Prometheus
Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC0.
Prometheus, of the race of the Titans, was the creator of humanity, which he fashioned from clay and water. Although his brother Epimetheus sided with Zeus (Jupiter), god of Olympus, during the war against the Titans, his relationship with Zeus was unstable, because Zeus considered him cunning and, being mortal, more loyal to humanity than to the gods. During a dispute over which parts of an animal should be sacrificed to the gods, Prometheus tricked Zeus into choosing the bones and fat rather than the meat. In revenge, Zeus withdrew fire from the world, causing great suffering to all of humanity. In response, Prometheus stole fire from the sun and returned it to the world. Zeus, furious, chained Prometheus to a rock, where every day an eagle would eat his liver... which would regenerate again each night.
The War of the Titans
The twelve Titans, children of Uranus, the sky, and Gaea, the earth, were the first gods. They were dethroned after ten years of struggle by Zeus, son of Cronus, and sent to Tartarus, in the underworld, locked behind bronze gates guarded by three three-armed giants.
Zeus and his siblings became the gods of Mount Olympus.
Prometheus and Epimetheus sided with Zeus in this war; their elder brothers, Menoetius and Atlas, supported the Titans. Zeus slew Menoetius and sent him to Tartarus; Atlas he condemned to carry the heavens upon his shoulders for all eternity.
The Box of Pandora
Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Several gods, on Zeus’s orders, create Pandora, the first mortal woman, to bring about as much evil as possible after Prometheus had stolen fire from the heavens.
Hephaestus (Vulcan) gave her beauty,
Helios taught her song,
Hermes (Mercury) taught her to deceive and to flatter, and
Athena (Minerva) clothed her.
Although Prometheus had told Epimetheus to refuse any gift that came from Zeus, he accepted Pandora and made her his wife. As foreseen, this brought chaos, as she opened the forbidden box and let loose from it all the evils of the world that had been shut inside it. Only "Blind Hope" remained, whom Pandora managed to persuade to console humanity.