After Zeus and the other gods had fought with the Titans and won control of Greece, the world was peaceful once again, and, truth be told, quite boring. The plants were growing back after the destructive war, but there were no animals or other animate objects. Prometheus, son of Iapetus the Titain, decided that he would create men to serve and provide amusement for the gods. He went down to the riverside with his brother, Epimetheus, and formed men out of clay while Epimetheus made animals. When the figures were dry, the Titanids breathed life into their creations and sent them out into the world. The gods were quite pleased with the new creatures that inhabited the Earth.

Several months passed, and Prometheus' men were bored of hunting, and sick of eating raw meat. Prometheus felt sorry for them and decided to give them a present. One night, when all of the Gods were asleep he snuck to Mount Olympus and stole some fire, and brought it back to his creations. Now they were able to cook their food and use fire to stay warm at night. He instructed them that if the gods ever discovered that they had fire they should offer a sacrifice to the gods of the best meat that they could find. This would show the gods that men having fire was not a bad thing. It took Zeus a while, but soon he discovered that men had fire, and that Prometheus had given it to them. He was very angry, as fire was only for the gods, and once given could not be taken back. Zeus searched out Prometheus and when he found him he had Hephaestus chain him to the top of Mount Caucasus where his liver was devoured by an Eagle all day only to grow back at night. There Prometheus stayed until he was freed by Hercules quite a while later. As for the men, they did as Prometheus had instructed, and soon Zeus lost his anger, and was pleased at the offerings that men were giving him using Prometheus' gift of fire.