Kratos facts for kids

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.

In Greek mythology, Kratos, also known as Cratus or Cratos, is the son of Pallas and Styx. Kratos ('Strength') and his siblings Nike ('Victory'), Bia ('Force'), and Zelus ('Glory') are all the personification of a specific trait.

Kratos and his siblings dwell with Zeus because Zeus had decreed after the Titanomachy that all those who had not held offices under Kronos would be given positions in his regime. Because Styx came to Zeus first, along with her children, Zeus honored them as among the highest members of his new regime.

Kratos is characterized as brutal and merciless. He defends Zeus' oppressive rule. Kratos compels the mild-mannered blacksmith god Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to a rock as punishment for his theft of fire.

Prometheus Bound

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. The order to do this was given by Zeus himself and Kratos and Bia are portrayed as the embodiment of Zeus' new regime.

Kratos coerces the mild-mannered blacksmith god Hephaestus into chaining Prometheus to the rocky crag. He repeatedly orders Hephaestus to inflict as much pain as possible against Prometheus.

In 1772, Thomas Morell published his English translation of Prometheus Bound as Prometheus in Chains, making the work widely available to the British public for the first time. Four years afterwards, the abolitionist Richard Potter published a complete English translation of all Aeschylus' tragedies.