In the history of Greek Gods, Titans, and the creation of mortals, Prometheus was the wisest Titan of all. His name means 'forethought' and he was able to foretell the future. Prometheus is credited with bringing enlightenment to humans, stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humankind, bringing the power of warmth and light to the dark and miserable earth. Prometheus acted against the express wishes of the Olympian Gods, who wanted to keep the power of fire - enlightenment - for their exclusive use. For this, Zeus punished Prometheus by having him chained to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver. Prometheus was known as the protector and benefactor of mankind.

Westerners owe the word philanthropy to the Greeks, who, since the fifth century BC ceaselessly elaborated on their idea of philanthropia. Etymologically, philanthropy means ‘the love of humanity’ and is generally believed to have been coined 2500 years ago by its use in the myth Prometheus Bound. In this mythic talewe are told how the primitive creatures that were created to be human at first had no knowledge, skills, or culture of any kind and so they lived in caves, in the dark, in constant fear for their lives. Zeus, the tyrannical king of the gods, decided to destroy them, but Prometheus, a Titan whose name meant forethought, out of his ‘philanthropos tropos’ or ‘humanity-loving character’ gave them two empowering, life-enhancing, gifts: fire, which symbolises all knowledge, skills, technology, arts, and science, and ‘blind hope’ or ‘optimism’. The two went together – with fire, humans could be optimistic; with optimism, they could use fire constructively to improve the human condition.

The new word, philanthropos, combined two words: philos, ‘loving’ in the sense of benefiting, caring for, nourishing, andanthropos, ‘human being’ in the sense of humankind, humanity, or humanness. What Prometheus evidently loved was their human potential—what they could accomplish and become with ‘fire’ and ‘blind hope’. The two gifts in effect completed the creation of humankind as a distinctly civilized animal. ‘Philanthropia’, loving what it is to be human, was thought to be the key to and essence of civilization. The Platonic Academy’s philosophical dictionary defined Philanthropia as, ‘a state of well-educated habits stemming from love of humanity. A state of being productive of benefit to humans.’ Philanthropia was later translated by the Romans into Latin as, simply, humanitas – humane-ness. And because Prometheus’ human-empowering gifts rebelled against Zeus’ tyranny, philanthropia was also associated with freedom and democracy. Both Socrates and the laws of Athens were described as ‘philanthropic and democratic’—a common expression, the idea being that philanthropic humans are reliably capable of self-government.

The Greeks also adopted the ‘love of humanity’ as an educational ideal, whose goal was excellence (arete); the fullest development of body, mind and spirit and the essence of liberal education.They revered the gods Hermes and Eros as especially philanthropic for the gifts of wisdom and desire they imparted to men. The Greeks had a further fascination with knowledge as a gift freely communicated to mortals by other wise men, which can be seen in Plato’s presentation of the philosopher Socrates, stating the philanthropic nature of teaching (Euthyphro,c. 400 BC). The love of learning and discriminating art patronage employed by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great induced his Greek biographer Xenophon to praise the monarch’s supremely philanthropic soul (Cyropaedia,c. 380 BC). For centuries Greek subjects even began to address the emperors of Byzantium, ‘Your Philanthropy’. This title was doubly appropriate since, by the sixth century CE, a ‘philanthropy’ in Greek also meant the tax exemption Byzantine emperors regularly gave to their favourite charities such as hospitals, orphanages, and schools. The tax-exempt condition of many modern charities has its roots in this ancient practice and this type of privilege has long contributed to shaping various status hierarchies within Western societies.

In Greek cities, many forms of philanthropy combined to strengthen urban culture. Most important were the civic duties rich men assumed either voluntarily or under heavy peer pressure. These responsibilities obligated wealthy citizens to subsidise personally the cost of temples, city walls, armouries, granaries, and other municipal amenities promoting inhabitants’ common identity and welfare. Prominent citizens vied with one another in the performance of these indiscriminate gifts to show the superiority of their own civic virtue. Personal vanity was a prime motive for donors, but rich citizens risked being ostracised by peers and plebeians alike if they failed to appreciate their wealth as a trust in which the community had a share.

Greek philanthropists showed a genius for converting their gifts into potent symbols of communal strength and solidarity. Groups of wealthy men regularly paid for all the equipment necessary to stage the great Greek dramatic festivals. Such gifts of theatres, scripts commissioned from leading playwrights, costumes, and actors shaped the physical and cultural environments of Greek cities, gave audiences memorable lessons in civility, and enshrined drama as one of the greatest media of collective artistic expression in the West.