; by
contrast, in Genesis 7.11 "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and
the windows of heaven were opened"; cf. Lucian, Syr. D. 12 αύτίκα ή γι) πολλόν ϋδωρ
έκδιδοι). At 330f. Prometheus pays tribute to his father-in-law's non-co-operation in Zeus'
anti-human policy; his vehement opposition to Oceanus' wish to intercède on his behalf
should surely be taken as stemming from a realization that Oceanus' impunity dépends on
Zeus' assuming that his earlier inactivity was unconnected with Prometheus' scheme, simply
a matter of sluggishness or remoteness from the centre of government. Oceanus had no place
on Olympus (Homer, II. 20.7, finds his absence from divine Councils entirely natural), and
when the question of mankind's survival came up for discussion Prometheus could not have
expected his father-in-law to attend to second his defence; Oceanus had done ail that he could
be required to do as an accomplice.
 140 Stephanie West

similar view44. But this is not the l

services is well set out by Lucian
(Prom. 14): ότι δέ και χρήσιμα ταύτ
εί έπιβλέψειας άπασαν την γήν
πόλεσι και γεωργίαις και φυτοΐς ή
πλεομένην και τάς νήσους κατοικο
καί ναούς και πανηγύρεις.
As in Atrahasis mankind is her
serve the gods45. We might wond
here revives an argument which
Deukalion and Pyrrha: were Zeus t
différent race (233), there would be
création achieved a similar level o
of human development offered in
tance a new race would not be ab
savagery.
We have, in fact, a further significant similarity between Ea and the
Aeschylean Prometheus, in that both are credited with almost exclusive re
sponsibility for mankind's cultural advance. Here we see a fundamental dif
férence from the Hesiodic trickster, as the Titan surveys the various aspects of
civilization which men owe to him, concluding with justified pride (506) πδσαι
τέχναι βροτοϊσιν έκ Προμηύέως.
Many discussions obscure the peculiarities of this passage by stressing its
apparent affinities with other fifth-century treatments of man's technical and
intellectual advance. E. R. Dodds well emphasised its pre-sophistic features
and archaic anthropology: "There is no attempt to mark the stages of évolu
tion, no récognition of the décisive influence of the food-producing techniques
(cattle-herding and agriculture), no reference to the origins of communal life.

44 The gods' anxiety over deprivation of their food supply is of course central to Aristophanes'
Birds (cf. Plutus 1099ff), see further below n. 84. The theme is most effectively reworked in
Lucian's Juppiter Tragoedus (cf. Icar. 32, Tim. 7, 9); see further R. Bracht Branham, Unruly
Eloquence (Cambridge, Mass. 1989) 163-177.
45 A decidedly non-Greek conception (even if it has something in common with the Piatonic
view of mankind as the gods' possession, κτήμα θεών και δαιμόνων (Legg. 906a, cf. Phd.
62b-d); see further F. Graf, Greek Mythology: an Introduction (translated by T. Marier,
Baltimore/London 1993) 91. Was Lucian influenced by non-Greek traditions here? He also
offers a parallel to the memorably gruesome picture of hungry gods gathered like flies around
a sacrifice (Gilgamesh XI iii, quoted above, Atrahasis III ν): καν μέν ύύηι τις, εύωχοΰνται
πάντες έπικεχηνότες τώι κάπνωι και τό αίμα πίνοντες τοις βωμοΐς προσχεόμενον ώσπερ αί
μυΐαι (Sacr. 9). In view of the very wide earlier diffusion of Gilgamesh (including versions in
Hittite and Hurrian) we might consider the possibility that Aramaic versions were also produ
ced, and known to Lucian. His idea that Homer was originally a Babylonian ( VU 2.20) is
generally treated as simply a wild flight of fancy; but many scholars have detected the in
fluence of Gilgamesh on the Iliad and Odyssey, and Lucian was quite shrewd enough to have
reasoned similarly if he knew something about the Babylonian epic.
 Prometheus Orientalized 141

