Prometheus and Epimetheus were the sons of Iapetus, a Titan, and Clymene, an Oceanid, and had two brothers, Atlas and Menoetius. Prometheus was the titan son who sided with Zeus during the titanic wars. Zeus was so grateful for the help of Prometheus during the war, that he asked Prometheus (and his brother Epimetheus) to cover the task of creating mankind. Prometheus, whose name means forethought, was very wise, wiser even than the gods, but Epimetheus, which means afterthought, was a scatterbrained person who invariably followed his first impulse and then changed his mind. So he did in this case.

Before making men, Epimetheus gave all the best gifts to the animals, strength and swiftness and courage and shrewd cunning, fur and feathers and wings and shells and so on - until no good was left for men, no protective covering and no quality to make them a match for the beasts. Too late as always, he was sorry and asked his brother's help. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun, where he lit a torch and brought down fire, a protection to men far better than anything else, whether fur or feathers or strength or swiftness.

Prometheus had not only stolen fire for men; he had also arranged that they should get the best part of any animal sacrificed and the gods the worst. He cut up a great ox and wrapped the good eatable parts in the hide, disguising them further by piling up the entrails on top. Beside this heap he put another of all of the bones, dressed up with cunning and covered with shining fat, and bade Zeus choose between them. Zeus took up the white fat and was angry when he saw the bones craftily tricked out. But he had made his choice and he had to abide by it. Thereafter only fat and bones were burned to the gods upon their altars. Men kept the good meat for themselves.

The various unfavourable encounters with Prometheus caused Zeus to look upon Prometheus with disfavour, and he plotted to take his revenge. Until this point, there had been no women on earth, so Zeus directed Hephaestus to mould a female human being out of the earth and water, and he ordered the other gods to give her some of their attributes as gifts; she was named Pandora. Before being taken to the earth, Pandora was given a box which she was warned never to open. Zeus and Hermes took Pandora to the home of Prometheus, but he refused to accept her. Then Hermes took her to the home of Epimetheus. Although his brother, Prometheus, had warned him not to accept anything from Zeus, Epimetheus was so impressed by Pandora's charms that he took her in as his wife. Pandora's curiosity of the box that Zeus had given to her, eventually got the better of her, and she lifted the lid. Out flew, in the shape of terrible demons, all the evils which henceforth were to plague mankind. startled Pandora quickly shut the box, just in time to prevent the escape of Hope, which was thus saved to remain a comfort to man.

Zeus still had a score to settle with Prometheus for his continued defiance of the gods and defence of man. He had Prometheus taken to a mountain in the Caucasus and there bound with chains (Prometheus met Io here). Zeus then sent an eagle who each day tore out and ate Prometheus' liver, which was renewed by night. Prometheus was eventually rescued from this torment by a descendant of Io's, Heracles, while the latter was in his eleventh labor seeking the Golden Apples.