From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Wed Feb 18 1998 - 11:57:20 MST
"E. Shaun Russell" <e_shaun@uniserve.com> writes:
> Well, as the myth goes, it wasn't exactly Tithonus' choice to become
> an atrophied immortal; rather, it was Aurora who "stole him away" and
> pleaded with Jupiter to grant him this immortality. This prompts the
> question: had Tithonus had a choice in the matter, would he have complied
> with the prospect of immortality?
Hmm, that depends on what version of the story you hear. I have the
impression the feelings were mutual, but Aurora was slightly careless
when asking Zeus about immortality. But the graeco-roman gods and
goddesses were never big on informed consent anyway...
> Another perspective that can be taken on the Prometheus myth is a
> focus on why Zeus felt it necessary to punish Prometheus. Was Zeus just a
> greedy god, or did he want the human race to find the fire on their own...
> without divine intervention? I think that this is an important way of
> looking at the myth. Perhaps Zeus felt that if Prometheus was to give the
> fire to humanity, humans would constantly be thanking the gods for the gift
> rather than finding things on their own.
An interesting interpretation. "Aww, now you spoiled the whole
fun!". Maybe Zeus gave Pandora her box to make the game a bit harder
for the humans, now when Prometheus had made it too easy.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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