Technology takes a very minor place:

tradition associated especially with Prom
or too banal ... The science on which h
divination, lovingly described in all it
theus' gifts have effected a général int
from a dreamlike confusion (443f., 4
systematic progress, but of the conveya
handed over in an already developed f
facets of civilized life as his personal ach
fied individual and collective endeavour
indeed, of the advances which he men
fire48, while practically all the specia
elsewhere ascribed to other gods or men
are certainly to be understood as bénéf
φιλανθρωπία50. They have also, of co
which Zeus was minded to destroy.
Assimilation to Ea/Enki would account for Prometheus' élévation to a
universal culture hero. "Ea was a master craftsman, patron of all the arts and
crafts, and endowed with a wisdom and cunning that myths and stories do not
tire of extolling."51 In Sumerian mythology Enki is presented "as an active,
productive Organizer and administrator who originates and opérâtes the cul
turel processes essential to civilization, and does so creatively and resource
fully"52. Inherent in this view of the god was "the belief in the existence from
46 The Ancient Concept ofProgress (Oxford 1973) 5f.; cf. Kleingünther, op. cit. (η. 43) 66 η. 3:
"Die 'Kulturtheorie' im Prometheus v. 442-506 steht ganz für sich und unterscheidet sich
durchaus von den späteren 'sophistischen'." J. Ebach, Weltentstehung und Kulturentwicklung
bei Philo von Byblos (Stuttgart/Berlin/Köln/Mainz 1979) 376-383, offers a suggestive com
parison with the technogony of Philo of Byblos, which likewise omits ceramics.
47 Contrast Xenophanes (B 18 DK) ούτοι άπ' άρχής πάντα θεοί ύνητοΐς ύπέδειξαν, αλλά χρόνωι
ζητοΰντες έφευρίσκουσιν άμεινον; see further Α. Tulin, «Xenophanes Fr. 18.D-K. and the
origins of the idea of progress», Hermes 121 (1993) 129-138.
48 It might be argued that everything which distinguishes civilization from savagery (social and
intellectual as well as technical developments) stems ultimately from mastery of fire; cf. Horn.
Hy.Heph. 1-4, Lucr. 5.1011 ff.; Diod. Sic. 1.8; Vitruv. 33.16ff.; see also E. Panofsky, Studies in
Iconology (Oxford 1939) 40-57; but such a thesis is scarcely self-evident, and cannot be
regarded as a natural assumption for a fifth-century Attic audience.
49 See further C. B. Gulick, «The Attic Prometheus», HSCPh 10 (1899) 103-114.
50 G. F. Schoemann (Des Aeschylos Gefesselter Prometheus, Greifswald 1844, 50-54) argued
eloquently that Prometheus' gifts, serving only to improve mankind's material existence, were
to be understood as positively harmful: "Er hat die Menschen klug gemacht, bevor sie gut
waren, hat ihnen durch die Klugheit Mittel gegeben, ihre niederen Bedürfnisse zu befriedigen,
bevor sie die Ahndung höherer hatten"; for a similarly gloomy view of Prometheus' gifts see
K. McNamee, PP 40 (1985) 405f. But if the audience was meant to question the bénéficiai
effects of Prometheus' instruction, we should expect some guidance from the chorus (cf.
Griffith's notes on 472-475, 500-503).
51 A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia (rev. ed., Chicago 1977) 195.
52 Kramer/Maier, op. cit. (n. 5) 38; see further Reallex. d. Assyriologie s.v. Enki.
 142 Stephanie West

time primordial of a fundamental, u

powers and duties, norms and stand
relating to the cosmos and its comp
countries, and to the varied aspects
impression of Sumerian urban civili
transfer of me by Enki to the goddes
following brief sample: "I will give to
not be disputed: the craft of the carp
craft of the scribe, the craft of the s
craft of the fuller, the craft of the bu
Prometheus' speech we are given an
practices and skills transferred by the
It is of course taken for granted t
blessing56.
A Mesopotamian model in the background might explain some slightly
puzzling features of Prometheus' catalogue. The peculiar importance assigned
to divination, though appropriate to Prometheus' rôle as an intermediary be
tween gods and men57, seems more in accordance with Mesopotamian views
than with Greek. Perhaps more significant is the praise of script specifically for
its function in preserving literature (460f.): γραμμάτων τε συνύέσεις, μνήμην
απάντων, μουσομήτορ' έργάνην: contrast Euripides, Palamedes F 578, where
the Utility of writing for overseas correspondence, wills, and contracts is high
lighted. The association of script with poetry, and by extension with the trans
mission of a traditional cultural legacy, is well illustrated by the opening of
Gilgamesh (I i 22ff), where the reader is told to "Look for the copper tablet

53 Kramer/Maier, op. cit. 57. On the me see further G. Farber-Flügge, Der Mythos "Inanna und
Enki" unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Liste der me (Rome 1973).
54 Ibid. 62.

