Prometheus
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Prometheus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pro-me'thus, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the giver of fire to man, and, according to some accounts, the creator of man. His name signifies forethought. He turned against Cronus and the Titans in their great battle with Zeus, enabling the latter to conquer. Zeus now began to arrange the universe to suit himself. First he separated the land from the sea. Then he made the mountains, valleys, and plains, the rivers, lakes, and forests. Here he placed living birds, beasts, and fish, but he was still unsatisfied. Then Prometheus came to his aid again, and, kneading some earth and water together, created man. Later, so the legend runs, he became dissatisfied with the plans of Zeus for the destruction of mortals and the creation of a new race. Prometheus alone in the council of the gods was kind to man. He taught him the primitive arts that render human life possible. He assisted the children of men by conveying fire to them concealed in a hollow reed. For this act of insubordination Zeus caused him to be chained to a rock in the Caucasus, and sent a vulture daily to tear open his vitals. As fast as Prometheus healed by night the vulture tore him open by day. Finally, however, Hercules killed the vulture and set Prometheus at liberty. He returned to Olympus and became the wise counsellor of the gods. Aeschylus, the great Grecian dramatist, made Prometheus the subject of three noted plays, one of which, Prometheus Bound, has been preserved entire. The steadfastness with which the hero of the play endures the agony to which he is subjected, his indomitable will, and his absolute refusal to bow at the nod of Zeus, excite the reader's admiration.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A son of Iapetus and Clymene, one of the Oceanides. He ridiculed the gods and deceived Jupiter himself, who, to punish him and the rest of mankind, took fire away from the earth; but Prometheus climbed the heavens by the assistance of Minerva, and stole fire from the chariot of the sun, which he brought down to the earth. This provoked Jupiter, and he ordered Prometheus to be chained to a rock, where a vulture was to feed on his liver, which was never exhausted. He was delivered from his torture by Hercules , who killed the vulture. Propertius, Sextus Aurelius. A Latin poet born in Umbria . He came to Rome, where his genius greatly recommended him to the great and powerful. His works consist of four books of elegies, which are marked by much ability. He died about nineteen years before Christ. Propontis (Sea of Marmora). So called from its position with reference to the Pontus (Euxinus), being "before the Pontus," is the small sea uniting the Euxine and the Aegean, and dividing Europe ( Thracia ) from Asia (Mysia and Bithynia ).
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The story itself is fixed and both accounts still read accurately, though Greek sources make the tormenting bird an eagle rather than the "vulture" of the Latin tradition that Aiton's (1910) and 1000 Classical Characters (1900) both follow. The largest shift is scholarly: Aiton's calls Prometheus Bound one of "three noted plays" by Aeschylus, but since the mid-twentieth century many specialists have doubted that Aeschylus wrote it at all, on grounds of metre, vocabulary and staging, and editions now often label it disputed. The name has since travelled outward from myth: the element promethium, isolated at Oak Ridge in 1945, was named for him, as was the small Saturnian moon Prometheus found in Voyager images in 1980.
Written for this edition, 2026.