| Type: | Greek |
| Epimetheus | |
| God Of: | God of afterthought |
| Consort: | Pandora |
| Parents: | Iapetus and Clymene |
| Siblings: | Prometheus, Menoetius, Atlas |
| Children: | Prophasis, Pyrrha |
In Greek mythology, Epimetheus (; grc|Ἐπιμηθεύς||afterthought)[1] is the brother of Prometheus, the pair serving "as representatives of mankind".[2] Both sons of the Titan Iapetus,[3] while Prometheus ("foresight") is ingeniously clever, Epimetheus ("hindsight") is inept and foolish. In some accounts of the myth, Epimetheus unleashes the unforeseen troubles in Pandora's box.
According to Plato's use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d–322a), the two Titan brothers were entrusted with distributing the traits among the newly created animals. Epimetheus was responsible for giving a positive trait to every animal, but when it was time to give man a positive trait, lacking foresight he found that there was nothing left.[4] Prometheus decided that humankind's attributes would be the civilising arts and fire, which he stole from Athena and Hephaestus. Prometheus later stood trial for his crime. In the context of Plato's dialogue, "Epimetheus, the being in whom thought follows production, represents nature in the sense of materialism, according to which thought comes later than thoughtless bodies and their thoughtless motions."[5]
According to Hesiod, who related the tale twice (Theogony, 527ff; Works and Days 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted the gift of Pandora from the gods. Their marriage may be inferred (and was by later authors), but it is not made explicit in either text. In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion, a descendant of Prometheus. Together they are the only two humans who survived the deluge.[6] In some accounts, Epimetheus had another daughter, Metameleia, whose name means "regret of what has occurred" for those that do not plan ahead will only feel sorrow when calamity strikes.[7] According to a scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, Eumelos states that Epimetheus' wife was called Ephyra, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.[8]
In his seminal book Psychological Types, in chapter X, "General description of the types", Carl Jung uses the image of Epimetheus (with direct reference to Carl Spitteler's Epimetheus) to refer to the false application of a mental function, as opposed to its whole, healthy, and creative use.[8]
In the videogame Astalon: Tears of the Earth, Epimetheus is represented as the "Titan of Death". A malevolent yet somewhat honorable supernatural being linked to one of the main characters of the game (the wizard Algus) with a pact.