55 We get a similar impression of a multipurpose package handed over ready for use with
Oannes' gift to primordial man of πάντα τά προς ήμέρωσιν ανήκοντα βίου as narrated by
Berossus (FGrHist 680 F 1); άπό δέ του χρόνου έκείνου ούδέν άλλο περισσόν εύρεΟήναι.
56 We find an interesting exploration of the view that technical advance involves moral regress
in Enoch 6-10 (apparently early second Century B.C.), where fallen angels (the Watchers)
corrupt mankind by revealing heavenly secrets (weapon technology, the manufacture of je
wellery and cosmetics, magic, astrology, astronomy, and meteorology); the flood follows, as
the only remedy for human depravity. Welcker, soon after the publication of an English
translation of the Ethiopie version of Enoch, previously thought to have been lost, drew
attention to its possible relevance here (Die aeschyleische Trilogie Prometheus, Darmstadt
1824, 79-82), but the question is complex; it is not clear whether Enoch's hostility to tech
nology represents a reaction to Greek ideas or a more ancient tradition.
57 Men could be helped through the diviner's skill, while gods would benefit from the sacrifices
which human beings would be ordered to make by their diviners; for an interesting West
African parallel see R. Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa (Oxford 1970) 191 f. The advantages
to be gained from reliable knowledge of the future are of course highly relevant to Prome
theus' own situation.
 Prometheus Orientalized 143

box, / Undo its bronze look, / Open the

lazuli tablet and read it"58. In Greek this
only is script now to do Mnemosyne
supreme function59. We should at all e
Prometheus' gifts to men. Of the two
mind when Prometheus predicts that hi
advance (254) ceramics are omitted an
to mining60.
Along with the development of Pro
benefactor of mankind we see his status
Hesiodic precursor (a figure too marg
Hesiod (Th. 507-510) Prometheus is me
the otherwise unknown Klymene; he is t
Themis/Gaia (18,209f.) and by implic
himself a Titan62, and Zeus' uncle. His g
and makes crédible his claim to have a
on a secure footing and in ordering th
439-441). Against this background we
gestion that one day his power might
suggests assimilation to Ea/Enki, whos
panthéon is sufficiently exemplified by
transformation of Hesiod's petty trickst
scale, an enemy to give Zeus pause"63
character of the ruler of the universe f
a ruthless and arbitrary despot64, th

58 In Berossus' version of the flood story (FGrHist

the first measure to be taken by the flood-h
πάντων αρχάς και μέσα και τελευτάς όρύξαντ
structing a suitable vessel. After the Deluge th
which presumably are supposed to contain the
civilized life.
59 See further Winnington-Ingram's excellent discussion, op. cit. (n. 12) 182 n. 21. It is perhaps
relevant that the Interpreters and translators of the Assyrian empire are likely to have been
drawn from the professional scribes, whose training involved familiarization with their lit
erary classics; see further Wendel, op. cit. (n. 34) 94.
60 Though cf. 714 σιδηροτέκτονες Χάλυβες.
61 It is conventional to compare Biblical Japheth (Ίαπεύ LXX Ge. 5.32 etc.), but it is hard to see
what to make of the apparent resemblance: see further M. L. West on Hes. Th. 134.
62 The significance of Prometheus' status as a Titan is well brought out by K. Reinhardt,
Aischylos als Regisseur und Theologe (Bern 1949) 30-48. The modern connotations of
"titanic" surely reflect the influence of this play.
63 Griffith, op. cit. (n. 5) 9.
64 Cf. Dodds, op. cit. (n. 46) 33: "Far from attempting to whitewash Zeus, Aeschylus appears ...
to have gone out of his way to exhibit him in the most unfavourable light. All that he has
added to the Hesiodic tradition - Prometheus' new status as son of Themis, the goddess of
 144 Stephanie West

