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In western culture, Prometheus is the Titan god of fire who defied the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity which set man on his path to
civilization. For this bold action he was punished by Zeus and bound by to a rock where an eagle was sent to eat his liver (perceived then as the seat of human emotion).
Each day his liver regenerated and he was doomed to suffer this ordeal for eternity. This human striving and the potential unintended consequences were celebrated
during the Romantic period, notably in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein.’ It is always enlightening to observe how our ancestors were already aware of one of the most
common weakness of man, that of gluttony, symbolised by Prometheus cheating the universal balance.
