Epimetheus

According to Plato's use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d–322a), the two Titan brothers 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.Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History, p. 117. 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."Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History, p. 117.

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.Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book I, line 390. 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.John Tzetzes. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades6.html#50 Chiliades, 6.50 lines 913-916]. According to a scholion (marginal comment) on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, Eumelos states that Epimetheus' wife was called Ephyra, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.Gantz, p. 157; Eumelus [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA105 fr. 1b Fowler, p. 106] [= FGrHist [https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:fgrh.0451.bnjo-1-ed-grc:f1b 451 F1b] = Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC&pg=PA310 4.1212/14b (Wendel, p. 310)]. In the fifth of Pindar's Pythian Odes, he is called the father of Prophasis.Pindar, Pythian [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-pythian_odes/1997/pb_LCL056.311.xml 5.28–9 (pp. 310, 311)].

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.{{cite book|last1=Jung|first1=Carl|title=Psychological Types|date=1921|url=http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Jung/types.htm|access-date=9 June 2017|chapter=X. General description of the types}}

{{chart top|Epimetheus's family treeHesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132–138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337–411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453–520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901–906, 915–920]; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.|collapsed=no}}

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{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|PON|URA=Uranus|GAI=Gaia|PON=Pontus}}

{{chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}}

{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=Oceanus|TET=Tethys|HYP=Hyperion|THE=Theia|CRI=Crius|EUR=Eurybia}}

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{{chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS | |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=The Rivers|OCE=The Oceanids|HEL=Helios|SEL=SeleneAlthough usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371–374], in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99–100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.|EOS=Eos|AST=Astraeus|PAL=Pallas|PER=Perses}}

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{{chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=Coeus|PHO=Phoebe|CRO=Cronus|RHE=Rhea}}

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{{chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=Hestia|HER=Hera|HAD=Hades|ZEU=Zeus|LET=Leto|AST=Asteria}}

{{chart|!| | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}

{{chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=Demeter|POS=Poseidon}}

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{{chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=Iapetus|CLY=Clymene (or Asia)According to Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507–511], Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.|MNE=Mnemosyne|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=Themis}}

{{chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | | | |!| | | | | |!}}

{{chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | |MUS | | | |HOR |ATL=AtlasAccording to Plato, Critias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d–114a], Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.|MEN=Menoetius|PRO=PrometheusIn Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444–445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446–447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538–539 n. 113]) Prometheus was born the son of Themis.|EPI=EPIMETHEUS|MUS=The Muses|HOR=The Horae}}

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{{Reflist}}

• Fowler, R. L., Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0198147404}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC Google Books].
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
• Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-415-18636-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
• Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
• Kerényi, Karl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951. [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
• Pindar, Olympian Odes. Pythian Odes, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 56, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99564-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL056/1997/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
• Wendel, Carl, Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera, Hildesheim, Weidmann, 1999. {{ISBN|978-3-615-15400-9}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0lkhbarJcukC Google Books].
• Yasumura, Noriko, Challenges to the Power of Zeus in Early Greek Poetry, Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-472-51968-9}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mVoDAAAAQBAJ Google Books].

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