In
Greek mythology, Epimetheus (/ɛpɪˈmiːθiəs/;
Greek: Ἐπιμηθεύς,
lit. "afterthought")[1] is the twin brother of
Prometheus, the pair serving "as representatives of mankind".[2] Both sons of the
TitanIapetus,[3] while Prometheus ("foresight") is ingeniously clever, Epimetheus ("hindsight") is inept and foolish. In some accounts of the myth, Epimetheus unleashes the unforeseen troubles in
Pandora's box.
According to
Plato's use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d–322a), the twin Titans were entrusted with distributing the traits among the newly created animals. Epimetheus was responsible for giving a positive trait to every animal, but when it was time to give man a positive trait, lacking foresight he found that there was nothing left.[4]Prometheus decided that humankind's attributes would be the civilising arts and fire, which he stole from
Athena and
Hephaestus. Prometheus later stood trial for his crime. In the context of Plato's dialogue, "Epimetheus, the being in whom thought follows production, represents nature in the sense of materialism, according to which thought comes later than thoughtless bodies and their thoughtless motions."[5]
According to
Hesiod, who related the tale twice (Theogony, 527ff; Works and Days 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted the gift of
Pandora from the gods. Their marriage may be inferred (and was by later authors), but it is not made explicit in either text. In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was
Pyrrha, who married
Deucalion, a descendant of Prometheus. Together they are the only two humans who survived the
deluge.[6] In some accounts, Epimetheus had another daughter, Metameleia, whose name means "regret of what has occurred" for those that do not plan ahead will only feel sorrow when calamity strikes.[7] According to a scholion on
Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica,
Eumelos states that Epimetheus' wife was called
Ephyra, daughter of
Oceanus and
Tethys.[8]
In modern culture
In his seminal book Psychological Types, in chapter X, "General description of the types",
Carl Jung uses the image of Epimetheus (with direct reference to
Carl Spitteler's Epimetheus) to refer to the false application of a mental function, as opposed to its whole, healthy, and creative use.[9]
Epimetheus plays a key role in the philosophy of
Bernard Stiegler, and in particular in terms of his understanding of the relation between technogenesis and
anthropogenesis; according to Stiegler, it is significant that Epimetheus is entirely forgotten in the philosophy of
Martin Heidegger.[further explanation needed]
^Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in
Hesiod, Theogony371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4),
99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004.
ISBN978-0-415-18636-0.
Google Books.