Prometheus in popular culture

Sculpture of Prometheus in front of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center, New York City

The figure of Prometheus from classical mythology has appeared in many examples of popular culture in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In painting

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  Chained Prometheus (1611–12), by Peter Paul Rubens
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  Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan (1623), by Dirck van Baburen
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  Prometheus (1868), by Gustave Moreau
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  Prometheus (1927), by José Clemente Orozco, at Pomona College

In landscape painting

• 
  Prometheus Chained on the Snowy Peaks of the Caucasus by Francesco Foschi (1710–1780)
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  Prometheus Bound by Thomas Cole (1801–1848)

In sculpture

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  Paul Manship, 1933 (Rockefeller Center)
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  Jacques Lipchitz, 1943 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
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  Menashe Kadishman, 1980–87 (Meyerhoff Art Education Center, Tel Aviv)

Television and film

• Prometheus is the name of a space exploration ship and the title of a 2012 science-fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. The film's plot also involves an ancient alien race who were involved in the creation of human life.
• In the science fiction TV Series Stargate_SG-1, the Prometheus is human kind's first interstellar space craft -made possible with technology stolen from the Goa'uld, a parasitic race that enslaves humanity throughout the galaxy by posing as gods.
• Prometheus appears in the eighth season of Supernatural, where protagonists Dean and Sam Winchester help the currently-amnesic Prometheus kill Zeus so that Prometheus can end his curse, which has now passed on to his son Oliver- Oliver dying every day since his seventh birthday-, although Prometheus dies in the process.

Fiction

• Prometheus appears in The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan, where he is a diplomat of the antagonistic Titan Army.

Cartoons and comics

• A Soviet cartoon called Prometheus (Прометей) was created in 1974.
• Prometheus appears in an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series, where protagonist Hercules takes it upon himself to release Prometheus from his punishment, subsequently defending his decision to his father Zeus by arguing that man has proven themselves worthy of Prometheus's gift.

Gaming

• In Portal 2, the tale of Prometheus is used by the oracle turret to foreshadow future events in the game. It recounts how Prometheus was cast into the depths of the earth and pecked by birds. Later, the antagonist/antihero GLaDOS is cast into the deepest levels of the Aperture Science facility and is pecked by a bird.
• The game Bioshock's 12th level is called Point Prometheus.
• In the game God of War II, the protagonist Kratos encounters and frees Prometheus from his eternal torment, in turn gaining the power of the Titans.
• In the Mass Effect game series, the 'Protheans' are an extinct ancient race that are believed to have built the Citadel and mass relays present in the game's lore and known to have uplifted several younger races. Their ruins are the original source of all mass effect and FTL technology for the younger races. Some people believe the species name sounds similar to Prometheus.
• In Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Prometheus is Baofu's ultimate Persona.

Music

• The Norwegian symphonic black metal band Emperor released, in 2001, an album entitled "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise".
• The American Metalcore band Trivium pointed out similarities of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and Prometheus' torment of being eternally tortured in their song "Of Prometheus and The Crucifix".
• The American punk band The Menzingers mention Prometheus in their song "Sir Yes Sir."

External links

• Prometheus a sci-fi movie of Zoltan Deme
• The Post Modern Prometheus a short story by Phillip Donnelly