The book claims that the origin of the characters of Greek mythology can be found in the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. The narrative begins with chaos and the appearance of Gaea and Uranus, whose first children were monsters. Siblings to these monsters were Cyclops and Titans. Gaea calls upon her Titan children to fight Uranus, who had locked the monsters underground. Cronus steps forward and succeeds in overthrowing Uranus. To make sure he remains ruler of the universe and that none of his children threaten him, he swallows them. His sixth child, Zeus, is smuggled away by Rhea. Zeus’ escape eventually led to the war between the gods following Zeus and the Titans. Prometheus’ wisdom is what stops the war. Zeus decides he wants animals and people in the universe, and tasks Prometheus with creating them. Prometheus wants to give fire to his mortal creations and steals it from the gods. Zeus punishes the mortals by creating Pandora and giving her the box she was meant never to open, and Prometheus by chaining him to Mount Caucasus. He was willing to free Prometheus if the Titan revealed who would be Zeus’ downfall, but Prometheus refused to say. His punishment got worse and continued until Hercules eventually set him free. 

Prometheus and the Story of Fire is a straightforward, authentic retelling of the Greek myth. It starts with the origins of Greek mythology, giving a short though detailed background about the creation of the Titans, Cronus’ fight with Uranus, Zeus’ fight against Cronus, and the battle between the Titans and Olympians. The story focuses on Prometheus’ wisdom and good will, emphasizing the benevolence of his action in stealing the fire and his fortitude in not revealing to Zeus who would bring about his downfall, breaking the cycle started by Uranus. The story of Pandora is discussed only as it relates to the chain of events in Greek mythology (Pandora is merely the punishment for Prometheus stealing the fire and giving it to mankind). The narrative takes a passive approach in discussing her curiosity and the eventual opening of the box. It portrays her as an agent of the gods whose curiosity – given to her by a god (the narrative makes a vague suggestion that it could be Zeus, but does not claim straight out that it was him) – got the best of her. 

The illustrations appear on every page and the palette is a relatively dark one. The narrative itself is not particularly dark or pessimistic, but it does focus on the troubles and turmoil that Prometheus had to face at the hands of Zeus.