Kratos (mythology)

Kratos and his siblings are first mentioned in the Theogony, which was composed by the Boeotian poet Hesiod in the late eighth or early seventh century BC.[8][9][10] Hesiod states: "And Styx the daughter of Ocean was joined to Pallas and bore Zelus (Emulation) and trim-ankled Nike (Victory) in the house. Also she brought forth Cratos (Strength) and Bia (Force), wonderful children. These have no house apart from Zeus, nor any dwelling nor path except that wherein God leads them, but they dwell always with Zeus the loud-thunderer."[11] Here Kratos is merely listed as a deified abstraction with little development or explanation.[8] Hesiod goes on to explain that the reason why the children of Styx were allowed to dwell with Zeus was because Zeus had decreed after the Titanomachy that all those who had not held offices under Kronos would be given positions in his regime.[11][9] Because Styx came to Zeus first, along with her children, Zeus honored them as among the highest members of his new regime.[11][9] According to Diana Burton, Styx, Zelos, Nike, Kratos, and Bia's voluntary change in allegiance represents the certainty of Zeus' victory over the Titans.[10] While the goddesses Dike ("Justice"), Eunomia ("Good Law"), and Eirene ("Peace") represent the benefits of Zeus' reign, Kratos and his siblings represent the work needed to build that regime.[10]

Prometheus Being Chained by Vulcan (1623) by Dirck van Baburen. In Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Kratos (not shown in this painting) is the one who orders Hephaestus to chain Prometheus.[8][12][13]

In the opening scene of the tragedy Prometheus Bound, which is traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, Kratos and his sister Bia are taking Prometheus to a remote location in the Scythian wilderness, where he will be chained to a rocky outcropping.[1][14][15] The order to do this was given by Zeus himself[1][14][15] and Kratos and Bia are portrayed as the embodiment of Zeus' new regime.[8][13] The presence of Kratos and Bia but absence of Nike and Zelos indicates the play's tyrannical portrayal of Zeus, since Kratos and Bia represent the more tyrannical aspects of authority.[16] Kratos in particular represents what Ian Ruffell calls "the kind of uncomplicated thug for whom despotic regimes offer countless job opportunities."[8] He enforces the power of Zeus through physical brutality and pitilessness.[8][13] Bia, though present in the scene, does not have any lines; only Kratos speaks.[17][18]

Kratos coerces the mild-mannered blacksmith god Hephaestus into chaining Prometheus to the rocky crag, despite Hephaestus' objections to this.[1][12][15] Hephaestus laments over Prometheus' future suffering, leading Kratos to ridicule him.[19] Kratos equates the rule of law with rule by fear[8] and condemns pity as a pointless waste of time.[8] Hephaestus and Kratos agree that Zeus is "oppressive" (barys; literally "heavy").[8] Kratos regards justice (δίκη; dikê) as a system of cosmic hierarchy in which the monarch, Zeus, decides who receives which privileges and who does not.[8] Anyone who breaches this social divide is a transgressor who must be punished.[8] Kratos states that, under the rule of a monarch such as Zeus, no one but Zeus himself is truly free.[20] Hephaestus agrees with this assessment.[19]

Kratos repeatedly orders Hephaestus to use more violence than necessary to inflict as much pain as possible against Prometheus.[8][12] First he orders Hephaestus to nail Prometheus' hands to the rock.[21] Then he orders him to drive a steel wedge through his chest.[21] Finally, he orders him to tie Prometheus' legs to immobilize him.[21] Hephaestus criticizes Kratos, telling him that his speech is as ugly as his physical appearance.[22][8] Kratos responds by telling him, "Be soft. Do not throw in my face my 'willfulness' and 'roughness of temper'."[22][8] Once Prometheus has been bound, Hephaestus, Bia, and Kratos exit offstage, with Kratos being the last one to leave.[23] Just before his exeunt, Kratos mocks Prometheus, saying that he will never escape from his shackles[12] and that he does not deserve his name.[12] (Prometheus means "forethought" in Greek.[12]) According to Robert Holmes Beck, Aeschylus' depiction of the harsh punishment of Prometheus was intended as an example of how wrongdoers must be punished to deter others from transgressing.[17] In this interpretation, Kratos' cruelty is not intended to be viewed as excessive, but rather as the proper enforcement of justice.[17]

In Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, Electra invokes Kratos, Dike, and Zeus to support her and her brother Orestes' quest to avenge the murder of their father Agamemnon by their mother Clytemnestra.[24][25] Plato's dialogue Protagoras, written in the fourth century BC, includes an account of the legend of Prometheus in which Prometheus stole fire from the temple of Athena and Hephaestus rather than the citadel of Zeus because the "guards of Zeus" (Διὸς φυλακαί; Dios phylakai) were too frightening.[26][27][28] The identity of these "guards" is unknown and disputed.[29]

Depictions of Kratos and Bia in ancient Greek art are extremely rare.[30][31][32] The only known surviving depiction of Kratos and Bia in ancient Greek pottery is on a fragmentary red-figure skyphos by the Meidias Painter, or a member of his circle, that is dated to the end of the fifth century BC and depicts the punishment of Ixion.[30][33] The vase is in the private collection of Herbert Cahn in Basel, Switzerland, and only a bit of hair belonging to Kratos is still visible on the remaining fragments.[34][35] One of Bia's hands is visible on the wheel that Ixion is bound to, steadying it.[33] H. A. Shapiro conjectures that this is probably a representation of a scene from the lost tragedy Ixion by Euripides, who likely borrowed the figures of Kratos and Bia from Prometheus Bound.[36] Kratos is listed as one of the sons of Pallas and Styx in the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus.[37]