Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

The Historical Necessity of Political Justice in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound 17
his best interest. Hence, for the Aeschylean Zeus, injustice is more favorable
than justice because it allows him to seek whatever his will desires, regardless of
the conesquences to those less powerful than him. Put otherwise, justice for
Aeschylus’ Zeus results when the weak serve the will of the strong, which in
this case is defined by his lust. Thus Zeus desires Io and must have her even if it
means that the innocent young woman will be transformed into a cow and suffer
the torment of being goaded to wander the world through the sting of a god-sent
gadfly. In this manner, Io is a tragic human paradigm in the play for the injustice
that results from tyrannical rule. 3
While Aeschylus presents a deeply troubling, and some might say impious,
view of the injustice of Zeus, he also foreshadows the redemptive possibility of
a benevolent Zeus who will release both Io and Prometheus from the misery of
their tragic suffering. Thus, Prometheus foretells how Io’s suffering will end as
the “gentle touch” of Zeus’ hand impregnates her with a child (Prom. 848). And,
intriguingly, the progeny of this child—Hercules—will free Prometheus from
his political imprisonment. Though the remaining two plays that likely
comprised Aeschylus’ Promethean trilogy are lost, the scholar Phillip Vellacott
interestingly suggests that
There is little doubt that by the end of the trilogy Zeus abandoned the use of
force and opened negotiations with Prometheus, who then told him of the
prophecy of the sea-nymph Thetis; that Heracles with the permission of Zeus
set Prometheus free . . .; and that the final settlement recognized the supremacy
of Zeus, the right of the human race to exist and develop, and the superiority
of reason to violence. (Vellacott, 1961: 9)
If Vellacott’s argument is correct, Aeschylus’ portrayal of Zeus is not as
impious as it seems. For if morality requires free will, not even “Zeus [can] fly
from fate” (Prom. 518). Thus, the demands of inexorable fate may play the
ultimate dictatorial role in the play. However, there is a providential design
within Aeschylean fate that seems to entail an idea of historical development.
Prometheus believes that “Time, as he grows older, teaches everything” (Prom.
581). Thus, just as Athens evolved from tyranny to democracy, Vellacott
suggests that there is a movement from violence to reason for Aeschylus in the
development of political justice at both the human and the divine level.
This political evolution that Vellacott suggests is implicit in the prophecy
that Prometheus withholds from Hermes at the end of the play. If reason is to
replace violence as the ordering principle of Zeus’ justice, Zeus must learn to
3 By conjoining the suffering of Prometheus and Io, Aeschylus again radically departs
from the mythological model established by Hesiod. In Hesiod’s tale, Prometheus is connected
with Pandora who is sent to earth to release evil as punishment for Prometheus’
theft of fire. Thus, where Io emphasizes the unjust suffering of Prometheus for Aeschylus,
Pandora underscores Prometheus’ status as a wily criminal for Hesiod. Hence, the
Zeus of Aeschylus is tyrannical in his punishment of Prometheus, while the Zeus of
Hesiod is just in his sanctions.