The myth of Prometheus is one of the oldest in Ancient Greek mythology. In the _Theogany_, dating from around 700 BCE, the author Hesiod tells the story of how the God Zeus took vengeance on his Titan rival for giving humans the knowledge of fire — he had Prometheus chained to a rock, and each day an eagle would eat his liver, but every night, the liver would regrow, so that poor Prometheus suffered his agony anew:.
“He bound Prometheus with inescapable harsh bonds, fastened through the middle of a column, and he inflicted on him a long-winged eagle, which ate his immortal liver, but it grew as much in all at night as the long-winged bird would eat all day”.
The selection of the liver as the organ in this tale is not by accident. In fact, the human liver is different from many organs because it actually does regenerate (to a point). The Greeks show knowledge of this in the story of Prometheus, but Hesiod was also at least indirectly influenced by the ancient Babylonians, who had held the liver organ in such high regard that they developed a special prognostication practice called hepatoscopy based on reading the livers and entrails of sacrificial animals. From the Babalonian world to the Ancient Greeks came the idea that the liver was the central place of intelligence, emotion, and life force — the fact that it was so rich in blood also may have contributed to this idea.
Source(s): Image from plate from Vatican City Museums, 6th c BCE. J Hepatol 2011 Nov 55 (5): 1132-1136, PLC doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2011.05.011. _Journal of the Society of Medicine_, “The myth of Prometheus and the liver,” Thomas SN Chen et al, vol 87, Dec 1994, pp 754-755.
