0923NOTPrometheusBound_Clasen

0923NOTPrometheusBound_Clasen

National Gallery
Ovid Met.6.146-312

Lorenz Clasen, "The bound Prometheus — caricature on the ban of the Rheinische Zeitung by Prussian censors in 1843," 1843, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin

The newspaper Rheinische Zeitung, founded 1842, was an outlet for the reformist intellectuals and middle-class citizens in the area around the Rhine, whose editor was Karl Marx himself. Although the paper rarely criticized openly the Prussian monarchy, if one read between the lines, one found critique of the capitalistic system and of Catholoicism, the state religion. The paper's editors also urged subtly for a shift to democracy, socialism, and communism. Mere days after Marx's resignation in March 1843, the paper was forced to close its doors.

Drawing of a chained man with an eagle, standing over despairing figures, connected by chains to a distant throne

In this political cartoon, Marx takes on the persona of Prometheus, the Titan who brought man life-giving fire, much as Marx brought his ideas to the masses. He is chained to a printing press, while an eagle, wearing a crown representative of the Prussian king, eats his liver. The eagle is on a leash, held by Secretary "Eichhorn" (which means "squirrel" in German). At Marx's feet are the cities of the Rhine, depicted here as nymphs, who are mourning the tragedy that is taking place above them.

This slide created by C.Monson.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.