The stories of Greek mythology were spoken of, and written down, over a period of hundreds of years; as a result there are hundreds of figures that are written about. The name of Epimetheus may not be a famous one, but in Greek mythology he played an important role in the development of mankind and the world in which man found himself.

Epimetheus was a second generation Titan, the son of Iapetus and Clymene; thus Epimetheus was brother to Atlas, Menoietus and Prometheus. The Titans, under Cronus, were rulers of the cosmos until Cronus’ son, Zeus, led his siblings in an uprising. This uprising resulted in the Titanomachy, a war between the Titans, and the Olympian gods and their allies.

Prometheus and Epimetheus did not fight alongside their fellow Titan’s though; Prometheus’ name means foresight (whilst Epimetheus means afterthought or hindsight) and this Titan foresaw the outcome of the war. Thus it was that when Zeus usurped his father, Epimetheus and Prometheus were not punished like their kin, and lived instead amongst the other gods.

The new order under Zeus required people to worship the gods, and so Zeus set about creating man and beast. In a small number of stories it is Prometheus and Epimetheus who created man from clay, but in most Zeus simply gave the task of attributing skills and characteristics to the newly created animals and man to the two Titans.

Epimetheus persuaded his brother to let him allocate the characteristics, leaving Prometheus to inspect the work before the creatures were released into the world. Epimetheus did a good job at attributing skills and characteristics fairly to all the animals; some were quick, some could fly, some could burrow, some had thick fur to protect them. There was though only a limited supply of attributes available, and Epimetheus, lacking foresight, ran out of skills before he finally got to man; and so man was left unequipped to survive.

Prometheus eventually came to inspect the work of his brother, and seeing the predicament went amongst the Olympian gods, including Athena and Hephaestus, and stole elements of wisdom and various skills. Giving these gifts to man was one of the reasons that Prometheus was known as the benefactor of man. Epimetheus comes across as slightly foolish for running out of gifts, and Prometheus recognising that he will have angered Zeus for the theft warns his brother about accepting any gifts from Zeus or his kin.

Prometheus would subsequently anger Zeus even more by stealing fire from the gods; and so Zeus sought to punish the Titan and man. Prometheus was punished by being chained to a mountain for eternity whilst everyday an eagle would come to pluck out his liver. An eternal punishment was also devised for man.

Zeus had Hephaestus create a woman from metal called Pandora, and then the supreme deity breathed life into her. Zeus then presented Pandora to Epimetheus, and Epimetheus forgetting the warning of his brother, readily accepted the gift. Pandora would eventually release the world’s worries by opening the box that the gods had presented her with.

Epimetheus and Pandora are in later myths said to have lived as man and wife, and would have one daughter, Pyrrha. Pyrrha, and her husband Deucalion, would be the only two mortals to survive the great flood sent by Zeus to wipe out man.

The fifth satellite of the planet Saturn is named after the Titan, continuing the policy of naming astronomical bodies after figures from Greco-Roman mythology.