ciliation with our Champion Shel

quel65.
It has been on the whole taken for granted that the dramatist was responsi
ble for the exaltation of Prometheus and for its less attractive corollary, the
brutalization of Zeus. But if assimilation to the Mesopotamian Ea provides a
convincing explanation for the most significant différences between the He
siodic and the Aeschylean Prometheus, the process is more easily envisaged at
a period when the Greeks were more réceptive to influence from their Near
Eastern neighbours; the fifth Century saw a marked hardening of Greek, and
particularly of Attic, préjudice against non-Greeks66. I shall not discuss in
detail the logistics of such eastern influence; it is no longer widely assumed that
Oriental-Greek communication in the archaic age was confined to a single
Channel debouching in Hesiod. The divine patron of technical and intellectual
skills (including divination) might be expected to hold a particular appeal for
the itinérant specialists (δημιοεργοί) who, as Burkert has persuasively argued,
must have played an important part in disseminating Near Eastern ideas and
practices during the orientalizing Century (750-650)67, the period of Assyrian
conquest, widespread Phoenician commerce, and Greek exploration. But we
have no reason to assume that such influence ceased in the mid-seventh Cen
tury, and the lack of attestation to the Flood Störy in Greek legend before the
fifth Century68 might argue against an early date for Prometheus' assumption
of the role of mankind's crafty saviour. It should be stressed that the Mesopo
tamian flood story was very widely diffused; we are not dealing with material
which might appear atypical if we were better informed69. We may reckon with
a wide spectrum of transmission, and the absorption of the Flood story into
Greek legend and poetic tradition might well have been a graduai and multi
farious process70. Certainly Hellenic habits of equating foreign gods with

Justice, and as inventor of ail arts and sciences, his services to Zeus in the war against the
Titans, and his frustration of the plan to destroy mankind, not to mention the Io scene - ail
this tends to exalt the character of Prometheus and to blacken that of his divine adversary."
65 Préfacé to Prometheus Unbound (1818/19).
66 See further E. Hall, Inventing the Barbarian (Oxford 1989) esp. 1-69.
67 Burkert, op. cit. (η. 1) esp. 9-33. We might compare the rôle of such itinérant specialists as
icon-painters, cobblers, and pedlars in disseminating Märchen: see further J. Bolte/G. Po
livka, Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Gebrüder Grimm iv (Leipzig 1930)
6.
68 See above, n. 23.
69 On the dissémination of the flood story see Dalley, op. cit. (η. 26) 3-8. J. H. Tigay, The
Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epie (Philadelphia 1982) 249, well points out that the narrative
could answer various literary purposes: "The flood story, presumably told in the first place
because of its intrinsic interest, and serving in Atrahasis to explain the origin of infant
mortality and other problems, is used in the epic to help explain why the gods' gift of
immortality to Utnapishtim is not repeatable."
70 See further R. Mondi in L. Edmunds (ed.), Approaches to Greek Myth (Baltimore/London
1990) 150.
 Prometheus Orientalized 145

Greek would have met with no résistance trom Near bastern înlormants". 1 he
identification of Ea with Prometheus might not be absolutely satisfactor
since the former's rôle as god of the subterranean waters belonged to Oceanus
while Mesopotamian theology appears to have attached little importance t
mastery of fire. But these inconcinnities would not be a serious objection to t
équation72.
Our reading of the PV must be significantly affected if we view its appa
rently distinctive présentation of Prometheus and Zeus as part of a tradit
thoroughly familiar to the play's first audience, a well established version
the events which shaped the world; what might otherwise have been fou
shocking or blasphemous needed no further apology if it could be shown that
the poet was following tradition73. That tradition was, I assume, to be found
poetry. Xenophanes, in his precepts for the proper conduct of the symposium
bears witness to the popularity of Titanomachic and related themes (1.19f

άνδρών δ' αίνεΐν τούτον δς έσΰλά πιών άναφαίνει,

ώς ήι μνημοσύνη και τόνος άμφ' αρετής,
οΰ τι μάχας διέπειν Τιτήνων ούδέ Γιγάντων
ούδέ ( ) Κενταύρων, πλάσμα (τα) των προτέρων,
ή στάσιας σφεδανάς- τοις ούδέν χρηστόν ένεστιν·
δεών (δέ) προμηδείην αίέν έχειν άγαδήν74.
Xenophanes may of course have known several poetic treatments of th
rébellion against the Titans, but it does not seem a very promising theme for
amateur extemporization, and it is worth a closer look at the epic which

