Prometheus Pyrphoros
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Prometheus Pyrphoros ('Prometheus the Fire-Bringer') was the third play in the Prometheia, a series of plays traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, chronicling the trials of Prometheus, the creator and protector of man, who was imprisoned for giving man fire. It was the last play in the trilogy. Unfortunately, it, and its precursor, Prometheus Unbound are lost. Only a single line of dialogue survives from Prometheus Pyrphoros which says, "Quiet, where need is; and talking to the point." This line was preserved accidentally when it was quoted in "Noctes Atticae" by Roman scholar Aulus Gellius.
It is believed to be the third play in the trilogy due to a comment in the Medicean manuscript of Prometheus Bound. In the appendix of James Scully and C. John Herrington's translation of Prometheus Bound it states Prometheus has been bound for "thrice ten thousand years" in Prometheus Pyphoros (Oxford University Press, 1975, p. 110).
A minority of scholars believe that Prometheus Pyrphoros is actually the first play in the trilogy. One reason is that Prometheus Bound, the only surviving play of the trilogy, begins in media res. If this were the case, then Prometheus Pyrphoros would depict Prometheus stealing fire, bringing it to Humanity and thus sinning against the Olympian gods.
