Prometheus myth

Does it have to be either/or? Scott has been making much use of the fire aspect of the myth in virtually every interview. My money is on both aspects playing a part.

It is possible that the essence of metaphor of Prometheus lies with Peter Weyland and his crew. But we must not forget that there will be a sacrifice Engineer (perhaps by orginen of humanity)

Everyone thinks it's about fire from the gods...but no one thinks it's about human curiosity unleashing the horrors out of Pandoras box...and the angel of hope at the bottom redeeming us..a cautionary tale...

'Everyone' is somewhat presumptuous

The Eridu and Sumerian references also relate the creation of humankind. Eridu was an ancient Sumerian city, one of the first in the world, created around (uh huh) a line of temples called 'The Mound of Creation'. It was also home to Adamu (Adam), great culture hero and mortal from a godly lineage, who brought the arts of civilization to humans.

So who's Athena, then? The thing that bursts from exploding heads? (as Athena supposedly jumped out of Zeus' head)

So structurally, Prometheus: * Is one of the last free members of an ancient and powerful race (Titans). * Creates humankind out of clay. Makes them to stand upright, as the gods do. * Steals the arts of civilisation/forbidden knowledge for them from the gods. * Tricks the gods on behalf of his human creations (the sacrifice trickery). * Is punished horribly by the gods for his crime. The Engineer of humankind? Peter Weyland? Or possibly both of them are linked in some way.

P.S. Eridu is no longer quite as old as everyone used to think. The oldest temple currently known to archeology (and dating from the time when people were still hunters and gatherers, upending the idea that settled life came first) would be Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html

I said 'one of'. The history is irrelevant: it is Eridu's status in Sumerian mythology as one of the first five cities and the city of the first kings that is important here. Prometheus appears to be dipping into both Sumerian mythology and its fringe interpretation by contemporary ufo cultists for inspiration.

a new show: Ancient Engineers!!

@nysalor Agree that the status in mythology is more important here, ditto for Sumerian mythology and ufo cultist stuff. And Eridu is already pretty intriguing by itself. As for Gobekli Tepe, the most fascinating thing is that more time passed between Gobekli Tepe and Sumeria than between the Sumerian age and the present. Means Eridu (althought fascinating both by itself and in the context of this movie) actually existed waaay after the halfway point between Gobekli Tepe and us. From that perspective, even Atlantis begins to sound like something (almost) brand new. The site is a great puzzle, as it includes many reliefs - mostly of dangerous animals - that were carved many millennia before the first writing. People who see them are totally puzzled and the term they tend to use to describe them is "alien-looking". Almost makes one feel sorry RS and Lindelof did not stumble upon the existence of Gobekli Tepe, it may have meshed with the movie topics even better than Eridu.

But then again, Eridu is not just a temple, but a city.

I don't think the name of the film has any deep significance. It is the name of the project and the ship. This name was chosen by Weyland because he sees himself as a Promethean figure. The reason he sees himself as a promethean figure is that he gives godlike technology to humans. The marketing department probably wasn't focusing on the liver pecking aspect of the myth.

You could be right Takka, perhaps the story of the Titan Prometheus stealing fire from the Gods to give to man and indeed herge into the sequel potential of the Prometheus film franchise. And it is here that the franchise will possibly if not permanantly digress ever-further away from the first Prometheus film isolating it off from any direct/indirect connections with that of the Alien Franchise and maintaining it as a stand-alone concept now. Perhaps later on down the road some sort of film cross-connection could occur but I would hope that clever thinking would keep bot the Prometheus and Alien franchises seperate for a while so as they can breath and grow in their own right. Good thought processes Takka, I think there's possibilities there.