71 See further W. von Soden, Einfiihrung in die Altorientalistik (Darmstadt21992) 172 on Ak

dian Gleichsetzungstheologie. The custom of establishing correspondences between the go
of différent nations was generally accepted around the Mediterranean world (with the si
nificant exception of the Jews).
72 A further important similarity between Ea and Prometheus is their responsibility for th
création of man (see above, p. 137, for Ea's part in the création of man in Atrahasis; in Enuma
Elish he acts in co-operation with Marduk). Prometheus is not attested in this role before t
fourth Century, though it is tempting to suppose that the idea was long familiar; it seem
implicit in Aristophanes' reference to men as πλάσματα πηλοΰ (Birds 686) (cf., perhap
Aesch. Inc. fab. F 369 Radt) and concern for his handiwork provides a natural motive for
Prometheus' φιλανθρωπία. See further W. Kraus, «Prometheus», RE 23.1 (1957) II 26 (c. 6
698).
73 For the ancient critical assumption that poets had every right to follow tradition and could
thus be exculpated from apparent blasphemy cf. Sch. bT on II. 5.385: επίτηδες μύθους συλ
λέξας Διώνηι περιτίύησιν ό ποιητής, δι' ών τής οικείας απολύεται βλασφημίας ώς ού και
νίσας, άλλα παλαιαϊς παραδόσεσι πεισθείς; Sch. A on II. 19.108: τό μέν ουν όλον μυύώδες·
και γαρ ούδ' άφ' αύτοΰ ταΰτά φησιν Όμηρος ούδέ γινόμενα εισάγει, άλλ' ώς διαδεδομένων
περί τήν 'Ηρακλέους γένεσιν μέμνηται; see further D. C. Feeney, The Gods in Epie (Oxford
1991)41.
74 θεών: χρεών ci. H. Frankel, Early Greek Poetry and Philosophy (Oxford 1975) 327 n. 1. It is
interesting that Xenophanes, who dismisses stories of Titans, Giants and Centaurs as fabrica
tions, also expresses rationalist views about human progress: see above, n. 47.

10 Museum Helveticum
146 Stephanie West

pears to have covered all the th

Titanomachia75 variously ascrib
Corinth; this uncertainty over its
to "anonymous". Its few, tantalizin
ground than its title suggests76, f
labours of Herakles. The rising of
measures by which Zeus establis
ful suppression of the Giants' revo
supporting a very wide range of l
for his vital assistance in the Gi
conclusion; but we cannot form
scope, and (probably rather addit
Nearly 150 years ago Welcker, u
to Prometheus in the fragments
epic had been the inspiration of th
on the fragments relating to Chir
διάδοχος των σων πόνων (1027)
the end of Prometheus' torment
story in Apollodorus (2.5.4; PV 102
an incurable wound from one o
die, surrendered his immortality
(somewhat questionable) combin
metheus must also have figured

75 For a useful brief account see M. D

detailed discussion see F. G. Welcker, D
"Titanomachia", in: Studi in onore di L
zur antiken Literatur und ihrem Nachw
Kampf der Götter und Titanen (Olten/
76 Titles for literary works were a fifth
frequently rather haphazard; loose désign
work in question, were enough; see fur
borg 1941).
77 F 8 Davies is cited from Book 2, but
sichtlich dürfen wir uns das Werk vorst
appears to be the source of various tales
15.185-193), but its relationship to the
quite uncertain.
78 Loc. cit. (η. 75). Xenophanes' προμηύεί
79 Gigon, op cit. (n. 75) xix, argued th
insubstantial. F 9 is assigned to the Γι
Titanomachia is meant. Confusion of
Eur. Hec. 466-474, with schol. on 471. I
explained by a lack of interest in exact
80 On the difficulties of this interprétat
is almost certainly meant.
 Prometheus Orientalized 147

out81, the case for Herakles' inclusion

citation by Philodemus, which was not
watch kept on the apples of the Hesp
except in connection with an attempt t
kles; this, in turn, suggests that Herakle
the poem's allusion to the Sun's λέβης
So far, however, we lack any direct e
in the epic which, Welcker argued, "den
das mächtigste und tiefsinnigste Werk
tete"82. His reconstruction must appear a
much about the play becomes more eas
the dramatist could présupposé in his aud
of Prometheus' Störy other than Hesio
our requirements; it is not easy to spe
suppose that it also lies behind Aristop
pus, and, in particular, suggested Promet
Xenophanes, as we have seen, singles
subject-matter characteristic of the Tit
Century it had come to seem crude an
immune to death lacks heroic quality;
mortals almost inevitably loses credibi
exultation of victory over the Titans Z
πατήρ ανδρών τε ι)εών τε87. No words
tion of the god's youthful vigour so im
sculptures from the west pediment of

