In most accounts, Prometheus is the mythological character who steals fire from the gods and gives it to humans, thereby granting humans a technological advantage over all other earthly creatures. But in an ancient, unabridged and uncensored account, Prometheus doesn’t bring just fire to humans … he also brings a stowaway, a lost child named Perdita. Her role in the myth, however, has been suppressed and hidden in the Western tradition by those who believe that technology alone guarantees human progress and advancement. Perdita represents the idea that all technology (including AI) must always, by necessity, be accompanied by the five universal “loves” of the world, including biophilia, the love of Nature.

Perdita

Perdita is an orphaned child once hidden among the Fates—the three sisters in Ancient Mythology who determine how long a mortal will live. The metaphor connecting the sister Fates is the thread of life, and these in turn become important to Perdita’s story.

In John Melhuish Strudwick’s painting of the Fates above (1885), Clotho and Lachesis are in the foreground, spinning out the thread of life—that is, a mortal’s lifetime. The third sister, Atropos, is seated between them, holding a pair of shears. She is the one who will eventually cut the thread, ending a person’s lifetime.

In most accounts, the Fates follow the immutable laws of destiny. In the Perdita myth, however, the Fates can become distracted in their work and make “mistakes.” (Strudwick’s painting seems to capture a sense of this: Atropos looks utterly bored!) These extra pieces of thread are, in effect, “loose ends.” In the Perdita myth, these loose ends are namely the love-related parts of a mortal’s life, and it is the lost child, Perdita, who gathers them up and makes a bundle out of them. What are particularly important to Perdita, then, are the loose ends of love relationships—romances foiled by circumstance, love that isn’t returned, or love that isn’t acknowledged or even “seen.” Perdita keeps these loose ends because they are never completely dormant. Even if forgotten, loose ends are always active parts of a person’s life because they always offer the possibility of redemption, reconciliation, and greater understanding. Perdita’s gift to humans is thus an extraordinary one: an inclusive, integrated love which includes love of the natural world (biophilia).

How the PERDITA Myth Becomes “lost”

In the novel, two scholars of Antiquity discover that the Perdita myth once appeared in a very ancient but now lost version of Hesiod’s epic poem, The Theogony or “birth of the gods.” In the myth, Zeus (the king of gods) is angry with Prometheus for his many tricks, as well as jealous of his friendship with humans. As a result, Zeus devises a vengeful trick to play on Prometheus. He orders his son Hephaestus (the blacksmith) to make a “beautiful maiden.” This is none other than Pandora. She is intended as a bride for Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus, who is in charge of giving all earth animals their distinctive qualities (e.g., fur, feathers, claws, etc.). Pandora’s extraordinary beauty is meant to hide what she is really bringing in her wedding box: the spirits of pestilence, disease, jealousy, and greed. Zeus plots that, in marrying her, Epimetheus will unleash these nasty spirits upon Prometheus’s friends, aka humans.

In the lost version of Hesiod’s poem, however, Hephaestus falls in love with Pandora. The child Perdita is the result of their secret union. Hephaestus and Pandora decide to conceal their “love-child,” but Zeus eventually hears about her and demands that Perdita be handed over to him. The two lovers initially hide her among the Fates where she is given the task of saving all the “loose ends” of existence. But Perdita is not safe among the Fates. Zeus plans to steal her and so the Fates give her to Prometheus, instructing him to hide the child among mortals on earth.

Prometheus agrees to hide Perdita and takes her with him while he steals fire from the gods. He thus ends up bringing BOTH Perdita (and her bundle of loves) and fire to mortals. Humans seize upon fire and begin to use it, but they ignore Perdita (and especially her gift of the fourth love, biophilia).

In the myth, then, Perdita becomes forgotten and is lost to humanity. However, she, along with the loves of her bundle (including biophilia), are always discoverable.

It is my hope that through this work readers will “discover” Perdita in the vibrant threads of their own lives—and loves.

© Hilary Scharper, 2025.