Prometheus’s Prophecy of the Future Itinerary of Io in Prometheus Bound

Abstract:The course of Io’s journey from Scythia to Egypt as prophesied by Prometheus in Prometheus Bound is full of geographical oddities, including the atypical locations of inhabitants’ abodes, the placing of mountains and rivers away from their true locations, and the apparent invention of the names of geographical features. This paper proposes to interpret these oddities in the light of their literary or dramatic effects, and argues that the inhabitants and geographical features of the prophesied course of Io’s journey are arranged in two parts (before and after the strait of the Cimmerian Bosporus) in such a way that not only are her reactions after each part of the prophecy plausible, but also the short-sightedness of the mortal Io is thrown into relief in contrast to the far-sightedness of the divine Prometheus.