81 Op. cit. (η. 75) 94.

82 Op. cit. (n. 75)418. Marx's enthusiasm for thc
further S. S. Prawer, Karl Marx and World Lit
83 Cf. Wilamowitz, op. cit. (n. 7) 121, 132.
84 On Aristophanes' use of thèmes from the Tit
Mythos und Komödie: Untersuchungen zu den
desheim 1976) esp. 79-90, 119-139.
85 We may view Zeus' wooing of lo more toleran
by Kronos' Strange union with Philyra (F 9).
86 Cf. Longin 9.7-8. Milton's narrative of the wa
the problem ("The book in which it is related
gradually neglected as knowledge is increased
Poets: Milton 258). However Raphael préfacés h
prétation (5.571-574): "What surmounts the reac
likening spiritual to corporal forms, / As may
87 Cf. Pamprep. 4.13: Zfjva γ]ιγαντοφόνοιο κυβερ
Zeus of the Iliad dancing" (J. Griffin, JHS 97,
able to the Olympians' triumph over the senior
mature and secure in his supremaey; this extrao
plifying the différence between the Cyclic epic
148 Stephanie West

580)88, where the beardless god, id

thunderbolt, attacks a much large
as Kronos (τα πριν δέ πελώρια ν
surprising if the classical period f
But the old poem was not altogeth
subject-matter may be supposed to
actually read it.
The exercise of vast power by
thority might well, despite laud
able from malevolent cruelty; bu
nate in a fïfth-century mind. Wil
to the play's problematic theolog
Vischer flir die Grausamkeiten d
war der liebe Gott selbst noch jun
Jewish gods following a preced
panthéon. Noah's God is certain
and Coming to terms with human
be a récurrent assurance that th
unpeopled by a further deluge {G
acts of philanthropie subversion f
pation of mankind was not as g
this is a basic feature of the flood
ble for the deluge. παύών δέ τε νή
would learn with the passage of ti
has been much debate as to whe
capable of moral development91. T
young and new to raie encourag
férence, and the best antidote to
based on terror and violence, as
tion that, whatever Zeus was on

88 So M. Robertson, A History of GreekA

proposed by Dörig (Dörig/Gigon, op.ci
the Titanomachy rather than the Gigan
89 David, after the capture of Jerusalem
wife Michal "saw king David leaping an
her heart" (2 Sam. 6.14; 16). In the Gno
joins with his disciples in mystical son
given in the canonical Gospels, see W. S
bingen s1989) 166-168; J. K. Elliott, Th
the passage inspired Holst's Hymn of J
90 Op. cit. (η. 7) 150. Lucian's Timon ob
energetic in his punishment of sinners
91 See further H. Lloyd-Jones, The Just
244-246; JHS 76 (1956) 55-67 = Greek
(where references to earlier discussions
 Prometheus Orientalized 149

the protector of suppliants and strangers,

supremacy.
Prosecution of the case against the PVs authenticity has drawn attention
to numerous technical weaknesses, and we might wonder whether its author
was over-ambitious92. Grander subject-matter was hardly conceivable, but
supernatural characters présent more intractable problems to the dramatist
than to the narrative poet93. But whatever the play's defects, the Aeschylean
Prometheus has held a long-lasting and widespread appeal to the imagination
of later writers. The hybridization of the Mesopotamian god of wisdom and
the Hesiodic trickster was to prove extraordinarily fruitful.

92 On the assumption that the play results from another's realization of an originally Aeschylean
conception, we might wonder whether Aeschylus was deterred from developing his idea by a
just appréciation of its hazards.
93 Milton had once seen in the subject-matter of Paradise Lost material for a drama; the Trinity
College Cambridge MS contains four drafts of an outline, written perhaps in 1640, see Para
dise Lost ed. Alastair Fowler (Harlow 1971) 3-5.